Computersight -

1. Open up Maya 7 and switch to all four views, if you have all views move to step 2, however if you don’t press the space bar to switch from one view to all four views.

2. Now we move to the top menu bar and go to create > polygon primitives > cylinder and we click the small box at the right of the word, clicking this box in Maya will bring up he create properties for that object allowing you to change aspects before you create the cylinder

3. Now we have the object create properties open we need to make sure that the subdivisions around axis are set to 20, this will create a smooth cylinder, and then the axis is set to y and not x or z.

4. Now in all four views you can see a line object of the cylinder, this is due to the fact the views are set to view outline only at the moment, middle mouse click in the perspective view port, normally the top right view and press 5 on your keyboard. Now using ALT and RIGHT mouse button you can zoom in closer to the now solid object.

5. Now I don’t think the object is as tall as we really need it to be so let’s do some modifications to the object. The first step is to make sure the object is selected, only you need to do is Left mouse click on the object to highlight it, then press R on the keyboard to go to scale mode. Now we have four coloured boxes coming from the object we will be using the green box. With your LEFT mouse button click and hold on the green box and move upwards to you have the height you think best suited for the trash can.

6. Now we will model the opening in the street trash can, click and hold the RIGHT mouse button over the object and a new pop up menu appears, while still holding the RIGHT mouse button move the mouse to the word FACE and release. Now the object as turned blue with little squares every so often these are the polygon faces.

7. Now in your front or side view doesn’t really matter which, using the LEFT mouse button click and drag a box around all the top faces. Done correctly it will look like this below.

8. Now we have the top faces selected we need to make a extrude, first lets make sure we are in modelling mode. On the top menu under the words file, edit and modify is a drop down menu bar if you don’t see this go display > UI elements > restore UI elements. Now in the little drop down menu please make sure its set to Modelling and not rendering, animation or dynamics.

9. On the top menu go edit polygons > extrude face and click, now you may have noticed that on the faces you had earlier selected there is a new tool showing, this will allow you to scale and move the new polygon faces you had just created. In the top view port use your scroll wheel and click in the view to activate it, now press R on the keyboard to bring up the scale tool, now don’t forget ALT and RIGHT mouse button to zoom in, now using the yellow box in the middle of the object LEFT mouse click and scale the new faces inwards until you have a rim on the object.

10. Now once again go edit polygons > extrude face and this time with the tool that appears use the side or front view, Left mouse click the blue arrow hold it down and move the new faces towards the bottom of the object but leaving a gap. Now if you go to your perspective view you can see the object if you hold ALT and LEFT mouse button you can rotate the view, ALT and MOUSE WHEEL to move the view.

11. Now we have the basic shape lets create the next section, go to create > polygon primitives > pipe and click the small box across from it, now in the new box that has appeared set the thickness to 0.1 press enter and then make sure the subdivisions around axis are 20 and that the axis is y, press create.

12. Now in the top view port press R and using the yellow box like early scale the object to that it just touches or is just inside the most outer edge of the cylinder we created. Then in the front or side view press R and using the green box scale it thinner so you have what looks like a rim. Check the image below to see what you should have.

13. Right making sure that we still have the rim we created selected (if not select it) on the keyboard press CTRL and D this will duplicate the object for us instead of having to recreate one. In the front or side view use the green arrow (LEFT MOUSE button) click and drag it upwards, move it so it just over laps the top of the cylinder and creates an edge.

14. Now we want to add some detail to the two rims, now on the top menu go create > polygon primitives > cylinder and click cylinder we don’t need the box as we have it already set up for us. In the perspective view press R and use the yellow box to scale the cylinder down, the yellow box will scale in all the three axis of the object. Once the cylinder as been scaled down so that it’s thin enough to fit between the rims move to the front or side view. In one of these views use the green box to scale the object upwards so you have a thin tall cylinder like the one below.

15. Now press INSERT on your keyboard while you have the new cylinder selected, now in your top view port (and the other view ports) a new tool as appeared, it has a yellow box with three handles, using the top view port and the red handle LEFT mouse click and drag the box so that its in the centre of all the objects. Press INSERT again to turn it off.

16. Now if you press W you will notice that the move tool for the object is now located in the middle of the trash can, now what we are going to do is very simple, using CTRL and D we will duplicate the object then press E to bring up the rotate tool, we will then LEFT mouse click the green rotate section in the top view port and rotate the new object so that it lines up with the rim lines, (if you do make a mistake CTRL and Z will undo your last step) repeat this until all the rim lines have a cylinder on them like below.

17. Now on the top menu go windows > outliner and a pop up appears this is a list of every object that you have created in Maya, here you can rename objects so you know what they are, but you don’t need for this tutorial but in later life you should always name your objects. LEFT mouse click on the object called pcylinder2 in your outliner move down to you see pclyinder21 (you should see 21 or you haven’t made enough cylinder around the trash can) on pclyinder21 SHIFT and LEFT mouse click on the object in the outliner. This should have selected all the cylinders in between the two you selected. Now again in the top menu go edit > group then modify > centre pivot.

18. Now for the feet of the trash can, go create > polygon primitives > cylinder and click the little box again, now lets make some changes we want the subdivisions along the height to be 3, this will allow us to bend the polygon how we need it to look, click create, in the perspective view press R and scale the object so that’s its about the same thickness and all the other cylinders we created, but maybe just a bit thicker. Press W and move the object to the side so you can see it clearly, and in the side or front view press R and scale the cylinder as tall as you want for the foot, remember it will go from the bottom rim to the floor.

19. Now RIGHT mouse click and hold on the object and go to vertex and release, the object should have turned blue with purple squares, now in the front or side view LEFT mouse click and drag over the bottom set, and the next two set or vertexes leaving out the top set, this should mean you have only three sets selected, now press E in any view, now in the perspective view use the blue rotate section to bend the cylinder this will help begin to shape the feet, now select the bottom vertexes and the next ones up only press E again and using the blue rotate tool bend it the other way to create the foot. You should have something like the image below.

20. Now once again press INSERT and move the box that appears into the middle of the cylinder that is the trash can and use CTRL and D to duplicate and then press E and rotate the new object so its on one of the four very dark black lines on the grid do this two more times until you have all four feet. Now in your outliner select the four feet that you had created and group them and centre pivot them like we had covered before.

Well that’s all for the time been, I will begin writing the next tutorial on how to set up a two light based system, shadows, simple texturing to create a final piece that any beginner to Maya could be proud to create like the one image above.