Week 2 Lab 1 - Toy Train

Process

This is how I create my toy train.

Firstly, I create a polygonal cuboid so that it acts as the base of the first carriage of the train.

I create another polygon and this time, by using vertexes, I make the sides and the front of the polygon curve in. This is the front part of the train.

Then, I created a new polygon for the cockpit of the train. I created a cylinder and rotated it so that it would fit into the cockpit. I then duplicated it and by selecting cockpit polygon and then shift selecting the cylinders, I used booleans - difference and holes were formed where the cylinders were in the cockpit.

I then created a new polygonal cube for the roof of the cockpit. By using vertexes, I made the sides of the roof curve in. After that, I created a polygonal cone and beveled the edges surrounding the base of the cone. I used the edge ring tool to help me.

I then created two polygons, one with the same width and depth as the base of the first carriage and one that is slightly smaller than the first polygon. I then selected the first polygon and shift selected the second polygon and used booleans - difference to create a space to store stuff in the polygon.

I created a polgonal cube and duplicated it twice to get three polygonal cubes. I then placed them inside the cargo space that i have created earlier.

I created a polygonal cylinder to act as the wheels of the toy train. I then beveled the edges of the cylinder, with the edge ring tool to help me. Then, i duplicated the cylinder and placed the duplicates all over the train.

This is the end product of my colourful toy train:

Techniques

Much like the previous exercise, I used a lot of beveling, vertex manipulation and booleans - difference.

Reflection

This is my actual first time creating my own creation with Maya without a step by step guide. I did alot of experimentation, such as adjusting the height of the polygons and manipulating the vertexes precisely so as to make the toy train look like the picture that was provided to me as much as possible.

I feel that this exercise is a good application of all the concepts I had learnt in the previous exercise. This exercise also made me more familiar with the interface of Maya.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my end result, with my toy train turning out just fine.

References

I used Maya Online Help to learn how to manipulate vertexes properly.