You can draw a NURBS curve by placing control vertices (CV), placing edit points, or by drawing freehand. If you draw with CVs or edit points, the curve is automatically smoothed; if you draw freehand, the curve exactly follows the path of the tool tip.
Before starting to draw, you might want to review or set options for a tool by selecting the option box. For example, select
Create > Curve Tools > CV Curve Tool > 
to see the
CV Curve Tool options.
To draw a NURBS curve by placing CVs
- Select .
- Click to place the CVs.
- The first CV looks like a hollow box; subsequent CVs are dots. Hulls are drawn between the CVs as you place them.
- For each CV after the third one you place, the shape of the curve is drawn.
- To remove the last CV you placed, press Delete.
- To switch to editing CVs, press Home or Insert. A manipulator appears on the last
- CV. Use the manipulator to move the CV, press Delete to delete a segment, or click another CV to edit it. Press Home or Insert again to return to adding CVs.
- Press Enter to finish the curve.
To draw a NURBS curve by placing edit points
- Select .
- Click to place the edit points.
- For each edit point after the first one you place, Maya draws the shape of the curve.
- To switch to editing edit points, press Home or Insert. A manipulator appears on the last point. Use the manipulator to move the point, press Delete to delete a segment, or click another point to edit it. Press Home or Insert again to return to adding points.
- Press Enter to finish the curve.
Draw with edit points if you want the curve to pass through certain points. This drawing method calculates the positions of CVs based on where you specify edit points.
To draw a NURBS curve freehand
- Select .
- Drag to sketch a curve. When you release the mouse button, the curve is drawn.
- The
Pencil Curve tool creates a curve with a large number of data points. Use
to simplify the curve.
- As you draw the curve, points are placed in the view if they are at least five screen pixels from the previous point.
- If you sketch in an orthographic view (front, top, or side), the curve is placed on the view plane at the origin. If you sketch in the perspective view, the curve is placed on the grid plane.