Maya provides several techniques for creating a curve-on-surface:
- Place edit points
- Project a curve onto a surface along the view direction
- Project a curve onto a surface along the surface's normals
- Intersect two surfaces to create a curves on surface
Draw a curve-on-surface by placing edit points
- Select the surface on which you want to draw a curve-on-surface.
- In the Status Line, click the “Make the selected object live” icon.
- Choose Create > CV Curve Tool or Create > EP Curve Tool.
- Draw a curve on the live surface.
- When the curve is finished, click the “Make selected object live” icon again.
Project a curve onto a surface along the view direction
- Select a surface and one or more curves.
Select the objects in a view pointing in the direction you want to project. For example, if you want to project along Y, select the objects in the Top view.
- Select >
and set Project Along to Active View. - Click Project.
Project a curve onto a surface along the surface’s normals
- Select a surface and one or more curves.
- Select and set Project Along to Active View.
- Click Project.
Intersect two surfaces to create a curves on surface
- Select two surfaces.
- Select Surfaces > Intersect.
The default is to create curves-on-surface on both surfaces. To only create curves-on-surface on the first or second surface, open the option box (Surfaces > Intersect Surfaces >
) and set the Create Curves For option.
Notes
- If a curve on surface has been created using project curve or intersect surfaces with construction history enabled, performing delete components on such curves before deleting construction history may create data loss when saving into a file. Delete construction history before deleting components.