Maya 7 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide

3. Creating Primitives and Text

Primitives are pre-made geometry sets, usually in simple shapes: spheres, cubes, cylinders, planes, cones, and toruses (Figure 3.1). New in Maya 7.0, you can also create more unusual polygon primitives: prisms, pyramids, pipes, helixes, soccer balls, and platonic solids (Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.1. The basic primitives (clockwise, from top left): sphere, cube, cylinder, torus, plane, cone.

Figure 3.2. Maya 7.0’s new polygon primitives (clockwise, from top left): prism, pyramid, pipe, platonic solid, soccer ball, helix.

Primitives are the building blocks of 3D modeling, simplifying the creation of more complex objects. ...