Model, Texture, and Render a Bathroom Interior Design with Maya – Day 1

This entry is part 1 of 9 in the Best Of Maya – Part 2 Session
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Twice a month we revisit some of our reader’s favorite posts from throughout the history of Cgtuts+. Today we have an awesome Maya tutorial by Alan Monroig covering the creation of a bathroom scene. This tutorial was first published in January of 2010 and proved to be incredibly popular with our Maya users! Let’s take a look back…

Modeling and rendering of interiors is used in a great variety of industries, and creating result that is suitable for these big markets is a very big challenge. In this tutorial you will learn how to model, texture, and render an interior design of a bathroom using Maya. The modeling of the bathroom will be achieved using polygons, NURBS, and paint effects. The rendering process will be done with Mental Ray, using techniques that will quickly give you a photorealistic result.

This tutorial is Day 1 in a series – Go to Day 2

Final Effect Preview

Tutorial Details

  • Software: Maya 2009
  • Difficulty: Beginner/ Intermediate
  • Estimated Completion Time: Approximately 1 – 2 hours
  • Hardware/ Software Requirements : Windows 2000-XP or Mac OSX 10.5 (or newer); PIII and higher or Intel Macintosh; 1G RAM

    Step 1

    Go to “Create > CV Curve”.

    Step 2

    Press the space bar and change to the side view camera.

    Step 3

    Create a curve with the same shape as in the image. Note: The curve needs to be created from bottom to top.

    Step 4

    Switch back to perspective view, go to “Create > Polygonal Primitives > Cube”, and create a cube.

    Step 5

    The cube needs to be at the bottom of the curve.

    Step 6

    Select the back face of the cube and THEN the curve. Note: The order of selection is crucial.

    Step 7

    With the selection still active, go to “Edit Mesh > Extrude (option box)” under the “Polygons” menu.

    Step 8

    Inside the option box, change the “Divisions” to 20 and click on “Extrude”.

    Step 9

    A polygonal object with the shape as the curve should be created (see image).

    Step 10

    The object has very sharp edges which create an unrealistic look. To solve that problem, select all of the edges you want to smooth.

    Step 11

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel (option box)”.

    Step 12

    Inside the option box, change the “Segments” to 3 and the “Width” to a value that works for you (in my case 0.1500), then click “Bevel”.

    Step 13

    When the option box closes you will see all of the edges that you selected become nice and smooth.

    Step 14

    Now you need to create the light. Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Insert Edge Loop Tool”.

    Step 15

    Create 2 edges around the object.

    Step 16

    Select all of the faces between the edges you created.

    Step 17

    With those faces selected, go to “Edit Mesh > Extrude”.

    Step 18

    Extrude the faces to the inside of the object.

    Step 19

    With these past steps you created a division for the light. Now you only need to extract the geometry on top of the object.

    Step 20

    Select all of the faces you want to extract.

    Step 21

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Mesh > Extract”.

    Step 22

    Now you will have 2 different objects.

    Step 23

    Now, because you won´t be editing more geometry on this object, you can press ’3′ on the keyboard to smooth the polygons.

    Step 24

    This is what you should have so far. All the main outside shapes of the furniture.

    Step 25

    Select the vertexes at the bottom of the object and move them inward. This will make the bottom part of the object smaller.

    Step 26

    If you look at the image below you will see the difference.

    Step 27

    Now you need to extract the mirror so you can add a different shader to it. Select all of the faces you want to extract.

    Step 28

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Mesh > Extract”.

    Step 29

    At this point of the tutorial you should have 3 separate pieces of geometry.

    Step 30

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Create > Polygons Primitives > Cube”.

    Step 31

    Create a cube and position it.

    Step 32

    You need to smooth the outer edges of the cube. Select all of the edges you want to smooth.

    Step 33

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel (option box)”.

    Step 34

    Inside the option box change the “Width” value to 0.1500 (this value can vary depending on the size of your scene) and the “Segments” to 3, then press “Bevel”.

    Step 35

    If you look closely at the edges you will see how nice they look.

    Step 36

    Let’s pretend you did a mistake with the Bevel values, you don´t need to go back, only go to the “Attributes Editor” and modify the values (changes will be seen in real time) .

    Step 37

    Go to “Create > Polygons Primitives > Cube”.

    Step 38

    Create a cube beneath the table you created earlier.

    Step 39

    With the cube selected go to “Edit Mesh > Insert Edge Loop Tool”, under the “Polygons” menu,.

    Step 40

    Create an edge at the first third of the cube.

    Step 41

    Select the small face that was created as a result of the edge loop.

    Step 42

    With that face still selected, go to “Edit Mesh > Extrude (option box), under the “Polygons” menu.

    Step 43

    Inside the option box, change the “Divisions” value to 1 and click on “Extrude”.

    Step 44

    Extrude the face just a bit outside of the cube.

    Step 45

    With the face still selected go to “Edit Mesh > Extrude”, under the “Polygons” menu,.

    Step 46

    Extrude the size of the face to make it smaller.

    Step 47

    Again with the face still selected, go to “Edit Mesh > Extrude”.

    Step 48

    Extrude the face a very short distance to the inside of the cube.

    Step 49

    This is what you should have so far.

    Step 50

    Select the drawer you created before, and go to “Edit > Duplicate”.

    Step 51

    Move the copy just beneath the original drawer.

    Step 52

    For this copy of the drawer you only need a section of it. Select all of the faces you want to delete.

    Step 53

    Go to “Edit > Delete”.

    Step 54

    Select the remaining section of the drawer, and inside the view menu, go to “Show > Isolate Select > View Selected”.

    Step 55

    Now that we can only see the drawer we can work better with it.

    Step 56

    As you can see, the drawer has a missing a face that you need to add. Select all of the edges that are connected with the missing face.

    Step 57

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Mesh > Fill Hole”.

    Step 58

    Now the missing face has been added to the drawer.

    Step 59

    To see the whole scene, select the drawer, and under the view menu, go to “Show > Isolate Select > View Selected”.

    Step 60

    Now we have 2 drawers, and we have space for one more.

    Step 61

    Select the last drawer, and go to “Edit > Duplicate”.

    Step 62

    Position the copy beneath the last drawer.

    Step 63

    The last drawer is visible from the back of the object.

    Step 64

    Select the 2 vertexes that go out of the geometry.

    Step 65

    Move them inward with the move tool.

    Step 66

    Now you need to smooth the edges of your drawers, so start selecting the top drawer.

    Step 67

    To work better with it, isolate it using the same process as before.

    Step 68

    Now you should be looking at only one drawer.

    Step 69

    Select all of the edges you want to smooth.

    Step 70

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel (option box)”.

    Step 71

    Inside the option box, change the “Width” value to 0.6000 (this value will be different depending on the size of your scene) and the “Segments” to 3, then press “Bevel”.

    Step 72

    The edges of the drawer should look nice and smooth now.

    Step 73

    Select the drawer, and under the view menu, go to “Show > Isolate Select > View Selected”.

    Step 74

    Now that all of the scene is visible, select the middle drawer.

    Step 75

    Under the view menu, go to “Show > Isolate Select > View Selected”.

    Step 76

    Select all of the edges you want to smooth.

    Step 77

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel”.

    Step 78

    Now that the edges look nice, select the drawer.

    Step 79

    Under the view menu, go to “Show > Isolate Select > View Selected”.

    Step 80

    Now repeat the process for the last drawer.

    Step 81

    When you finish, the scene should look like this.

    Step 82

    Go to “Create > NURBS Primitives > Circle”.

    Step 83

    Change to the front view, and create a circle at the middle of the first drawer.

    Step 84

    Move the circle to the left just a bit.

    Step 85

    Go to “Create > CV Curve Tool”.

    Step 86

    Switch to the top view.

    Step 87

    Create a curve starting in the middle of the circle.

    Step 88

    This is what you should have.

    Step 89

    Select the circle and then the curve. Note: The order of selection is very important.

    Step 90

    With the selection still active, go to “Surfaces > Extrude”, under the “Surfaces” menu.

    Step 91

    Select the NURBS object and move it inside the drawer just enough to hide the edges of the object.

    Step 92

    This is what you should be looking at. If you look closely you will see that it looks very low-res.

    Step 93

    Create some isoparms along the object.

    Step 94

    At the “Surfaces” menu, go to “Edit NURBS > Insert Isoparms”.

    Step 95

    Now the NURBS object should be smooth along the curves.

    Step 96

    Select the object, and go to “Edit > Duplicate”.

    Step 97

    Duplicate it 2 times, and move the copies to each of the 3 drawers.

    Step 98

    Go to “Window > Outliner”.

    Step 99

    The outliner will a list of all of the objects in the scene.

    Step 100

    Organize the list and add names to each of your objects. Now that the scene is organized you can close the outliner.

    Step 101

    Switch to the front view..

    Step 102

    Go to “Create > CV Curve Tool”.

    Step 103

    Create a curve like the one in the image below.

    Step 104

    Select the curve.

    Step 105

    Under the “Surfaces” menu, go to “Surface > Revolve”.

    Step 106

    The curve should be revolved, but probably with a wrong pivot position.

    Step 107

    To change the position of the pivot, go to the “Attributes Editor” of the object, and under the revolve tab, change the “Pivot” values.

    Step 108

    Remember to leave a hole for the water to flow from.

    Step 109

    With the object selected, go to “Modify > Center Pivot”. This will position the tools in the middle of the object instead of being far away.

    Step 110

    Here you can see the move tool at the middle of the object.

    Step 111

    Position the object and scale it to make it oval shaped instead of a perfect circle.

    Step 112

    Now you need to create a hole for the object to fit into.

    Step 113

    Change to the top view.

    Step 114

    Go to “Create > Polygons Primitives > Cylinder”.

    Step 115

    Create a cylinder and shape it to match the shape of the object you created before.

    Step 116

    Position the cylinder.

    Step 117

    Select the cylinder and then the table. Note: The order of selection is very important.

    Step 118

    With the selection still active, go to “Mesh > Booleans > Difference”, under the “Polygons” menu.

    Step 119

    Now you should have a big hole, but it’s probably blocked by the top face of the first drawer.

    Step 120

    Select the top face of the first drawer.

    Step 121

    Go to “Edit > Delete”.

    Step 122

    Now everything should be fine.

    Step 123

    Change to the top view.

    Step 124

    Go to “Create > NURBS Primitives > Circle.

    Step 125

    Create a circle were you want to start the object.

    Step 126

    Change to the side view.

    Step 127

    Go to “Create > CV Curve Tool”.

    Step 128

    Create a curve just like the one in the image below.

    Step 129

    Select the circle and then the curve. Note: The order of selection is very important.

    Step 130

    With the selection still active, go to “Surfaces > Extrude”, under the “Surfaces” menu.

    Step 131

    Now you should have a NURBS object that looks low res.

    Step 132

    To smooth the object, insert a few isoparms along the object.

    Step 133

    Under the “Surfaces” menu, go to “Edit NURBS > Insert Isoparms”.

    Step 134

    With these extra isoparms the object should look smooth.

    Step 135

    Move to the end of the object and add 1 isoparm almost at the edge.

    Step 136

    Under the “Surfaces” menu, go to “Edit NURBS > Insert Isoparms”.

    Step 137

    Look at the image below to see if you inserted the isoparm in the correct position.

    Step 138

    Select the vertexes at the end of the object.

    Step 139

    Scale them to the inside of the object to add thickness.

    Step 140

    This is what it should look like.

    Step 141

    Go to “Create > Polygons Primitives > Pipe”.

    Step 142

    Create a pipe and position it.

    Step 143

    Select all of the edges that you want to smooth.

    Step 144

    With those edges selected, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel”, under the “Polygons” menu.

    Step 145

    The object looks really bad now.

    Step 146

    Move the object so you can see it completely.

    Step 147

    Select all of the edges from the bottom of the object.

    Step 148

    With those edges selected, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel”, under the “Polygons” menu.

    Step 149

    Press number 3 on the keyboard and you should see a nice and smooth object.

    Step 150

    Move it back into place.

    Step 151

    With the object selected, go to “Edit > Duplicate”.

    Step 152

    Move and scale the copy to create a nice shape below the original object.

    Step 153

    Duplicate it again, and position it at the end of the object.

    Step 154

    This is what you should have so far.

    Step 155

    Change to the side view.

    Step 156

    Go to “Create > NURBS Primitives > Circle”.

    Step 157

    Position the circle at the side of the NURBS object.

    Step 158

    Separate the circle from the NURBS object.

    Step 159

    See the image below for reference.

    Step 160

    Select the NURBS object and then the circle (the order of selection is very important). Note: You need to be looking though the side view in order for the next steps to work.

    Step 161

    With the selection still active, go to “Edit NURBS > Project Curve on Surface”, under the “Surfaces” menu.

    Step 162

    Now you should have a circle over the surface of the NURBS object.

    Step 163

    With the object selected, go to “Edit NURBS > Trim Tool”, under the “Surfaces” menu.

    Step 164

    With the tool active, go to its settings (on the right side of the screen), and change the “Selected State” to “Discard”.

    Step 165

    In the active view you will see some wireframes. Click on the wireframe that corresponds to the surface of the circle. A yellow diamond should appear on top of the surface you selected. Press enter on the keyboard.

    Step 166

    The NURBS object should now have a hole.

    Step 167

    Select the polygonal object you created earlier.

    Step 168

    Duplicate it.

    Step 169

    Move, rotate, and scale the copy to fit inside the hole of the NURBS object.

    Step 170

    You should leave a small margin between the object and the NURBS object. This will make shadows possible.

    Step 171

    Go to “Create > Polygon Primitives > Cylinder”.

    Step 172

    This is the approximate size the cylinder should be.

    Step 173

    Position, scale, and rotate the object to fit inside the other object you created earlier.

    Step 174

    Select the edges at the end of the object.

    Step 175

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel (option box)”.

    Step 176

    Inside the option box, change the “Width” value to 0.0900 (this value depends on the size of your scene), then click on “Bevel”.

    Step 177

    The object should have a bevel, but it will look worse than before.

    Step 178

    Select the object, and go to its “Attributes Editor”. Inside the Bevel tab, change the “Smoothing Angle” to 100. This step will make the object look smooth at the edges.

    Step 179

    Go to “Create > Polygon Primitives > Pipe”.

    Step 180

    Create a pipe, move, scale, and rotate it so that the object you created before fits inside it.

    Step 181

    Select all of the edges you want to smooth.

    Step 182

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Bevel (option box)”.

    Step 183

    Inside the option box, change the “Width” value to 0.390 (this value depends on the size of your scene) and click on “Bevel”.

    Step 184

    Make sure that your object is beveled.

    Step 185

    Select one face from the front of the object.

    Step 186

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Extrude (option box)”.

    Step 187

    Inside the option box, make sure the “Divisions” are set to 1, and click on “Extrude”.

    Step 188

    Extrude the object as shown.

    Step 189

    Without deselecting the face, go to “Edit Mesh > Extrude”.

    Step 190

    Extrude the face less than before and scale it.

    Step 191

    Without deselecting the face, go once more to “Edit Mesh > Extrude”.

    Step 192

    Extrude the face and leave it the same size.

    Step 193

    This is what you should have. Now you only need to smooth the shape.

    Step 194

    Under the “Polygons” menu, go to “Edit Mesh > Insert Edge Loop Tool”.

    Step 195

    Create some edge loops in locations where you want to maintain the shape of the object.

    Step 196

    When you are finished, press number 3 on the keyboard, and watch how your object looks nice and smooth.

    Step 197

    This is how your scene should look at this step of the tutorial.

    Step 198

    Go to “Window > General Editors > Visor”.

    Step 199

    Inside the “Visor” window, go to the “Paint Effects” tab, and scroll down to the “plantsMesh” folder.

    Step 200

    Inside that folder, select the “rubberPlantPotted…”.

    Step 201

    Zoom in close to the floor (the plant is going to be small).

    Step 202

    Click and drag until the plant is half completed.

    Step 203

    Release the click, and you will see the plant grow to its final shape.

    Step 204

    Select the plant and go to “Modify > Center Pivot”.

    Step 205

    Now you will see the tools right in the middle of the plant.

    Step 206

    Move and scale the plant to put it in the right place.

    Step 207

    Select the plant.

    Step 208

    Go to “Modify > Convert > Paint Effects to Polygons”.

    Step 209

    Now your plant is a polygonal object.

    Step 210

    Select all objects of the plant, and press number 3 on the keyboard to smooth its geometry.

    Step 211

    This is how it should look.

    Step 212

    Wireframe of the scene.

    Step 213

    Now you need to create the wall and floor. Go to “Create > Polygon Primitives > Plane”.

    Step 214

    Create 2 planes and position them.

    Step 215

    This is the end of the tutorial, 14,989 faces!

    This tutorial is Day 1 in a series – Go to Day 2.

    Don’t miss more CG tutorials and guides, published daily – subscribe to Cgtuts+ by RSS.

  • Add Comment

    Discussion 49 Comments

    1. Anton says:

      Im not familiar with Maya . But i see the principle is same as in Max. It would be gr8 if there was tut – how to create a person in Maya.

    2. Modisana says:

      thank you …. very nice tutorial

    3. iCreator says:

      Great tut man, Tnks!

    4. Bruno says:

      Very good tut. Can’t wait to see the texturing and rendering parts.

    5. Reyers says:

      i assume the rendering will be coming up next?

    6. Great!!! I just tried this and had excellent results! Thank U so mucho!

    7. Vimal says:

      Please post more tutorials on interior design rendering and texturing in Maya, and many more especially in Maya.

    8. h says:

      Where are the texturing and rendering portions of the tutorial?

    9. Antônio says:

      Fabulous!
      I love Maya Tutorials. Thank you very much.

    10. Alan Monroig says:
      Author

      Thanks to all of you!, the texturing and rendering will be in the second part.

    11. ytko.net says:

      but where description tеxtured and render ????

    12. Vimal says:

      I’m eagerly waiting for day 2 of this tutorial!
      Could you please write a tutorial to model a truck as shown in the link below?

      http://www.artbycrunk.com/blog/2008/09/rendering-wireframe-using-toonshader/

    13. liran says:

      great
      thats a really specified tut, and really helpull
      god speed!

    14. gaurav says:

      Tutorials like this needs to be video tutorials. Very good tutorial.

    15. naggingme says:

      it couldn’t hurt splitting int up into a couple pf pages???

    16. aniket says:

      awesome tutorial , just trying it out now…thanks

    17. chawki says:

      nice tuto…thx

    18. Chris wilson says:

      Hi

      when will the next stages be?

    19. Grey Warden says:

      Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    20. Anna Petroski says:

      when is day 2? thanks!!

    21. jitendra burte says:

      simple modelling but great result, some more tutorial expected on character modelling.

    22. naresh says:

      Excellent, thanks that was a great piece of bread for hungry stomach

    23. Naresh says:

      Its Great. Really great… I could have kissed you and bow my head with respect. Many Thanks. When is second part coming…

    24. megzz says:

      its gr8 indeed but when can we expect the textured tut part of it ??

    25. jyotiprakash panda says:

      hi sir.splendid work,hope for the next such one.

    26. neha says:

      where is day 2? but is realy very good tutorial

    27. alex says:

      I am waiting with bated breath for the rendering portion… I think the link to day 2 is broken, it is asking me to save an unknown file?? fix please?

    28. Daniele says:

      Im having trouble in the beginig, i cant select the face of the cube polygon and the curve. When i select to edit/ faces to show i select de back face but i cant touch the cv curve.

      please i need an answer beacause with out this i cant do a thing.

      Thanks.

      • Daniele says:

        Thank you im sorry for the stupid question, ived maneged to do it, curiosity kill the cat or found its way

    29. surendra says:

      very nice tutorial
      thank u

    30. kamal says:

      Thank you very much for this tutorial
      from Iraqi man

    31. Ariel says:

      On Step 117, I think it is the other way around. You have to select the table first then the cylinder.

      Thanks for this tutorial though.

    32. Rory Green says:

      Why can I not even do steps 6,7 & 8. I’m using Maya 2011 and have absolutely no Idea what to do, It is completely different.

      Edit : Oh ignore me. I found out how to switch the top menu bar things

    33. Ratan kumar says:

      Very nice tutorial,I have got many things with this tutorial.very very thanks my bother.

    34. Franco says:

      Very good tutorial, many thanks.

      I prefer this tutorials step by step rather than the video ones. You explained in details, really good.

    35. Eric Burrus says:

      Awesome tutorial, great explanations and use of tools, even though sometimes we have to repeat the steps its nice because it reinforces it.. Would love to see your other ones if you have any

    36. shine pillai says:

      Great Tut for beginners

    37. vaikunteshwar says:

      its wonderful tutorial,i am waiting for texturing ,Thank you

    38. Rapids says:

      I’m starting practice.

      Thank you very much.

    39. Chris says:

      Hi,
      I’m having a slight issue with step 118. When I select the Table, then the cylinder and do Mesh > Boolean > Difference, it deletes the entire table instead of creating the circle. I even tried selecting the cylinder then the table, no luck. Please help!
      Chris

    40. aditya kumar says:

      very good work . i waiting for good texturing

    41. Ali Carbovader says:

      It’s great. I really liked it.

    42. Kasivel says:

      Thanks………Use full one.

    43. Ranesh says:

      super very nice please coaprate do this all of this site friend’s thank’s to cg.tutsplus.com

    44. Arnaud says:

      Very good tutorial! Learnt a few more useful time saving techniques! Thanks! Gonna go for lunch and do the texturing when I get back :D

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