Polygonal Modeling in Maya LT

1) Polygon terminology

Polygons are straight-sided shapes (3 or more sides), defined by three-dimensional points (vertices) and the straight lines that connect them (edges). The interior region of the polygon is called the face. Vertices, edges, and faces are the basic components of polygons. You select and modify polygons using these basic components.

When you model with polygons you usually use three-sided polygons called triangles or four-sided polygons called quadrilaterals (quads). Maya also supports the creation of polygons with more than four sides (n-gons) but they are not as commonly used for modeling.

An individual polygon is commonly called a face, and is defined as the area bounded by three or more vertices and their associated edges. When many faces are connected together they create a network of faces called a polygon mesh (also referred to as a polyset or a polygonal object). You create your 3D polygonal models using polygon meshes. Polygon meshes can be created using a variety of techniques. For more information on these techniques see Polygon modeling overview.

Polygon meshes normally share the vertices and edges that are common between the individual faces. These are referred to as shared vertices or shared edges.

A polygon mesh can also be composed of several disjointed sets of connected polygons called shells. The outside edges of a mesh or shell are referred to as border edges.

2) Construct 3D character

First, you will need 2 images to construct a 3D character: Front View and Side View.

There are many tools to use, but I recommend SketchBook, which I'm currently using.

Autodesk SketchBook

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Those 2 images will correspond to its own perspective view:

                                             Front view                               Side view

Then, we will import these 2 images into Maya LT and set up 3D planes for modeling. In the image below, assume that the character mesh hasn't been created yet.

3) Polygonal Modeling process

To create different meshes that constitute a complete object like above, you will need to get familiar with some basic concepts and techniques.

First, you 'll learn how to interact and modify meshes with different selection types:

Press "Right mouse" to open "Mini Selection Type Menu"

Then, you 'll have to learn how to use Modeling Toolkit to modify your meshes and objects:

Looking good, right? However, this is just a brief introduction to how Modeling process is executed. 
Don't get me wrong, real quality modeling is a very complex process which contains many complicated concepts and advanced techniques inside. Modeling is absolutely fun, interesting but not that simple to master. 

Finally, to have a thorough understanding of Modeling, I would like to recommend you with Autodesk Knowledge section, where you can learn almost everything with detail instructions:

Modeling | Maya LT | Autodesk Knowledge Network

Maya makes use of four different types of modeling, and each one is covered extensively in a separate section

In the next post, we will cover about Animation in Maya LT, which is another mind-blowing topic that you probably wouldn't wanna miss.