NURBs vs POLYs

Browsing through job advertisements, i stumble over a must-have skills for 3D modelling roles in various companies. Often enough, knowledge surrounding NURBs has popped up. 3 years of learning and I still do not really understand nurbs? I mean, i've played with them, but never really produced work using them. So I think finding the background knowledge behind them may help me gain more of an understand of how and why I should use them.

What is the difference between NURBs and POLYs?

"Polygons consist of geometry based on vertices, edges, and faces that you can use to create three-dimensional models in Maya...Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) provide a 3D modelling framework based on geometric primitives and drawn curves."

*Taken from Maya's help manual*

POLYGONS

When you model with polygons, you usually use three-sided polygons called triangles or four-sided polygons called quadrilaterals (quads). Polygons are made up of several components:

• vertices: the corners of the tri/quad which act as a dot-to-dot to determine the final shape and outcome of the model

• edges: the side of the poly face defined by 2 joining vertices.

• faces: the area bound by the joined edges, therefore the solid area inside of the edges and vertices.

• UVs: points on the polygon which are used by maya to map a texture on a polygon.

NURBs

NURBs can be used in 2 ways: you can construct 3D models from NURB primitives, or you could use NURBs curves to create a basic outline of the 3D form you want to construct, then use the curves as a basis for creating NURBs surfaces. So there are 2 key words to know about here:

• Curves: help you create and modify surfaces. You cannot render curves, so your work with them is always an adjunct to creating and editing surfaces.

• Surfaces: webs of interconnected curves

Which ever way you decide to convert, whether it be NURBs to POLYs or POLYs to NURBS, mixing or non conversion, they all work.