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The following tutorial is directly from Module 1 of 3 in "3D Game Environment Modeling Foundation" series. I've released this first Module completely free. It is focused on teaching you how to get started with interface overview in Maya LT/Maya specifically for game environment artist.

• First Module is focused on interface overview for game environment modeling (start here).
• Second Module is focused on game environment modeling techniques.
• Third Module is focused on UV mapping, UV unwrapping and UVing.

The full series is designed for game environment artist to learn Maya LT or Maya specifically for modeling and UVing game environment art.

The entire "3D Game Environment Modeling Foundation" tutorial series contains 9 hours, 53 videos and all 3 modules.

Following free 1st module features 13 video tutorials. You can start from the beginning here and watch all videos sequentially.

Deleting Components such as vertices, edges and faces seems like a straightforward process. But there are a few issues with using Delete key that can cause problems, especially for edges.

Here is how to delete faces, edges and vertices properly.

Delete Polygons/Faces

Easiest component to delete is a polygon face.

Switch to face Component Mode and select the face you want to delete:

Press Delete or Backspace:

• Delete or Backspace = remove selected face on the object

To delete multiple faces at once, select the face, press Shift + Left Mouse Click to add to selection:

Press Delete:

Deleting Faces Without Selecting

You can delete faces without selecting them. Switch over to face component Mode and hover over a face you want to delete (don't left-click on the face to select it, just hover over it):

Press Delete while the mouse cursor is hovering over it:

Delete Edges

Deleting edges using Delete key will not remove shared vertices. This is a problem.

Here is a selected edge, and by hitting Delete all seems normal:

But switching over to vertices component Mode, you can see there are floating vertices left:

To properly delete an edge you must go to Edit Mesh > Delete Edge/Vertex:

Better yet, use a shortcut:

• Ctrl + Delete = Delete Edge

So the proper way deleting an edge is to use Ctrl+Delete which leaves no floating vertices:

Here is what happens when you remove a supporting edge that helps to form geometry of a cube using Delete:

Here is what happens when you remove a supporting edge that helps to form geometry of a cube using Ctrl+Delete:

Use Ctrl+Delete for most of edges you need to remove.

Delete Vertices

Using Delete key will work on floating vertices or vertices that are not connected to 2 or more edges:

Delete key will not work on vertices that are connected to more than 2 edges:

You will have to force delete by using Edit Mesh > Delete Edge/Vertex:

Or use a shortcut:

• Ctrl + Delete = Delete Vertex Connected to More Than 2 Edges

Be careful force deleting certain vertices as it can create errors and collapse your geometry. Here are 2 vertices deleted which collapsed our cube:

There are 9 hours and 53 video tutorials in “3D Game Environment Modeling Foundation” series.

Get the Course»