From: Kira Zobel
What I'm trying to do is have a mirrored sculpt. Either there is a way to mirror and attach nurbs in Maya as one object
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "attach nurbs in Maya as one object". You can attach NURBS surfaces together, but the results will only be good if you first build both surfaces with attachment in mind. You can't attach NURBS surfaces arbitrarily like you can poly surfaces.
If you simply want to mirror an object across an axis, all you need to do is duplicate it with a scale of -1 on whichever axis you want. It's best to delete construction history, and freeze & reset transformations first, to minimize the chance of certain artifacts. Also, you'll want to reverse the surface direction on one axis on the copy, so that you don't end up with the normals pointing the wrong direction.
Another option is simply to flip over one of the channels on the sculpt map.
If your goal is to create symmetry in a single object, a simpler option is to use the mirroring function built into the Translate, Rotate, and Scale tools. Here's how:
1. Select the surface you want to work on, and go into Component Mode (F
.
2. Double-click on the Translate tool to bring up the tool attributes.
3. In the Attribute Editor (right hand pane on the screen), find the section called Move Reflection Settings. Check the Reflection checkbox to turn on the reflection function. Select which axis you want to reflect across.
4. Now grab a CV and move it around. You'll see the corresponding vertex on the other side of the object move in exactly the opposite direction, across whichever axis you chose.
From: Kira Zobel
Also, I have seen sculpties that have sections that are invisible, but visible on the outside. Almost like an alpha channel, but it isn't on the texture itself. How?
They're inside-out. Flip any sculpt map over to turn it inside out, or simply turn your source model inside out (reverse normals) prior to export.