Creating icosahedron

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm trying to model a sphere that takes on a special T=7 icosahedron geometry (for the purposes of modelling a virus that exhibits this specific type of geometry). It should look exactly like the model on the right in the attached image, where the subdivision/tessellation mode is triangular with essentially a pattern or pentagons and hexagons. 

I'm in Maya 2018 and I've tried using the primitive soccer ball but it doesn't give me the right pattern or number of pentagons/hexagons. I've also tried using the platonic icosahedron primitive and increased the subdivisions to 4 which brought me close but had some extra triangles in between the "flowers" of pentagons and hexagons as seen below. It's like I just want to delete these extra triangles and turn the "flowers" of pentagons and hexagons so that they all tile and fit correctly.

I appreciate any and all help! THANKS! 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately what you're trying to create isn't a Platonic Solid, since it's not a regular pattern.

You may have to tile a bunch of those patterns together and deform it into a sphere by using a combination of bend or wave deformers to create hemispheres etc.

[mspeer · Accepted solution]

Hi!

There is no easy way to do this in Maya. You can do this with modeling (using mathematical correct values for angles/vertex positions) and/or scripting.

[Anonymous]

Hi, thanks!

I had a feeling that's what I would end up having to do...

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Figured out a solution that wouldn't require scripting or complicated modelling thanks to a friend/colleague: 

Visit http://levskaya.github.io/polyhedronisme/ which uses Conway Polyhedral Notation to generate various irregular polyhedrons. 

Type in A10wD into the recipe bar, download the OBJ, then import the file to Maya and that's it!

[mspeer]

Hi!

It's done outside Maya now, but a really nice tool, i wish we had something like this inside Maya.

Thanks for the link.