MAYA BASICS
CGDD 4113
THE INTERFACE
http://studentsdownload.autodesk.com/dcsync/ama/orig/Curriculum/ADA2011/2010/HTML/AA_Level_1/PDF_Interface_Overview/Maya2010_Interface_V2.pdf
MAYA RESOURCES
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Excellent place to start…
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Under the “General” tab (the big movie reel)
CREATING/SETTING A PROJECT
File->Project Window->New (Button)
File->Set Project
ADDING PRIMITIVES
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Use the Create menu or…
1. Pick either the Polygons tab or the Surfaces (NURBs) tab from the “shelf”
2. Left-click on the shape you want
3. Move your mouse into the Viewport
TRANSLATE, ROTATE AND SCALE
(SELECT THE OBJECT AND THEN…)
Translate – w
Rotate – e
Scale - r
Then, use the handles accordingly…
THE CHANNEL BOX
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Gives us more control over the orientation of
an object
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Can change the names of each “node”
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Can further refine these values in the
Attribute Editor
THE ATTRIBUTE EDITOR
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Gives us more control over the orientation of
an object
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Can change the names of each channel
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Can further refine these values in the
Attribute Editor
• Set pivots
• Check out the Local vs World
coordinates
• Use Selected menu here
Note: you can hide these tabs by clicking on them
HYPERGRAPH HIERARCHY
(AND NODES)
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Access the node hierarchy Window->Hypergraph:Hierarchy
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Turn on shape nodes (Display->Shape nodes)
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Can view Scene Hierarchy or Input/Output connections
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Top node called a DAG (Directed, Acyclic Graph) node – represents the transform
Transform node affects geometry node
Input node affects geometry node
CHANGING YOUR VIEW
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Hold down the ALT key and then:
• Left-click: “Tumbles” around
• Middle-click: Pans (side to side)
• Right-click: Dolly (in and out)
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Scroll wheel: zoom
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Quick tap of space bar: changes viewport modes
VISUALIZING YOUR WORLD
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Can view in these modes:
• Wireframe (4 key)
• Smooth shade (5 key)
• Wireframe+Smooth
shade
• Textured (6 key)
• Using lights, shadows,
etc (7 key)
VISUALIZING NURBS
EASY AS 1, 2, 3 (KEYS)
COMPONENT SELECTION
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Right-click and HOLD to get menus!!
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Used to deform/edit objects through rotation, translation and scaling
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Hold SHIFT and CTRL while clicking to select more than one face/vertex
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NURBs (below) – context sensitve. Note the Object Mode (to return to normal)
THE OUTLINER
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Window->Outliner or …
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Allows you to select object
• Good for occluded objects
• Objects that are not visible
• Objects that are in tight clusters
THE UBER MENU
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Press and HOLD the space bar*
* From the Maya tutorials
COMMON KEYS YOU’LL USE
(YES, THIS IS CASE-SENSITIVE)
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Left-click: selects an object
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CTRL-z: Undo
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DELETE: deletes the selected object
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SPACE (tap): toggle viewports
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SPACE (hold): uber menu
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f: Frame the selected object
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w: Translate the selected object
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e: Rotate the selected object
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r: Scale the selected object
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g: Repeat the last action
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4876937/Autodesk-Maya-Hotkeys-Shortcuts