MAYA Essentials - Notes
ESSENTIALS
- Basic object creation
To create polygon object e.g. sphere, cube, use pulldown menu and then use the mouse to drag out the appropriate dimensions, e.g.:
Polygon->Cube
- Zoom, pan and roll: navigation essentials
- F - frame data
- Alt-LMB - spin or rotate
- Alt-MMB - track or pan
- Alt-RMB - dolly or zoom
- space bar - alternate between 4 panel and perspective view
- Move, rotate, scale
For interactive object transformations, select the function on the left menu and manipulate the 'handles' (including the central handle for scale and translate):
- Create and view objects
- Create-> Polygon-> ; click and drag to create shape
- Create-> NURBS-> ; keys '1', '2', '3' control resolutiond
- Channel box (on right) to see attrib; click on inputs for parameters
- '5' to shade; '4' for wireframe
- Component selection
- object mode v. component mode
- press & hold RMB over object; select element
- select all elements
- shift select to select more
- cntrl select to deselect
- RMB & select to work on entire object again
- Discover secret menus
- Menu sets: animation, polygons, surface, dynamics, rendering
- menus for each panel
- for menu options, select box at right of menu
- press & hold RMB over object for marking menu
- hot box - press and hold space bar for short cut to menus
- Keyframe animation
- time slider: set total frames and current working frame span in boxes
- select object, press 's' to set keyframe
- LMB click in time slider to set time
- transform object & set keyframe with 's'
- playback controls: play, stop
- Material properties
- to see shaded object, press '5'
- to change look of object, RMB over object: 'assign new material'
- material attributes in right panel
- map button for list of textures
- press '6' to see texture
- to render, select first picture icon at upper right