Maya: Set Up and Navigation
> Never use Maya Binary, always Maya ASCII! <
It's easier to fix ASCII.
Keys 1 to 3 allows you to preview how your object is going to look like when smoothed.
- 1 - Displays the original mesh/object
- 2 - Displays original mesh in wireframe mode and the smoothed preview of your object
- 3 - Displays only the smoothed preview of your object
Keys 4 to 7 offers you modes that can help you in modelling, UV editing and rendering.
- 4 - Wireframe mode. Very useful when you need to be precise or if you overlapping objects in your scene.
- 5 - Shaded mode. This is the default display mode. Objects are displayed based on their shader (usually a lambert).
- 6 - Shaded mode. Objects are displayed based on their shader plus the textures available in their UV map.
- 7 - Lighting mode. Objects are displayed with lights on or off. Objects are displayed "black" if there are no existing light in the scene.
Files and objects within Maya need to be names only with letters, numbers, and underscores. No spaces.
No two items can have the same name.
Name by least specific aspect to most specific, i.e. "geo_chair"
- "geo" = geography
- "lyr" = layer
- "jnt" = joint (then number down the chain)
- then, object description
Project Folders
- save on the network drive (P: drive)
- "images" folder are for images created in Maya (for export), not for images to import in.
- Use "sourceimages" for imported images, i.e. ref images.
Reference Images
Simpler method:
- Place image files into "sourceimages" folder.
- Import images through: View > Image Plane
- If the lines are unclear, try: Attribute editor > [change] Texture Filter
Better(?) method:
Create a plane that is proportionate to the reference image (to avoid stretching).
Set subdivisions to 1.
Create a shader for the plane: Windows > Rendering Editors > Hypershade (or shortcut icon)
Open "aiStandardSurface" under Arnold materials.
Remember to rename your reference image shaders.
Open "File" under 2D Textures.
Select the File node, then under File Attributes open the file browser and select the reference image.
Connect File "Out Color" to aiStandardSurface "Base Color".
Middle mouse drag and drop the shader onto the plane.
- Fix the image scale: turn "Normalizing" off, in Channel Box > Inputs > Create UVs
Duplicate the plane and the shader to create the other views.
When all reference images are placed, select them all, create a layer with selected, and change the layer view to Reference.
Ensure the base of the references is on the base of the grid.
Custom Shelf is for regularly used tools
Add a tool to custom shelf with: ctrl + shift + middle click
> Copy this to use on other devices. In file explorer: Documents > maya > [year] > prefs > shelves
Recommended tools:
- Freeze Transform
- Multi Cut
- Insert Edge Loop
- Append to Polygon
- Bridge
- Connect
- Circularise
- Combine
- Separate
- Extract
- Target Weld
- Booleans
- Soften/Harden Edge
- Reverse Faces
Layer Editor
- Toggle visibility in Viewport (V) and during playback (P)
- Change object view to Template (T) or Reference (R)
> Template: displayed in wireframe and can't be selected
> Reference: displaced in current display mode and can't be selected
Outliner Window
- Click and drag selects multiple
- Middle click and drag moves items
Viewport
Stick to Viewport 2.0 when modelling - better performance.
Arnold is for a rendered view.
Switch between these in the Renderer menu.
Other Tips
Hide the View Cube to avoid changing default views.
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