Ultimate Maya guide for starters

The mission

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Teaching people already familiar with 3D the basics to get started with Maya.

This is the internal documentation we use to instruct newcomers about Maya in the studio. We wanted to share it so anyone can benefit from it. Feedback is welcome; if you find something we should add or change, please let us know! We're very active on Twitter.

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Resources

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• MayaLT 2018

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Maya Overview

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Viewport

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The viewport is where the magic happens; it's the space where you visualize all the meshes and perform all the operations related to them.

Camera movement

Space -> Max Visor, Minimize

ALT + LC -> Rotate Camera

ALT + RC -> Zoom In, out

ALT + MC -> Pan camera

Mouse

RC = Right Click

LC = Left Click

MC = Middle Click

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Viewport Tools

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Hotkeys -> actions

1 -> low res object

2 -> smooth and low

3 -> smooth model

4 -> show wireframe

5 -> show shaded

6 -> show texture

7 -> show ilumination

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Snaps

Snaps are used to quickly move something to a point of reference. It is a very useful method for precise movement.

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X -> to grid

V -> to vertex

C -> to edges

Show and Hide Meshes

Can be useful for quick checks. For better organization, it’s advisable to use the “Layer system”, as described below.

Control + H -> hide selected object

ALT + H -> hide everything except selection

Control + SHIFT + H -> show the previously hide

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Outliner

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The outliner displays every element in the current scene.

• Meshes
• Groups
• Joints
• Lights
• Cameras

If there is something hidden, you'll be able to find it here.

You can make the outliner appear by clicking on:

Windows —> Outliner.

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Shelves

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A shelf is a quick-access space for tools and user-premade scripts.

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How to install a custom shelf on Mac

Go to the directory:

/Applications/Autodesk/mayaLT2019/Maya.app/Contents/scripts/shelves

How to Install a custom shelf on Windows

Go to the directory:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MayaLT2018\scripts\shelves

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Modeling tools

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Most of the tools here can be found on the “Modeling Toolkit” in Maya, but some of them are placed on the “Custom Maya shelf” or hidden in the menus.

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Extrude -> extrudes along the selected axis.

• Polygons
• Edges
• Vertex

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Delete edges / vertex -> deletes edges, vertex, faces...

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Append to Polygon tool -> bridges faces from one edge to another.

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‍Combine -> merges meshes into a single mesh.

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Separate -> divides non-welded/merged faces into different meshes.

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Mirror -> one of the most commonly used tools; it mirrors models from side to side and merges the vertices along the seam line.

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Extract faces -> separates the selected faces into a different model.

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Center point -> centers the pivot of the object in the middle of it.

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Freeze transformation -> resets any transformations done to the model, setting the current properties to 0, 0, 0 for Position and Rotation and Joint Orientation, and 1,1,1 for Scale.

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Historic clean -> cleans any model inputs. This is very useful because Maya’s performance may be affected,and it can cause some issues during modeling. Use it regularly.

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Materials

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To add a material to a 3D object, right-click on it and look for the material.

If you want to modify its values, you can do so in the attribute editor, where you will be able to add a texture to the material.

The Hypershade allows you to see all the shaders in the scene and provides even more control over them.

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Layer editor

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Layers allow to show and hide elements in the scene, and they also help maintain the order in the scene.

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First column:

• V - allows you to quickly show and hide the layer.

Second column:

• P - allows you to view the objects while working and hide them during playback.

Third column: 

• Nothing - Normal status. You will be able to modify elements.

•  R - Referenced mode. You'll be able to see the wireframe in grey, but youcannot use it for snaps.
•  T - Templated mode. You will see the model shaded with a black wireframe. You won't be able to select the object but you can use snaps on them.

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You can change the layer name by simply double-clicking on it. Consider using colors to keep them organized, especially if the scene becomes extensive.

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MAYA hotkeys

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Transformation tools

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F -> focus target

Q -> selection tool

W -> move tool

E -> rotation tool

R -> scale tool

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Selection

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LC + SHIFT -> various selections

LC + SHIFT + Drag -> square selection

Control + LC -> restart selection

B -> brush

SHIFT  + > -> increase selection

> -> decrease selection

F -> light focus

TAB -> drag selection mode

Click & Hold + drag middle mouse to change size.

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Extra spicy hotkeys

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Ctrl + A -> attribute editor

G -> repeat last action

Ins / D -> move pivot

Ctrl + D -> duplicate

Ctrl + SHIFT + D -> duplicate special (preserves creation atributes, such as subdivisions, height, width, radius...)

SHIFT + D -> duplicate with transform

Ctrl + G -> group objects

SHIFT + P -> ungroup objects

Arrow UP / DOWN -> move between family groups

Ctrl + E / SHIFT -> extrude

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UVs

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These are used to apply textures properly to the 3D model. Here are the ways to generate UVs within Maya. The most commonly used in the studio are:

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• Automatic
• Best plane
• Cylindrical
• Planar

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Once generated, you'll need to go to the UV Editor tool.

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Maya now includes a UV toolkit with a very intuitive interface, where you'll find the tools needed to modify your UVs correctly.

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The most used tools are:

• Unfold
• Separate UVs
• Sew UVs
• Display image
• Dim image
• Texel density (get & set)

The UV editor window uses the same shortcuts as the main viewport.

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