Introduction to Maya

1. Introduction to Maya

2. Main Navigation • Similar to Unity 3D • Unlike Unity it is a right handed coordinate system • Used to determines whether a positive rotation is clockwise or counter-clockwise. • Find out what the default unity of measurement is for Maya and for unity and how do they relate?

3. Viewport Navigation • Hold Alt (use Option instead of Alt on Macs) • Alt + LMB – tumble (“rotate”) • Alt + MMB – track (“side-to-side”) • Alt + RMB – dolly (“zoom”) • a – frame scene • f – frame selected object Reference: http://www.spherevfx.com/downloads/MayaHotKeys.pdf

4. Transforms • w – move • e – rotate • r – scale • q – drop tool • ‘insert/home’ – edit pivot (or hold down d) • *g – last move

5. Geometry Display Setting • Viewport Appearance: • 1 – rough • 2 – medium • 3 – smooth • 4 – wireframe • 5 – shaded • 6 – shaded + textures • 7 – lights (not default Maya light) • Hide / Show: • Ctrl + h – Hide selection • Shift + h – Show selection • Ctrl + Shift + h – Show last hidden • Alt + h – Hide unselected

6. Object Selection F8 – toggle object/component mode F9 – vertices F10 – edges F11 – faces F12 – UVs (for polygons, convert between selection types by using Ctrl + the function keys listed above) • Snapping: Hold • c – snap to curves • x – snap to grid • v – snap to point • Others • z – undo! • Ctrl + g – group • Alt + v – start/stop playback • Alt + . / , - next/previous frame • g – repeat last tool (not for transforms)

7. Basic Polygons • Create -> Polygon Primitive • Sphere • Cube • Cylinder • Cone • Plane • Torus • Pyramid • Pipe

8. Editing Polygons • Combine • Separate • Mirror Geometry • Smooth • Split Polygon • Extrude • Merge • Merge Edge • Sculpt Geometry • UV texture editor

9. Modeling • Polygon Modeling • Easy for modeling objects • Subdivisions are what defines how many polygons are on an object. • NURB modeling • Tricky and cumbersome • Very useful with curbs and surfaces

10. Combining/Separating • Mesh -> Combine • Mesh -> Separate

11. Mirror Geometry/ Smooth • Mesh -> Mirror Geometry • Mesh -> Smooth

12. Split Polygon/Extrude • Edit Mesh -> Split Polygon Tool • Edit Mesh -> Insert Edge Loop Tool • Edit Mesh -> Extrude

13. Merge • Edit Mesh -> Merge • Edit Mesh -> Merge To Center • Edit Mesh -> Merge Edge Tool • Edit Mesh -> Merge Vertex Tool

14. Model Manipulation • Duplicate • Edit -> Duplicate • Edit -> Duplicated Special • Modify -> Freeze Transformation • Window -> Hypergraph Hierarchy • Edit -> Group • Modify -> Center Pivot. • Layer -> Create Empty Layer/ Layer from Selected

15. Maya Textures • Window -> Rendering Editors -> Hypershade • Textures • Blinn • Lambert* • Phong

16. UV Texture • Windows -> UV Texture Editor • Select object • Subdiv -> UV Snapshot… • Select File location • Select image format • PNG • JPG • TIFF

17. Files and Textures • File • PSD File • Select file • Middle mouse drag onto texture to apply file

18. Image Planes • View -> Image Plane -> Import Image… • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYYdIQ7i1Go • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du8-IqA4H6g&feature=related

19. Animation • Path Animation • Attaching an Object to a NURB-basic curve to animate the object along the surface. • Key frame Animation • Standard animation method. • Nonlinear Animation • more advanced method of animation it is completely independent of time

20. Key frame Animation • Linear Animation • You set keys for an object's extreme positions and let the computer fill in the in-between motion. • Dynamic Animation • Apply physics to the animation and the bake the simulation. • Havok physics engine. • IK/FK Animation (Rigged animation) • Inverse Kinematics • IK is how the child node, as it moves, effects all the parents' position and orientation values. • Forward Kinematics •  FK refers to the effect on the child nodes as the parent moves or rotates.