A T a s t e o f M a y a F UNDA M E NT AL S This l esson focu ses on Maya basics. Subsequen t lessons assu me you have sufficient knowledge about Maya’s User Interface and ho w to nav igate the man y wind ows and editors provided, as well as using such elements as tool s, shortcuts, and m arking menus. If you are familiar with May a, you can skip this lesson, but it’ s a good idea to refresh your m emory from tim e-to- time and to check to see if any chan ges have been mad e to the i nterface since you last used the software. In this t utoria l: Getting started ... page 2 • Using Maya ’ s primitives and camera tools ... page 3 • Using transformation tools ... page 4 • Using the Shelf and ren aming obj ects ... page 6• Using the Chan nel B ox and Ou tliner ... page 7• Impr oving th e obj ect’ s display in the views ... page 8 • Selecting and transforming components ... page 9 • Positioning objects ... page 10 • Duplicating and instancing ... page 11 • Working with p ivots... page 12 • Using editors to select nod es and a djust attributes ... page 13 See also Maya’ s Embedd ed Language (MEL) ... page 16an d Maya UI d efi nitions in brief ... page 21
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Components are the points and elements that tie everything together. For example, control
vertices (or CVs) are poin ts that con trol the shape of a NURBS curv e, and vertices are points that
connect to lines to create polygon s.
2 Drag a selection box (sometimes referred to as marquee or marquee-select ) around the control
vertices (CVs) located just inside th e edge of Knob.
3 Scale out the CVs un til the outer ed ges of Base reach the inside edge of Knob. Use the
following example as a guideline.
The perspective view displays a smoother transition between Base and Knob.
Part of the reason the transition is this smooth is because you changed the nu mber of surface
curves—you set Spans to 2 in the Chan nel Box. With mor e curves, you can make finer and
smooth er edits to the N URBS object. For best results, you shou ld always add curves or otherconstruction history changes before you transform an ob ject’s individual components.
4 To quit compon ent d isplay mod e and retur n to object selection mod e, right click on Base
again and choose Select from the marking menu .
Positioning objects
The following steps show you h ow to p recisely position the doorkn ob into the door.
Position the doorknob
1 Choose Display > Show > Show Last Hidden to see the door aga in. The Display > Show
subm enu is the counterpar t to the Display > Hide menu.
2 Select Knob. When you select Knob, Maya also selects Base because it is the child.
3 Scale dow n Knob in all directions to an app ropr iate size compar ed w ith the door. The
transformation applies to both Knob and Base because of the par ent-child relationship .
4 Move Knob forward , up, and t o the edge of the door, as shown in the following image. You
may w ant to keep a small portion of the doorknob base within the door’s su rface so it looks
Using editors to select nodes and adjust attributes
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The Hypershade d isplays a dependency graph. It show s the flow of data depend encies between
different types of nodes. For instance, an arrow points from makeNurbSphere to KnobShape.
This means information flows from the makeNurbSphere node, which contains the construction
history used to create the sph ere, to the KnobShap e node, wh ich contains the resulting
math ematical description of Knob’s shape.
Maya continua lly analyzes the depend ency graph w ith every change you make to the scene, up
through your final render. Using the H ypergraph , programmers and advan ced u sers can
examine and alter the d ependen cy graph for more direct control. They can examine rendering-related connections between shad ers, materials, textures, and lights, or connect nodes, such as
the rotation attributes of two orbiting spheres.
There are not man y connections in this simple scene. As you learn about ren dering an d
animation, particularly character animation, you will see many more connections between nodes.
CONCLUSION
You just comp leted the first lesson wh ich shou ld at least get you comfortable with Maya’s
interface. The next section of this lesson d escribes Maya ’s UI in brief. It is a referen ce point for
you to return to should you forget what certain w indows are for, or for such things as wh at
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installation executable available from www.aliaswavefront.com/tasteofmaya.
MAYA UI DEFINITIONS IN BRIEF
The items includ ed in th e following by n o mean s cover all Maya’s user interface components.
This lesson covers the basics—the tools and operations you are most likely to use d uring m ost of
your Maya sessions.
The lessons in the tutorial set use many of the following ed itors, wind ows, operations, and tools,
so if you n eed to refresh your m emory, you can always return to this list for qu ick information.
MAYA’S MAIN WINDOW
The following items are common to every Maya session and display by d efault wh en you first
open Maya.
Menu sets
Maya has four basic menu sets. When you select a menu set from th e Status Line’s pull-dow n
menu , the menus that d isplay in the m ain menu bar contain th e tools and actions specific to thetype of operation you w ant to p erform. These menu sets are:
Animation
Contains menus for setting keyframes, creating set driven key relationships, path animation and
constraints. Skinning an d IK skeleton creation menu s as well as menu s supporting Deformers are
also part of this set.
Modeling
Contains men us for creating curves and su rfaces as well as Polygon creation and ed iting tools.
Dynamics
Contains m enu s for Particles, Rigid and Soft Body creation and editing tools. The Effects men u
contains m any p re-mad e dyn amics effects tools and examp les of what you can do with Maya’s
dynamics tools.
Rendering
Contains menu s for creating lights and materials as well as texture ap plication tools. The Paint
Effects tool set menus a re also located here.
Common Menus
The first six menu s from th e left are comm on to all menu sets (File, Edit, Modify, Create, Display,
and Window). When you select a different menu set, these six menu s remain the sam e.
Mini Bar
The Mini Bar contains common ly used tools includ ing Selection, Move (or translate), Rotate ,
Scale, the Show Manipulator Tool, and the Cu rrently Active Tool. The associated hotkeys for
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Time Slider
The Time Slider butt ons control playback, pause, rewind , and some keyframing op erations. From
the Time Slider, you can set the curren t frame as well as advan ce or retreat from th e next
keyframe on the selected object.
• LMB-drag to “scrub” the current time.
• Shift + LMB-drag selects a region of time (highlighted in red ) which can then be m oved
around the time slider—in effect, moving keyframes around as a grou p.
• RMB in the m ain region of the time slider to d isplay a menu with a list of choices. For
example, you can Cut and Paste a selected region of keyframes back into the Time Slider or
onto a d ifferent object.
Range Slider
The Range Slider contains extra options used to control anima tion attribu tes. You can establish
the range of anima tion frames in the scene, and by growing or sh rinking the ran ge slider, you
can focus on sp ecific regions of your frames.
The button s at the right side of the Range Slider let you select the curr ent Char acter and tu rn
Auto Keyframing on or off. Clicking the bu tton at th e far right displays the Animation Timelineand Playback Preferences wind ow from w hich you can change d efault settings.
Command Line
MEL stands for Maya Embedd ed Language and is Maya’s built-in scripting language. The
Comm and Line, located d irectly above the H elp Line, is a single line where you can view and
write MEL comman ds.
The left side of the Command Line is a text field wh ere you en ter MEL comman ds. The right side
disp lays the last p rinted line of MEL feedback v isible in the Script Editor.
The button at the far right opens the Script Editor. (See Maya's Embedded Language (MEL)...
page 16 for information on h ow to create buttons, etc.).
In add ition to editing and runn ing MEL command s, you can u se this editor to add MEL
comman ds to th e Shelf. For example, if you w rite a simp le script tha t you u se often, such as
scaling certain objects in a scene to a sp ecified v alue, add that script to th e Shelf where you can
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Help Line
The Help Line, located at the bottom of the main w indow, is very useful for beginners. It
displays information about tools and procedu res as you work in Maya.
When d rag you r mou se over areas of the interface, information d escribing the item d isplays in
the Help Line. When w orking with a command or tool, the Help Line prompts you for the nextexpected action, or prov ides tips on using th e cur rent tool.
Channel Box
The Channel Box is located at the right of the main w indow . This is wh ere you view an d enter
information about n odes and the attributes for these nodes. If you m ake it part of your view,
(which it is by default), you can quickly adjust attributes an d instan tly view the results. To close
the Channel Box, select Display > UI Elements > Layer Bar and check it off.
The top section of the Channel Box contains basic information abou t the selected object. These
are the attribu tes that control wh ere the object is located in th e scene. The other nod es related to
this object are located directly und er this section.
The Shap e nodes carry information abou t an object beyond its position, rotation and scale. Forexample, the makeNurbCube shape n ode contains information about w idth, length to height
ratio, and Patches in U and V directions. These attributes are editable and keyframable.
Also listed in the Chann el Box are the inpu t and outp ut n odes related to the selected object.
Some attributes in the Channel Box contain p reset p ull-dow n menu s from w hich you choose a
setting. If you are not su re, LMB on an attribute to see if it contains a p ull-dow n m enu.
Ca meras (views)
Viewing your scene in 3D is made easy in Maya using the camera views. The hotkey and mou se
interaction for camera man ipu lation in Maya is widely regarded as the best in the ind ustry . By
defau lt, a new scene in Maya contains four cameras, or views,—a perspective camera and 3
orthogonal cameras.
Perspective Ca mera
The persp ective camera m imics the way a film or television camera op erates. This is the onlycamera in which you can tum ble the view (Alt-LMB).
Orthogonal Ca meras
Top, side, and front orthogonal cameras are provided by d efault. These cameras display the
scene without a vanishing line of sight , or perspective view. They are u sed to accurately position
objects in relation to world space and the grid used to measure distances.
Tips
• In the Chann el Box and Attribu te Editor, RMB over attributes to access a drop-down
men u sp ecific to that attribu te
• To edit multiple values, Shift-select and type a value to repeat this num ber for other
items. For example, if you w ant to position an object in the center of the v iew, Shift-
select the Tran slate X, Y, and Z attribu tes, type 0,and p ress Enter.
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Panels
Once you become more familiar with Maya, there may be times w hen h aving extra window s or
editors op en can become a n uisance. Select the Panels > Panel menu in a view and select the
type of wind ow or editor you w ant to p lace in that view. See the following example:
To return to a camera view, select a menu item from th e Panels menu in each view.
HotboxBy pressing and holding dow n the space bar you open the Hotbox. The Hotbox is a centralized
heads-up display for all the menu s in Maya wh ich contains marking menu s and zones of
interaction that can greatly increase your productivity.
The Hotbox can take a w hile to get used to, but it can also un lock a great amount of screen space
by removing the need for the main menus.
EDITORS AND WINDOWS
You can u se adjust attributes in Maya, change tool properties and save them, and interactively
view the resu lts of those changes an d ad justm ents. In ord er to do th is efficiently, most of Maya’s
editors and w indows correspond to each other. For example, no m atter what the items are(lights, special effects, objects, polygons, etc...) you open its associated Attr ibute Editor, change
the default settings, and w atch the results in the views. The following describes the windows and
editors most used du ring a typ ical Maya session.
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Attribute Editor
The Attribute Ed itor is a more d etailed v ersion of the Channel Box. Where the Chan nel Box is an
abbreviated list of keyable attributes, the Attribute Ed itor lists all attributes on the selected nod e
or ob ject.
The Attribute Editor includ es such items as sliders, pull-dow n m enus, and drag-and-dropfunctionality. The tabs located at t he top of the Attribu te Editor let you choose wh ich node to
edit. The items displayed in the body of the Attribute Editor are the attribu tes associated with
that node.
Transform node
Objects in Maya hav e a top level node called a Transform node. This basic node is used to control
an object’s position, rotation, and scale. These attributes are know n as the Transform Attributes.
Shape node
Objects have a secondar y nod e, a Shape node, which contains information abou t an object’s
surface history, render p roperties, and display qu ality.
Other nodes
Other nod es, such as texture an d material nodes, are best edited using the Attribute Editor in
conjun ction with the Hypershade/ Visor.
CUSTOMIZING MAYA’S UI
In the Window > Settings/Preferences menu , various items open editors where you can set the
command s that you u se most often and save them to m ake your Maya experience truly your
own.
Includ ed in this menu are ed itors to assign ho tkeys, change default d isplay colors, re-arrangeview panels, and m any more.
Preferences window
Maya’s preferences are broken u p int o several areas. Interface, Display, Settings, and Modules.
When you op en the Preferences window (Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences), you
will notice the Categories at the left and the op tions at the right. Simply choose menu items,
enter values, or turn items on or off to customize your Maya sessions.
For example, in the Interface Category, click to turn off In Separate Window for OpenAttribute Editor so the Attribute Editor will not be floating w hen you press the Ctrl-a hotkey.
Interface/ UI Elements
The Interface categories pr ovide op tions to set how the UI behaves. You can also access these
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2001, Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. All rights reserved. By using this
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installation executable available from www.aliaswavefront.com/tasteofmaya.
Outliner
There are tw o meth ods to look at the contents of a Maya scene file: the Outliner and the
Hypergraph. The Ou tliner displays the contents of your scene file in a listed format. The contents
of the Outliner d isplay as n ested groups if the items und er this group are part of a h ierarchy.
• to Re-order an object, MMB-click-drag (line betw een other objects).
• to Parent on object, MMB-click-drag (lines outline parent).
• to Expand/Collapse hierarchy, LMB on the + and - symbols.
• to Show Shape Nodes, RMB-click-select a menu item.
• to Select multiple continuous objects in a list, Shift-LMB-select the top ob ject then th e
bottom object of list.
• to Select multiple non-continuous objects in list, Ctrl-LMB-select each object.
Hypergraph
The Hypergrap h d isplays the contents of your scene in a w indow that shows the items in
rectangles, and how they are connected by lines. The Hyp ergraph’s two m odes of operation forlooking at the contents of your scene are d escribed in th e following:
Sce ne Hierarchy mode
This mode lets you see objects and their hierarchies much like the Ou tliner, but in a m ore
freeform layou t.
• to Re-order an object, LMB-click-drag (first select Options > Layout > Freeform Layout
from the Hyp ergraph menu s).
• to Parent an object, MMB click d ragging one object on top of another object or group .
• to Expand/Collapse hierarchy, RMB-select Expand or Collapse from a m enu.
• to Show Shape Nodes, by select Options > Display > Shape Nodes in the Hyp ergraph
Options menu.
• to Select multiple contiguous objects, LMB-marquee a box aroun d th e objects.
• to Select multiple non-contiguous objects, Shift-LMB-select each ob ject.
Upstream and Downstream Connections mode
This mod e lets you see how the flow of information is moving from on e nod e to another throu gh
connected attribu tes. This is similar to a p roduction line wher e each piece of information tr avels
between n odes, each with the sp ecific task it performs on the informa tion before passing it along
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Hypershade / Visor
The Hypershad e and Visor window s are used to build and manage textures and m aterials for
establishing the render ed look of your scene. Although these are listed as separate UI elements,
they are most often u sed together and app ear as a single UI comp onent.
Hypershade
The Hypershad e portion of the Hyp ershade/ Visor shares similar functionality to the
Hyp ergraph. It displays materials and textures mu ch like the Hyp ergraph d isplays nodes and
attribute connections.
Visor
The Visor is the portion of the H ypershade/ Visor combination w here you find scene elements in
your scene, or may wan t to bring into you r scene, to help create the look of objects when th ey are
rendered. Lights, Cameras, Textures, Sourceimages, and Materials are found in the Visor.
You can also use the Visor to navigate the har d d rive to find an d load other elements and scenes
not associated with the curr ent pr oject.
Render Globals
General rendering settings are set in the Render Globals window . From the Rend er Globals
wind ow you can adjust settings for the rendered im age size or resolution, Anti-aliasing qu ality,
Raytracing quality, Motion blur, and IPR options among many others.
Render View
The Render View is where you test render your scene. The Render View wind ow is also where
you use IPR, Maya’s Interactive Photo-realistic Rend erer.
Graph Editor
The Graph Editor is where you manage th e keyframe animation you have created. The GraphEditor displays keyframe animation as curves called animCurves.