2006-2007

Maya Tools, Tips, and Techniques

1. Interface and Icons Æ understanding Channel Box, Tool Box, Shelf,

Viewports, etc.
2. Orthographic Views Æ Top, Front, and Side are Orthographic views that is
a 2D view with no tumbling involve. Only the Perspective view can be
tumbled, with Yaw and Pitch control. All views can Pan and Dolly (Zoom).
3. Primitives Æ Spheres, Cylinders, Torus, etc. (NURBS –non-uniform
Rational B-Spline & Polygons)
4. Channel Box Æ updating the parameters in the channel box can change
the geometry composition of an object (spans & sections Æ increasing
these will make the object accumulate more detail upon manipulation)
5. Transformation Matrix Æ Move, Rotate, Scale
(Proportional/Unproportional)
6. Pivot Point Æ the center of rotation for a particular object, can be altered
by getting into pivot point mode hitting the “insert” key. Make sure exit
pivot point mode upon completion.
7. F8 Æ component/object mode: Component mode allows manipulation in
Vertex level, Edit points, etc. Exit and Enter Component by hitting F8,
make sure you exit when complete.
8. Hulls Æ manipulating a row or series of vertices in an object, applies to
NURBS object only.
9. Vertices (Vertex) Æ Control Points on an object. Use for manipulating
points on object in 3D space with any of the transformation matrix.
10. Outliner Æ An organization box of objects and elements inside your Maya
scene file including cameras, lights, and dynamics (located at Windows Æ
Outliner)
11. Group Node/Hierarchy Æ edit “Group” is where you can create a group
node for multiple objects.
12. parent Æ middle mouse button click and drag an object inside the outliner
allows for parenting of Parent/Child relationship; select the child first, then
select the parent, then hit “p” on your keyboard to parent an object
13. Node Æ an element or object inside Maya that could be a placeholder for
geometry, lights, transformation matrix, cameras, shaders, etc.
(represented by a white parallelogram)
14. Snapping Æ different ways to place objects in the maya environment
whether it be snapping to grid plane, objects, points, curves, etc. (X key is
for grid snap, C key is for curve snap, and V key is for point snap)
15. Snap Align Tool Æ use to snap object faces together with precision and
also move/rotate simultaneously; pick first object face, then second, then
hit enter
16. Duplicate Æ copy or instance option (copy makes new items unattached
to the original object, instance makes a “reference” of the original,
therefore modifying the original will change the topography of the
instances); use the translate, rotate, scale to duplicate with transformation
17. CV curve tool Æ Control Vertices curve, allows creation of NURBS curve
by placing control vertices at precise locations
18. EP curve tool Æ Edit Point curve allows creation of NURBS curve by
placing edit points at precise locations
19. Attach Curves/Open&Close curves Æ use to attach two NURB curves
together and also for closing an open NURBS curve or closing a NURBS
curve; located under “Edit Curves” menu
20. Cut Curve toolÆ use to intersect and cut two curves and delete out the
remain portions that is not needed via the intersection point
21. Curve Fillet Æ smooth out the two curves by creating a fillet curve in
between
22. Insert Knot Æ first add a curve point any where on the curve and then
inserting the knot will add a point to that precise curve point on the curve,
use primarily to add points on curve
23. Surface Æ Revolve Æ revolving a curve along a particular axis for
surface formation (X, Y, Z); pick the curve and then revolve; surface
building dependent upon object pivot point and tool axis specification
24. Surface Æ Extrude Æ extruding a curve along a path, distance or tube all
of which forming a surface; pick the profile curve first then the path curve
to use the tool
25. Surface Æ Loft Æ surface building tool by “lofting” a series of NURBS
curves (EP or CV); curves must be picked in order without skipping; allows
open/close curves to be lofted
26. Surface Æ Planar Æ use to cap off surface, however, the curve or
isoparm must be lying on a plane; end result becomes a “trim surface”
27. Edit Æ Duplicate Æ when scale value is set to negative number, it will
duplicate an object with the “mirror” function; preferably set to “-1” on
either of the axis
28. Isoparms Æ appear only in component mode on NURBS surfaces; use
for surface rebuilding, adding more details, or use as a marker for
detaching surfaces
29. Artisan Æ under Edit NURBSÆ Sculpt Surfaces Tool; this is a brush base
technology use to sculpt NURBS surfaces in real time with a combination
of push, pull and smooth techniques. Use “b” key to interactively change
the brush size and “m” key to change the pressure in real time;
“reflection” painting is also allowed to do symmetrical painting
30. LayersÆ maya allows creation of layers to assign any node objects into;
which then can be toggle for Visibility, Templating, Reference, etc.; can
have unlimited layers
31. Display Æ Object Display Æ Template creates a wireframe reference of
the actual node object, Untemplate restores it to original state
32. Reference Æ showing an object but not be able to select it; keeps it as a
reference state; like template except it’s visible in shaded mode
33. polygon Æ primitives Æ cube Æ use to make basic polygonal models;
foundation of a model that can be build through polygon components;
majority of Polygon surfaces used are quads which are prevalent for
video games and visual effects modeling
34. polygon components Æ right mouse click on the object to get polygon
components; vertex – point level manipulation of the polygon by using
transform tool once selected; faces – manipulate a face of a polygon
object by selecting the dot in the middle of the face and then transform;
edges – manipulate an edge of a polygon object by selecting the line that
defines the edge and then transform
35. edit polygon Æ extrude face Æ first select the face of a polygonal object
and then execute the command to bring out the faces on a local
transformation axis; use the manipulator to scale, rotate, or move the face;
hit “g” key to invoke last command; do not double extrude a face
36. edit polygon Æ split polygon tool Æ reset the setting first; use left
mouse click to click and drag from an edge in percentage values and then
drag the opposite edge in percentage value too to match it up; hit “enter”
upon completion; the tool divides the face according to your percentage
interval
37. edit polygon Æ bevel Æ use to smooth or round an edge; first pick an
edge and then execute command; however, some results are
unpredictable; more controls in the channel box input for bevel
38. edit polygon Æ cut faces tool Æ allows interactive cut of polygon faces
through a camera viewport; use to evenly split polygon on all directions
39. create polygon tool Æ use to make a polygonal face that lies on a single
plane; click with left mouse button for the vertices of the polygon; hit
“enter” upon completion
40. append polygon tool Æ use to fill in the hole or gap in an existing
polygonal object; click object first then activate tool; then click on the
edges that borders the whole/gap; follow the purple arrow direction of
selection
41. Modify Æ Make Live Æ select a NURBS or Polygonal object and use this
tool to make the surface a “live” surface in order to draw NURBs Curves
on it; or even create primitives and it will be contour to the surface
42. Edit NURBs Æ surface fillet Æ circular fillet Æ create a nice blend
between two NURBS surfaces; a circular fillet with even radius; normals of
surface must be perpendicular to create a fillet surface
43. Edit NURBS Æ surface fillet Æ freeform fillet Æ use to create a surface
fillet between the two surface, however the radius is not even and there’s
no restriction on the surface construction curves and Isoparms; mainly the
requirements are that the curve directions must “match”
44. Edit NURBS Æ insert isoparms Æ use this tool to create more isoparms
along NURBS U or V direction in order to give more details; first right
mouse click on a NURBS object then select Isoparm and then click and
 drag with left mouse button to bring out more Isoparms; then activate this
tool
45. polygon Æ smooth proxy Æ create a smooth out version of your
polygon object as driven with construction history; make sure setting in the
option box for this tool is set to “keep”; move the proxy aside and watch as
it interactively updates the model
46. edit Æ paint selection tool Æ go to option box of this toolset to bring up
artisan brush base selection utility; this tool help select components of
NURBS, Polygons, and Sub-divs via brush base technology of Artisan
47. edit polygon Æ UV mapping Æ planar mapping Æ use for texture
mapping on polygon objects, in conjunction with UV texture editor; actual
diffuse/bump/specular maps would be created in Photoshop, upon
completion of UV layout
48. edit polygon Æ texture Æ UV snapshot Æ use this to create an image
file as UV reference in Photoshop for texture painting purpose
49. Edit NURBs Æ Project Curve on Surface Æ creates a curves on surface
(COS) on a NURBS object in order to proceed to the trim tool; must pick
the surface first, then the curve that would be use for the projection; best if
use in the orthographic view that is perpendicular to the projection
50. Edit NURBs Æ Intersect Surfaces Æ creates a COS (curve on surface)
on both NURBS surfaces that intersect one another; then proceed with
Trim tool to cut the surfaces according to COS
51. Edit NURBs Æ Trim Tool Æ use to cut out parts of NURBS surface
according to COS, keeping area that is specified; can only be use after
NURBS curve projection or NURBS intersect surface
52. trim edge Æ a new NURBS component, existing after using trim tool
53. Edit polygons Æ merge edge tool Æ use in polygon mode (or polygon
proxy mode within Sub-Div modeling) to merge edges together and close
gaps in polygonal objects
54. MJPoly Tools Æ a plug in extension to Maya modeling module; Polygon
¾ Select Ring Æ pick an edge first then select this tool to pick a ring
of edges in your polygon model
¾ Select Loop Æ pick an edge then select this tool to pick an edge
loop all the way through the model
¾ Edge loop split Æ use this like the split polygon tool, except you can
alter the slide position in the channel box
55. Modify Æ Freeze Transformation Tools Æ use to reset object
transformation to zero value without changing it’s world transformation in
space; very useful especially for animation
56. animation module (F2) Æ the portion of Maya for setting up of character
rigs, basic animation, scripting, skeleton setup, binding, etc.
57. keyframe Æ the process of setting up special frames that marks the
starting and ending point of in-between frames for animation; universal
term across all animation process and software; hit “s” in Maya to set
keyframe
58. fps (frames per second) Æ the amount of frames that will take to equate
to one second in real time; Maya updates and uses frames instead of
seconds, therefore calculations must be done before setting time marker
to the right frame
59. Graph Editor Æ found under WindowsÆ animation editors Æ graph
editor; use this to edit the keyframes and values of the attributes in your
objects; the graph editor display keyframe animation in curve formation,
which can be controlled with different type of tangents (spline, flat,
clamped, fixed, etc.)
60. Channel Control Æ found under Windows Æ General editor Æ channel
control; use this to limit the attributes in an object so that not all attributes
are keyable; this keep maya file tight and clean, eliminating unnecessary
keyframes on attributes that are not needed
61. Constrain Æ Point Æ make an object with transform node (skeleton,
NURBS, Polys, etc.) lock on to another object at point
62. Hypergraph Æ under Windows Æ Hypergraph this is an sophisticated
outliner, allowing parenting, sub level descriptions, and structural
hierarchy
63. Tangents Æ Linear, Flat, Spline Æ different curve for animation control
to distinguish acceleration and deceleration in object transformations
64. Playblast Æ use to check correct frame rate lock on animation; NO
SUBSTITUTION; located under Windows Æ Playblast (option box); make
sure setting is set to fcheck and remove temporary file is check and save
file is uncheck; test animation in fcheck and change frame rate to 30 in the
fcheck window
65. Hardware Render Buffer Æ use to quickly check render utilizing graphics
card direct render, no lag time; found under Windows Æ Rendering Editor
Æ Hardware Render Buffer.