F2������� ����������� Animation
F3������� ����������� Modeling
F4������� ����������� Dynamics
F5������� ����������� Rendering
Q�������� ����������� Select
Tool
W������� ����������� Move
Tool
R��������� ����������� Scale
Tool
T��������� ����������� Show
Manipulators
Y�������� �����������
Reuse Last Tool
1��������� ����������� Rough
2��������� ����������� Medium
3��������� ����������� Fine
4��������� ����������� Wireframe
5��������� ����������� Smooth
Shade All
6��������� ����������� Hardware
Texturing
7��������� ����������� Use
All Lights
ALT+MMB���� ����������� ����������� Track
ALT+LMB����� ����������� ����������� Tumble
ALT+
MMB+LMB��� ����������� Dolly
[���������������������� ����������� ����������� Undo
View
]���������������������� ����������� ����������� Redo
View
SHIFT ����������� Hold
to select multiple objects
INSERT����������� Toggle between the object and
object�s pivot manipulators.
Z��������� ����������� Undo
SPACE����������� Tap to enlarge your current panel to
full screen or hold to open up the hot box.
FILE
Project
New�
Create a new project directory. Follow the steps
below once �New�� has been selected:
1.
Rename
the project
2.
Click
Use Defaults
3.
Click
Accept
Set�
Change the project directory you are working into another
project directory. It is a good idea to reopen your scene after charging project
directories to insure all the changes made to the scene will be saved in the
new project directory.
Group
Create a null that will become the parent of all of
the items selected. The null will be located at the origin by default but can
be changed under Group Options to be located at the center of all of the
selected items.
Ungroup
Remove the hierarchical relationship between the
null and the null�s children. The null will also be deleted.
Create
Empty Group
Create a null with no connections to any other items
in the scene. Remember nulls are non-renderable objects.
Parent
Create a hierarchical relationship between two or
more objects. The last item selected will be the parent the rest will be the
children.
Unparent
����������� Undo a hierarchical relationship
between a parent and its child.
Duplicate
Create an exact copy of the object selected. All
upstream and down stream connections can be duplicated as well. By default the
copy will have the same channel inputs as the original but the number of
copies, the scale, rotation and translation of each copy can be modified in
Duplicate�s Options.
Ex. You could create a row of duplicate objects with
each copy rotated and scaled slightly more than the previous copy.
MODIFY
Freeze
Transformations
Use with Caution! The object�s transformations
become its new origin, i.e. the object�s transformations revert to the Create
defaults without changing the properties of the transformations that have
already been done on the object. Essentially it�s the same as if a new object
was created with all of the same attributes and properties as the object that
was just �frozen�.
Make
Live
Select a surface or construction plane and then
select this menu item to allow the object to be treated as the surface to which
all points will be placed on by curve creation tools. Live objects cannot be
modified, but can be toggled non-live, modified, and then be made live again.�
Note: New CV points can only be placed on the live
surface�s isoparms.
Center
Pivot
����������� Re-Centers the an object�s pivot
back to the object�s center.
CREATE
CV
Curve Tool � (Control Vertices Curve Tool)
Creates curves based on an polynomial equation fit
to the points used to make the curve. The degree of the polynomial can be set
under the CV Curve Tool Options. The default is to the third degree or a cubic.
Press Enter when finished making the curve.
EP
Curve Tool � (Edit Point Curve Tool)
Similar to the CV Curve Tool, but instead of deciding
on the location of the CV�s and then having Maya draw the actual curve, with
the EP Curve cool, you draw the curve and Maya fits the CV�s. Press Enter when
finished making the curve.
Text
Creates a group or a group of groups of curves whose
CV�s are preset to shape closed curves that form letters. Be sure to create
Text using the Text Options where the desired text can be typed in directly
and a variety of Font types are available. To create solid letters add a Surface
to the text curves (See MODELING with NURBS)
Arc
Tool
����������� Three Point Arc Tool
Creates a NURBS arc semicircle with three points, a
start point, a radius point, and an end point.
����������� Two Point Arc Tool
Creates a NURBS arc semicircle with two points and
the radius being half the distance between them.
Construction
Plane
A non-renderable �flat� surface that with a YX, YZ,
or XZ pole axis. The axis and the size of the plane can be set in the
Construction Plane Options. To make use of a construction plane, make it Live.
(See MODIFY�Make Live)
In general planes, can be moved, rotated and scaled
but they cannot be modified when they are Live. Toggle off the Live properties
to modify the plane then, turn them back on to continuing using the plane.
Grid
Toggle between the design grid� being visible or not visible. The grid will
not render whether it is visible or not. The Grid Options allow you to modify
the size and number of divisions the grid has.
Axis
Toggle between the reference axis being visible or
not visible. The axis will not render whether they are visible or not.
Hide
The hide command turns the visibility of an object
or type of object to �off�. Items whose visibility is off will not render or
influence the render of the scene.
Show
This command counteracts the Hide command, turning
the visibility of an object or type of object to �on�.
NURBS
Components
Show various NURBS components. This is the only way
to make NURBS Normals visible.
Polygon
Components
Show various polygon components. This is the only way to make Polygon Normals visible.
WINDOW
General
Editors
There are several editors available but for the our
purposes the only one needed is Script Editor� Script Editor opens a separate
window that displays a list of the software�s command actions that can not normally
be seen. This is an excellent way to monitor the progress of your renders.
Rendering
Editors
����������� Again there are several editors but
the only one you need is Render View� Please See
����������� �Dave�s Phenomenal Maya Cheat Sheet
� Rendering Menu Set�
Render
Globals
����������� Image File Output
All of the defaults in this section will be used for
this class normally. However, Maya does contain a post-formatting render option
that allows you to choose other image formats like GIF or JPEG rather than the
standard Maya IFF.
����������� Resolution
There are several standard choices available for the
size or set style of the resolution. In producing stills for the web and print,
the graphic artist need only worry about the width, height, and device aspect
ratio.
The default device aspect ratio of 1.333 is a
standard to create rectangular pixels like the ones used in television screens.
For computer monitors it is more desirable to use a device aspect ratio of
1.000.
If you are not satisfied with the size of your
rendering but like the ratio of the width and height, check the Maintain
Width/Height Ratio box. This way changing either the width or height will
automatically change the other in proportion.
Anti-Aliasing Quality�����������
����������� Anti-Aliasing uses an algorithm to slightly blur the
edges of your scene�s objects. This blur helps to give a scene a more natural
look instead of computer generated perfection. With still images, you can
usually afford to use the Highest Quality.
�����������
����������� To also improve the natural look, especially your edges,
you can turn on Mulitpixel Filtering, of which the Gaussian Filter is
recommended. This will however greatly increase your rendering times.
Frame
Selected in All Views
Maya will automatically set up the camera to focus
on all of the selected objects bringing them all into view in all of your
viewing panels. This is useful when working in complex scenes and for giving
you a good guess for the final camera position before rendering.
Frame
All in All Views
Maya will automatically set up the camera to focus
on all of the objects of your scene. This is very useful for providing you with
a good guess for the camera�s position in rendering your scene.
Options provides you with a list choices for setting
up the user interface in Maya. The Menu Guide provides my choices but you are,
of course, free to use what works best for you. Here is a brief description of
what each option provides.
Status Line: provides a menu to the four major menu
categories, and an icon menu to your selection choices and grid snap choices.
Shelf: Provides a list of the 5 main manipulator
tools and a tab of several other commonly used tools.
Feedback Line: Provides you with some information on
the commands you have just performed. Much of the same information is updated
in the Channel Box.
Layer Bar: Provides an easy way to create and access
different layers in your scene. As we will not be using layers, it does not
need to be displayed.
Time Slider: Used in animations to quickly identify
what frame you are working in and to quickly move to different frames. It also
provides the �play� icon controls. We will not be animating our scenes, so this
too is not needed.
Range Slider: Also used in animation to easily set
the length of an animation and to provide icons to aid in saving keys. Again,
we will not be animating our scenes so this too is not needed.
Command Line: Seen at the bottom of the screen, this
line displays messages to the user that certain commands were executed
successfully, that an error occurred while trying to execute a command and why
the error occurred and any warning statements that the user should be aware of
when continuing to build their scene.
Help Line: Provides hints or information as to what
a tool is and how it should be used.
Customize
UI�
Customize User Interface allows you to modify the
hotkeys and some of the user interface menus. Until you become familiar with
Maya I would recommend using the defaults, but feel free to adapt these
functions to your needs as you become more experienced.