From XSI to Maya - help me get my bearings
Hey guys, I've used XSI for ... wow a long time now. About 4 years. Anyway. I've decided I want to go to Full Sail for their Game Art degree (finally some official training 
) and I've learned they use Maya there. So in anticipation, I've started messing around with it. I've heard XSI is pretty similar to Maya, but so far, I don't see the resemblance. Right now, I'm having a super tough time getting used to the modeling tools (let alone anywhere else). So after running it for awhile, I've come up with some questions that I've searched all over the help files for, since I hate bugging people with noob questions that can be answered with "RTFM." If you could help me out with these, I'd really appreciate it.
1) How do I use selection painting (maybe its called "raycast selection")? XSI would let me click and drag all over the model to select edges and faces and it would select the ones my mouse went over in the process. As it stands I have to select each edge one at a time.
2) How do I turn what XSI called "Ignore Backfacing" on? If I'm looking at the any view of the model in XSI, and I drew a box around vertices, edges, or faces, it would not select the ones on the opposite side. There was an easy to change box I could click, then I could select through the mesh (as if I were to delete half a model).
3) Are there any keyboard shortcuts for the modeling tools and what are they? The help files don't list them and they don't show up to the right of the commands in any of the menus. I find that keyboards commands are way faster than using menu (especially since in Maya I constantly have to hold Spacebar, click Edit Polygons, then click Split Polygon Tool just to draw a line.
That should be it for now. Oh, right now I'm using Maya 7; it's all I had in my CD case, but I'll find a way to get ahold of 2008 ASAP.
Any help is much appreciated,
Ben
) and I've learned they use Maya there. So in anticipation, I've started messing around with it. I've heard XSI is pretty similar to Maya, but so far, I don't see the resemblance. Right now, I'm having a super tough time getting used to the modeling tools (let alone anywhere else). So after running it for awhile, I've come up with some questions that I've searched all over the help files for, since I hate bugging people with noob questions that can be answered with "RTFM." If you could help me out with these, I'd really appreciate it.1) How do I use selection painting (maybe its called "raycast selection")? XSI would let me click and drag all over the model to select edges and faces and it would select the ones my mouse went over in the process. As it stands I have to select each edge one at a time.
2) How do I turn what XSI called "Ignore Backfacing" on? If I'm looking at the any view of the model in XSI, and I drew a box around vertices, edges, or faces, it would not select the ones on the opposite side. There was an easy to change box I could click, then I could select through the mesh (as if I were to delete half a model).
3) Are there any keyboard shortcuts for the modeling tools and what are they? The help files don't list them and they don't show up to the right of the commands in any of the menus. I find that keyboards commands are way faster than using menu (especially since in Maya I constantly have to hold Spacebar, click Edit Polygons, then click Split Polygon Tool just to draw a line.
That should be it for now. Oh, right now I'm using Maya 7; it's all I had in my CD case, but I'll find a way to get ahold of 2008 ASAP.
Any help is much appreciated,
Ben
Replies
2) Display > Polygons > Backface Culling (In earlier versions it's in the Custom Polygon Display)
3) Use the marking menus. They are context sensitive. Shift + Right click for modeling commands. Ctrl + Righ tclick for selection commands.
G = Last action Y = Last tool
Arrow keys for loop and ring selects and toggles
1, 2, 3 for smooth display, and PgUp PgDn for setting the subdivision level.
Also check out the Max vs. Maya thread and Maya workflow thread for some more tips.