learning maya for max users
polycounter lvl 17
Hello,
I recently pick up a new position which requires me to learn maya. Is there any good guides for max users on learning maya?
Thanks guys.
I recently pick up a new position which requires me to learn maya. Is there any good guides for max users on learning maya?
Thanks guys.
Replies
http://draster.com/component/page,shop.product_details/category_id,6/flypage,dvd-flypage/product_id,17/option,com_virtuemart/
1st down (menu type) = Status line
2nd down (Tabs) = Shelf
Left = Toolbox
Spacebar held = Hotbox
Viewport display:
Viewport maximize = Tap Space (do not hold)
Focus (Zoom) = F (will focus on object if one selected, or center of grid if not)
Expert mode = Ctrl+space
Polygon counter = Display - heads up display - poly count
Tool properties:
Exit tool = Q
Manipulator size = +/-
Manipulator locking (for mmb movement) =
1 axis: lmb on desired handle lock for mmb drag. Enabled handle will be yellow.
2 axis: ctrl+lmb on axis to be dissabled. Middle square will lay on active axis. Only works on universal for scale.
Disable lock = ctrl+lmb on middle of manipulator
Object display:
Cage = 1
Cage+sub-d = 2 (will still export as cage)
Sub-d only = 3 (will still export as cage)
Wireframe = 4
Shaded = 5
Textured = 6
Real time lighting toggle = 7
Texture filtering = Viewport menu, shading - hardware texturing.
Silhoette = Viewport menu, lighting - Use No Lights
Selection:
Object = F8
Vertex = F9
Edge = F10
Face = F11
Convert selection = Hold ctrl while pressing corresponding key
Grow/shrink = Shift + >/<
Add = Ctrl+Shift
Remove = Ctrl
toggle = Shift (inverts selection)
Paint select = Toolbox / ctrl+shift+rmb - select - drag select. Hold 'B' and drag lmb/mmb to change brush size.
Select ring = (Maya 2k9) select edge then press up/down to ring, and left/right to pick walk.
Select loop = (Maya 2k9)
Edge = Double click edge
Face = Partial: Select face and then shift+double click end face to loop to.
Full: After selecting two faces press right arrow to select complete loop, and then left/right to pick walk.
Pivot and snapping:
Grid snap = Hold X
Vertex snap = Hold V
Curve snap = Select vertex, hold C then hover over the edge you want to snap it to and press MMB to slide.
Angle snap = In rotation options, listed as discrete rotate, with angle being 'step size'.
Freeze (XForm) = Modify-freeze transformations
Pivot reposition = insert key (press again when done)
Pivot recenter = modify-center pivot
Sculpt:
Tweak = Hold ` when in soft selection to move. most effective when in multi-selection mode.
Smooth = Select area to be smoothed, mesh - sculpt geometry tool (options) - sculpt parameters - operation: relax
Do not use with multi-component mode, will not work correctly.
Soft selection =
On/Off = B (toggle)
Increase/Decrease falloff = Hold lmb+B and drag.
Paint:
Tool location = Render (menu) - texture - 3D Paint tool
Workflow:
Assign new texture in paint tool menu
fill object with base color and save (this is
Splines:
CV Curve =
Will be lathed around x/y/z zero point on grid, so start/end points should be snapped to them.
Surfaces (menu type) - surfaces - revolve (options) - output geometry: polygons, tesselation method: control points
Object will continue to obey curve shape till history is deleted.
Unwraping UV's:
Planar map = Select faces, CreateUVs - Planar (options) - projection manipulator: best plane / keep image width/height ratio
Pelt = Select pelt seams, use cutUV, select UVs and 'smooth UV tool', then lmb-drag from the unfold icon under the UVs.
Select shell (Element) = Select part of desired UV and hold ctrl+rmb, click shell.
Soft selection = Select uv, hold ctrl+shift+rmb - select - soft selection.
Merge/cut edges = Select edges, shift+rmb - sew UVs/cut UVs.
UV color = window - setings/preferences - color preferences - active - objects: polygon surfaces
NOTE = Only UV points (rmb – UV) can be manipulated in the editor, not faces or edges.
Other:
Repeate last = G (does not work for cloning)
Clone = Ctrl+d (ctrl+c ctrl+v leaves manipulator and messess with auto-nameing)
Slider preview = After applying an action (ex: Bevel), under the input node in the channel box select the desired attribute, mmb drag in the viewport to preview change (hold ctrl/shift = slower/faster changes).
Reorder icons = mmb drag
Copy/Paste icon = ctrl+mmb drag
Delete icon = mmb drag to trash can on right side
Place current tool in open shelf = ctrl+shift+lmb on desired tool from menu
Hotbox:
Open = Hold space bar
Change viewport to editor = below hotbox lmb drag
Change editor to viewport = above hotbox lmb drag
Selection masks = left of hotbox lmb drag
Show Menus = right of hotbox lmb drag
Customize hotbox = right side ('hotbox controls') lmb drag the parts of hotbox to show/hide
Group = ctrl+G
Parent = MMB drag child node to parent. break off by MMB dragging child back into blank area
Texture application =
1. pick type of shader (blinn)
2. pick type of texture
3. mmb drag texture to shader and choose type (color)
4. mmb drag combined shader onto object in viewport, or rmb on object - assign existing material - blinn
Texture sets = Select all faces in desired UVset and apply the texture, it'll only be applied to the selected faces.
Normal maps = ZBrush source must be flipped vertically. apply to shader as bump map, bump node as tangent/object space.
General settings = 'Red pipes over checker' node, for things such as offset/tiling/etc.
Display current subdivision in render = Requires mental ray to be enabled.
IPR = 'Interactive photorealistic renderer', refreshes selected region in render vew when changes are made to the material.
Replace shader sphere pic = view - 'grab swatch to hypershade vizor', select desired region, mmb drag to material.
Safe frame = in viewport go to view - camera settings - resolution gate
Render info = render - run render diagnostics
Render globals = all basic render settings
Lighting:
Ambient = like a sun, sends light in all directions but deminishes highlights
Directional = like a sun, sends light in one direction for an infinite distance
Point light = essentialy a lightbulb, or omni light.
Cone angle = size of light
Penumbra angle = intensity falloff amount
Symmetry:
1. Delete via faces unneeded half of mesh
2. Grid snap pivot to where you want the center of symmetry.
3. Edit – Duplicate Special (options)
4. Instance, scale = -1
5. Align verts along center.
6. Turn on 'reflection' in any manipulators settings, will lock symmetry line components.
7. If seam is still breaking, under reflection settings turn off 'Preserve seam', and increase 'Tolerance'.
Map Baking:
1. Status line = rendering
2. Lighting/Shading - transfer maps
3. Select low res mesh, target mesh: Add selected
4. Select high res mesh, Source Meshes: Add selected (all non target meshes considered source meshes if nothing selected)
5. Output maps: Normal/Ambient/etc., select output directory+name+format+normal map type
6. Maya common Output: select quality settings
7. Bake / bake and Close
Troubleshooting:
Problem = Bridge will twist every time used, despite twist settings.
Fix = After bridge is made go to attribute editor and change bridge offset to a higher number (1-4 normaly work).
Problem = Viewport flickering is happening under Windows XP 64bit Edition.
Fix = Turn off 'threaded optimization' in nvidia control panel.
or, in maya.env file (in myDocuments), include the string: MAYA_GEFORCE_SKIP_OVERLAY=1
Problem = Manipulator handles are off screen, and +/- are not fixing it.
Fix = Window-settings/preferences-preferences-display-manipulators and shrink global scale.
Problem = Transform/Smart Manipulator is broken or doesn't appear when using tools that are supposed to activate it.
Fix = There is no currently known gauranteed fix. Fixes include reinstalling maya, and using different graphics card drivers.
Problem = None of the hotkeys are working.
Fix = Make sure caps lock is not enabled, it will mess with all hotkeys.
Problem = My shelf tabs are glitching out after reordering them.
Fix = Restart program. Recommended they never be moved, can cause serious issues that require reinstall.
Problem = I cannot export my mesh as an obj, the most common 3d format.
Fix = In maya this capability is not on by default. Go to and enable: window>setting/prefs>plugin manager>objExport.mll
Problem = OBJ files will not export with their UV's.
Fix = uvSet1 must be the currently visible set in the editor.
I am by no stretch a Maya expert but I did start off with Maya years ago, switched to Max and then later went back and brushed up on Maya.
I recommend checking out NEX http://draster.com/nex-1.5/. It does a decent job of upgrading Maya's modeling tools and providing actual previews of what the tools will do.
Save and save often, its going to crash and there are no autoback files. Most of the autoback scripts are trash. There is some promising work going on in this thread tho... http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=61286
The history stack looks like the modifier stack, but is actually kind of closer to the history list in photoshop. If you let this get cluttered up it can slow things down. If you've been a collaspalolic in 3dsmax you're probably going to be fine.
You'll probably like how the UV tools work, its not modifier dependent. Its a mode you can enter at just about any time you want. Most of if not all of 3dsmax's UV tools are in Maya, a few of them work better.
This list is helpful when you're trying to figure out what the Maya name for things are.
http://www.paulneale.com/tutorials/MaxMaya/maxMaya.htm
EDIT: Woa polyhurtz...
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Autodesk-Maya-3ds-Side-Side/dp/1598632426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236271596&sr=8-1[/ame]
@Dekard - that book looked pretty much what i had been looking for so just ordered my self one, thanks for pointing me in its direction.
@Vig - The Nex tools look cool. I'm working in maya 8 so hopefully those tools will give me some that i'm used to from the newer 3ds versions. The Paul Neale list is awsome as well. Gives me a quick answer to some of the things i want to do in maya. Haven't tried the UV tools yet, starting to get to grips with no stack.
@Polyhertz - Thanks for listing ur notes. been reading through them and now i know how to grow my selection : ) thanks.
@nome_same - the training videos looks good but i'll see if i get learn off the bits i found and Dekards book before giving the vids a go. thanks.
elements = shells
For move/rotate/scale hold W/E/R and lmb to bring up the manipulators marking menu
if part of a mesh is deleted via edges the resulting geo will be capped, but if done by faces it wont.
ignore backface = In toolbox click 'select', in menu that appears on right check 'camera based selection'
backface culling = viewport menu, shading panel.
Deleting verts/edges in maya wont delete faces, and verts with more then 2 edges attached can't be deleted directly.
select tri/ngons = select-'select using constraints'
Parenting = Select child, then shift+click parent in Outliner and press P to parent (shifp+p to unparent)
Parent vs group = Parent creats parent child relations between objects in scene, group makes all objects children, with an unrenderable node as their pivot.
boolean = mesh - booleans -
difference (white kept, green deleted)
Union (welded together, intersection deleted)
Intersection (only intersecting geo kept, welded together)
FFD: In animation - create deformers - lattice (ffd). delete history to get rid of.
To turn off visibility of an object select it (regular or in outliner), and in channel box turn visibility to 0 (off), turn back on by setting to 1 (on)
MMB can be used repeatedly without touching manipulator to perform same operation till mode exited
to break off a piece of a mesh into a seperate object go to mesh - extract. mesh - seperate is for breaking off elements (aka shells) only.
Attach/Combine = mesh - combine.
Group = ctrl+g (view hypergraph to see affect).
To select all in group, select object from group and press up arrow key
If selecting multiple objects, the last one selected will be green and the rest white. If grouped the green will become the parent.