Quad menu in Maya
polycounter lvl 13
Hi guys,
Been lurking around for a while but I finally decided to register
My question is : do you know a script or a plugin (free would be better) that allows me to have the same behaviour as the right click in Max, I'm being allergic to the hotbox.
Also, along the same lines, is there a way to have Maya behave like max for object and component selection (that plus remembering the selection when I switch from one component type to the other would be fantastic !)
Thanks in advance,
Joe
)
Been lurking around for a while but I finally decided to register
My question is : do you know a script or a plugin (free would be better) that allows me to have the same behaviour as the right click in Max, I'm being allergic to the hotbox.
Also, along the same lines, is there a way to have Maya behave like max for object and component selection (that plus remembering the selection when I switch from one component type to the other would be fantastic !)
Thanks in advance,
Joe
)
Replies
Just hold right-click, and use it in conjunction with CTRL and/or SHIFT to access the different context-sensitive Marking Menus.
The nice thing is once you have learned the patterns, you don't need to wait for the menus to pop out, so you can just do the gesture and the action is performed instantly.
Seriously, Marking Menus. They're one of Maya's great strengths, and I highly recommend using them instead of the Hotbox or trying to find something to replicate Max's (frankly slow) Quad menus.
There is some promising work being done to bring the hotbox to max but it's still not all that great. There is no way to gesture like MoP pointed out and that's a HUGE strength.
The quad menu is 4 lists that are hard to navigate and even harder to customize, they where implemented by a programer who likes lists. Not an artist who understands speed, spacial memory and solid UI design. That's not to say Maya isn't a mess in other areas but in this case they got a lot right and you shouldn't dismiss it.
Max uses the biggest button on the keyboard to lock things... wow... that's smart design...
Yeah. THAT'S GENIUS !
in terms of objects remembering the component selection - what i've done is shortcut the component selection options (usually the f8-f11 keys i think) to 1-4. that way they're close to hand and once you go into vertex mode it's that way for all objects in scene. much better than the right click menu i find. the only problem is that max at work has 3 for edge loops and 4 for faces and maya at home has 3 for faces which does get a little confusing!
as for remembering the selection - if you use the ctrl+right click menu it's the convert selection menu. similar to max's in the quad menu but more powerful.
hope that helps!
Another quick question while I'm at it : Is there a way to have interractive tools, I mean, like in max again
Thanks again guys, really appreciated
If you select a node like polyBevel (if you'd done a bevel) or polyExtrude (for ... extrude!) then when you click on it in the Channel Box it should pop out with all the options for that node.
If you highlight any numeric entry field in the Channel Box, you can use Middle Mouse Button to click and drag in the viewport to adjust that parameter dynamically. This works for everything numeric.
Granted it's not as nice as getting the interactive tweak "before you apply" the command, but it's just as interactive even though it's done after the fact.
I think a few people have done scripts to make that stuff behave more like Max, might be worth a look on here or creativecrash.com - Funky Bunnies did an interactive bevel script if I remember right.
Pro-tip: Middle mouse button does everything good in Maya.
MoP had a good suggestion creativecrash.com has a lot of good scripts most of them are free.
Mark : I tried it in the past and really loved it. The only problem is that it's for work and my current employer really doesn't want to spend money on plugins (it would have been my first choice if I had my ways
Fantastic community, thank you !