Basics

Legal Notice

Autodesk Maya 8.5

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Third-Party Copyright NoticesI. Graph Layout Toolkit Copyright 1992-2003 Tom Sawyer Software, Berkeley, California. All rights reserved.II. Portions relating to JPEG Copyright 1991-1998 Thomas G. Lane. All rights reserved. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.III. Portions relating to TIFF Copyright 1997-1998 Sam Leffler. Copyright 1991-1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved.The TIFF portions of this software is provided by the copyright holders and contributors "as is" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the copyright owner or contributors of the TIFF portions be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to,

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PatentsProtected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,764,233, 5,808,625, 5,809,219, 5,818,452, 5,847,716, 5,852,450, 5,889,528, 5,926,178, 5,929,864, 5,990,908, 5,999,195, 6,025,852, 6,037,948, 6,118,427, 6,130,673, 6,204,860, 6,211,882, 6,232,980, 6,246,416, 6,266,071, 6,317,128, 6,348,924, 6,356,271, 6,363,503, 6,384,835, 6,389,154, 6,414,700, 6,462,740, 6,525,735, 6,549,212, 6,553,337, 6,618,063, 6,798,416, 6,850,638, 6,859,202, 6,888,542, 6,915,492, 7,034,824, 7,139,444; and patents pending.

03 2007

Table of contents

Save and reuse a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Select objects based on hierarchy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Basics3

Select components by painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 Interface overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

About Working in Maya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173D coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Mayas Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Objects and components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Selection, tools, and actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Main window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Menus and menu sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Marking menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Shelves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Maya Web browser plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Autodesk Maya Error Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

How do I? Get help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Print the Maya Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Work with menu items, tools, and options . . . . . . . . 25Select tools and actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Set the options for a tool or menu item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Select actions from marking menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Select actions from the hotbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Select actions on a shelf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Load the default shelves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Start Maya from the command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Install the Maya Web browser plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

2 Selecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

How do I? Select objects or components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Select a node. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Select only certain types of objects or components (selection masks) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Table of ContentsChange one type of selection to another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Grow, shrink, or change the selected region of CVs or polygon components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

3 Viewing the scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

How do I? Move and rotate the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Tumble, track, dolly, or tilt the view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Use the mouse to control camera azimuth, elevation, yaw or pitch . 42

Center the view on selected or all objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Return to previous views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Change and resize panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Change the panel layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Create a window from the contents of a panel (tear off). . . . . . . . . . . 45

Control what camera is shown in a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Show, hide, or change the grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Show information over top of a view (heads-up display) . . . . . . . . . . 47

Change the display of objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Change the look and smoothness of the selected objects . . . . . . . . . 47

Show or hide objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Show or hide components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Show or hide object-specific UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Show an isolated subset of objects or components in a panel . . . . . 50

Change an objects wireframe color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

4 Transforming objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

About Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53The pivot point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

World space, object space, and local space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Mayas interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Construction history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Construction planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Copies vs. instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Basics

4

How do I? Transform objects and components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Table of ContentsUse manipulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Lock a manipulator to the current selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Move, rotate, or scale objects and components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Move, rotate or scale components proportionally. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Use the Universal Manipulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Move, rotate, or scale components with reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Change the pivot point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Flip objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Transform along different axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Set transformation values to zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Align and snap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Snap to the grid, a curve, points, or a view plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Snap all creation tools to a surface or construction plane . . . . . . . . . 73

Align objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Snap one object to another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Change history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Undo, Redo, and Repeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Edit completed commands (construction history) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Show a custom manipulator for the selected node. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Create and edit models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Create geometric primitives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Create text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Edit objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Cut, Copy, and Paste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Duplicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Edit component numeric values directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

5 Nodes and attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

About Nodes and attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Two views of the scene: hierarchy and dependency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Basics5

Scene hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Dependency graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Table of ContentsThe Outliner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

The Hypergraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Node types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

How do I? View and edit attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Change attribute values in the Attribute Editor or Channel Box . . . . 95

Show or hide the manipulator for an attribute in the Channel Box . . 97

Inline numeric calculation in multiple cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

View and edit multiple attributes on multiple nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Save and reuse attribute presets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Lock the value of an attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Create, edit, or delete custom attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Open multiple Attribute Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Control the display of attributes in the Channel Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

View and change the hierarchy of nodes . . . . . . . . . 104View and edit the hierarchy of nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Change the visual layout of nodes in the Hypergraph . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Change the order of nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Organize nodes into logical groupings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

View and change input and output history relationships between nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Show inputs and outputs (dependency graph) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Connect input and output attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Connect attributes with an expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Break connections between attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Set a nodes update state. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Change the display of nodes and attributes . . . . . . 114Show or hide nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Control which objects or attribute types appear in an editor . . . . . . 115

Save and reuse object or attribute visibility filters in editors . . . . . . 116

6 File management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

About Managing your files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Basics

6

Supported image formats (rendering) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Table of ContentsSupported file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

How do I? Create, open, or save a scene file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Open recently saved files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Import files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Export objects to a new file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Export objects as a referenced file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Organize files into projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

View images or animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Recover data after a crash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

7 Scene management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

About Managing complex scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Organizing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Sets and partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

How do I? Optimize scene size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Organize objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Change the name of one or more objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Make an object unselectable (template) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Organize objects on display layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Edit all objects on a layer at once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Group objects together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Create and edit sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Keep a collection of sets from having overlapping membership. . . 139

Annotate and measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Annotate or document objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Measure the distance between two points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Show parameter or arc-length values on a curve or surface . . . . . . 141

8 Preferences and customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

How do I? Save preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Basics7

Customize the look and feel of the interface . . . . . . 143Show or hide user interface elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Table of ContentsChange user interface colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Create a custom panel layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Add a new panel to the list of available panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Change the length (scale) of normals in the display . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Customize shelves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Create, rename, rearrange, or delete a shelf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Add a tool, action, or MEL script to a shelf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Edit the MEL script associated with a shelf item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Edit the contents of a shelf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Use a custom name or icon for a shelf item. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Change the display of shelves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Customize menu sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Custom menu sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Manage custom menu sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Customize marking menus and the hotbox . . . . . . . 153Create or edit a marking menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Assign a marking menu to a hotkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Add a marking menu to the hotbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Customize the hotbox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Customize hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Assign a predefined command to a hotkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Assign a MEL script to a hotkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

View a list of all assigned hotkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Customize how Maya works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Switch operations between actions and tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Load or unload Maya plug-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Improve performance, quality, or interactivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Switch between Y-up and Z-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Advanced customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Directly modify the settings files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Run MEL commands whenever Maya starts up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Basics

8

Run MEL commands whenever a scene is opened or closed. . . . . . 164

Create a custom heads-up display readout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Table of Contents9 Performance tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

How do I Set Maya to use maximum memory (increase the Virtual Memory limit). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Get the most out of Maya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

10 Running Maya in Japanese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

About Japanese Maya Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

How do I Run Maya with a Japanese user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Run Maya in English within a Japanese environment . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Prepare Maya files containing Japanese text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

11 Basics Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Reference Status line (toolbar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Command line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Tool Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Select Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Lasso Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Paint Selection Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Move Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Rotate Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Scale Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Universal Manipulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Soft Modification Tool (toolbox) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Show Manipulator Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Quick layout buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196View hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Tool and action hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

12 Basics Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Reference File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201File > New Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Basics9

File > Open Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Table of ContentsFile > Save Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

File > Save Scene As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

File > Save Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

File > Optimize Scene Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

File > Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

File > Export All, Export Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

File > View Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

File > View Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

File > Create Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

File > Reference Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

File > Project > New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

File > Project > Edit Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

File > Project > Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

File > Recent Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

File > Recent Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

File > Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Edit > Undo, Redo, Repeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Edit > Recent Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Edit > Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Edit > Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Edit > Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Edit > Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Edit > Delete by Type > History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Edit > Delete by Type > Channels, Static Channels, Non-particle Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Edit > Delete All by Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Edit > Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Edit > Lasso Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Edit > Paint Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Edit > Select All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Edit > Deselect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226Basics

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Edit > Select Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Edit > Invert Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Table of ContentsEdit > Select All by Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Edit > Quick Select Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Edit > Duplicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Edit > Duplicate Special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Edit > Duplicate with Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Edit > Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Edit > Ungroup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Edit > Level of Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Edit > Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Edit > Unparent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Create > NURBS Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Create > Polygon Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Create > CV Curve Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Create > EP Curve Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Create > Pencil Curve Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Create > Arc Tools > Three Point Circular Arc, Two Point Circular Arc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Create > Measure Tools > Distance Tool, Parameter Tool, Arc Length Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Create > Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Create > Adobe Illustrator Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Create > Construction Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Create > Locator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Create > Annotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Create > Empty Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Create > Sets > Set, Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Create > Sets > Quick Select Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Modify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Modify > Transformation Tools > Move Tool, Rotate Tool, Scale Tool, Show Manipulator Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Modify > Transformation Tools > Universal Manipulator . . . . . . . . 262

Modify > Transformation Tools > Move Normal Tool . . . . . . . . . . . 262Basics11

Modify > Transformation Tools > Default Object Manipulator . . . . 262

Table of ContentsModify > Transformation Tools > Proportional Modification Tool . 263

Modify > Transformation Tools > Soft Modification Tool . . . . . . . . 266

Modify > Reset Transformations, Freeze Transformations . . . . . . . 266

Modify > Snap Align Objects > Point to Point, 2 Points to 2 Points, 3 Points to 3 Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Modify > Snap Align Objects > Align Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Modify > Snap Align Objects > Align Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Modify > Snap Align Objects > Snap Together Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Modify > Evaluate Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Modify > Make Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Modify > Center Pivot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Modify > Prefix Hierarchy Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Modify > Search and Replace Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Modify > Add Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Modify > Edit Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Modify > Delete Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Modify > Convert > NURBS to Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Modify > Convert > NURBS to Subdiv, Polygons to Subdiv . . . . . . 281

Modify > Convert > Subdiv to Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Modify > Convert > Subdiv to NURBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Modify > Convert > Texture to Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288Display > Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Display > Heads Up Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Display > UI Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Display > Hide, Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Display > Wireframe Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Display > Object Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Display > Transform Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Display > Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Display > NURBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Display > Subdiv Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Basics

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Display > Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Display > Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Table of ContentsWindow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Window > Settings/Preferences > Tool Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Window > Settings/Preferences > Performance Settings . . . . . . . . . 304

Window > Settings/Preferences > Color Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Window > Settings/Preferences > Shelf Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Window > Settings/Preferences > Marking Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Window > Settings/Preferences > Panel Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Window > Hypergraph: Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Window > Hypergraph: Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Window > View Arrangement, Saved Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Window > Frame All in All Views, Frame Selection in All Views . . . 309

Panel menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

View > Camera Tools > Tumble Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

View > Camera Tools > Track Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

View > Camera Tools > Dolly Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

View > Camera Tools > Zoom Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

View > Camera Tools > Roll Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

View > Camera Tools > Azimuth Elevation Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

View > Camera Tools > Yaw Pitch Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

View > Camera Tools > Fly Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Shading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Shading menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Shading > Wireframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Shading > Smooth Shade All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Shading > Smooth Shade Selected Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Shading > Flat Shade All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Shading > Flat Shade Selected Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Shading > Bounding Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Shading > Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Shading > Shade Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316Basics13

Shading > Interactive Shading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Table of ContentsShading > Color Index Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Shading > Backface Culling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Shading > Smooth Wireframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Shading > Hardware Texturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Shading > Hardware Fog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Shading > Apply Current to All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Lighting menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Show menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Show > Isolate Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Show > Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Panels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Panels > Look Through Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Panels menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

13 Basics Windows and Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Reference Panel editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327Menu Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Component Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Outliner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Attribute Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Attribute Spread Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Channel Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Display Layer editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Relationship Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Color Chooser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Visor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Preload Reference Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Marking Menus editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Hotkey editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Plug-in Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372Basics

14

Script editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Table of ContentsReference Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380Reference Editor overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Reference Editor toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Reference Editor Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Reference editor menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Hypergraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390Hypergraph overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Hypergraph tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

Hypergraph limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

Maya Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404Maya Help overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Hotbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407Hotbox Controls > Hotbox Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407Preferences overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Interface preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

UI Elements preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Help preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Display preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Kinematics preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Animation (Display) preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Manipulators preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

NURBS preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Polygons preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Subdivs preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Settings preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Animation (Settings) preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Cameras preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Dynamics preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Files/Projects preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

Modeling preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431Basics15

Rendering preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Selection preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Table of ContentsSnapping preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Sound preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Timeline preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Undo preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Save Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Modules preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Application preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

14 Basics Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Reference Camera node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443General attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

General attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Transform attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Node behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Level of Detail group node. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453Basics

16

1 Interface overviewBasics17

We can then say a points location is so many units left (or right) of the origin, so many units up (or down) from the origin, and so many units higher (or lower) than the origin.About Working in MayaMaya is the premier application for creating compelling 3D digital content, including models, animation, visual effects, games, and simulations.

The work you do in Maya generally falls into these categories:

Creating models. Polygons, NURBS, and subdivision surfaces are different object types with different ways of modeling. Each has its own strengths, and different artists prefer working with different types.

Polygons let you model a surface by building up and reshaping a number of simple surface facets.

NURBS let you easily create smooth, curving surfaces with high-level control.

Subdivision surfaces let you edit surfaces at a high level with minimum overhead data, while still letting you work with subsections of the surface as if they were made from polygons.

Character rigging. Most animations involve characters, articulated models such as a person, an animal, robot, or anything else that moves by articulation. Maya lets you define internal skeletons for characters and bind skin to them to create realistic movement with deformation.

Animation. Just about everything you can think of in Maya is keyable or able to be animated.

Dynamics, fluids, and other simulated effects. Maya includes a comprehensive suite of tools for simulating real world effects such as fire, explosions, fluids, hair and fur, the physics of colliding objects, and more.

Painting and paint effects. Maya includes an incredible system for using a graphics tablet (or the mouse) to paint 2D canvases, paint directly on 3D models, paint to create geometry, scriptable paint, and virtually limitless other possibilities.

Lighting, Shading, and Rendering. When you want to render a still image or movie of you scene or animation, you can create them using your choice of renderers.

3D coordinatesThe most basic visual entity is the point. The point has no size, but it has a location.

To determine the location of points, we first establish an arbitrary point in space as the origin.

1 | Interface overviewAbout > Objects and componentsThese three numbers give us the 3D coordinates of the point in space. For example, a point 7 units right (x), 4 units down (z), and 3 units above (y) the origin has the XYZ coordinates (7,4,3).

To specify points on the opposite side of the origin, we use negative numbers. In the example, a point at (-5, -2, -1) would be 5 units left of the origin, 2 units up, and 1 unit below.

In computer graphics, we dont really say the point is left/right, up/down, or higher/lower. Instead we call the three dimensions the X axis, the Z axis, and the Y axis.

Y-up and Z-upIn animation and visual effects, the tradition is to use Y as the up or elevation axis, with X and Z as the ground axes. However, some other industries traditionally use Z as the up axis and X and Y as the ground axes.

Maya lets you switch the up axis between Y and Z. Select Windows > Settings/Preferences > Preferences, then click Settings in the list on the left.

Switch between Y-up and Z-up on page 162

Mayas Interface

Objects and componentsIn Maya, you model, animate, and render using objects such as spheres, NURBS surfaces, polysets, and so on. Objects are made up of or contain components, such as control points, patches, polygon faces, and so on.

Origin(0,0,0)

(7,3,4)

473

Y a

xis

X axis

Z a

xisBasics

18

1 | Interface overviewAbout > Selection, tools, and actionsSelection, tools, and actions

SelectionWhen you select multiple objects, the last selected object is drawn in a different color from other selected objects. This is known as the key object. Some tools use the key object to determine what to do with the selection. For example:

When you transform multiple objects, the transformation uses the key objects pivot point.

The constrain actions constrain all selected objects to the key object.

Tools and actionsMaya makes a distinction between tools and actions.

Tools work continuously: any clicks or drags you make in while the tool is active apply the tool.

For example, the selection arrow is a tool. Any clicks or drags in the view window while the selection arrow is active performs a selection.

Actions are immediate, one shot operations applied to the selection. Most items in the menus are actions.

Tools appear in the Tool Box. Almost all menu items are actions, however there are some tools in the menus. You can tell which menu items are tool by the following:

The menu item has the word Tool in it.

When you select the tool it shows up in the Tool Box.

Instructions appear on the help line when the tool is active.

Related topics Select objects or components on page 33 Select tools and actions on page 25 Switch operations between actions and tools on page 160

Main windowThis section is a brief summary of Mayas main interface. As you read, keep in mind the following:

You can show or hide any of the UI elements in the main window using the Display > UI Elements menu.Basics19

1 | Interface overviewAbout > Main window You can also hide a UI element by clicking the hide button to the left of or above the UI element. To show a UI element, press the right mouse button on another hide button and select the desired UI element from the pop-up menu.

You can hide all the interface elements and instead use Mayas quick command features: the Hotbox, Marking Menus, and hotkeys.

A menu icon appears to the right of the mouse pointer when a right mouse button pop-up menu is available for the control over which the mouse is hovering.

Status line (toolbar)

Time Slider Range Slider Command Line Help Line

Main menusStatus LineShelves

Layer Editor

Channel Box

Panel menus

Tool Box

Quick layout buttons

PanelBasics

20

The status line (or toolbar) lets you

1 | Interface overviewAbout > Menus and menu sets Change the menu set

Access common functions

Control the selection mask

Set various options

Change the contents of the sidebar.

Related topics Shelves on page 23 Display > UI Elements on page 292 Quick layout buttons on page 196 Status line (toolbar) on page 179 Command line on page 183 Attribute Editor on page 338 Channel Box on page 346

Menus and menu setsThe menus in Maya are grouped into menu sets. Each menu set corresponds to a module of the software: Animation, Polygons, Surfaces, Dynamics, and Rendering. Maya Unlimited has additional modules. As you switch between menu sets, the right-hand menus change, but the left-hand menus remain the same; these are the common menus.

To switch between menu sets, use the Status Line drop-down list or hotkeys. The default hotkeys are: F2 (Animation), F3 (Polygons), F4 (Surfaces), F6 (Rendering).

You can create custom menu sets that contain your choice of menu items. For more information, seeCustom menu sets on page 150.

Select the menu set you want to work with.

These menus stay the same... ...and these menus change.Basics21

1 | Interface overviewAbout > Marking menusTear-off menusYou can display menus as separate windows. This is helpful when you use a menu repeatedly. Pull down the menu and click the tear-off line at the top. Tear-off menus always display on top.

Related topics Marking menus on page 22 Select tools and actions on page 25

Marking menusYou can quickly access many of your most commonly used tools with marking menus.

Marking menus are used throughout the Maya interface. When you right-click an object, a marking menu appears that lets you select a selection mode and other options. Some marking menus appear when you hold a key and press a mouse button.

Marking menus are very fast for experienced users because once you get used to showing them and the positions of their items, you can select the items using very quick gestures with the mouse or tablet pen, sometimes so fast the entire menu wont even display.

Related topics Select actions from marking menus on page 26 Create or edit a marking menu on page 153

Click the tear-off line to tear off the menu. Click the Close button (x)

to close the tear-off menu.

Drag the window by the title bar to move it to a new location.Basics

22

Assign a marking menu to a hotkey on page 155

1 | Interface overviewAbout > Shelves Add a marking menu to the hotbox on page 155 Marking Menus editor on page 366

ShelvesShelves hold commonly used actions and tools, allowing them to be accessed by clicking an icon. You can also put custom scripts and panel layouts on a shelf.

Related topics Select actions on a shelf on page 28 Create, rename, rearrange, or delete a shelf on page 146 Add a tool, action, or MEL script to a shelf on page 147 Edit the MEL script associated with a shelf item on page 148 Edit the contents of a shelf on page 148 Use a custom name or icon for a shelf item on page 149 Change the display of shelves on page 150

Maya Web browser plug-inThe Maya Web browser plug-in allows you to send MEL protocol commands to Maya through the Maya command port. The plug-in is available for browsers on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X platforms that support the Netscape plug-in API, as well as the plug-in scriptability extension.

You should be able install the plug-in on the following browsers. Use the latest version of your browser to ensure compatibility.

Mac OS X: Safari, Camino, Firefox, Mozilla

Windows and Linux: Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape

For Internet Explorer on Windows, the installation is slightly different: you must install a COM object. See the instructions in the Related Topics.

Related topics Install the Maya Web browser plug-in on page 31

Autodesk Maya Error ReportBasics23

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Get helpIf Autodesk Maya quits unexpectedly on Windows, the Autodesk Maya Error Report appears.

In this dialog box, you can enter your email address to get notifications regarding this error report. As well, you are encouraged to enter the steps that caused the problem so that Autodesk developers can reproduce it and help solve it.

How do I? Get help

To... Do this

Show the online help in a browser.

Select Help > Maya Help, or press F1.

Show the help for a window.

Select an item in the windows Help menu.Basics

24

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Print the Maya HelpPrint the Maya HelpThe Maya Help is also provided in PDF format. You can print the online books using Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free from Adobe at www.adobe.com.

To print the online books (Windows, Mac OS X)

1 Insert the Maya DVD.

2 Navigate to the Tutorials_and_Extras/pdf directory.

3 Double-click to open contents.pdf. This file lists all of the available books.

4 Click to select the book you want to print. The selected PDF document opens.

5 Select File > Print.

To print the online books (Linux)

1 Insert the Maya DVD.

2 Start the PDF viewer and open /mnt/dvd/Tutorials_and_Extras/pdf by entering the following:

cd /mnt/dvd/Tutorials_and_Extras/pdf xpdf contents.pdf

3 Click to select the book you want to print. The selected PDF document opens.

4 Select the print icon.

Work with menu items, tools, and options

Select tools and actions

To use a tool

Click a tool in the Tool Box to make it active.

Double-click a tool to show the Tool Settings panel.

Find a tool or menu item in the interface.

Select Help > Find menu.

The name of the menu item and the menu and menu set it is in is returned.

Get a description of/instructions for the action under the mouse pointer.

Look in the help line.

To... Do thisBasics25

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Set the options for a tool or menu itemTo use an action (menu item)

Click a menu item to perform the action on the selected objects or components.

Some actions work differently depending on the order you select the objects. For example, you select all the objects you want to constrain, and then select the object to constrain to last when you create a constraint.

The help line for an action tells you the order you need to select objects if order is important.

Click the box next to the name of a menu item to open the actions options window.

Click the lines at the top of a menu or submenu to keep the menu open in its own window.

To reset a tool or action to its original (factory) options

In the option window, select Edit > Reset settings.

In the Tool Settings editor, click Reset Tool.

Related topics Selection, tools, and actions on page 19 Menus and menu sets on page 21 Switch operations between actions and tools on page 160

Set the options for a tool or menu item Click the box next to the name of a menu item to open the actions

options window.

Double-click a tool to show the Tool Settings panel.

To reset a tool or action to its original (factory) options

In the option window, select Edit > Reset settings.

Select actions from marking menusMarking menus appear at the mouse pointer when you use certain key and mouse button combinations. They allow you to quickly select an action from a small list.

Marking menus are common in the Maya interface:

When you press the right mouse button on an object Maya shows a context-sensitive marking menu of actions you can apply to the object.

The hotbox provides five customizable marking menus you can show by clicking inside, above, below, left, or right of the hotbox menus.Basics

26

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Select actions from the hotbox You can assign marking menus to hotkeys. Hold the key and press the mouse button to show the marking menu.

The q, w, e, and r keys have default marking menus attached to them.

Marking menu items can show additional marking menus, allowing you to pack more commands onto the marking menu.

To select an item from a marking menu

1 Show the marking menu through one of the methods listed above (for example, hold q and press the left mouse button).

2 With the mouse button held, drag in the direction of the item you want to select.

It doesnt matter how far you drag or if you hit the item exactly. This allows you to make the drag very quickly with a little practice.

Dragging over an item with a submenu attached shows the submenu.

3 Release the mouse button to select the item.

Related topics Marking menus on page 22 Select actions from the hotbox on page 27 Create or edit a marking menu on page 153 Assign a marking menu to a hotkey on page 155 Add a marking menu to the hotbox on page 155 Marking Menus editor on page 366

Select actions from the hotboxThe hotbox contains every action available in the Maya interface. It appears when you hold down the space bar.

The hotbox has three main functions:

It contains every menu and menu item. This is useful if you want to quickly use an action from another menu set without switching menu sets.

You can use the hotbox to select actions even if youve hidden the menu bar and other UI to save space.

The hotbox provides five customizable marking menus you can show by clicking inside, above, below, left, or right of the hotbox menus.

To select an action from the hotbox

1 Hold the space bar to show the hotbox. The hotbox remains on screen as long as you hold the space bar.

2 Click one of the menus, or hold the left mouse button above, below, to the left, to the right, or in the center of the hotbox to show marking menus.Basics27

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Select actions on a shelfRelated topics Add a marking menu to the hotbox on page 155 Customize the hotbox on page 156

Select actions on a shelf Click an icon on the shelf to perform the action.

Click a tab above the icons to show a different shelf.

Use the pull down menu to the left of the icons (the black arrow) to show or hide the tabs.

If the tabs are hidden, or if there are too many to fit on screen, click the tab icon to the left of the icons to show a menu of available shelves.

Drag menu items or snippets of code onto a shelf with the middle mouse button.

Load the default shelvesMaya for Windows and Mac OS X include default shelves with buttons for commonly used features. The shelves are: Animation, Curves, Custom, Deformation, Dynamics, Fluids, Fur, General, Hair, Paint Effects, Polygons, Rendering, Subdivs, and Surfaces.

Maya does not include the shelves in Linux because they can slow the startup time on those platforms. However you can use the following instructions to load them.

1 Open the Script Editor (Window > General Editors > Script Editor).

2 To load all shelves, copy the following and paste it into the Script Editor window, then select Script > Execute. (Select only some shelves from the list below if you do not want to load them all by default.)

loadNewShelf "shelf_General.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Curves.mel";

Click to switch between shelves

Click to show shelf optionsBasics

28

loadNewShelf "shelf_Surfaces.mel";

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Start Maya from the command lineloadNewShelf "shelf_Polygons.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Subdivs.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Deformation.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Animation.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Dynamics.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Rendering.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Fluids.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Fur.mel";

loadNewShelf "shelf_Hair.mel";

saveAllShelves $gShelfTopLevel;

Related topics Main window on page 19 Create, rename, rearrange, or delete a shelf on page 146 Add a tool, action, or MEL script to a shelf on page 147 Edit the contents of a shelf on page 148 Window > Settings/Preferences > Shelf Editor on page 307

Start Maya from the command line If you start Maya from the command line, there are various startup options you can specify. For example, you can open a file at startup using the -file flag:

maya -file filename

maya.exe -file filename

To see the available startup flags, type the following:

maya -help

Running Maya in batch or prompt modeMaya can be run in several distinct modes that affect its overall manner of operation, two of which allow you to execute Maya commands without the interface, -prompt and -batch (on Windows, use mayabatch.exe instead of maya -batch).

The -prompt flag issues a MEL prompt for you to type commands as you would in the Script Editor. Some commands that require the graphical user interface are either unavailable or have no effect. Type quit to exit the prompt mode.

Use the -batch flag to run commands without user input, such as in shell or batch scripts. The -batch flag starts Maya, executes any commands you specify, and then closes Maya. For example, you could create a script to open a file from a prior version of Maya in order to update it to the current version. For Linux and Mac OS X:

maya -batch -file someMayaFile.mb -command "file -save"

For Windows:Basics29

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Start Maya from the command linemayabatch -file someMayaFile.mb -command "file -save"

Additional Maya startup flagsThese are additional flags you can use when starting up Maya from the command line (maya on Linux/Mac OS X; mayabatch.exe on Windows).

-archive [file] Displays a list of files required to archive the specified scene and then exits Maya.

-command [mel command] Runs the specified command on startup. The command should be enclosed in double quotes to protect any special characters, including spaces.

-log [file] Copies all error, warning, and information messages (those that normally appear in the Script Editor window) to the specified file (use complete file name).

-noAutoloadPlugins Do not auto-load any plug-ins.

-optimizeRender [file] [outfile]

Processes the specified scene file to optimize it for rendering, puts the result in outfile and then exits. Use maya -optimizeRender -help for more options. See -optimizeRender flags on page 31.

-proj [dir] Looks for scene files in the specified project directory.

-recover Recovers the last journal file.

-script [file] Sources the specified file (which is expected to be a MEL script) on startup.

-v Displays the product version and cut number, and then exits.

Notes The -batch command is not used for batch rendering. Instead, use the Render command. However, -batch does check out a render-only license instead of a full Maya license.

On Windows, type mayabatch when using the -batch flag. The mayabatch command runs within the command prompt window, whereas the maya command starts a separate window.

The -render flag is now obsolete. Use the Render -r command instead.Basics

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1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Install the Maya Web browser plug-in-optimizeRender flagsUse this command to optimize the specified scene file for rendering, send the result to an output file and then close Maya.

maya -optimizeRender [options] [file] [outfile]

The available [options] are:

Install the Maya Web browser plug-in

Related topics Maya Web browser plug-in on page 23

Automatic installationYou can install the Maya Web browser plug-in for your default Web browser through the Maya Help menu.

To install the Maya Web browser plug-in automatically

1 Select Help > Browser Setup Assistant to begin the automatic configuration process.

The Browser Setup Assistant appears.

2 Follow the Browser Setup Assistant instructions.

-botRes [int] Specify a minimum file texture resolution that will cause BOT files to be produced. For example, specifying -botRes 256 means that all file textures bigger than 256x256.will be converted to BOT format.

-botLoca [name] Specify the directory in which BOT files reside. The default is in the same directory as the original file.

-help Displays all the flags available for use with -optimizeRender.

-noBOT Does not create BOT files.

-noCleanup Does not clean up useless data.

-tessFreeze [startframe] [endframe] [byframe]

Calculates NURBS tessellation that gives the best image quality based on the camera projection.Basics31

1 | Interface overviewHow do I? > Install the Maya Web browser plug-inManual installationFiles to install the Maya Web browser plug-in are installed with your Maya installation in the ExternalWebBrowser folder under your Maya folder, with separate folders for each supported platform. By default, this is:

(Windows) C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya8.5\ExternalWebBrowser\Windows

(Mac OS X) /Applications/Autodesk/Maya8.5/ExternalWebBrowser/MacOS

(Linux) /usr/autodesk/Maya8.5/ExternalWebBrowser/Linux

Windows

1 (For all browsers except for Internet Explorer [Netscape-compatible browsers such as Firefox, Mozilla, and so on])

You can skip this step if you are using Internet Explorer only.

Copy PlugIn\npmcpplugin.dll into the plugins folder of your Web browser (for example, \plugins).

2 (For Internet Explorer, and to allow all applications on Windows to handle mel: protocol URLs)

You must register the COM object. In the ExternalWebBrowser\Windows directory, double-click Register.bat.

For further details, see the instructions in /devkit/ExternalWebBrowser/COM.

Mac OS X

1 Copy McpPlugIn.plugin into ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ or /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/.

Linux

1 Copy libmcpplugin.so into the plugins folder of your Web browser (for example, /plugins).

2 On Linux, MEL URL handling must be set up manually. See the instructions in /devkit/ExternalWebBrowser/Linux.

ExamplesExamples of scripts that communicate with Maya through the Web browser can be found in the Examples directory under the ExternalWebBrowser directory, including a JavaScript file that contains many useful Maya-web browser communication functions, such as browser and platform detection, presence of plug-in, and error handling.

As well, we provide a document in the same directory to help you transition existing solutions designed to work with the Maya embedded web browser to the external web browser approach. Basics

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2 SelectingBasics33

isoparm that runs in the direction you want, then drag to the position you want.How do I? Select objects or components

Selecting specific component typesThe following table has tips for selecting certain types of components. They follow the same general pattern for selecting components, but demonstrate some selection techniques or component types that may not be obvious.

To... Do this

Select polygon faces. Press the right mouse button on a polyset and select Face, or press F11.

Select the dots in the center of the faces.

Select an arbitrary point on a curve.

Press the right mouse button on a curve and select Curve Point.

Press the left mouse button on the curve and drag to select a point along the curve.

Select an isoparm on a surface.

Press the right mouse button on a surface and select Isoparm.

Press the left mouse button on a visible

Object mode Component mode

2 | SelectingHow do I? > Select a nodeRelated topics Selection, tools, and actions on page 19 Edit > Select All on page 226 Edit > Select All by Type on page 227

Select a nodeTo select a node, do any of the following:

Select an object with which the node is associated, click the nodes tab in the Attribute Editor, and click the Select button at the bottom of the Attribute Editor.

Select an object with which the node is associated, then click the nodes heading in the Channel Box.

Open the Hypergraph (Windows > Hypergraph) and select Graph > Input and Output Connections. Then click the node in the graph.

With a node selected, you can click the Show Manipulator Tool in the Tool Box to show custom manipulators for the node.

Related topics Select objects or components on page 33 Nodes and attributes on page 85

Select only certain types of objects or components (selection masks)You can limit the types of objects or components Maya selects when you click or drag with the selection tools. This lets you work on certain parts of a complex model without accidentally selecting other objects.

Select an arbitrary point on a surface.

Press the right mouse button on a surface and select Surface Point.

Press the left mouse button on an isoparm and drag to select a point on the surface.

Select a NURBS surface patch.

Press the right mouse button on a NURBS surface and select Surface Patch.

Select the dots in the center of the patches.

To... Do thisBasics

34

2 | SelectingHow do I? > Select only certain types of objects or components (selection masks)To limit selections, you select which types of objects or components you can and cant select. This is called the selection mask.

Related topics Select objects or components on page 33 Status line (toolbar) on page 179

To... Do this...

Switch between selecting objects and components.

Use the Select by object type and the Select by component type icons in the Status Line (toolbar).

The icons available in the selection mask depend on whether you are in object or component selection mode.

Turn a object/component type on or off in the selection mask.

Click the type icon in the selection mask area of the Status Line (toolbar).

When an icon is depressed, that type is selectable.

Set the selection mask to all types.

Press the left mouse button on the pop-up menu icon to the left of the selection mask and select All Objects/Components On.

Clear the selection mask.

Press the left mouse button on the pop-up menu icon to the left of the selection mask and select All Objects/Components Off.

When all types are off, you cannot select anything. Make sure to turn at least one type on again if you want to select.

Set the selection mask to a preset combination of objects and components based on workflow.

If the area to the left of the selection mode icons on the Status Line (toolbar) is hidden, click the bar to expand it.

Press the left mouse button on the pop-up menu icon and select a workflow. The selection mask is set to objects and components related to that workflow.

Click the bar to expandBasics35

2 | SelectingHow do I? > Save and reuse a selectionSave and reuse a selectionQuick-select sets are useful to:

Make it easier to quickly select commonly used sets of objects/components.

Save a complex selection so you can re-use it later without having to reselect each object.

To create a quick-select set

1 Select the objects or components.

2 Select Create > Sets > Quick Select Set.

3 Type a name for the set.

To select the members of a quick-select set

Select the set in the Edit > Quick Select Sets submenu.

To edit the membership of a quick-select set

Use the Relationship Editor to control which objects are in a quick select set.

Related topics Edit > Quick Select Sets on page 227 Create > Sets > Quick Select Set on page 261

Select objects based on hierarchy

To set the selection mask to only select top level nodes (roots)

1 Click the Select by hierarchy and combinations icon in the Status Line (toolbar).

2 Set the selection mask to Root.

To set the selection mask to only select only nodes without children (leaves)

1 Click the Select by hierarchy and combinations icon in the Status Line (toolbar).

2 Set the selection mask to Leaf.

To select all nodes under the selected node

Select Edit > Select Hierarchy.Basics

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2 | SelectingHow do I? > Select components by paintingRelated topics Select objects or components on page 33 Edit > Select All on page 226

Select components by paintingYou can select components such as vertices or faces by painting over the components with your graphics tablet pen.

1 Select the object on which you want to select components.

2 Select Edit > Paint Selection Tool > .3 Use the Tool Settings panel to set up the tool, including choosing whether

you are selecting, deselecting, or toggling components between selected and unselected.

4 Set up the selection mask to select what types of components you want to select.

5 Paint on the selected object to select components.

Change one type of selection to anotherWhen you have one type of component selected you can automatically select a corresponding component of a different type. For example, you can select a face and then use Convert Selection > To Edges to select the edges around the face.

The Convert Selection type menu items do not change or convert the actual geometry. They only change which components are selected.

To change polygon selections, use the Convert Selection items in the Select menu within the Polygons menu set.

To change subdivision surface selections, use the Convert items in the Subdiv Surfaces menu.

You can convert a selection to many different items using items from the Select > Convert Selection submenu. For more information, see the following in the Polygonal Modeling guide.

Select > Convert Selection > To Vertices

Select > Convert Selection > To Vertex Faces

Select > Convert Selection > To UVs

Select > Convert Selection > To Edges

Select > Convert Selection > To Edge Loop

Select > Convert Selection > To Edge Ring

Select > Convert Selection > To Contained Edges

Select > Convert Selection > To Faces

Select > Convert Selection > To Face PathBasics37

2 | SelectingHow do I? > Grow, shrink, or change the selected region of CVs or polygon components Select > Convert Selection > To Contained Faces

Related topics Select objects or components on page 33

Grow, shrink, or change the selected region of CVs or polygon components

Polygon components

NURBS CVs

Tip Many of the convert selection features are available from the context sensitive polygon marking menu when you press Ctrl + right-click whenever a polygon component is selected.

To... Do this

Grow or shrink a selection.

Chose Select > Grow Selection Region.

Chose Select > Shrink Selection Region.

Select the components around the current selection.

Chose Select > Select Selection Boundary.

Select all edges connected to the current selection.

Chose Select > Select Contiguous Edges.

To... Do this

Grow or shrink a selection.

Chose Edit NURBS > Selection > Grow CV Selection.

Chose Edit NURBS > Selection > Shrink CV Selection.

Select the CVs around the current selection.

Chose Edit NURBS > Selection > Select CV Selection Boundary.

Select CVs on the edges Chose Edit NURBS > Selection > Select Basics

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of the surface. Surface Border.

2 | SelectingHow do I? > Grow, shrink, or change the selected region of CVs or polygon componentsRelated topics Select objects or components on page 33Basics39

2 | SelectingHow do I? > Grow, shrink, or change the selec