Maya: Learning the basics

 Today I was taught some basics in Autodesk Maya, I have used 3D software in the past (Autodesk Maya and Blender) however, I haven't used the software in a while so today was a good recap. We went over things like: how to navigate the view port, hot keys for common tools like the translate/move, scale and rotate tools, how to use the 'function' keys to go through different task sets in Maya, different view ports, the timeline and range slider and how to reset the workspace.

This was the first thing I created after being reminded of Maya's controls and tools.

Maya Basics:

• Function Keys switch task modes.
• To set a project go to File, then set project or project window.
• Selection tools: 
• Move/translate = W
• Scale = R
• Rotate = E
• The two different view ports are the normal view and the four pane view which can be accessed using the space key.
• Timeline and range slider can be found at the bottom of the screen and control frames and frame rates in animations.
• Axis:
• X = Horizontal
• Z = Depth
• Y = Height
• The 'Outliner' lists all objects and groups within the file.
• The navigation keys are:
• Alt+Left mouse button = move and pan.
• Alt+Middle mouse button = rotate the scene.
• Alt+Right mouse button = zoom.
• To reset your workspace; go to the window tab, select 'UI elements', then 'Restore UI Elements'
• To smooth an object press 3 on the keyboard, to harden an object press 1 and to see an inbetween preview of them both press 2.