Hi guys, I'm new here and also new to Maya. As I will have a bunch of questions now and then, I thought it might be a good idea to make one thread for them all, rather then spamming the whole site with my questions.

I've been using Blender since 2 years, so I'm familiar with 3d modeling in general already, but getting used to a new app is a whole different thing. I've been watching tons of tutorials about Maya lately and some things are pretty selfexplaining, but I'm still missing some functions, which were not explained in all those tutorials and those are pretty essential to me. For example:

1. How do I simply select/ unselect all objects in object mode or all verts/ edges/ faces in edit mode? Also is there a way to select islands, meaning verts or faces that are connected?

2. Is there a button to occlude backgroud geometry? Like when I select a face, the face on it's opposite side doesn't get selected aswell. I know about the select paint tool, but it would not be my favorite for that issue.

3. Is there a way to select edge lops by shortcut, like just selecting a single edge in a loop and get the rest selected too?

4. Why ain't the z-axis the height axis in Maya, pretty confusing???


Ok, that shall be enough for the beginning.


Greets, TDW!!!

I will try to answer your questions
1.Right clicking on the object gives you the choice of what mode you are in
2. To stop maya selecting the mirrored side double click on the move tool should bring up the options on the right side untick reflections
3.If you click on a edge then double click on the next edge along with the shift button held down this should select the edge loop
4, sorry not sure of the question
............dave

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Thx, I guess I need to explain a bit more detailed.

1. I know how to access the menues for the different modes. What I'm missing is a simple shortcut to select all objects or verts in the scene. In Blender you just press "A" to select and deselect all. Must be some equivalent in Maya?

2. I'm not speaking of mirrored objects. Just like a simple cube. You click on frontside face and backside face gets selected too. I want to avoid that, so that faces that lie behind others don't get selected.

3. Thx, got that one!!!

4. I latey watched a tutorial and the z-axis, which represents the height of an object normally, was pointing to the side, where the x-axis should be.


TDW

2. do the same as I said but select camera selection you will then only slect what you see

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1. if you right click into empty space it will give you the option to select all

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Seems to work, thx!!!


TDW

4. Z axis is always depth, Y is always height. That's how it is in almost any application or instance where they're used

In Blender it's the other way round, that's why I was a bit confused. But shouldn't be a big problem to get used to it.


TDW

TDW in most CAD programs 'Y' is up...in Survey programs or programs that deal specifically with heights 'Z' is always up...as it should be LOL. You can change this if you wish in preferences...I started to but found it easier to stick with the default CAD orientation as most other people work this way (except Surveyors LOL).

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bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

In Blender it's the other way round, that's why I was a bit confused. But shouldn't be a big problem to get used to it.

Originally Posted by TDW

i think blender and surveyors (and max and xsi too?) are backwards
in 2d space x always goes right, and y always goes up, so it makes sense (at least to me) for z to go towards you

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

I'd have to agree with Chirone on that one,
before 3d was around Y was up and X was across on a graph, that's why Z is depth.
I think it's the same in Max and XSI as Maya actually, as well as quite a few others, I could be wrong though....

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in steam it's backwards too...
if i took a model from half life it would be upright in xsi, but not in maya... that was when i figured out there are people who don't like to make sense out there....

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

Bahahah good try chirone...dont read a map then LOL. Maps work in Easting and Northing...which are X and Y respectively.....which are the same as a graph dango. So as you look at the plan/map from top view X (East) and Y (North) are relative to the ground plane...Z (Height) was then utilised for RL's and contour levels etc.

CAD programs seem to have adopted this axis rotation for 3D...if you look at the ortho front view in Maya this seems to be the base for the orientation. If you place this on a sphere (the Earth) then Y can never be up....it will always correlate with a longitude and X with latitude.

I do find it strange though...as most plans start in a top view...which would be X and Y....I wonder what made the developers choose this way for CAD. I know a math orientation is different too...where we have 0°(Y) at the top and 90°(X) to the right and math has 0° on X...this I cant remember maybe ct will know that one.

Buy yourself a Tom Tom kids...then you wont get lost...just drive into the bush cos the road aint built...damn Surveyors bahahaha

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bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Maya is giving me a major headache once again. I've done a couple of tutorials and started with the first modeling attempts. I'm trying to cobble somewhat like a head together, lol. What troubles me is that duplicate special thingy.

1. In Blender there is a clipping option. As soon as the center border of the two halfs meets at the middle, it automatically snaps together. In maya I can just move both half through eachother. How can I make the connect in the middle?

2. I saw in a tutorial that you can kinda subsurf the mesh by using this proxy thingy. Well, when I try it on the head now, there are some ugly artifacts, looking like doubled and twisted faces. How can I properly add a subdivision level at that current stage you see on the picture.

3. Why do manipulation tools just disappear in front/side/top view???

4. When I'm in edge/vert select mode and I accidently click on the spaces on the model inbetween, maya always switches back into object mode. Why is that and how can I avoid it?

5. When I select an edge on the model and delete it, the edge is gone, but the geometry is still the same. If I delete an edge or vert in Blender it leaves a pretty big hole in the mesh like it's supposed to.






TDW

Hey TDW,

1. The DP special works but you have to change the 'origin' of the part you are trying to duplicate. This can easilt be done by selecting to move tool...you will see its centred on you object...hold down the 'D' key and then the 'v' key keeping both held down...you can now move the origin and it will try to snap to verts. Pick a vert on the face/edge/vert that you want to transfer the origin to. Now when you Dup special they will be together...but they are still seperate meshes. It depends whether or not you want them connected or not...this is another added part of merging the meshes. Merging will not alter the other part of the head when you model unless you have reflection turn on in the move tool. Or you can Dup special in 'instance' and it will mirror your movements I believe...

2. Depending on what version of Maya you have...hitting the 1, 2 , 3 keys will give you a smooth preview.

3. If you cant see your tools hit the '+,-' keys...they will increase/decrease in size, I dont know why they disappear though?? they shouldnt, Im not sure what you mean here?

4. Thats what it does...no you cant stop it. To get back to where you were just CTRL Z mate..it will take you back to the verts etc you had selected.

5. Im not sure about this one...if you want to delete a 'face' you have to be in face mode. If you want to delete and edge entirely with any unconnected verts on that line...'Edit mesh>Delete Edge/Vertex' this will delete all entities along that edge line.As far as I know Maya will not delete to anything smaller than a triangle, so you wont be able to delete that edge..it also doesnt delete border edges.

Hope this helped

Cheers Bullet

P.S remember this isnt blender mate LOL I have same issues though mine are Survey software vs Maya..in a lot of cases you will run into this.

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bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes