Maya Fundamentals

Manual Interactivity - Hands

Mouse vs. Lower left Keyboard
The Select Tool - Shift vs. Ctrl
The Move Tool
The Rotate Tool
The Scale Tool
The Show Manipulator Tool
Pivots

Display Hotkeys

Object Specific Display Options (smoothness)
Window Specific Display Options (wire-frame to hardware-shaded)

Theoretical Foundations - What Is a Sphere?

Node-Based Hierarchy
The Hierarchy of the Surface
Transform Node Hierarchy
History vs. Hierarchy

Selection Masks

Object Mode Selection Masks
Component Mode Selection Masks

Modules

Modeling
Rendering
Animation
Dynamics

What is Modeling?

Digital Sculpture
Create Surfaces to be Rendered
Skins to be Animated

Nurbs vs. Polygons

Nurbs
Polygons
Why We are Working with Nurbs

Creating Curves and Curve Editing

Create CV Curve Tool
CV Curve Tool Explained
Open/Close and Reverse Curve
Snapping
Bugs and Preferences

Primitives

Types
Editing Using History

Creating Surfaces

Revolve
Creating other Surfaces in Maya

Editing Surfaces

Duplicate Tool
Selecting and Pulling CVs and Hulls
Inserting Isoparms
Rebuild Surfaces
Open/Close Surfaces
Attach/Detach Surfaces
Reverse Surface Direction

What is Rendering?

Applying Attributes to a Surface
Lighting a Scene to Create Atmosphere

Rendering Editors

Hypershade
Attribute Editor
Render View Window
Render Globals Window

Lighting a Scene / Adding Textures

Create Default Light
Create Point Light / Glow
Create Spot Light
Create Key Light
Create Spot Light for Back Light Effect
Create a Shadow Pattern
Create Fill Light / Finish Scene
Create Leather Texture
Create Sidewall / Shader
Rename Shader
Create Texture BumpMap (Photoshop)
Apply BumpMap Texture
Apply Texture to Wing and Tail Section
Create Glass-like Texture / Finish Scene

Materials

Common Material Attributes
Material Types

Textures and Utilities

Types of Textures
Textures Explained
Attributes of Textures
Types of Utilities
Attributes of Utilities

Lights

Types of Lights
Light Attributes Pt 1
Light Attributes Pt 2
Light Manipulators

Cameras

Types of Cameras
Camera Controls

What is Animation?

Animation Set-Up
Setting Keyframes to Describe Change Over Time

UI Review

Channel Box
Time Line

Animation Editors

Graph Editor
Dope Sheet
HyperGraph
Outliner

Set Up

Transform Node Hierarchy
Skeletal Hierarchy
IK Systems and Deformers
Facial Set Up

Animation Work Procedure

Set Up Scene / Move / Rotate / Scale
Set Keyframes - Scale
Set Keyframes For Ball Rotation
Analysis / Set Pp Timing
Tangents / Graph Editor
Graph Editor Continued
Editing Keyframes / Fine Tuning
Finish Scene / Play Blast

Maya in the Animation Industry

Modeler
Technical Director
Animator