Share your secret weapon...!

[supersteve3d]

Hey guys, I just wanna ask if someone knows a faster method to switch the manipulator from Global transform to local and viceversa (not through the tool settings).
Thanks.

Hi FailD,

The fastest way I know of is to hold down the transform hotkey eg. W for move + left click, to access the local coordinate space.

Of course if you want more speed your can customize hotkeys/scripts etc. (even faster) =)

Cheers,
Steve.

[Hamburger]

I’ve uploaded a simple script where you select a face or edge, press a shortcut and the manipulator while snap to that face/edge.

http://www.mayzie.net/maya-scripts/align-axis-shortcut

You could modify that script as a start to suit whatever you need.

[EightBit]

I’ll throw in a few features of Maya I use on a regular basis; they aren’t groundbreaking or anything, but none require installation of new scripts and you can start using them right now.

Great basis stuff that’s easy to forget (or never learn in the first place).
Thanks a lot.

[EightBit]

Hey guys, I just wanna ask if someone knows a faster method to switch the manipulator from Global transform to local and viceversa (not through the tool settings).
Thanks.

I’d also point out that if you press & hold ‘d’, you can temporarily move the manipulator to any location. You can also hold ‘d’ and use MMD + snapping (x,v,c for grid, vertex, curve) to snap the manipulator temporarily.

[failD]

Thanks for replies
Another question: I hate the way how selection works in maya. Is there a method to not select back faces? I’m really sick of selecting those even if you don’t see them.

[Asephei]

Thanks for replies
Another question: I hate the way how selection works in maya. Is there a method to not select back faces? I’m really sick of selecting those even if you don’t see them.

In Maya 2009 an option called “Camera Based Selection” was added. It doesn’t depend on whether back faces are visible, and it easily solves the problem of “not selecting back faces”. Enabling it is easy:

Open up the the Select tool settings and in the first set of options, check “Camera based selection” under your preferred selection type (Marquee or Drag). Note that the state of whether “Camera based selection” is enabled is shared between the Move, Rotate, and Scale tools.

A much more efficient way to set the option is to hold down Q and press the Left Mouse button. This brings up the Select Tool marking menu and you’ll see “Camera based selection” at the root of that menu. Using the marking menu, switching the mode on and off is a fast and effortless procedure.

[bk3d]

Ninja Dojo!!!

http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/marketplace/scripts-plugins/dynamics/c/ninja-dojo-black-belt--2

[JM-art]

modeling Polygon:
select vertex then prees “c” and MMB slide on edge…
Killer for topology.

:applause: I was looking for a script to slide a vertex on an edge!!
(yes i´m a little late, your post is from 2009…but you made my day in 2011)

[nottoshabi]

:applause: I was looking for a script to slide a vertex on an edge!!
(yes i´m a little late, your post is from 2009…but you made my day in 2011)

JM. can you post a link to that tool please?

[JM-art]

Is not a script (i just was looking for one since i didn´t know this), maya just do that natively. You only need to have your move tool active, then press c while moving the vertex. Is like the slide edge tool, but for vertices :).

Once here, i think must of people know this, but the script manager ( http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/data-management/c/ml_scriptmanager )
is saving my life…i recomend to make categories as modeling, rigging, rendering, general, animation. etc etc, so you can find the scripts in one second inside Maya. Is a must have script.
ZV_parentMaster is another must have, since parent/unparent animations in maya can be extremely tedious http://www.creativecrash.com/maya/downloads/scripts-plugins/character/c/zv-parent-master

Also, making custom hotkeys for things such as, in my case for this things, saves you years of pushing maya botons.

hipershade window ( ctrl+alt+h)
outliner window ( ctrl+alt+a)
uvtexture editor ( ctrl+alt+t)
Graph editor ( ctrl+alt+g)
split poligon (alt+c)
extrude (alt+e)
merge (alt+m)
insertedgelooptool (ctrl+r)
centerpivot (ctrl+alt+x)
deletehistory (ctrl+alt+z)
freezetransforms (ctrl+alt+f)

etc…just what you use more frecuently. For me the combination of ctrl + alt + “other key” is great because you dont override too much of maya hotkeys and you really need to remenber just the last key because the ctrl + alt works automatically after some usage.

Cheers, i hope some of that was helpfull to someone .

[Macler]

Hey Guys,

I was wondering if any of you know a way to zoom in on the pivot point?

Sometmes when i want to snap an object i have a hard time to move the camera in the right angle to see if exactly what i am doing, and the focus function [f] isn’t much of an help either at some of these times.

Cheers,

ML

[HonestAbe]

Hey Guys,

I was wondering if any of you know a way to zoom in on the pivot point?

Sometmes when i want to snap an object i have a hard time to move the camera in the right angle to see if exactly what i am doing, and the focus function [f] isn’t much of an help either at some of these times.

Cheers,

ML

My advice, and my secret weapon, is:
to select a face, vertex or edge
and then use “Frame Selected” [ f ]

[HonestAbe]

Do any of you have a “secret weapon” for this? Nobody has an answer for me so far, and I don’t know where else to go.

Whenever I extrude two faces that make a 90 degree angle, when I pull the extruded faces out, it always bends in funny toward the corner edge. I want it to STAY 90 degrees. How do I do this? It’s SO FRUSTRATING. A bevel can accomplish an equal distance from each edge, so why can’t an extrude?! Stupid Maya.

http://home.kc.surewest.net/clminard/Screenshot.jpg

Edit Mesh> Keep Faces Together (DESELECT)

then extrude with the results you’re looking for.

• oO-o-Oo • oO-o-Oo •

Secret weaponS:
Preferences→ Manipulators→
Handle Selection→ “Highlight manip handles”

[In ViewPort] Hold E → Hold Left Click → Discrete Rotation

Preferences→ Polygons
Vertex Size: MAKE IT BIGGER!

[JM-art]

Preferences→ Polygons
Vertex Size: MAKE IT BIGGER!

Nice.
-Also, when doing character set up, it can be a mess to have three joint chains one in top of the other. For this, a little help is to change the radius of the joint so is easier to see the diferent chains and to select them.

• If you keep pressed the “J” key while you rotate an object, it will do it in 15 degrees increments.

-Make a shelf for your diferent tools in the categories you use more frequently, in my case modeling, rigging, skinning, animation…some already exist, but is a cleaner and faster to have just some custom tools, and not 20 icons with things you dont use.

[HowardM]

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=7&t=993563

[EightBit]

I don’t know why I didn’t do this a long time ago:
User Keyboard Shortcuts:
Set translation of selected objects to 0,0,0. Ctrl-T for me.

selTmp = cmds.ls(sl=1)
 for obj in cmds.ls(sl=1):
 	for attr in ['tx','ty','tz']:
 		# Don't mess with locked attrs:
 		if cmds.getAttr (selTmp+'.'+attr, lock=1) == 0:
 			cmds.setAttr (selTmp+'.'+attr, 0)
 			print '%s.%s set to 0'%(selTmp,attr)

Set rotation of selected objects to 0,0,0. Ctrl-R for me.

selTmp = cmds.ls(sl=1)
 for obj in cmds.ls(sl=1):
 	for attr in ['rx','ry','rz']:
  		# Don't mess with locked attrs:
 		if cmds.getAttr (selTmp+'.'+attr, lock=1) == 0:
 			cmds.setAttr (selTmp+'.'+attr, 0)
 			print '%s.%s set to 0'%(selTmp,attr)

If you don’t have ‘import maya.cmds as cmds’ (no quotes) in your userSetup.py, you’ll need to add it to the beginning of each script.

[larmannjan]

F1, seriously after coming from blender I am happy and take advantage of the documentation.
Still I use Blender because I always learn something new.

[FarleyC]

I love the spin edge function works well with the modeling algorithm. But the best by far for rigging the multiply divide node. Tying it to an orient constraint work miracles.

[HobblesLake]

My secret weapon is the undo button.

[RaphaelHeizer]

Well, I had to share this.

Quite simple but it saves me time massively.

Using floating menus all the time. I do never use menus. Here it is:

I hide all the docked menus I can for making the 4 views easier to see and less painful to understand the mess o’ vertices that.

CTRL + M, CTRL+SHIT+M, SHIFT+M.

Then, I use the Spacebar to get into the menus I don’t have on the RIGHT button.

That’s my weapon for saving time modeling. I don’t care at all for hotkeys because of it.

And I do use E + left click, W + left click for getting into properties menu instead of opening the docked menu.

Hope I’ve helped.