Introduction to Autodesk Maya

1. Introduction To Maya: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the new Siri's within PS illustration. We are going to be doing an introduction to Autodesk. Maya. This is the basics of creating polygons, creating your files, your project files as well a saving your files as well as doing a basic animation with setting keys and shooting your play blast. So it's gonna be a really great introduction. There is no background knowledge necessary again. This is an introductory course. Let's have some fun. 2. Setting Your Project: So before working in Maya, it is essential to set your project. This basically creates the parent folder where all of your working files will save. This is important with animation as well as modeling, because it sets you up with your project files in a way that Mike unsourced them. So you're gonna go underneath file project, and right here on Project Window, you're gonna be able to click here, and it's gonna bring you a pop. So in order to edit any of these, you're gonna need to click new And here's where you're gonna name your project. So I'm going to click Introduction to my, uh okay, here is also where you get to decide where you get to save your folder. You can work in your dust top in your C drive wherever it is that you want this to be saved . I'm gonna keep it in my user documents and just leave all of these the same. Okay, that's how my it's gonna be able to source it and you just click accept 3. Saving your File: after creating your project file. What you're gonna want to do next is a creator save file. So what you're gonna need to do is go to file save. Seen as notice that it's now saving in an introduction to Maya, uh, project folder, and you're gonna be saving inthe e file name under. Seems so This is where everything where your projects basically saved themselves for my effort. You're working, uh, files. So I'm gonna name this introduction to my, uh, state as so down here inthe e they call the script editor. It pulls up a positive affirmation. The het your project has saved correctly. 4. How To Navigate: for the first section of the lesson, I will be teaching you guys how to navigate within Maya. It's going to require the use of your keyboard as well as your mouths. So on a Windows platform, you're going to need to hold down the altar key. When you If you're on a Mac, it's gonna be your options key on your keyboard. So when you hold down that alter options key, what you're going to do is in order to rotate in the space, you're gonna hold down the left mouse button again. You're gonna need to click and hold down the left mouse. The middle mouse button, when you hold down the altar or option key allows you to move without having to roti. And if you hold down the ault or option key, depending on which platform you're on and you push the right mouse button, you will be able to pan in and out so basically zooming Overall, this is really ah, basic skill, but essential when working in Maya's so that you can see 3 60 what you're working on, as well as panning in for smaller or panning out for larger objects. 5. How To Create Objects: All right. So after we have created our project file as well as created our new scene through the save as function. But I want you guys to do is to come to this top drop down menu, go to create polygon primitives. Let's start off with a sphere. So with this fear, um, we Now we're at a low Polly based on my previous settings. If you wanted a higher polygon sphere, um, basically making it smoother overall, you can you can go to create polygon primitives and you click this little box off to the right. This creates a pop up menu, and we can increase the divisions on mi's. However, how you want. I wouldn't go above 20 for this project and you can see the difference between a low polly sphere and a high poly sphere. I'm gonna go ahead and click both of these click delete. Okay. The next object I want you to try to create is a cube. We're gonna go ahead and click cube again. The same process. Yea, it's a cube. Okay, delete it and let's go ahead and create one more shape. A cylinder 6. How to Scale, Rotate, and Move Objects: go ahead and create your favorite polygon. Your choice. What you want to work with I'm gonna work with a cube. Is it's nice and simple in order to move your object. Usually it's set on default. But if we were to unclip kit, Um, all it is is the w key. You just click it once and you're able to move your object along the X y and Z access. You can move it wherever you want. Okay, this is really great for animation. For modeling, you're gonna need to know how to move your objects around in order to rotate your object. It is the e key for your hot key. Also looks like this object. Um, button over here. So this is for, uh, moving it. This is for rotating it. Say again, The hockey for that is E as an elephant se. Finally, the last one is to scale. So that is this option right here kind of has a little dot did line around the smaller cube or square. But what that allows you to do is it allows you to scale your object big and small. If you use the center yellow cube in here. It will scale it proportionately. But notice if you grab one of these of their era cubes. If I were to grab this yellow one, it makes it much taller, like a rectangle working squash. Okay, this works for all of them, Depending on what your modeling or wanting to create. This is one of the essential tools that you're gonna be using. 7. How to Create a Key: So I went ahead and deleted the polygon that I was just playing with in the previous segment. Phil Lesson. I want you to go ahead and create a fresh one. So again, your favorite doesn't matter. What? For this one. I'm gonna do a sphere, and I'm going to teach you guys how to set keys in your times lighter. So some basics of your times lighter is we have this bar here that scales your times lighter. Here. Each of these increments equals a frame. So there are 24 frames per second, our animation or for standard film. And in order to make this longer, if I had a longer animation, all I'm going to do over here is type in a higher frame number. And again, I can scale it using this. Okay, this will indicate what frame I'm on. Specifically on my time slider for this project, I wouldn't go over 100 frames. That would be plenty. So, again, it's 24 frames per second. Um, for setting your initial key. What I want you to do is I want you to move your polygon, so you're gonna need to select it. And you can either Duthie w hockey or you can come over here to the left and use your move . But both work, same tools, just different ways to access it. And I'm gonna move it to one side of my workspace. Okay, then I'm going to click the keyboard Key s. What's that's gonna do is it is going to create my first key frame. Now I'm gonna click over here at the end of my slider, and I'm gonna move my sphere or my ball to the other side and again s So now when I scrub through by holding down my left mouse key, I'm able to see my spear or my ball moved from one side of my workspace to the other, depending on which direction I'm going. Another way to look at this before shooting a play last is to hit the play key so you'll notice it moves and it will keep looping forever and ever you'll have to stop. Okay. Now, if I wanted my object to go up, all you do is direct. Hey, remember, it doesn't save anything unless I hit the s key. So if I were to jump off this all my work has lost A If you want to save your key, you must must must click s now As I scrub through, you'll see my ball goes 8. How to Create a Playblast of Your Animation: So we are at our final step. Yea, of the lesson. So we're going to shoot a play blast. In order to do that, we have to go to the windows, dropped down, come here to play blast and click this square right next to it. So that's going to bring us to a pop up menu. Generally going to keep all of this the same if you were to switch this, Um, if I were to click image, it would save a bunch of J pegs. I'm gonna keep it as a V I because that is the video format for my version of Maya. I have my lt you guys might have thes standard version. It's all the same tools your menus might look a little bit different that but it's all the same tools and Hakkies. So I'm gonna come here rename my file Click Play Blast, asking if I want to rename it, cause I saved one earlier. I'm gonna hit Okay. Down here in the script editor, it's gonna tell me where I saved my play blasts. Remember when you made your project file folders? So this is where it's gonna live under your introduction to Maya movies Folders. So I'm gonna come over here. I'm in my introduction to Maya. Click into movies Plate glass intro. Tobias, if I click this gonna pop up in quick time Boom, They hit play and you can see it's significantly slower. Okay, Something to notice is you might have some different writing. My little access view. Um, the type of window I'm in when you're submitting this file to somebody else, you're gonna want this as clean as possible in order to change any of those you're just gonna go to display click heads up display, and here you're able to get rid of all of those extra little tidbits that you might want while working. So I'm gonna get rid of the view. Access in that little button down there is going to disappear. Heads up display again. I'm gonna get rid of my camera name, and that gets rid of that. So if I wanted to reshoot my plate glass now again, it's under Windows Clay Blast. I'm gonna keep all of this the same play blast. Yes, that's fine. We could overlap it. Close that, and I'm gonna reopen it in quick time as my new so you can see it. Got rid of the view. Access my camera name. There's no extra details over here. And it is a clear view of my animation. Ah, and this is the file that I want. You're a V i or M O V. Whichever file type, you end up saving it as, um submitted to the group projects. 9. Project Recap: for the project Recap. You will be submitting your play blast file found in your ah movies sub a folder of your project files. Um, your objects should be moving across your workspace. Those of you looking for a bonus challenge also have your object scale over the timeline, so have it go from big to small. Please be sure to post your finished play blasts in the project section, as well as any questions you may have in the comment tab. I will be sure to respond as promptly as possible. I will be going over the basics of animation from ball bouncing. Two. Overlapping action. Teoh Really editing on your graph editor as's faras, manipulating your timing, your reasons and your ease outs as well as a basic and character rock cycle. So keep your eye on the channel. I'll be posting updates as soon as possible. Can't wait to see your projects, guys