Maya 4.5 Fundamentals

Now that you've gotten an overview of Maya's creating and editing functions, you're ready to delve into using Maya. This chapter demonstrated the following concepts and techniques:

• Creating primitives and other objects Use these objects as the building blocks of your scene.

• Selecting objects You now know a variety of ways to get to the object or objects that you want to act on.

• Transforming objects Use the Channel Box or the transform manipulator to move objects as you build your scenes.

• Duplication of scene elements Copying parts of your scene to build new parts is a helpful feature.

• Adjusting pivots You can set an object to rotate or scale about any point in space by repositioning its pivot point.

• Hierarchy Linking objects into parent-child relationships is an essential technique of scene setup and preparation for animation.

Now that you've had a chance to learn Maya's design and basic methods, it's time to get your feet wet. In the next chapter, you'll progress through every step of creating a full-blown animation in Maya. This upcoming tutorial will seem easier if you've become familiar with each tool described in this chapter as well as those in Chapter 2.

If upcoming chapters seem challenging, come back to this chapter and try to step through it again. You'll get more comfortable with navigating through your scene and having control over what mode you are in and what Maya is doing. Gain some confidence with these core skills, and you'll then be ready for a new challenge.