hi and welcome to the introduction video

of our Maya tutorial my name is Mariana

and in this video I will be giving you a

quick tour around Maya software

interface this is a very important video

if you are my beginner since I will be

covering the basics on scene navigation

modeling toolbars polygon selection move

scale and rotate tool but most important

we will be doing some basic modeling

which I really advise you to repeat as

many times as you need before we meet

for our tutorial so first things first

let's start by setting some of the

preferences that I want you to have

saved for our next tutorial

first thing we should do is to go to

Windows setting preferences preferences

click on settings and as you can see you

have your Y up this is because my iseman

for animation but for modeling

traditionally we use the zetz as the up

axis so press on set save this go to

view click on default view so you have

your view centered and your Z as you

could see owner icon is up let's start

by going to file save the preferences we

don't have to do this ever again ok so

let's talk a little bit about the layout

so on the top part of your Maya you have

usually your commands and your tools on

the middle part of your mind you have

your scene displayed in the center on

the right side you have their attribute

editor your channel editor and if you

don't want to see them just click them

and they are saved on the right if you

want to see them back again just click

on the icons same on the left side your

outliner your tool settings you can have

them hidden or you can see them

traditionally a model be the outliner

one okay so now let's talk about the

bottom part you have all of your

animation time slider you have the place

to paste your scripts mail or title so

let's start up with the file this is

from where you start and you see in your

open a scene or you save your scene from

here

you can import or export stuff moving on

to create this is from Eric and creators

polygon primatives as you can see I have

interactive creation on this means that

if we pick a cube for example and then

we drag it on the sides pull it up you

can just create them wherever you want

on the scene but if we turn this

interactive creation of click on it go

back to create polygon primitives you

can see that it's off now now if you

press on cube your cube will go to 0 0

on X & Y let's delete this guy let's

continue to the rest of the buttons so

on the top you still have mesh this is

where you have all of your tools from

mesh editing who will be doing them on

our next tutorial most of them mesh

tools let's display also where you have

your deform as we will learn this on our

next tutorial ok right below you have

also I have it on relative transform

this is from where you can change your

object metrically this is if you want to

be very precise let's write a number you

can move on that or X or Y or you can

just move it freely with the arrows this

is what I do the most you also have all

of your render options next to it the

sphere is your material library for the

renders and under it you have all the

items with exactly the same creation

options but as I can so it's it's easier

in case you want to use them usually I

don't click on this bar but I have them

on poly modeling in case I need

something also if you're rendering this

is where I have okay so now let's talk

about this little bar this is where you

have your camera if you click on it on

your attribute editor you can change the

camera angle or the focal length usually

I use 28 or 23 to increase the camera

perspective you can also choose to take

the grid off or on this is the size of

your renders in case you want to take a

screenshot or you know what the red the

area is and now

let's talk about the display mode this

is the wireframe mode which is the same

as pressing 4 next we to have the

shading mode which is the same as

pressing 5 and you can combine the

shading mode with a wireframe this is

how I model usually so I know where my

edges are this is if you want to display

material in case you have lights this is

very press this is self shade occlusion

and antia lysing all of these 3 options

make your screen look better with higher

definition but they are as you can see

make your scene a lot slower so I just

use the substrate usually now let's move

to navigation

if you press alt a middle mouse button

at the same time this is how you pan if

you do odd left-click on your mouse this

is how you rotate scroll in and scrub

out this is how you soon traditionally

in case you want to Center your object

is press F this is very important to

keep pressing F when you have your

object selected so you can Center the

camera on it

ok now let's talk about the moving the

rotate in the scale tool it's on the

left side if you press W you can get the

move you press E you can get the rotate

tool rotate on axis if you press

re press you can move on scale scale

from the center proportionally if you

click on the center cube and then middle

mouse button out same with the other

axes just press them out but I don't

want you to use these icons I wanted to

use the keyboard so repeat wer w/e are

it's very important talking about scene

display now we have a full scene you can

also have all of the four sides if we

click on that icon the top and those

sides in case we want to see only on two

scenes you can press there this is from

where you get the outliner in case it

disappears if you want to go back to one

scene only just click on that I can or

you can just click on spacebar and you

get one scene only okay exactly the same

commands instead of clicking the icons

you can just press on spacebar

right click and then you get the exactly

the same

options so you get top view spy spy

right click left view same for

perspective so spacebar right click ok

let's go back to perspective view now

let's talk a little bit about how to

model in Maya so as you know your model

in mire with vertices edges and faces

the way to get this is to right click on

the object

drag it to virtus pull it up if you want

same right click drag it to edges right

click drag it to object mode right click

drag it to face you need to right click

on top of the object make sure that it's

on top of the object go to object mode

click outside this is how you quit the

object so let's talk a little bit about

these keyboard shortcuts so all of these

tools that you have on top you can never

have them exactly from the center of the

scene if you press on spacebar keep on

pressing it and then select the options

they are exactly the same modeling

options as the ones that you have on top

so spacebar pressed and then click on

the option that you want better this is

way faster this is how I model usually I

don't go to the toolbars on the top same

is if you do shift right click on top of

the object you get the series of the

most used commands as well

they extrude the smooth it's exactly the

same so learn how to use your keyboard

it's very important this is how I model

let's recap if you right-click on top of

the object you get the vertex mode the

edge mode the face mode the object mode

it's important that you are very

flexible at doing this and very fast you

can barely see it so let's do a little

bit of polygon modeling starting from a

cube let's create a polygon primitive a

cube so let's change a bit its

attributes go to channel box if you

click on inputs here you can basically

change the number the Heights the width

the number of subdivisions let's change

it all to 3 3 3 so it's easier ok you

can do exactly the same on attribute

editor you can use them both so let's go

to attribute editor so you can see that

on P cube this is how it shows on scene

this is if you want to rotate it you can

also change it from here

I'm Pete cube shape usually I use this

only for the smooth mesh number I change

usually the division for it's the one

that I use the most on this side and

Polly cubed can also change the sizes

from here exactly the same as the

channel works let's keep it on three

this is also where it gets displayed

which material you're using this is a

Lambert which is the default 20-mile

okay so let's move this guy to the right

let's create another cube let's give

exactly the same sizes but let's do them

on attribute so we learn so it's three

three three but this time we don't add

any subdivisions now I'm going to show

you the most important feature about

Maya which is pressing on number three

on your keyboard and you get the Maya

cat multi-part algorithm apply it on

your edges this means that all of your

edges get smooth on number three if you

press number one you can go back to

normal this is just a displayed mode so

another thing that you can see from here

is very important he's the number of

subdivisions that you have on this

object will dictate the level of

curvature so you can see that this is

number two in case you have you want to

mix them both but I only use number

three or number one so on the left side

you have a lot less number of

subdivisions it's a very low poly this

is how we call it you have a lot more

control numbers on the right side if you

want to control the vertex this is a

higher poly with higher number of

subdivisions and you can see that the

curvature is very different from the one

from the right tool and from the left

traditionally if we're doing a very

concept or a very big building we do it

very low poly as low poly as we can if

we do furniture if we want to start

detailing our model usually we do we

start from a very high number for a

higher number of subdivisions as you can

see usually we do this for furniture

let's move forward to how to select we

are in vertex mode as you can see to add

vertices to the selection just press

shift key pressing shift and click on

top of the vertex

is how you add to subtract just press

control this is how we use subtract if

you want to select a lot of them just

drag it from left to right right to left

it's exactly the same same four edges

click on one edge shift click on the

second one control you subtract Maya can

select a ring of edges instead of

clicking one by one if you click two

times on one edge you get the whole ring

it's very important to know this it's

base it's called an edge loop so you get

the loop if you click two times on one

edge if you go to face smart less the

same click on one shift to add the

selection if you want to select the

whole ring don't click two times because

you will clicked on the whole object

just click on the second one two times

and you'll get the ring okay same you

can scale you can move you can do

exactly whatever you want okay so now

there's a very important feature on

selection in Maya which is called the

soft selection for that let's get these

guys on out of the way let's move it to

the side let's start by creating a plane

so just go to your poly modeling plane

let's rotate this plane 90 degrees

rotate open your channel box you'll see

the numbers is rotate 90 degrees press

90 and I'll scale this out so it's way

bigger scale it with middle mouse button

don't forget take the grid out because

it's too confusing and let's increase

the number of subdivisions of this plane

for that to change it on the channel box

let's put 50 by 50 by 50 to a dancer

let's go to vertex mode click on one

vertex and press B so now you can see

this sort of gradient of affection it's

very important you can control the

radius of this gradient if you press

middle mouse button and swipe to the

left or to the right you can see that

it's gay it's getting wider or smaller

and then it with the scale you can just

scale it a little bit or you can just

move up or down and you can see that

it's a lot more on D it's not the same

as

pulling one vertex one by one right so

this is called the soft selection can do

it on the sides it's good to create

patterns it's very good for master plans

for example it really requires only a

very high level of subdivisions usually

it's how it's the most effective okay I

pull this up and down this is a nice and

quick way to create a different level of

densities of kind of a parametric effect

on your mesh let's hide this press H you

see them on the outliner it gets hidden

you can just press H again and you get

get it back okay now let's go back to

our very low poly model so as you model

and as you go along you actually add

edges and subtract so let's learn how to

add an edge we go to edge mode okay I

have B on so press B to leave this

option now you just need to press shift

right click on top of it select insert

edge loop and then you just need to

slide the edge where you want I'm adding

these three and then just press Q to

leave this tool press outside and you

can see that you're starting to get a

little bit harder edges on one side and

you keep very soft ones on the other

side

let's keep inserting edges so you

understand what I mean so if you get

them closer and closer together

you see that this edge is getting harder

and this is how you can create this

contrast between very soft and very low

poly and very high poly and and hard

edges so let's learn how to duplicate

this guy as well just do ctrl D drag it

to the right and then you can see them

on the outliner we can just change the

name click two times on it right box

okay so now let's learn another way to

duplicate let's duplicate in an array on

the scene for that we go to edit

duplicate special open the little box

copies let's make three copies let's

rotate 90 degrees let's apply so as you

can see this guy is duplicating around

the object which is not what we want we

want this to be duplicated around the

circle so for that we need to change the

pivot of this object

very important so if you press D you can

see that you get this yellow sphere

inside just change the pivot exactly for

where you want with the arrows press D

again to quit this okay

now you set the pivot outside the object

now instead of doing a copy let's do an

instance I'm going to show you and

explain you what this is apply okay so

what is an instance an instance is

basically a replica of the other object

and whatever transformation you do and

one object you will get done on the

other one as well this is very

interesting in case you're doing a set

of self as a set of something it's

actually a very cool way to model I like

this tool a lot okay so these guys now

are instances of your original box drag

it outside it's getting a bit like a

bench a bench kind of settings okay

these few select on object modes the

transformations won't be done so you

need to go to your face click double to

x this is how you can rotate all of them

okay this is perfect maybe let's give

them a bit of a gap so they don't

intersect okay this is cool now as you

can see your pivot is outside is not

centered let's keep it on the center so

for that let's reset the pivot by

pressing D right click reset pivot okay

now you pivot this back in the center of

the object you see how you want to be

modeling the important thing is how to

harden an edge it's a very important

feature click two times on the edge look

this is how you get yet look shift right

click on top of the object select the

crystal not drag it with the middle

mouse button to the right drag it hard

to the right and this is how you get the

creases on your object it's very

important I keep doing crease edges and

soft edges select another edge loop just

click two times on top of the edge not

forget this is how you get the loop

click two times on top of an edge shift

right click

middle mouse button and if you want to

quit just press Q or go to object mode

and click on side and as you can see you

get this hard edge another thing I want

to show you is how to change the smooth

preview in this case instead of doing

two let's do foreign attribute editor

you get to see that the smooth is a lot

stronger a lot smoother this is just a

preview setting okay let's hide these

guys press H she's getting interesting

let's learn how to add a material just

click on top of one add object assign

new material

choose the func this is usually the one

that I use the most give it a name it's

shown on your attribute editor coral

color whatever color you want okay done

and then to repeat on the other one

unfortunately it doesn't add a material

to all of the instances so you have to

go right click on top of it assign

existing and you have the same number to

repeat the command just press g-g-gee

okay and now we have the same material

applied to all of the instances let's

take the wireframe off so it gets even

prettier let's make sure that we have

soft shading on antia lysing that means

that the resolution is a lot more

increased by pixels now let's learn how

to add a light but to create light area

light traditionally goes to zero zero

zero if you pull it up rotate a bit okay

to see the influence of this light scale

it out as well to see the influences

press on seven or click on the little

icon as well okay looking good now let's

change the intensity of this guy

contribute on attribute editor thirty

might be a bit too much maybe do it you

can just make it smaller as well rotate

and we can change the color usually I

use one warmer color

when blueish color this one is the blue

one okay let's make this a lot lower

five and now let's duplicate this this

light as well rotate it around and now

let's make this one even more intense

five by ten maybe this is good 15 okay

okay I think this this is nice you can

just keep playing with this but don't

forget to start from scratch so you

learn exactly how to do this and I guess

this is this is all for today guys I

hope you're excited make sure that you

repeat this as many times as you need so

next time we can move on to bigger

things and more complex see ya