OUAN504 - Character & Narrative: Maya for Dummies (That Means Me!)

OUAN504 - Maya for Dummies:

As part of the course, Maya is a mandatory part of the learning process and getting to grips with this beast of a program isn't an easy task. For any stuck little minds out there sat at their desks sporting faces full of puzzled looks, here's a nifty list of the fascinating and possibly life-saving things I've learned if having a crisis in Maya. I plan to keep a note of all problems and how they were fixed be it through my own (unlikely) intellect, or through that of my tutors.

Problem One - Mental Ray has Disappeared!

According to Google, the source of wonderful help forums, you should go to Window > Rendering Editors > Render Settings and check if Mental Ray is actually present to select. If not, which was the reason why I was confused, you should then go to Window > Settings/Preferences > Plug-In Manager, checking for a thing called "mayatomr.mll ". This should be checked in order to have Mental Ray present.

Problem Two - Can't Get Back to Neutral Character Pose!

Yes, we've all done it. Playing around with Moom for too long can only entail issues where body parts go flying, end up at the other side of the planet, or worse; missing. In order to get your character back to the original pose he was created in, select all of your character, then press "O" on the keyboard for a T-Pose, or the neutral position.

Problem Three - Can't get Front View?

Simple. View the four view perspectives and click in the one you want to enlarge and view as your single view, then hit spacebar to enter that view. Done!

Problem Four - Struggling to grab all of Moom's body?

Select the little circular disc on the floor around Moom's feet and press up on the keyboard. This will select everything meaning he won't lose eyes and hands in the process!