Interface/Controls/Keys

[marquedesade]

Is it at all possible to change the controls in maya 5.0, IM started modeling in Rhino3d and the controls in it are perfect for me, when i tried going to maya even going through tutorials i was completely lost and the frustration at the button and controls setup prevents me from learning anything really, im praying that i can change the controls in maya to be more like Rhino3d.

Example IN Rhino you are able to rotate your model on any axis simply by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse in the given direction, zooming is also handled in a similar manner, selecting objects points faces ect is all far more friendly in Rhino.

please help me, i desprately wish to move to maya.

thx

[digitaldez]

You can change the default Maya hotkeys and mouse functions in the pull-downs:

Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences

or

Windows > Settings/Preferences > Hotkeys

[joojaa]

Yes but you cant rebind rotating panning and translation of cameera that easily! Or in fact at all. Youll soon get uset to having your left hand on shift controll and alt.

But fear not the shortcut is to hit alt into bottom then

alt+ rightbutton is tumble around

atl+ midlle is pan

alt right + middle is zoom (I also think alt right is zoom in newer mayas)

Just remeber move the mouse sideways to zoom... (wierd at first mut better on your hand than using awheelomuse or ubdown movement!)

Its pretty intuitive once you get into it.... Its the most intuitive 3d movement ive encountered, all others drop dead hands down on this... altough going back and forth between progs is hard backause the maya or the other way sticks in your brain for a while (once you get used to swiching apps its all okay, in few minutes)!

Also remeber maya will suspend anything on camera movement so you may work rotate continue work pan rotate zoom whatever quite easily.

Then theres the control alt marquee zoom/unzoom (depending on if you draw the rectangle form up to down or down to up) too... check it out!

Other good keys to know are a and f wich are focus all and focus sellection.might come in handy... theese you cab bind where ever.

I suggest you dont change the maya keyboard layout as its actualy Pretty damn good. I ended up changing rhino to resemble maya as far as possible.

[marquedesade]

sig this is horrible news, i was hopping it would be more moalterable to fit the user, it likely frustration will prevent me from ever using maya then

unless they change this in an upcommming edition im screwed

any ideas on a program that i can change to match rhino that is more suited for point and polygon modeling than Rhino is?

I currently work on ship models for Homeworld 2 Modifications, with poly counts from ranging from 300-50,000

[joojaa]

You seriously need to try adjustin the maya way is fantastic! Try it atleast.

[inasetec]

I have to say man, I think you are really limiting yourself if you are going to be this stubborn about a few differences in the control and interface. And Maya is completely customizable in every other way except that. And if you plan on sticking with a career in an industry like games, with the speed that technology changes, you're gonna have to learn to adapt to multiple or newer interfaces every few years or more.

[marquedesade]

Actually i have tried Maya on at least 3 occasions, everytime after about 3 hours shear frustration i have to stop before i become irate, sadly i have little pateince for such things.

Im still consideirng buying the Gnomon Introduction to basics dvd perhaps it will familiarize me enough with the interface that i can resist the desire to throw my mouse across the room.

It's like being forced to ride a bike a way you know is wrong.

[joojaa]

Yeah well panning around should not fit into those parts i mean hitting down alt isnt realy that hard.

But yeah maya interface is hard to understand. But once you get into it then many many many oter apps interfacses start to suck radicaly. I mean i uses to like adobe ibterface... Now few years of using maya and it absolutely positively SUCKS.

[marquedesade]

wel ive tried using maya, Lightwave, 3dsmax and a few others and i have to say that rhino has the most intuitive interface ive used yet, its simply to centered around nurbs to be great at low poly modeling. Just wish Alias would make those few things in the interface alterable. Being able to move around in the inviornment is the most important thing to me i need smooth workflow or i loose patience.

Top priorities are
Zooming
Panning
Rotation

all of which should be able to be done with only the mouse

[inasetec]

I went through the Gnomon Intro to Maya DVD's and I was very happy with them. Alex Alvarez is the instructor and explains things very clearly in a way that doesn

[joojaa]

In reply to:all of which should be able to be done with only the mouse

I think you exagarate a bit the fact that you need to push the alt down (rember the moving commands ara all combination of mouse and alt). Come on its just 1 button fo gods sake. THen you can use the mouse for all that.

Its funny this must be the first thread ever that says the mayas panning zooming rotating sucks... Actualy usualy people tell otherway around...

And no the rhino interface isnt much better than anything else.

besides the maya interface is such that youd be keeping your other hand around alt shif controll anyways... wich leads you intuitively close to following shortcuts

undo (cntr-Z), redo (shift-Z), gridsanp (x), curvesnap ©, vertexsnap (ctrl-v), Focus all (a), set keys (s), display quality mm (d), foucus selected (f), repeat last command (g), the tools (qwerty), shading modes (12345).... + A lot of modifered versions.

Then for the shift controll them selves (modifers are locked). shift forces toggle selection, and controll subtract selection, shift controll add slelection. Alt is reserved for camera manipulation and it overrides everything!

Then theres plain mouse wich houses case sensitive object marking menu right button. Modify selected value Middle mouse. And manipulate right mouse.

I considered locking this therad but anyone is free to dislike maya, so... Maya by the way is just like a woman if you dislike her she will dislike you back!

[digitaldez]

LoL You forgot the most important one of all...

Alt+F4 (Close the program and stop bitching)

I agree with others in the fact that if learning a new interface to step into a more advanced program package is that overwelming, maybe the everchanging field of Animation isn't a wise career choice.