i'm finding maya a bit complicated to start with...my question- can someone outline for me how to set up background planes with reference materials one them quickly and easily? not as intuitive as in 3ds. thanks a bunch,
-andersHey there,
Just follow these steps:
1) In the view you want the guide image to be attached to(eg Front/side), select "View-->Image Plane-->Import Image"
2) Select the file you want to use as the guide
3) If you want to modify the image whilst in Maya, press Ctrl + A to open the attributes for the plane (the image plane must be selected - it will be selected by default if you have not clicked anything between steps 2 and 3).
4) Repeat with other viewports as necessary.
5) When you're done using the planes you can get rid of them by going "edit-->delete all by type-->image planes"
Hope this has helped. Good luck with Maya. I was a strong devotee of Max until I played with Maya for 6 months 
All the best,
WebMonkey