Learn Maya In Three Hours

Learn Maya in three hours to create and animate 3D models. Build physics simulations with the bullet physics engine and render scenes using Arnold, with a free Autodesk educational version.

Set up your first Maya project by organizing all assets in a single folder, creating a proper project structure with assets and scenes folders, and saving scenes in that location.

Explore the Maya 2018 interface, switch workspaces for modeling, rigging, animation, effects, and rendering, and learn the main viewport, attribute editor, outline, and four-view navigation.

Navigate the Maya viewport by holding alt and dragging to orbit, alt-right-click to zoom, and alt-middle to pan. Press F to focus on a selected object.

Learn to create basic geometry in Maya using poly modeling, with sphere and cube, then move, rotate, and scale objects using shortcuts (W, E, R) and on-screen manipulators.

Master pivot manipulation in Maya: create a cube, move the pivot with delta, center the pivot, and switch axis orientation between world and object to control rotation.

Learn Maya's attribute editor and how to modify transform, material, and subdivisions for a cube in the modeling workspace, including moving, rotating, scaling, and applying Lambert1 material.

Explore Maya's outliner to organize your scene with a list view, rename objects, select and focus in the viewport, and manage lights and objects using simple keyboard shortcuts.

Learn how to create a parent-child relationship in Maya by dragging a child sphere under a parent sphere in the outliner, then move, rotate, and scale the objects.

Explore faces, edges, and vertices to manipulate geometry in Maya, using object and face/edge/vertex modes to move, rotate, and scale selected elements.

Explore basic modeling tools in Maya, focusing on extrude and bevel to create new geometry, and adjust thickness, offset, and divisions with sliders and keyboard control.

Add a camera to your scene by creating objects, use the view menu to create the camera from view, rename it, and switch to it in perspective view for framing.

Learn to add an Arnold area light in Maya, position and orient it toward objects, and adjust color, intensity, and exposure for a ready render preview.

Explore the Arnold render preview in Maya 2018 by adjusting light exposure, color, and positioning to achieve real-time lighting and shadows.

Learn how to create soft and hard shadows in Maya by adjusting light size and exposure, using a plane and sphere setup to demonstrate shadow quality.

Explore hypershade to create and edit Arnold standard surface materials, apply textures and colors, adjust roughness, specular, and transmission, and assign materials to objects.

Use a skydome light with an HDRI map to illuminate the scene and provide reflections. Load HDRI, adjust material properties for shine, preview in render, and optionally hide HDRI from the camera or disable specular to use it only as a light source.

Learn to use image planes in Maya 2018 as reference blueprints for modeling, placing and aligning top, front, and side views, then trace a model by adjusting vertices in wireframe.

Maya 2018 animation and keyframes overview covers frame numbers, start and end frames, focus range, and keyframes for translate, rotate, scale, and material color.

Learn to use Maya's graph editor to edit a cube's animation by adjusting keyframes for translate, rotate, and scale, and refine curves with frame ranges and precise values.

Create 3D text in Maya using polygon modeling, load the type bundle plugin, choose font and alignment, and adjust extrusion, bevel, and kerning for polished results.

Explore how to UV unwrap and project textures in Maya, using UV shells, layout, cut and sew, and per-object overlapping to map textures precisely.

Explore the bullet physics engine in Maya, loading the plugin, configuring static, dynamic, and kinematic rigid bodies, collider shapes, and keyframe animation for interactive simulations.

Create a playblast to preview your Maya animation in real time, then add a smear, keyframes at frames 20, 40, and 60, and use playblast options for a quick movie.

Learn to enable motion blur in Maya using the Arnold renderer by setting keyframes for a moving sphere, adding lights and a floor, and rendering with IPR.

Thank you for enrolling in Learn Maya in three hours; practice your new skills, have fun with Maya, and please take a minute to write the scores.