The Maya User Interface in Software

Generating QR-Code in Software The Maya User Interface

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window Here you can modify the settings for the specified command and then execute it Figure 2-2 shows the Duplicate Special Options window, where you would be able to specify how many duplicates should be created and how each duplicate should be moved, rotated, or scaled from the original position To open this window, choose Edit | Duplicate Special r When the r icon is selected for a tool, the Tool Settings window will open on the right side of the Workspace This interface was designed to allow you to modify the tool s settings as you work with it For example, Figure 2-3 shows the Tool Settings window for the 3D Paint tool (discussed in 19) This window opens when you choose Texturing | 3D Paint Tool r (you need to pull up the Rendering menu set to find this menu) When this tool is active and you are painting an object in the view window, you can easily adjust settings such as color and brush size FIGURE 2-2 The Duplicate Special Options window

FIGURE 2-3 With the 3D Paint Tool Settings visible on the right side of the UI, you can make adjustments to the setting

The status line includes valuable tools you can use while you are working, such as selection masks, snapping modes, and a rendering button We will explore some of these tools and buttons in the tutorial later in this chapter We ll use others throughout the book Figure 2-4 shows arrangements of useful buttons on the status line

Probably the most widely used buttons on the status line are the selection modes and selection masks The selection modes section gives you three different options for selecting objects in the view windows From left to right, these are Select by Hierarchy, Select by Object Type, and Select by Component Type Once one of these options is toggled on by clicking it on the status line, the selection masks section will update to display the relevant selection types for that mode Notice in Figure 2-4 that the middle selection mode button, Select by Object Type, is depressed Therefore, the selection masks section displays a collection of buttons that have icons representing different object types In this case, the selection types available for Select by Object type are (from left to right) Handles, Joints, Curves, Surfaces, Deformers, Particles, Rendering Nodes, and miscellaneous objects These selection modes and masks can make selecting objects in the view window much easier when the scene becomes crowded For example, your scene may have hundreds of surfaces very close to one another with a curve tucked among them Selecting that curve without also selecting a surface could be tricky In such a case, you could click the Surfaces button in the selection masks section to disable surface selection Now when you click the curve in the view window, you will be unable to select the surfaces, making it much easier to select just the curve

The shelf, located under the status line, contains buttons for accessing your most frequently used commands and tools Figure 2-5 shows the buttons and tabs located on the shelf These buttons have been organized into tabs respective to specific workflows Choosing a tab displays shelf FIGURE 2-5 Buttons and tabs on the shelf

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items in that tab By clicking a button on the shelf, you can execute commands or launch tools without having to choose them from a menu As you become more experienced in Maya, you will no doubt want to customize your shelf with tools or commands that execute custom settings If you find that a command or tool is available from the menu bar but is not on a shelf, you can add it to the shelf Hold down SHIFT-CTRL and then select the command or tool that you want to add from the menu in the menu bar As soon as you release the mouse button, the item you selected will be added to the shelf You can quickly delete any shelf button by pressing the middle mouse button (MMB) and dragging the shelf button to the trashcan icon in the upper-right corner of the shelf