My Lil' Robot
Ok, before i begin anything, here's a few screenshots and a lil description to follow :D enjoy~
This is one of the tools i've used : to duplicate as well as to make mirrors :D
That's a Outliner Tool, kinda like a table that sums up all your objects :D
This one's like the completed version
In the make FTW?
LOOK. I SWEAR ITS ARM CAN BEND D:
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Ok, so we're done with the little screenshot show, time to get down to the main parts:
1. Moving 2. Different screens 3. Creating Objects 4. Manipulation of Objects 5. Shaded View/Mesh View 6. Hot-Keys (short cuts)7. Reflection --------------------------------
1. MovingFirstly, before you even want to create and get down to really making what you want to get done - you have to know how to turn and move your objects and stuffs around. So, basic functions are simply:
For Windows:
(NOTE:
you have to hold down the buttons while you do this!!)
Alt + Left Click : Rotating 360 degree about a fixed focal point (as placed by where you
clicked first)
Alt + Wheel Click : Known to some as the middle button of your mouse or the scroll wheel.
This short cut enables you to move up, down, left right about a 2D view.
Alt + Right Click : This one enables you to zoom in and out of your current view
For Macs:
(NOTE: you have to hold down the buttons while you do this!!)
Command + Left Click : Tumble(Rotating current perpective camera)
Command + Right Click : Pan/track(moving camera up/down left/right)
Command + Right Click : Zoom
Ok, now you can easily change your views. But what happens when you want to align? well, let's move on..
2. Different Screens
So, now that we can move about and change views we learn that aligning objects can be a pain with only 1 screen.. so ta-da~ the almighty split screens :D There's a button on the left for you to actually split your screens into 4.
1. The Top View
2. The Front View
3. The Side View
4. The Dynamic View (what appears first when you open Maya, yes that view)
Awesome, so now you get to align things properly when 4 view to check without having to keep rotating your views :D -claps-
3. Creating Objects
Great so we have split screens and rotations and certain movements~ Now we have to create something don't we? So what we have is basically 2 kinds of "creation".
Firstly, its the "drag and create" kind of creation. Basically, by default the program is set to let you create and object by your own measurements, however that means you can't create it dead center of the grid (unless you're that great at aiming o.o). So how do you turn it off?
Go to:
Create - Polygon Primitives - Interactive Creation (check it off).
With that you can create an object dead center of a standard size on the grid (: Easy right? If at any point in time you want to create an object of your own dimensions in the middle of no where, so ahead to the same place and check your Interactive Creation.
So to create something in the dead center is the other kind of "Creation".
4. Manipulation of Objects
Now that you've made your object, you can edit them. Of course, who would want a world made of only spheres, cubes and cones etc? we have many odd figured things in the world too! so how do we make them? Well, here comes the introduction to 3 shortcut keys or hot-keys.
(Note it's the same for both Mac and PC)
W : Enables movement of whole object (up, down, left, right, front and backwards)
E : Rotation of selected object (it's 360 degrees, WHOOSH!)
R : Changing the size of object
So now that you can change it in terms of size and tilting. Then how do we create those absolutely random looking shapes?
Well, there are many ways to doing it. One of the ways is to hold down your right click button and you'll see a sort of menu appear. While still holding down your right click button, drag it over to the box called "Vertex". Then you'll see many little purple dot. When selected, they turn yellow. These points allow you to create all sorts of odd shapes from the basic shapes you've created.
Well that about concludes it. Moving on~
5. Shaded View/Mesh View
Ok so first things first, when your object appears. It doesn't look solid at all. It just looks like a bunch of dots and lines. Well that's because its in Mesh mode. Which only shows the outline of the whole structure. To change it, simply click on a button that looks like a solid cube next to the button with the lines and dotted cube. This would change your view (:
Shortcuts for this is :
4 - Mesh View
5 - Solid View (Shaded)
6. Hot-Keys/Shortcuts
Here's a list of hot-keys and shortcuts so far~
1 - Not-so-smooth texture
2 - Mesh with not so smooth texture
3 - Smooth texture (no mesh)
4 - Mesh View
5 - Shaded View
Alt(or Command) + Left Click - Rotating 360 degree
Alt(or Command) + Wheel - 2D rotation
Alt(or Command) + Right Click - Zoom
CTRL(or Control) D - Duplicates Selected Object at the same spot
CTRL(or Control) G - Turns a selected bunch of object into a group in the Outliner's List
W - Moving the object
E - Rotating the object
R - Resizing the object
Well that about covers it! :D
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7. Reflection
Ok so now for the REALLY Short reflection. (I'll update/edit it soon)
So what i've learned is only this much and little more i didn't really go into detail for. Maybe soon i'll make a video of it and upload here :D
However today i've only got time for this much. It's currently 12:40am and i gotta get to school by 9am tmr, that means i gotta move outta my house by 7:50am to catch that shuttle bus.. oh also that means i gotta be awake by 7:00am!! not enough sleep sigh...
Well~ I'll update the REAL reflection soon.
Cheers,
Elixian
My lil Robot - Noir
