2016

Chapter 1: Learning the Maya Interface

FIGURE 1-16

The Shelf

Using the Shelf Menu

At the left end of the Shelf are two menu icons. The top one looks like a mini-tab and you can use it to select a

Shelf tab from a menu. The bottom menu icon is an arrow. You can use it to hide all of the Shelf tabs, open the

Shelf Editor, create and delete shelves, load a custom shelf, and save all shelves. You can save some interface

space by hiding the Shelf tabs. To do this, select Shelf Tabs menu command from the Shelf menu to toggle the

option off.

Creating and Deleting Shelves

The Shelf menu can also be used to create and delete shelves. The New Shelf menu command will open a

simple dialog box, as shown in Figure 1-17, in which you can name the new shelf. The new empty shelf will

then appear at the right end of the tabs. Selecting the Delete Shelf menu command will delete the currently

selected shelf.

FIGURE 1-17

Create New Shelf dialog box

Adding Icons and Menu Commands to a Shelf

You can add buttons from any shelf to another shelf by selecting the button and dragging it with the middle

mouse button onto the tab of the shelf that you wish to add it to. Menu commands can also be added to the

current shelf by clicking on the menu command with the Ctrl/Command and Shift keys held down. You can

delete shelf icons by dragging them with the middle mouse button to the Delete Shelf icon (which looks like a

small trash can) on the right end of the tabs.

Note

Maya uses all three mouse buttons. If you are using a two-button mouse

with a scroll wheel, the scroll wheel acts as the middle mouse button. If

your two-button mouse doesn’t have a scroll wheel, you can use the

Ctrl/Command (command) key and the left mouse button as the middle mouse

button. For a Macintosh one-button mouse, the command key and the mouse

button act as the middle mouse button and the Option key and the mouse

button act as the right mouse button.