Datasheet

CHAPTER 1 Working in Autodesk MAyA

Interactive Creation

By default Maya creates objects using the Interactive Creation method, which allows you to draw

on the canvas as you create your geometry. To turn this feature off, choose the Create  Polygon

Primitives menu, and deselect the Interactive Creation option at the bottom of the menu.

While the Interactive Creation mode is on, you can deselect the Exit On Completion method; this

means that each time you draw on the grid, you will continue to create cubes until you switch to

another tool.

5. Move the mouse over the rectangle labeled pCube and then right-click. Choose Rename

from the pop-up window. Rename the cube myCube.

6. Select myCube, and from the Hypergraph menu, choose Graph  Input And Output

Connections. This switches the view to the connections view just as if you had originally

opened the Hypergraph by choosing Window  Hypergraph: Connections. It’s the same

Hypergraph, but the view mode has changed, allowing you to see more of the scene.

Navigating the Hypergraph

You can navigate the Hypergraph by using the same hot key combination you use in the viewport:

Alt+MMB-drag pans through the Hypergraph workspace, and Alt+RMB-drag zooms in and out.

Selecting a node and pressing the f hot key focuses the view on the currently selected node. (MMB

means clicking with the middle mouse button, and RMB means clicking with the right mouse but-

ton.) It is also possible to zoom in using the scroll wheel on your mouse.

When you graph the input and output connections, you see the connected nodes that make

up an object and how the object appears in the scene. In the current view, you should see the

myCube node next to a stack of connected nodes labeled polyCube1, myCubeShape, and ini-

tialShadingGroup, as shown in Figure 1.3. (The nodes may also be arranged in a line; the actual

position of the nodes in the Hypergraph does not affect the nodes themselves.)

Figure 1.3

The node net-

work appears in

the Hypergraph.

This shape node

(myCubeShape)

is connected to

two other nodes,

whereas the

transform node

(myCube) appears

off to the side.

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