How-To Guides about Maya

There are several ways you can go about creating your NURBS helix curve in Maya; I will demonstrate the two easiest ones.

Sorry guys, despite the headline, this one isn't an actual How To. But the process behind the creation of Portuguese brewer Sagres' chocolate crafted website is fascinating, and we would gladly welcome any lengthy step-by-step tutorial. Created in promotion of the brewery's new chocolate flavored stout, the company's ad agency—Grand Union Portugal—gave Victor Nunes, world famous chocolatier and artistic director of Óbidos International Chocolate Festival, the task of creating a site completely...

This is a guide to making a very simple procedural texture for Maya. As with all procedural textures, the basic texture can be refined and added to.

This is a video tutorial on the UV Mapping of a Human Head model in Maya.  This tutorial consists of three videos and is split into six stages that cover the following:

New to Maya (AKA Autodesk Maya)? Not to worry. This tutorial will save your day! Not only will you learn how to use all the basic tools in the graphic design software, but you will also create your first impressive 3D model - a house made from polygon shapes.

Autodesk Maya, affectionately known as just Maya to its users, is a 3D computer graphics software that makes it easy to create impressive, realistic models of real-life - or imagined - objects. Super useful for graphic designers, film makers and web designers, the program is one that you should study if you're looking to go into one of the fields above.

If you're an Autodesk Maya user and you're looking to create rocks, boulders or rock walls, check out this excellent 7 part tutorial and learn how it's done. Maya is a massive 3D creation tool with so many aspects it's really mind blowing. This tutorial will help you improve your skills for your game building or just for you own art.

Motion trails in Autodesk Maya can be very handy at times when animating your scene. Keying a bone/joint or other object every so many frames can take up quite a bit of time and can sometimes be a big hassle, too. I have found many times when I could have really used one. I also don't like to search the Internet with a question and not find an answer (at least, without paying for it). So in this how-to article, I will demonstrate going about creating a simple (or complex) motion trail to make...

In this video tutorial, we learn how to use the Extrude tool within Autodesk Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the 3ds Max 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started using the lessons imparted by this free video software tutorial yourself, watch this free video guide.

In this video tutorial, we learn how to create creases and hard edges in Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started using the lessons imparted by this free video software tutorial yourself, watch this free video guide.

In this tutorial, we learn how to work with ramp textures within Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, watch this video guide.

In this tutorial, we learn how to work with the mia_material shader tool in Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed, step-by-step instructions, watch this video guide.

In this clip, you'll learn how to create a mental ray area light within Autodesk Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular 3D modeling application or are just looking to get better acquainted with Maya 2011 and its various features and functions, you're sure to enjoy this free video software tutorial. For more information, including complete instructions, watch this 3D modeler's guide.

This tutorial shows you the basics of employing animation in your Maya project. Set up a series of rigid bodies, like dominoes, and then have them fall, one after the other, using the techniques outlined in this video. Make sure you've assigned them the proper attributes!

In this clip, you'll learn how to create garbage mattess in Autodesk Maya 2010. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 3D 2010 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started using this trick yourself, watch this free video guide.

In this clip, you'll learn how to get started compositing digital footage within Autodesk Maya 2010. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 3D 2010 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started using this trick yourself, watch this free video guide.

In this clip, you'll learn how to use automatic matching in Autodesk Maya 2010. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 3D 2010 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started using this trick yourself, watch this free video guide.

In this fantastic, quick video, John takes a different approach to fixing the tail on his Dolphin model by adding a more organic look and feel to the polygons in the actual model. He takes his time, showing you everything that he's doing as he goes along with some great commentary!

Learn how to use and work with render layers in your Maya 2011 projects. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started using render layers in your own Maya 2011 projects, watch this free video guide.

Learn how to create global illumination effects in Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started creating GI effects in your own Maya 2011 projects, watch this free video guide.

Learn how to create depth map shadows when working within Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started making depth map shadows in your own Maya projects, watch this free video guide.

Learn how to preview lighting and shadows when working in Maya 2011. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, and to get started previewing lighting and shadows in your own Maya projects, watch this free video guide.

In this tutorial, we learn how to rotate and revolve cameras in Maya. First, go to create primitives on the menu at the top. Next, create a camera and pull it out onto the circle. Now, click the camera and then the circle, then hit the 'p' key on the keyboard. Now, you can rotate your circle around and it will rotate on the y axis. To set this, click on 50, then type in 360 on the 'y axis' space. After this, hit 's' an you will have a key frame. You can change the settings as you prefer, then...

Want to learn how to quickly and easily paint directly on 3D objects? With Maya's 3D paint tool, it's a cinch. And this guide will show you how. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with application and its workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, watch this free video guide.

Learn how to use influence objects in a smooth bind to help ease your blendshape woes...or if you like blendshapes, use them to help get that extra little tweak you always wished you could have. And this guide will show you how. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with application and its workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions,...

Want to incorporate your 3D objects into real photos? Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with application and its workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, watch this free video guide.

Learn how to import objects from one scene into another in Maya 7 or later. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with application and its workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, watch this free video guide.

Learn how to use the bend deformer to make your models a little more dynamic without having to learn all that bothersome animation stuff! Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with application and its workflow, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including detailed instructions, watch this free video guide.

Pretty much every efficient type of modern vehicle features some sort of suspension to cushion its landings and smooth its ride. This means that modeling a suspension accurately is an important part of creating 3D models of vehicles. This four-part video will teach you how to create a 3D model of a suspension rig using Maya. Specifically, you will be creating a piston with an automated damping spring from an airplane's landing gear.

Tire treads may not seem like a terribly important thing to model properly, but they are intricate and learning how to do it is a valuable experience. This video will walk you through creating a 3D model of a tire tread using Maya, specifically brutalizing a bend deformer.

This video from accredited Maya 3D instructor Andrew Klein is a part of his wonderful series of videos covering different aspects of 3D digital art. It covers how to use Photoshop and Maya together to create, align, and sync image planes properly. Take some pictures of your cell phone and get started!

Creating good UVs with Maya can be tough, and get tougher depending on what type of object you are trying to unwrap. This short video tutorial covers how to create accurate UVs for long objects like rope or, in this case, shoelaces. This is a simple technique, but one that should enable you to model much more smoothly and accurately in the future, especially if you often find yourself creating 3D models of shoes.

This video from accredited Maya instructor Andrew Klein of the Art Institute of San Francisco will teach you how to use just one of the innumerable powerful features of Autodesk's Maya 3D modeling software. It covers how to use a spline IK and a dynamic hair curve to drive a joint chain and geometry for wiggly objects like hairs and antennae. Hair is a really tough thing to model well, so watch this video and master the art.

This video, from accredited 3D art instructor Andrew Klein, will teach you how to use one of the many powerful features in Maya to manipulate you 3D models. Specifically, it will teach you how to use the LOD (level of detail) tool in order to control how much of your model loads at any time, making it animate more smoothly in games and other applications.

Maya 2009 introduced a lot of cool new UV tools to the already-powerful Maya 3D modeling software. This two-part video will teach you how to use some of these features to cut apart a 3D model of a hand by its UV edges. This technique is perfect for very fast organic UV unwraps, and should improve your skills and speed of modeling dramatically.

Maya 2009, when it was released in 2008, made the process of working with UVs a lot easier. This video will teach you how to use the UV enhancement tools in Maya to unwrap a model of a head, removing some of its distortion.