Maya is one of the most popular Animation software widely used by studios and hobbyist. It has advanced features and tools sets that other software currently doesn’t offer making it the most preferred software in a pipeline.
Having many tools to work with can be sometimes very painful especially when you have to go through many menus resulting in a slower workflow.
Here are some keyboard shortcuts that can help you speed up your workflow(the keyboard shortcut may very depending on the Maya version you are using).
File Operations Ctrl (or Command) n File > New Scene Ctrl (or Command) o File > Open Scene Ctrl (or Command) s File > Save Scene Ctrl (or Command) Shift + s File > Save Scene As Ctrl (or Command) q File > Exit Ctrl r Create file reference Selecting Objects and Components F8 Select > Object/Component (Switch between object and component editing) F9 Select > Vertex F10 Select > Edge F11 Select > Face F12 Select > UV Ctrl i Select next intermediate object Alt F9 Select > Vertex Face < Shrink polygon selection region > Grow polygon selection region Selecting Menus Ctrl m Show/hide main menu bar Shift M Show/hide panel menu bar Ctrl+Shift M Show/hide panel toolbar h With left mouse button for Menu Set marking menu F2 Show Animation menu set F3 Show Polygons menu set F4 Show Modeling menu set F5 Show Dynamics menu set F6 Show Rendering menu set Tool Operations Return Complete current tool Insert Enter tool Edit mode Shift Q Select Tool, or with left mouse button for Component marking menu Alt q Select Tool, or with left mouse button for Polygon marking menu q Select Tool, or with left mouse button for Selection Mask marking menu w Move Tool, or with left mouse button for Move Tool marking menu e Rotate Tool, or with left mouse button for Rotate Tool marking menu r Scale Tool, or with left mouse button for Scale Tool marking menu Ctrl t Show universal manipulator tool t Show manipulator tool y Selects the last used tool that is not one of Select, Move, Rotate, or Scale j Move, Rotate, Scale Tool Snapping (press and release) =, + Increase manipulator size – Decrease manipulator size d With left mouse button move pivot (Move Tool) Insert Switches between move pivot and move object (Move Tool) Displaying Objects (Show, Hide) Ctrl h Display > Hide > Hide Selection Shift H Display > Show > Show Selection Ctrl+Shift H Display > Show > Show Last Hidden Alt h Display > Hide > Hide Unselected Objects Shift l Show > Isolate Select > View Selected (in the panel menus) Tumble, Track, or Dolly Alt Left mouse button Tumble Tool (press and release) Alt Middle mouse button Track Tool (press and release) Alt Right mouse button Dolly Tool (press and release) 2D Pan/Zoom \+ Middle mouse button 2D Pan tool \+ Right mouse button 2D Zoom tool \ Enable/disable 2D Pan/Zoom. Hotbox Display space (When pressed down) Show the hotbox Alt m Default Hotbox Style (Zones and Menu Rows) Edit Operations z Edit > Undo (also Ctrl+z/Command+z) Shift Z Edit > Redo g Edit > Repeat Shift G Repeat command at mouse position Ctrl d Edit > Duplicate Ctrl+Shift D Edit > Duplicate Special Shift D Edit > Duplicate with Transform Ctrl g Edit > Group p Edit > Parent Shift P Edit > Unparent Ctrl (or Command) x Edit > Cut Ctrl (or Command) c Edit > Copy Ctrl (or Command) v Edit > Paste Modeling Operations 1 Default polygon mesh display (no smoothing) 2 Cage + smooth polygon mesh display 3 Smooth polygon mesh display Ctrl F9 Convert polygon selection to Vertices Ctrl F10 Convert polygon selection to Edges Ctrl F11 Covert polygon selection to Faces Ctrl F12 Covert polygon selection to UVs Ctrl ` Proxy > Subdiv Proxy Displays original mesh (proxy) and a smoothed version of the original.
Ctrl+Shift ` Proxy > Subdiv Proxy > (Box icon) Displays Subdiv Proxy options window
` Toggles the display between the original (proxy) and the smoothed mesh. ~ Displays both the original (proxy) and the smoothed mesh. Alt ` Modify > Convert > NURBS to Subdiv, Polygons to Subdiv Alt+Shift ~ Displays option window for Modify > Convert > NURBS to Subdiv > (Box icon)or Polygons to Subdiv > (Box icon) (depending on whether NURBS or Polygons are selected). Page Up Increases Division Levels for Smooth Mesh Preview or Subdiv Proxy. Page Down Decreases Division Levels for Smooth Mesh Preview or Subdiv Proxy. l Lock/unlock length of a curve (press and hold)
Thank you for reading,
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