Chapter 3: The Maya 2011 Interface

This chapter takes you on a guided tour of all the elements visible on the Maya 2011 screen. It draws from the experience you had in Chapter 2, “Jumping in Headfirst, with Both Feet,” with the Solar System exercise. You’ll visit the menus, icons, and shelves, to become familiar with the interface basics; you’ll learn how to work with these tools later in this book. For now, while you’re first getting into this, knowing the name of everything and its purpose is a good idea. Don’t get nervous; you won’t need to retain a lot of information. Think of this more as a nickel tour.

This chapter also serves as a good reference when you’re wondering about the purpose of a particular icon. If you’re already familiar with the Maya interface, you may want to skip this chapter.

Topics in this chapter include:

• Navigating in Maya
• Maya’s layout
• Panels and frequently used windows
• Customizing Maya