As I had never previously used Maya, my first week was spent mostly learning the basic controls and menus.  This was all very overwhelming because there are so many different hotkeys and the interface is much more complex than anything I have used before.

We were advised to go through the 20 short tutorials by George Maestri, who took us through the basics of Maya using doughnuts and a truck.

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/collections/enterprise/1~AAAAAAIe0ZQ=968203?trk=share_ent_collection_url&shareId=a652b0e9-e277-4ea0-bc25-a015f215536a&accountId=35574164&u=35574164&success=true&authUUID=8UtmHJfdQh%2BbZS7onXbTNg%3D%3D

 

 

I downloaded the exercise files and followed along with the video, often having to pause and re-watch what he was doing.  This was amazingly helpful, and everything was explained in a very simple and easy to understand way.

 

 

I wanted to challenge myself to create something by following a tutorial.  It was very hard to find one that also took you through the hotkeys they were pressing as I still wasn’t familiar with all of them.  I first started by trying to create a wheel as I thought this may be an easy option for my first model in Maya.  This was far more complex than I had first thought it to be and I decided to look for a different one.  Although, this was still helpful as I learnt how to extrude faces which I think will be very useful going forward.

 

 

I watched to the end of the video as he created a singular spoke to connect from the main hub (the part which I created) to the outside rim.  He selected the spoke and changed its pivot point to be centered on the wheel and then duplicate it, placing the second spoke into position (the next extruded section) and lastly pressing ‘ShiftD’ to duplicate the spoke as well as the spacing between them.

 

 

 

I began following a different tutorial for making a table and chair.  This was a lot more successful, and I am very proud of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAhuLzDT3o&list=PL86RlxXns8_Cpw0mPPgAbuFLadCKsCzox

This was very clear and simple to follow.  Like the doughnut truck, I had to pause many times and re-watch parts that were more confusing.

 

 

 

 

Chasing Hearts Regular

 

We were given a challenge to model a vase for next lesson.  Alec posted a video example where he created one using reference images inserted into Maya.  This meant that you could go into a different perspective view and model the vase using a cylinder in front of the image.  I was also able to find out from this that you can select an object and set it to x-ray to see through the shape.  This meant that I was able to easily see the image I was working through the shape as I was modelling it.

 

 

I’m very happy with how this turned out, however next time I might add some other details such as flowers inside the vase or a handle.  I decided to see if I could fully model this again without having to watch the video tutorial to help me.

 

 

This is the same recreation from memory without the help of a video.  I thought this might be a good way to cement what I had learned while creating this vase.

 

 

 

Chasing Hearts Regular

 

We were then introduced to our very first assignment which was to model one of the following:

  • Windmill
  • Mantel Clock
  • Treasure chest & treasure
  • Sword & shield
  • Sci-Fi door
  • Old Well
  • Magic Witch / Wizard Staff

 

It took me a while to decide, and I was originally leaning towards a Magic Witch / Wizard Staff, however after hearing how many other people were planning to do that one, I decided I would like to model a windmill.  I think this would be very interesting to model and I am very excited to start coming up with some different designs.