Maya instructions 3D print

1. Maya Instructions
for 3D Printing
Manami Ishimura

2. Download Maya and Mudbox *Free for
Educational Access
• Go to https://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-
software/overview?sorting=featured&page=1

3. Download Maya and Mudbox
Once you make a educational account, you should be able to download all Auto Desk software.

4. Set Up a File

5. Preference
Go to
Window>
Setting/Preference >
Preference>
Files/Projects>
Check Enable under “AutoSave”

6. Set Project

7. Project Window
Go to
File >
Project Window>
Click "Accept”
This allows to create all
date files of Maya in the
folder that you just create
by setting project.

8. After Accepting “Project Window”

9. Create a Project

10. *ASCII vs Binary
• Saving your scene as a “.ma” (ASCII) file essentially saves your scene
as a text file of commands. This allows you to open the file in a text
editor and edit the scene directly within the script of the file. This is
handy if your file ends up corrupted and you want to try to restore it
using scripts.
• Saving as a “.mb” (Binary) file strips out the text information and
compresses it into numeric values, reducing your file size, but making
it impossible to edit the script from a text editor. “.mb” is the default
saving method established by Maya, so if you do not anticipate
editing your scene from the text file, “.mb” should work just fine for
you.

11. Basic Skills

12. View Control
• https://youtu.be/LJLo6MafPVM?t=13

13. View Panels
You can change the view panels by clicking “space”
If you want to see only one view panel, click “space’ on the panel

14. Transform
• https://youtu.be/a_GbI-au6v4?t=12

15. Hot Key - Move Object/Face/Edges = W

16. Hot Key- Rotate Object/Face/Edge = “E” key

17. Hot Key- Object/Face/Edge = “R” key

18. Hot Key- Extrude Mode= Control + E
Hot key for Extruding

19. Wire Frame / Smooth Shade All
Wire Frame = Smooth Shade All =

20. Select Options: Object/ Vertex/ Face/ Edge
Hold right click
Vertex
Object
Edge
Face

21. Maya
Create a 3D model from a
Drawing

22. Drawings (at least Front and Side views)
Drawings must be the same scale, so grit papers are good for the
drawing for 3D transforming.
Make sure all height/width/depth are same and all drawing are same
proportion.

23. Set a Cube / View setting
-Open Maya software
-Click the cube icon (*under Poly modeling tab)
-Setting shading to wireframe for top/front/side views

24. How to Attach an Image
To attach images of drawings,
1. Go to view > Image Plane > Import Image…
2. Make sure a drawing view and the panel view are
the same

25. Move image objects out of the sight in the
perspective view

26. Modify the vertex to scale the similar size of
the drawing

27. Add a grid using “Quad Draw”
Hold right click
Hold alt (windows) or control(mac) key

28. Move vertexes following the drawing
Hold
right
click
*Do this process for front and side

29. Extrude
Extrude
Go to Edit Mesh> Extrude
Or
Click the icon
Or
Hot key command +E
Hot key for Extruding
+
Hold right click
Choose “Face” mode

30. 3 ways to extrude
Scale (cube)
Move (arrow)
Rotate (circle)

31. How to Delete Vertex (Edge) -1

32. How to Delete Vertex (Edge) -2
Go to:
Edit Mesh
Delete Edge/Vertex
Or
Press backspace
(windows)
Press command & delete
(mac)

33. How to Mirror
(Create a Symmetrical
Form)

34. How to Mirror
-Hold right click
-Select face -Select all faces of. The other side
-Click Delete

35. How to Mirror
*Alignment Technique
1. Click “Snap to grids”
2. Double click Move tool icon
3. Uncheck “remain component spacing”
4. Move all vertexes that you want to line
up
*Select one of vertexes and “shift + double
click on the next vertex” then, you can
select all vertex on the circle.
5. DO NOT FORGET Uncheck “Snap to Grids
and Check “Remain component spacing”

36. How to Mirror
Right click, hold and
select Object Mode
Go to Mesh >
Mirror *click the square
Before you mirror the object, make sure all center vertexes are on the 0 point.
*the alignment technique is on the next slide

37. How to Extrude
Maya

38. Extrude
Extrude
Go to Edit Mesh> Extrude
Or
Click the icon
Or
Hot key command +E
Hot key for Extruding
+
Hold right click
Choose “Face” mode

39. 3 ways to extrude
Scale (cube)
Move (arrow)
Rotate (circle)

40. How to Smooth
Maya

41. Add Quad
Hold alt (windows) or
control(mac) key

42. Smooth

43. How to Relax with Quad Draw
If the object has hard edges that you do not
Like, you can relax the edges
Quad Draw> Shift + Drag

44. Clean-up Tool
• If there are issues when you smooth the surface, here is the tutorial
that can fix those issues.
https://youtu.be/von6_9sowZ4

45. Export to 3D print file (stl)

46. Export to 3D print file (.stl)
• Appx. 100000 faces for printing *No more than 500,000 polygons
• Keep smooth until getting the amount

47. Export 3D print

48. Export 3D print file (stl)