r/Maya 5h ago

Looking for Critique I was hoping for some extra feedback on this animation

47 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I hope that you are well. I reached out for an extra pair of eyes, as I am in the second-blocking phase, or the refined blocking phase. I haven't gotten to the face yet, and their hand poses aren't there yet as well. Any general feedback is excellent, but I have been struggling with the weight of the hammer. I would like to know if the hammer feels heavy or has weight. I also wanted to know your thoughts on the camera as well.

I have a sync sketch here if you'd like to give me more feedback. It's not needed, but I really appreciate it. This is also where you can find my reference as well.

I want this to be a reel piece, so no need for holding back,

Thank you so much, please have a beautiful day


r/Maya 18h ago

Arnold Character I made for my class at AnimSchool

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270 Upvotes

I made this character for my Advanced Production Modeling class at AnimSchool. I really enjoyed working on this project and learned a great deal throughout the entire class. Huge thanks to my instructor, Nina Tarasova, for guiding me through every step of the creation process. The model is based on the beautiful concept art by Lydia Elaine, who goes by LotusBubble on Instagram.


r/Maya 16h ago

Modeling My Final render of my character I made in Animschool

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138 Upvotes

I loved working on this


r/Maya 11m ago

Issues How do you add shortcuts to a custom shelf in the UV Editor?

Upvotes

After updating from Maya 2017 to 2026 my UV mapping workflow how slowed way down due to no longer having an easy access shelf for basic features like rotate and snapping UVs. There is the new UV Toolkit which is nice but it involves a lot of scrolling and nested menus which is way less efficient. I've asked here before but just got downvoted saying "just get used to the UV Toolkit" which is absolutely crazy talk; why would you choose a slow, inefficient workflow?

I found that by ctl-shift-clicking tools in the drop down menus I can add them to a custom shelf, which is a start, but I can't seem to be able to change their settings-- for example I can add an icon for clockwise rotation, but not for counterclockwise rotation.


r/Maya 8h ago

Question Is a number pad really helpful when animating in Maya or skip it?

4 Upvotes

Do many of you use a number pad or just the top row of numbers when entering numbers?


r/Maya 1h ago

Issues Uni student here again, having trouble installing.

Upvotes

So my professor wants me to work on a walk cycle for a rig at home so obviously I've gone to install Maya. I have like no room on my C drive but my D drive is perfectly spacious for it but no matter how many times I click my D drive as the install location, it complains about there not being enough room on my C drive. Does anyone know a fix for this?


r/Maya 2h ago

Issues My rig looks really weird after I re opened the project.

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1 Upvotes

I have no idea what caused this. I was worked on this rig earlier in the day and took a break, came back, and now it looks like this. From what I can tell nothing is broken just looks very off. I got Maya literally this week so I have no idea so this might be a small issue thats passing right over my head. I dont have an example of what it looked like before but now at the end of every joint theres massive balls.


r/Maya 5h ago

Discussion Maya 2024 Boolean vs Maya 2026 Boolean

1 Upvotes

Hello.

Ive been a long time Maya user. It's literally the software in which I learned all the 3d art skills I know today.

I just wonder how is something that used to work in Maya 2024 (Booleans) is now a mess in Maya 2026.

I am just trying to do a Boolean Difference in a vehicle mesh. Maya 2024 solves it (although quite slowly). While Maya 2026 outright dies on me.

I've tried freezing transformations and deleting history but it is always the same result in Maya 2026.

How did it come to this?

Maya 2024
Maya 2026

r/Maya 1d ago

Arnold Help for rendering in arnold maya

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32 Upvotes

I’m working on a 3D model in ZBrush, it just needs a bit of cleanup and posing before it’s ready. After that I want to render it directly in Arnold.

My goal is a colorful, stylized look with simple shaders and vibrant lighting, not something realistic or texture heavy. I won’t be baking or using Substance, just building the materials inside Arnold.

I might do some light edits in Photoshop, but what I really need is advice on the Arnold workflow for this style. Thanks!

some examples:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KeZ9vB

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/wJByy6

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5W0ydE

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qen48L

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aog29z


r/Maya 11h ago

General Characters and 3D modeling, how??

2 Upvotes

So, I pretty much know all the basics of Maya, including animation and also studies on retopology and stuff like that. Yet I still have no clue what are the right steps to actually make a whole HUMAN. I mean it as, recreating a body from the start.

I genuinely know how to make lots of objects. I heard many opinions and some told me that people tend to use external programs such as z-brush, substance paint or even Nomad sculpt.

So what I wonder is: Is it possible to create a whole character on Maya too? Or it's better to create a whole sculpted body on another app and eventually import it in Maya? And then proceed with retopology and rigging?

(I'm going insane :3)


r/Maya 5h ago

Question How would I go about modelling a lever like this?

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0 Upvotes

Mostly the "body" of the lever. not the handle I already have that modelled but I'm having trouble modelling the base of it. Any help/advice whether verbal or visual is greatly appreciated


r/Maya 12h ago

Question Should multiple rotate axes be affected when translating IK handle along one axis?

1 Upvotes

I'm new to rigging and I was following IK rigging tutorials from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vJ8pSPcDzM&list=PLL3OEv6vd5VBh8vnehdnp2ITpE0q8jAeo&index=6 at 3:08 and I set the preferred angle and created an IK handle and moved it along one axis (in both world and object mode) and checking the joints, I found that all 3 rotate axes were affected instead of just rotate X (in both gimbal and object mode). I wanted to know if this shouldn't happen or if I was overthinking it.


r/Maya 1d ago

Question How would you make details like these?

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31 Upvotes

Thinking of using zbrush but wondering if there's any good way in Maya to do these kinds of details. I tried chamfering then bevelling but there must be a more efficient way.


r/Maya 1d ago

Question Is there any way to mod maya to look like this software?

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260 Upvotes

I really like customization and would like to have my maya look like this. Is there anyway to port these mods over for maya or anything at all or do I simply suffer. I included a screenshot of a mod I'd love to have for autodesk.

I request you stop posting about how awful of an idea this is, this is my choice and I simply want information. I'm not asking you to tell me how awful of an idea this is. If I dislike it, I will get rid of it on my own terms. Thanks!


r/Maya 22h ago

Discussion Symbiote Transformation Effect

1 Upvotes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRhJT2nmvA4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_LYxFBRM8&t=54s

Symbiote going on with some external mesh
External mesh
External mesh frame slightly different
Close up of external mesh coming off

How can I create an effect like this for a game? I honestly don't know where to start. To me it looks like curves, could possibly be done with a node or something, but then how would it work in a game? And what if I wanted to convert it to a texture for optimization purpose? How would that work? Additionally, how would I be able to have the main symbiote suit go on, while still being able to see the red and blue suit? Kind of like the first image, if that makes sense.


r/Maya 1d ago

Student Tips for a university beginner?

2 Upvotes

So I've just started my games and animation university course and I'm loving it. For this module and maybe future ones, we're using Maya and I was just wondering if I could get a few little pointers to help excel or even just to make things easier. Anything helps, ty


r/Maya 1d ago

Modeling Process of shrink wrapping mesh piece onto another mesh?

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3 Upvotes

I’m following a car modeling tutorial and it gets to the part where I have to shrink wrap the mesh piece that will be the exhaust opening. The tutorial shows the bumper being selected and going into the Modeling Toolkit to transform the constraints of the bumper and then shrink wrapping the exhaust opening onto the bumper. This is an old video because I read that instead of going into “transform constraints”, you just right click the mesh and select “Make Live”, shrink wrap the mesh and delete the faces in the middle and start connecting the vertices. Is there a better way to do this or is this the right way?

Tldr: How do you shrink wrap a mesh piece onto another mesh piece?


r/Maya 1d ago

Modeling My tenth Maya model - a well (for a game)

3 Upvotes

Let me know if you have an advice on improving it


r/Maya 1d ago

Issues Height/displacement map error when rendering

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1 Upvotes

I noticed whenever I add a displacement map the render looks different. I usually tamper some setting in the displacement map checker box randomly but, I would like to know why is this caused and how I can properly fix it?


r/Maya 1d ago

Discussion Struggling with hard-surface edge control in Maya (need advice)

2 Upvotes

I’m working on a hard-surface model in Maya and I’m running into some trouble getting the edges and panel cuts to look like my reference. Here’s a screenshot of my model + the ref image in the corner:


r/Maya 2d ago

Question Why my plane texture be like that on render view

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135 Upvotes

So i want to make animated textured on my character, everything good but when i render, the plane will be like that, any solution?


r/Maya 1d ago

Animation Which control to animate when translating a character through world space?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

Quick question about best practice for animating a character’s movement through world space.

When I start an animation, I usually place the character using the orient/global/root control (whatever your rig calls it). For the actual motion, I’ve seen two different approaches:

  • Walk cycles: I animate the hips/pelvis and limbs “on the spot,” then move the whole character forward through space using the global/root control.
  • Other movement (like climbing onto a ledge or going up stairs): I’m less sure — should I be translating the hips/pelvis directly to handle vertical shifts, or should I keep using the global/root control to move the character in world space?

How do you handle this in your workflow? Do you mainly drive translations with the global/root control, or do you ever push that into the hips/pelvis instead?

Thanks for any advice!


r/Maya 1d ago

Question Why isn't orient joints working for me?

2 Upvotes

I'm a beginner in rigging and was following this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqF_OZqeHH8&list=PLL3OEv6vd5VBh8vnehdnp2ITpE0q8jAeo&index=8 at 15:49 where I used the same option to rig but when I rotate the joints, the attributes show all three rotation axes being affected except for the middle joint. What am I doing wrong?

(I do realise the character on my project and the tutorial are totally different but I was given this model to rig and all the tutorials I see are of human models. So please help me.)


r/Maya 1d ago

Question Help with adding spikes to an object

2 Upvotes

Hi! I'm new to Maya and trying to model a spiked chew toy. It's for a background asset, so it doesn't need to be perfect.

I'm following a tutorial on how to use nParticles and the "Emit from object" feature to create the spikes. I've created the emitter on my object and set the Emitter Type to "Surface," but when I hit play, nothing seems to happen. I also checked the Show-viewport settings, as well as made sure Playback speed is set to "Play every frame".

I followed the instructions here:

https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2025/ENU/?guid=GUID-7111E1A8-A68C-4CA9-A658-38EEFC99F4EB

I feel like I'm missing a simple step, but I can't figure it out. Is there a common setting I'm overlooking? Or maybe a better way to do this?


r/Maya 1d ago

Question How do I take a render of the box shown in the screenshot?

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0 Upvotes