Available tools you use in Autodesk Maya?

Hi,





Im writing a assignment on Autodesk Maya, i have never used the software package before and for me to learn it would be impossible in the time scale i have left for my deadline.





I just wanted to know what available tools you can use within the package to edit an animation and how it manipulates the objects such as for example in Adobe Flash there is a preloader library which stores hundreds of objects to select from making it easier to add elements to the animation stage.





Anything would be a big help!





Thanks|||Hi,





Maya is an all-round animation software package which you can use it to create full 3D animation.


As for editing animation, there are some general tools like :





Timeline -


just like in Adobe Flash, you can place keyframe on the timeline to animate an object in the 3D viewport, motion tween is available in between a beginning and ending keyframe.





Graph Editor -


A 2D graphical interface displaying the animation curve of an object's X, Y, Z axis's attributes, you can fine tweaking their animation curve on this editor.


Since we are animating in a 3D environment, there are 3 directional axis associated to an object, e.g


Translation X, Translation Y, Translation Z;


Rotation X, Rotation Y, Rotation Z;


Scale X, Rotation Y, Rotation Z;


Each of these attributes' curve can be edited on the Graph Editor.


The Graph Editor is itself working like the Timeline Editor, so you can animate directly upon it.








Channel Box:


While the Graph Editor displays object's attributes in curve,


The Channel Box displays object's attributes in numerical form, e.g, if you would like to animate an object translating from unit 1 to unit 10 toward the X direction, you can animate directly on this panel by inserting numbers on their respective attributes.


Not like the Graph Editor, you have to work together with the Timeline Editor to animate using the Channel Box.








Just like in Flash, in Maya you can move an object by click dragging the object on the viewport.





Maya provides some basic elements like a Cube and Sphere which you can create them by a push of a button, you can then further editing their appearance by using the sculpting tools.





wish that help :)