AUTODESK MAYA Interface overview ~ Business Software

This section is a brief summary of the main Maya interface. Numbered headings below refer to the numbered interface elements in the figure.

You can show or hide elements in the main window using the Display > UI Elements menu. Alternatively, you can right-click the double-dotted edge () of an existing element and select the desired element from the pop-up menu.
If you can’t find the menu you’re looking for, it may be hidden. You can show or hide menus using the menu hotkeys. For more information see Selecting Menus hotkeys.
You can hide all the interface elements and instead use the quick command features: the Hotbox, Maya Hotkeys, and Marking menus.
You can resize some UI elements by dragging the dotted edge ().
You can rearrange the interface to suit your preferences. For more information, see Rearrange the interface.
A menu icon appears to the right of the mouse pointer when a pop-up menu is available.

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1. Menu Sets

Maya's first seven menus are always available, the remaining menus change depending on the Menu Set you choose.

2. Menus

menus contain both tools and actions for setting up scenes. The main menu is that the top of the Maya window. There are also individual menus for the panels and option windows.

3. Status Line

The Status line contains hotkeys for menu items as well as tools for setting up object selection and snapping. A quick Selection field is also available for you to set up for numeric input.

4. Shelf

The Shelf lets you create customized tool sets that are quickly accessed with a single click. Set up shelves to support different workflows. Press Shift + Ctrl when selecting a menu item to add it to a Shelf. See Shelf Editor for information on how to customize a shelf.

5. Panel Toolbar

The Panel Toolbar is below the panel menu in each view panel, letting you access many of the frequently used items in the panel menu. Press Ctrl + Shift +M to toggle the toolbar view.

6. Channel Box

The Channel Box lets you edit and key values for selected objects.

7. Layers

Maya has 3 types of layers:

Display Layers: used to manage a scene
Render layers: used to set up render passes for compositing
Animation Layers: used to blend, lock or mute multiple levels of animation.

In all cases, there is a default layer where objects are initially place upon creation.

8. QWERTY Tool Box

Use the QWERTY hotkeys to Select ( q), Move ( w), Rotate ( e), Scale ( r), and Show Manipulators ( t), as well as access the last tool used ( y) in the scene. See Tool and action hotkeys.

9. Quick layout buttons

The Quick Layout Buttons let you switch between useful panel layouts.

10. Help Line

The Help Line gives a short description of tools and menu items as you scroll over them in the UI. This bar also prompts you with the steps required to complete a certain tool or workflow.

11. Time Slider

The Time Slider shows you the time range as defined by the range slider. the current time, and the keys on selected objects or characters. You can also use it to "scrub" through animation.

12. Range Slider

The Range Slider lets you set the start and end time of the scene's animation and a playback range if you want to focus on a smaller portion of time.

13. Command Line

The Command line has an area to the left for inputting single MEL commands and an area to the right for feedback. Use these area if you are familiar with Maya's MEL scripting language.

14. Playback