Using the Maya Help

Using the Maya Help
Your Maya software application comes with a comprehensive set of documentation resources.
Essential Skills Movies
The first time you start Maya, the Essential skills movies window displays in Maya. Watch these movies
to learn about the skills you need to master when you first use Maya.

To play the Essential Skills Movies
1. In the Essential Skills Movies window, click the buttons to play the movie.
    Your computer launches its default multimedia player and your chosen movie begins to play.
2. Click your multimedia player's controls to start, stop, and pause the movie.
3. To view the online help of your multimedia player, select its help menu.


To close the Essential Skills Movies window or the multimedia player
1. To close the Essential Skills Movies window, click the close box in the upper right corner of the
    window.
    If you do not want to have this dialog box automatically display when you start Maya, turn on
    the Don't show this at startup check box.
2. To close the multimedia player, select File > Exit or click the close box in the upper right corner of
    the window. (This instruction may vary depending upon which multimedia player is used)
 
 If you want to watch the movies in the future
 In Maya, select Help > Learning Movies.
    The Essential Skills Movie window appears.


Maya Help
Your Maya software application comes installed with Maya technical documentation that assists you in
learning the Maya software. The Maya Help is HTML-based, structured by module, fully searchable, and is
displayed using your computer's web browser.
The Maya Help is topic based and displays the major functionality categories for Maya. The Maya Help
can assist you in finding reference information about particular topics, how to perform specific tasks, and
MEL command references.
To launch the Maya Help
 Select Help > Maya Help.

The Maya Help appears in a separate browser (depending on your user preference settings)

To obtain help on a particular Maya topic

· In the Maya Help window, click the name of the Maya topic you want information about (for

example, Animation, Dynamics, MEL commands, etc.).

The Maya Help displays the associated sub-topics and categories associated with the name you

selected.

Maya Index and search

You can search the Maya Help directly using the index and search capabilities. With these tools you find

the Maya topic you're looking for by searching the topic word in an alphabetic list or by directly typing

the topic word(s) into the search field and having the search tool find the documentation entries

associated with it.

To use the Maya Index

1. In Maya, select Help > Maya Help.

    The Maya index appears near the top of the Help window as a an alphabetic set of icons.

2. To view an index entry by alphabetic listing, click the letter icon that is associated with the

    first letter of your desired topic (for example: Click on D for Dynamics).

    The Maya index displays all entries in the Maya Help that begin with the letter D in the left

    navigation pane.

3. Scroll through the alphabetic listing until you find the entry you are looking for using the  scrollbar on the right side of the pane.

4. In the left navigation pane, click the entry you want.

   The information related to that topic appears in the right pane.

To use the Maya Search

1. Select Help > Maya Help.

   The Maya Help appears in a separate window (depending on your user preferences). You search

    for your topic by typing in a specific word that best represents the information you require.

2. In the Search text box at the top of the Maya Help window, type a word that best represents

    your search topic.

3. Click the magnifying glass icon to begin your search.

    The search results appear in the left navigation pane, sorted by relevancy.

4. Click the appropriate search result in the left window.

   The information related to that entry appears in the right window. By default, the search will find

both topic related information as well as task based instructions and related Getting Started

lessons.

Popup Help

Popup Help provides you with a quick method of identifying a particular tool or icon in the Maya user

interface.