Create menu

Nurbs Primitives
Options in this menu let you create various geometric primitive shapes using NURBS surfaces or curves. You can create the primitives at the origin or, depending on the primitive options you have set, wherever you click your mouse in the scene view (Interactive Creation). Most of the options are shared between primitive types.

For more information about options in this menu, see NURBS Primitives Options.

Polygon Primitives
Options in this menu create a polygon-based geometric primitive at the origin or, depending on the primitive options you have set, wherever you click in the scene view (Interactive Creation). You can then move, scale, rotate, and reshape the new object using the standard tools and polygon menu items.

See also Create polygon primitives.

The creation settings for many polygon types share some settings like Divisions, Axis, and Create UVs. See also Common settings for polygon primitives.

For more information about options in this menu, see Polygon Primitives Options.

Lights
Options in this menu allow you create various lights. See Lights Options for more information.
Cameras
Options in this menu allow you to create various cameras, such as a basic camera, or a stereo camera. See Cameras options for more information.
CV Curve Tool
Lets you draw a NURBS curve by placing CVs.

Select Create > CV Curve Tool > to set the CV Curve Tool Options.

EP Curve Tool
Lets you draw a NURBS curve by placing edit points.

Select Create > EP Curve Tool > to set the EP Curve Tool Options.

Bezier Curve Tool
Lets you draw a freehand Bezier curve by clicking in the scene to create anchors. You can also click-drag to create anchors and tangents.

Select Create > Bezier Curve Tool > to set the Bezier Curve Tool Options.

Pencil Curve Tool
Lets you draw a freehand NURBS curve.

The Curve Degree > 1 Linear option creates jagged curves known as polylines. The default setting (3) creates smooth curves.

See also Components of NURBS curves, Draw curves, Create > EP Curve Tool, and Create > CV Curve Tool.

Arc Tools
Lets you create arcs by specifying points and then using a manipulator.

    The Arc tools options are:

  • Circular Arc Degree — 1 Linear creates jagged curves. The default setting (3) creates smooth curves.
  • Sections — Sets the number of curve segments of the arc.

See also Create arcs.

Measure Tools
The Distance, Parameter, and Arc Length tools create measurement objects that let you measure and annotate objects in the scene. As you move the points of the annotations, the listed measurements automatically update.

See also Measure the distance between two points and Show parameter or arc-length values on a curve or surface.

Scene Assembly
Use the options in this menu to create assembly reference and definition nodes.
  • Create Assembly Definition — Creates an assemblyDefinition node. The Add Locator representation option is on by default. It adds a locator representation to the new assembly definition.
  • Create Assembly Reference — Creates an assemblyReference node.
Text
Adds objects to the scene in the shape of styled text.

Select Create > Text > to set the Text Options.

Adobe Illustrator Object
The Create Adobe® Illustrator® Object menu item allows you to create 3D animated models from 2D vector data by loading Adobe® Illustrator® paths into Maya as curves or to generate polygonal surfaces from the Adobe Illustrator file.

You can reload the file if you make changes to it. You can also edit the path to the Adobe Illustrator file in the Attribute Editor after you create the object, and history and bevel information is automatically applied.

To use this feature, make sure the following conditions apply:

  • Text must be converted to outlines in Adobe Illustrator (select the text and then select Type > Create Outlines).
  • Only Adobe Illustrator 8 files are supported.
  • Be sure to delete any guides in Illustrator before saving the file, even hidden guides. These will be loaded into Maya as curves, which will cause problems for the bevel operation.

To create an Adobe Illustrator Object

  1. Select Create > Adobe Illustrator Object.
  2. Select an .ai file.
  3. Click OK.

To update the Adobe Illustrator Object

  1. Select the Adobe Illustrator Object.
  2. Open the Attribute Editor.
  3. In the IllustratorForBevel tab, expand the File Attributes section.
  4. Click Reload.

Select Create > Adobe Illustrator Project > to set the Adobe Illustrator Object Options.

Construction Plane
Creates a construction plane to which you can snap construction tools.

    Options in the Construction Plane are:

  • Pole Axis — Sets the orientation of the construction plane. The default is an XY plane.
  • Size — Sets the size of the plane in grid units.

See also Construction planes and Snap to a live surface.

Free Image Plane

A free image plane is an image plane that is not attached to the camera; one that you can select and transform in your scene. Select this option to create a free image plane.

A free image plane adjusts its size to match the image resolution ratio when you load a new image. See Editing and aligning free image planes for more information.

For more information on image plane attributes, see Image plane attributes.

Note:

Rendering of free image planes is currently not supported by the Maya software renderer.

Locator
Creates a locator object in the scene. A locator is a small icon like an x-y-z axis that marks a point in space. They are useful as a user interface for characters; for example, you can parent joints to the locator so moving the locator pushes and pulls the joint.

An attribute on the locator shape node allows you to change the locator’s local scale; that is, you can change the size of the locator (without affecting any objects that are parented or constrained to the locator).

Annotation
Creates a text label with an arrow pointing to the selected object.

Deleting annotations does not remove the corresponding locator node from the scene. To delete the locator node, do one of the following:

  • After deleting the annotation node, select the locator node and delete it.
  • Select the annotation and press the pick walk up hotkey (default is up arrow key). The locator node will be selected and deleting it will also delete the annotation node.
  • Selecting File > Optimize Scene Size. (See also Optimize Scene Size Options and Annotate or document objects.)
Empty Group
Creates an empty group node in the scene hierarchy.

See also Transformations, Scene hierarchy, and Group objects together.

Sets
The Set and Partition submenus create sets and partitions. Sets are loose groupings of objects used for various purposes in Maya. Partitions are groupings of sets that ensure the sets do not share members. See also Create and edit sets and Keep a collection of sets from having overlapping membership.

The Quick Select Set submenu creates a new quick select set from the current selection. The new selection set appears in the Edit > Quick Select Sets submenu. See also Save and reuse a selection and Relationship Editor.