You can set the following preferences in the Modeling category of the Preferences window.
Output Geometry Type
- Output geometry as
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These settings determine the type of geometry created from modeling actions such as Revolve, Loft, Extrude, Fillet Blend, and so forth. Setting it here affects all applicable modeling actions. Otherwise, select Mixed to use the individual settings of each modeling action.
NURBS Interaction
- Interaction mode
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Specify whether you want certain NURBS modeling commands to behave like actions or tools. An action performs a discrete function on selected objects. A tool lets you manipulate objects until you complete the operation. You may want to change actions to tools as you become proficient at Maya’s NURBS modeling.
To globally change the applicable modeling tools, select Everything is a Tool or Everything is an Action. To individually set each command, select Mixed.
Polygons
- Convert component selection
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Turn on Convert component selection to have Maya automatically convert an object selection to the appropriate component selection mode if an action works only on components.
For example, if you select a polygonal object and try to extrude faces, Maya automatically selects all the faces on the object and proceed.
- Create meshes single sided
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When this is turned on, new polygonal meshes (for example, created by the polygon primitive tools or by polygonal operations) automatically have their Render Stats > Double Sided attribute turned off.
- Smart command settings
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Modifies polygon settings based on the kind of action being performed:
You have the following options:
- Sets display attributes to show polygon components relevant to the action (for instance, displaying normals or border edges).
- Sets the selection mask to objects/components appropriate for the action.
- Sets selection constraints that make sense for the action.
- Automatic vertex color display
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When enabled, Maya automatically modifies the following settings to make vertex colors visible:
- Viewport shading mode is set to Smooth Shade All.
- The active object's Mesh Component Display > Display Colors attribute is turned on.
Automatic vertex color display is enabled by default.
- Keep faces together
- Specifies whether you want to retain the edge of each individual face or only those faces along the border edges of the selection. See Keep Faces Together.
- Default Vertex Normal Method
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Lets you set a default vertex normal method for polygon meshes.
- Unweighted
- This method takes the normal from each connected face and adds them together. This was Maya's default method pre-2013. Select this preference if you want to match files from older versions of Maya.
- Angle Weighted
- This method calculates the angle of the corners of the polygons, and uses that as weight.
- Area Weighted
- This method uses the surface area of each adjacent face as weight. As a result, small polygons have little influence on the result and large polygons have a great influence on the result.
- Angle and Area Weighted
- This method combines the Angle Weighted and Area Weighted methods of evaluation. This is the default method.
- Subdivision Method
- Sets the global subdivision method for all existing and new objects in smooth mesh preview mode. See Smooth mesh preview overview.
- Maya Catmull-Clark
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Smooths the faces of a mesh using Maya's implementation of the Catmull-Clark algorithm.
For more information on the Maya Catmull-Clark options, see Maya Catmull-Clark Controls.
Note: In Maya 2014 and earlier versions, Maya Catmull-Clark was the default subdivision method. - OpenSubdiv Catmull-Clark
- (Default) Applies a uniform refinement scheme to the faces of a mesh, subdividing the entire mesh by the same amount. See OpenSubdiv overview.
For more information on the OpenSubdiv Catmull-Clark options, see OpenSubdiv Controls.
- OpenSubdiv Catmull-Clark Adaptive
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Applies a progressive refinement scheme to irregular parts of your mesh. Adaptive subdivision only refines the mesh topology where additional detail is needed. It uses the GPU to generate a high resolution mesh that can be rendered at a high frame rate, without affecting your scene's performance. Adaptive subdivision supports high levels of tessellation and adjusts tessellation based on camera position, providing you with a smooth mesh whether your model is close to the camera or far away.Note: OpenSubdiv Catmull-Clark Adaptive is only supported by OpenGL 4 and DirectX11 compatible graphics cards.
Polygon Tangent Space
You can control how Maya sets tangent space for all the meshes in your scenes. For more information on Polygon Tangent Space, see Tangent Space.