You can set the following preferences in the Files/Projects category of the Preferences window.
To return to the default factory settings, choose in this window. Note that this resets the preferences in every category in the Preferences window.
Projects Settings
- Default projects directory, Always start in this project
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Use these settings to set up a default projects directory when you create new projects and on startup.
Recent History Size
- Files, Increments, Projects
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Specify how many files, increments, and projects you want to have listed in each of the File > Recent submenus.
Autosave
- Enable
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When turned on, Autosave automatically saves your scene at timed intervals. The files are saved according to the Autosave options with the name AUTO-SAVE followed by an incrementing numerals.
- Prompt before save
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Prompts the user with a dialog box before autosaving.
- Limit autosaves
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Limits the number of times a file can be autosaved.
- Number of autosaves
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Determines the number of times a file can be autosaved if Limit autosaves is turned on.
- Interval (minutes)
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Determines the amount of time between each autosave (the default is 10 minutes).
- Autosave destination
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Determines where the autosave file is stored. Project stores it in the current project under the folder autosave, while Named folder stores it in a folder you specify. Env Var stores the autosave file based on the value of the environment variable MAYA_AUTOSAVE_FOLDER.
Crash Recovery
Activate this option to display crash file information if the last session crashed.
Ascii File Compression Mode
- On file save
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Specify the compression mode you want to use when saving an ASCII file:
- Compressed
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Saves files in compressed mode. File compression reduces the sizes of large files so they do not occupy as much space on your hard drive.
- Uncompressed
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Saves files in uncompressed mode.
- As Is
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Keeps files in their original compression mode rather than compressing or decompressing them. As Is is the default.
Note: To use compression modes, please ensure that a zip utility is installed and in the path on your machine. For example, you must do the following before saving a compressed file on Windows:- Install gzip
- Add a path to your system environment variables that points to the location of gzip on your system. The default path for gzip is C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuWin32\bin
Display Layer
- File import merge
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Specify how you want the Display Layer merged when you import a file.
- None
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All layers read in are put in a new layer, renumbered, and renamed, if necessary to preserve uniqueness.
- By Number
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Rather than creating a new layer, all layers read in that have the same index number as an existing layer are merged with that layer.
- By Name
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Rather than creating a new layer, all layers read in that have the same name as an existing layer are merged with that layer.
Render Layer
- File import merge
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Specify how you want the Render Layer merged when you import a file.
- None
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All layers read in are put in a new layer, renumbered, and renamed, if necessary to preserve uniqueness.
- By Number
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Rather than creating a new layer, all layers read in that have the same index number as an existing layer are merged with that layer.
- By Name
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Rather than creating a new layer, all layers read in that have the same name as an existing layer are merged with that layer.
File Dialog
Dialog style
- OS native
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Uses the current operating system’s native file browser when performing save, open, import, and export operations.
- Maya default
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Uses Maya’s built-in file browser when performing save, open, import, and export operations.
- Hide extensions in filter
- Activate Hide extensions in filter if you don't want file extensions (for example, *.ma, *.mb) to appear in the Files of Type field the window.
Version
- Ignore Version
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Disregards the file version when opening, importing, or referencing a Maya file. The Ignore Version preference lets you open a file that was created by any version of Maya regardless of whether it was saved in ascii or binary format. This eliminates the need to save and then manually edit an ascii version of the Maya file to remove the required version line when you need to open it in an earlier version.
The Ignore Version preference applies to File > Open Scene, File > Import, and File Create Reference commands.
Note: Maya files that are opened in an earlier version of Maya are not supported as feature compatibility to earlier versions cannot be ensured. For example, scenes saved as Maya Binary files in Maya 2016 are not compatible with previous versions of Maya. The Ignore Version option is primarily provided for production environments where multiple versions of Maya are in use simultaneously.
Beginning Maya 2012, for the Linux and Mac platforms, there are checks to ensure that the directory pointed to by lastLocalWS is accessible before Maya attempts to use it. The directory must have 555 (r-xr-xr-x) permissions. Otherwise, if the directory only has 444(r--r--r--) permissions, Maya cannot use it; even cd or ls do not work.
In addition to lastLocalWS, there are other workspaces that Maya tries to use on startup, and the same check is being applied to these workspaces also. The order in which Maya tries to use these workspaces are as follows:
- the value obtained from the -proj command line argument
- the value obtained from the MAYA_PROJECT environment variable
- the InitialProject optionVar (i.e. the preference labeled Always start in this project)
- the lastLocalWS optionVar (stored automatically by Maya at exit to remember the last active workspace
- the default project
Image Files
- Automatically reload updated image files
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When enabled, Maya automatically refreshes file textures that have been updated and saved in another application. This option is disabled by default.
File open error dialog
Activate Can Suppress Error Dialog to hide Error dialogs for unrecognised custom node, data types, or plug-ins that appear on file load. Warnings/Error messages continue to display in the Script Editor.
Once active, the error dialog suppression persists until this setting is turned off, or Preferences reset.
Script Editor
Choose a behavior for Python file encoding when there are no PEP-263 headers.
- Python files encoding
- Maya saves Python files in UTF-8 format by default.
- Select UTF-8 so that, if no PEP-263 header is present, files are saved using UTF-8 encoding. On load, Maya first decodes using UTF-8, and if it fails, local encoding is used instead. UTF-8 is the Python standard and supports the entire Unicode character set, while still able to read system-encoded files for legacy support.
- Select System Encoding to use the legacy Maya mode, ensuring backward and forward compatibility. Select this option if you are creating files that may be used in older versions of Maya, for example, if you create a file in Maya 2021, but intend to also use it in Maya 2019.
- Add a PEP-263 header to non-ascii Python files
- Activate this option to add a PEP-263 header to increase compatibility if code is loaded using Python Import.