Hierarchies, Groups and Nodes

Summary

Hierarchies and groups are undoubtedly useful for any manner of work that you wish to create, from high quality stills to full length feature animation. It is key that the creation, manipulation and implementation of these methods are understood. Experiment with placing the stickman in different hierarchies to see the effect that this would have on the way you work - what tends to make things easier to animate and how much complexity is too much? Consider this if you are going to be creating and setting up characters for other animators to use. The underlying structure and connectionism of Maya is represented using the Hypergraph and the data in each node is represented using the Attribute. As scene complexity grows, the Hypergraph will become the editor that will allow you to see the web of connections between many different nodes and also to troubleshoot your scenes if unexpected things occur. Understanding the fact that nodes not only contain attributes, but that these attributes can be connected is key to using Maya. Although Maya can be used as a 3D animation and rendering package, keeping this idea of connected nodes in the mind’s eye will allow you to maximize your input and control over your work and extend your creative abilities.