Modeling to scale in Maya or any 3D application has become increasingly important, not just for proper proportions, but also as an integral part of physical rendering. Building things to proportionate scale is much easier by having an item of reference in your scene.
That is the basis for this short tutorial where Yun Khang Lai shows how to quickly create a height reference card for the size of an average human.
[blockquote source=”NYun Khang Lai – TalesofNalstone.com”]here’s a quick video for those who need my Height Reference MEL code[/blockquote]The process is rather simple in building a rectangle out of non-rendering Curves in Maya, and finding and shelving the MEL code so that the process can be repeated at the click of a button.
Taking it a step further, Yun Khang Lai shares a tip for putting the the script into a custom marking menu in Maya, using the Marking Menu Editor.
Again, really simple stuff, but really useful to the point where I wondered why I don’t have one!
More with Maya Marking Menus
We have had a look at creating custom marking menus in Maya before, there is a good overview and tutorial from Shray Khanna that walks through some of the things you can do with marking menus: Creating Custom Marking Menus in Maya
There is also a handy visual reference of all the Marking Menus in Maya showing all the hotbox, zones and marking menus available in Maya: Maya Marking Menus Visual Reference
There is also a look at how marking menus in Maya are much quicker for working, with some tips on how Marking Menus can speed up your workflow: Taking Advantage of Maya’s Marking Menus for Quicker Workflow
