Before you animate, you have to navigate. Maya can feel like a cockpit, but you only need three main shortcuts to start: Tumble (Rotate your view). Alt + Middle Click: Track (Move side-to-side). Alt + Right Click: Zoom. 2. The Golden Rule: Keyframes
Animation is simply the change of a property over time. To set a keyframe in Maya, select your object and hit the key. This "pins" the object’s position, rotation, and scale at that specific frame on your timeline. Move the slider to a later frame, move your object, and hit 'S' again—Maya will automatically calculate the movement in between. 3. Meet Your Best Friend: The Graph Editor 3D animation for the raw beginner using Maya
Deforming the ball on impact to give it "weight" and "soul." 5. Take It Slow Before you animate, you have to navigate
If the timeline is where you place keys, the is where you polish them. It shows your animation as curves. Straight lines create robotic, constant movement. Alt + Right Click: Zoom
Every pro started here. A bouncing ball teaches you the three core pillars of animation: How fast the ball falls. Spacing: How the ball speeds up as it hits the ground.
Don’t try to animate a full human character on day one. Start with primitive shapes (cubes and spheres). Once you can make a sphere feel heavy or energetic just through movement, you’re ready to move on to rigs and characters.