r/Maya

What exactly is baking? Am I doing something wrong?

As you can see in the first image, the model in the back is my original low-poly model, while the one in front has Smooth applied to it. Honestly, once I apply Smooth to each object, I feel like the model looks significantly higher quality, and I really like the way it looks.

The original low-poly models, on the other hand, feel too sharp and artificial to me because of their hard edges. So I’m trying to solve this by applying bevel and smoothing while staying as close as possible to the original shape, and then using that as part of my baking workflow.

However, no matter what I try, even with different UV layouts and different ways of cutting the UVs, I keep getting shading artifacts when I bake. I always end up with visible lines and unwanted shading around the edges.

Is baking actually intended to solve this kind of problem? Or have I misunderstood what baking is supposed to be used for?

Hey! any feedback is welcome (:

if you want the SynkSketch, here it is https://syncsketch.com/sketch/6PtTVFVZQUzZ/
Thanks in advance!

Hey r/Maya I am currently looking to rig a mop (I am not too well versed with rigging to begin with but have some experience with it). What is the best way to go about this?

For context this will be for a game and the player character will have the mop equipped. I want the rig to allow for the mop head to animate around a glide around the floor like a real mop does when cleaning.

(Image for context - not my model due to NDA)

Thanks!

I’ve been experimenting with cloth simulation in Blender 5.2 and was surprised by how smoothly I can interact with the simulation while having a ray-traced material preview enabled.

I’m curious if a similar workflow is possible in Maya

The goal here isn’t to compare the two applications or start a Blender vs. Maya debate — I’m genuinely interested in whether Maya can achieve this kind of smooth viewport interaction during cloth simulation.

Is there a specific cloth solver, viewport setup, or renderer that can provide a similar experience?

I got fed up of trying to figure out which animation layer I was needing to edit, so I built a plugin (LayerSeer) that draws animation layer contributions as a live motion trail in the viewport.

It’s been years in the making at this point, and I’ve only shared it with a handful of people so far. I’d love to get some honest feedback from folks I don’t know.

It’s pretty niche, but I find it helpful for quickly figuring out where a pop or odd arc is coming from.

It's a paid tool but there is a free 30 day trial (no CC required) so feel free to run it through its paces.

Cheers!

Hi! icon in my Maya toolbox is blocking the UI, making it impossible to resize the main window smaller. I can't find how to delete or remove this icon from the layout.

Has anyone solved this issue? Any help would be appreciated!

** problem solved **

If you ever run into the same issue, keep in mind that you can tweak the MEL scripts to remove whatever is bothering you. In my case, it was inside the toolbox.mel script

i am new to arnold (been manly on redshift before) and i am looking for advice

Please let me know if there is anything I should fix with my models. All of these are hero props that are seldom used. They will have some animation. My game is also using LODs to cut back on tri counts. The goal is hyper-realism with everything.

I’m working on a simple ball with a tail rig, and I was wondering if it’s better to combine the ears with the mesh or keep them separate

I don’t plan on rigging the ears. They’re just there as an accessory

If I combine them do I need to fix the topology? Thanks