Maya 8 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide

5. Selection Modes, Hiding, and Templating

A Maya scene can include hundreds of objects, which can add up to a major headache when you’re trying to focus on one specific area (Figure 5.1). Fortunately, Maya provides various tools that you can use to hide, template, layer, and select objects, eliminating much of the frustration of dealing with complex scenes.

Figure 5.1. A Maya scene can include hundreds of objects.

Selecting a specific object or piece of an object (known as a component) can sometimes be tricky. For instance, you might click to select a joint, and accidentally select the surface in front of the joint instead (Figure 5.2). Maya’s ...