Creating and Setting a New Project in Maya

When you work in Maya, your files need to be organized. When you save a scene file, all associated material such as texture images, video clips, saved cameras, rendered images, etc., should be saved with that scene so that the associations won't be lost when you archive the file or transfer it to a different computer.

This is accomplished by orginizing your work into "Projects". A Maya Project Directory contains all the subdirectories you need to keep your work orgainized, and will automatically save the parts of your project to the correct subfolder.

To create a new Maya Project, click on File -> Project -> New

This will bring up the Project Window, which allows you to specify the name of the project, the directory where you want it to reside, and any specific locations for the subfolders.

Typically, you will only change the Name of the project and (possibly) the Location. If you click on Use Defaults, the subdirectories shown will be created.

Once you have selected the default subdirectories, click on Accept.

Next you need to set your New Project to be your Current Project. This will ensure that everything will be saved to the correct subdirectory, the renders will end up in the right place, the video source clips, the painted textures, the saved shaders, etc. will all keep their associations to the correct scene file and to each other.

Click on File -> Project -> Set, and select your new project directory from the list.

When you are done working, you would archive the entire project directory to whatever medium you are using (Zip, Jaz, CD, etc.) or to a different hard disk drive.

Partial List of Subdirectories

Scenes - Scene files (wireframes and procedural texture maps, cameras)

Images - This is where your rendered images end up

Source Images - Place your Image Plane images and File Texture images here. This is where Maya wants to find them.

Clips - This is where animation clips for the Trax Editor are stored

Render Scenes - Save the scenes that you want to batch render here.