Maya™ transition guide

Welcome ¶

Welcome to Houdini! This guide shows a few basic translations between Maya™ and Houdini to help Maya users get up to speed more quickly. We hope that Maya users will use this guide as a starting point to further explore Houdini’s unique node-based procedural workflow.

Note

On the Mac, use ⌘ instead of ⌃ Ctrl.

Concepts ¶

Maya	Houdini
Attribute editor	Parameter editor (top right pane)
Hypergraph	Network editor (bottom right pane)
Shape nodes, modeling commands, inputs	Surface nodes
Construction history	Surface node network
Tool options box	Operation controls toolbar, parameter editor
Manipulator	Handle
Edit ▸ Parent/Unparent	Connect object nodes together, or use the Parent tool on the Modify shelf tab.

Houdini treats objects and components slightly differently than Maya.

In Maya, every piece of geometry you create is an object, and you combine objects using modeling commands to create new objects. An object’s construction history lets you access the nodes that contributed to the object.

In Houdini, the Geometry Container objects represent animate-able models, alongside other object types such as lights and cameras. Geometry container objects contain a network of surface nodes that define the object’s geometry.

In Houdini, you often alternate between creating, combining, parenting, and animating objects at the Scene level, and modeling using surface nodes inside Geometry container objects (the Geometry level). See Working with Objects for more information.

Viewing ¶

In Houdini, you traditionally hold Space and drag in the viewer to change the view. Alternatively, you can also hold Alt as is done in Maya.

Function	Maya	Houdini
Tumble	`Alt` +	`Alt` + `Space` +
Pan	`Alt` +	`Alt` + `Space` +
Zoom	`Alt` + or	`Alt` + `Space` +
Box zoom	`⌃ Ctrl` + `Alt` +	`⌃ Ctrl` + `Alt` + `Space` + `⌃ Ctrl` +
Default view (home)	`A`	`Space` + `H`
Show all	`⇧ Shift` + `A`	`Space` + `A`
Show selected	`F`	`Space` + `G`
Minimize/Maximize viewport	`⌃ Ctrl` + `Space`	`⌃ Ctrl` + `B`
Display four views	Tap `Space`	`Space` + `B`
Viewport layout	Quick Layout buttons	Layout icon menu in top right corner of viewport
Toggle wireframe	`4`, `5`	`W`
Show shaded + wireframe	Shading ▸ Shading Options	Shading icon menu in top right corner of viewport
Viewport options	Hotbox or panel menus	`D` Menus in top right corner of viewport

Selection ¶

Function	Maya	Houdini
Select tool	`Q`	`S`
Select by name	Outliner	`/` in network editor
Select ancestor	`↑`	`PgUp`
Select descendant	`↓`	`PgDn`
Toggle object/component	`F8`	`F8`
Select points	`F9`	or `2`
Select edges	`F10`	or `3`
Select faces	`F11`	or `4`
Convert selection	Select > Convert selection	Change component select mode in toolbox
Align manipulator axes	Tool settings dialog	click the manipulator (handle)
Paint selection	Paint selection tool	click Select tool and choose Brush Picking
Loop edge selection	Select ▸ Select Edge Loop tool	Select the first edge then press `L`
Grow/shrink selection	Select ▸ Grow selection region	`⇧ Shift` + `G` to grow `⇧ Shift` + `S` to shrink

Editing ¶

Function	Maya	Houdini
Create objects	Create menu	In the Create shelf tab, choose the geometry type after creating the object.
Template object	Display ▸ Object Display ▸ Template	Template flag on object node
Edit polygons	Edit mesh menu	Polygons shelf tab
Undo	`Z`	`⌃ Ctrl` + `Z`
Redo	`⇧ Shift` + `Z`	`⌃ Ctrl` + `⇧ Shift` + `Z` `⌃ Ctrl` + `Y`
Repeat last command	`G`	`Q`
Move	`W`	`T` or click on the left toolbar
Rotate	`E`	`R` or click on the left toolbar
Scale	`R`	`E` or click on the left toolbar
Node-specific manipulator	`T`	`Enter` or click on the left toolbar
Soft transform	Proportional Modification tool	Move tool Soft radius option

Animation ¶

See the Maya transition guide for character and animation.

Rendering ¶

Function	Maya	Houdini
Link lights and shadows	Link editor	Data tree pane
Edit/Assign materials	Hypershade	Material palette (tab in network editor)
Render scene	Status bar button	in toolbox
Render with settings	Render globals	Rendering
Image viewer	FCheck	Mplay

Moving data ¶

Houdini imports and exports Alembic and FBX formats, allowing seamless transition of entire Maya scenes into Houdini.

If you only need to transfer geometry between Maya and Houdini, Houdini’s File surface node and Geometry render node can read and write common geometry formats such as OBJ.

Maya™ transition guide

Welcome ¶

Concepts ¶

Viewing ¶

Selection ¶

Editing ¶

Animation ¶

Rendering ¶

Moving data ¶

Quick starts

Getting started ¶

Transition guides ¶