Hey guys,
I apologize in advance if this has been brought up previously, I couldn’t find anything on it.
I’m looking to add Maya to my skill set. I’m very familiar with Blender, so I was wondering if anyone who uses both packages could point me to some tutorials or information of some kind that might translate the Maya interface to a Blender mindset (I realize Maya doesn’t have everything Blender does and vice versa).
Thank you.
I agree, I would love to see some tutorials that would help those of us who have become proficient in Blender ease into packages that might look better on a resume, no offense to Blender of course. That just seems to be where the industry is right now.
Yeah, well said; that’s what I’m thinking. I’m also obviously open to a Blender-friendly studio, but that doesn’t appear to be an option, at least not in the greater Seattle area (all Autodesk).
Just get Digital tutors tutorials on maya.
Follow the tutorials one by one. And you’ll understand maya in no time 
Click here for Maya to Blender keymap config.
Click here for Maya 2011 theme.
If you want Maya-like Blender
demohero, you are backwards.
He wants to go from blender to maya, not from maya to blender.
@TheRiddler You can google and will get a loots of free tutorial. But rather then going through them its better to learn in a structured way from the very beginning. So, my suggestion will be start with a good introduction tutorial from DT.
demohero: Those are very similar to what I’m looking for, only from Blender to Maya.
iamcreasy: I’m mostly looking for key mappings to the equivalent functions along with skinning, rigging and material application procedures; I’m well versed in the fundamentals of 3D so I don’t think I need an entire curriculum.
Richard: Thanks, that’s some good stuff.
Yes, it’s a nice misunderstanding. 
Then Maya documentation alone will be enough for you (If you think you can handle the share size and features of Maya just by some simple instruction)
Maya’s documentation is pretty terrible, actually. Being adept at one application’s interface doesn’t in anyway guarantee fluency with another’s (especially in 3D applications), nor should it imply that I’m interested in “taking the hard way” in learning the new application, or want to. I’m pretty much looking for the reverse of what demohero mentioned, equivalent hot keys and functionality (for example, how to slide an edge in Maya, or snap vertices to other vertices along one axis (and the keys to specify those axes), setting seams for UV unwrapping, weight painting… that kind of stuff. I primarily use keyboard shortcuts in Blender, and it’d be nice to be able to find a “'crib sheet” showing the equivalent functions in Maya and their hot keys.
I have not found this to be true.
I think you could get an answer to all of those questions above by downloading the PDF and just going through each section. For example, it has been a while so forgive me if I do not have this exact by memory, but I think you can use similar functions (setting a cutsom axis and angle as you can in Blender) for move and scale in Maya but for rotate and other tools you have to access those functions (setting the pivot point and angle of rotation and so on) either within the tool or by other means. Just an example. I don’t remember which tools were excluded. But the point is there is not a standard across all of the tools like there is in Blender. On the other hand Blender is extremely limited in its manipulation/transformation tool set compared to other programs.
Maya is extremely well developed and I don’t see how you could get all of the answers without going over the manual. The manual is quite comprehensive I have found. That is my opinion based on giving it a recent read through on some modeling and dynamics. I found it to be very satisfactory in covering the various functions in those sections I read. Take it for what it is worth.
I have also watched a lot of the Maya tutorials and that is good too, but not nearly as in depth as the manual. So I think a healthy combination of both might be something to consider.
Richard: I’ve been checking out quite a few tutorials and I’ve read a fair bit of the manual, hence my thoughts pertaining to the manual’s sucking. I guess it’s not as terrible as I made it out to be, but I think it’s comprehensiveness is kind of the problem; it’s just way more thorough than I think it needs to be. Thanks for the suggestions, though.
OK, fair enough. Manuals can be hard to read/understand. But sometimes that is subjective. But I know what you mean. Sometimes it is better to have 2 sources. One as a bland reference that covers everything and the other as something that skims over the basics.
For me I prefer the manual to simply be a reference so I know where everything is and what it does. So subjectively for me the Maya manual is just fine.
I am personally free tutorials on Maya here: http:///autodeskmaya.blogspot.com
At first glance that looks pretty cool. Thanks for the link.