Modeling experience in Maya

[jporter]

Every time I model in Maya my outliner ends up looking something like this-

I don't know why Maya wants to create groups every time I do an extract or combine operation, but is there a way for it to not do this? Or a way to automatically clean this up so that my meshes are not in groups and empty groups and transforms are removed?

[mspeer]

Hi!

Set construction history to "off".

https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2019/ENU/?guid=GUID-86E5CEDA-4100-40AE-8F95-346206CF8456

[jporter]

Extract faces still creates groups even with history turned off. That particular command actually throws an error with construction off. I'll probably report that one as a bug. 

[jporter]

Also, there is no way of using manipulators when constructions is off, so doing any kind modeling with construction off is difficult.

[mspeer]

Hi!

1. Please check the Script Editor before reporting a bug as this could be a user error, for example when using the command on an object that consists only of one single face.

2. If you don't want a new group/oject then you need to disable "Separate Extracted Faces"

3. Manipulators work fine here, even without history enabled, but of course you can't edit the command values after using the command when there is no history.

The only other way is to delete history at a later time and use Optimize Scene Size.

[jporter]

Are you sure about the manupulators being there with history off? Maybe I'm missing something here, but if you turn history off, create a cube, and then try to extrude a face on the cube, it will apply the extrude values as given in the tool options, but not give you a manipulator or popup caddy to adjust the values- presumably because there is no history to adjust those values.

[mspeer]

Hi!

That's correct ("...but of course you can't edit the command values after using the command when there is no history"). After the command has been executed you need to do further adjustments by using other tools, like the Move Tool.

You can also use custom commands to specify which commands create history and which not.

In the end there are only 2 options:

a) Don't create history when using a command

or

b) Delete history afterwards

There are no other options.

[jporter]

That is true. This doesn't have much to do with history. My complaint is more that Maya likes to create groups with certain commands(extract), regardless of whether history is turned on or off, and that these groups create the unnecessary task of cleaning up my scene afterwords. There should be an option in Combine and Extract to not create groups with those commands. 

Secondarily, names are not preserved in any way. It would be nice to preserve the names of my mesh object with an added suffix, instead of just calling it "polySurfacex".

[mspeer]

Hi!

"Maya likes to create groups with certain commands(extract), regardless of whether history is turned on or off"

- Only if needed.

Ok let's take these commands as examples.

a) Extract

1. If you don't use separate, no new names or groups will be created.

2. If you use separate, then new object(s) will be created and this means new names.

So to make sure you can keep track of the process and for a good overview, the NEW separated objects will be grouped under one main group with the original object name, so the group still consists of all original components.

Seems logical to me.

(Keep in mint that this process can easily create hundreds or thousands of objects, which are easier to handle if grouped)

b) Combine

1. With history "off", no groups will be created, you just get a new name which is based on the original name.

2. With history "on", the original states have to be preserved, so there is no other way than to keep the original objects and create a new one.

I can't see anything unnecessary created, for both commands.

Also as mentioned before if you want or need a different behavior for some reason, you can create customized commands that do exactly what you want.