Scale Tool Not Working

[neumurals]

I've never worked with 3D software before. I've pretty much just been a Photoshop user. Just downloaded Maya on the 30 day free offer. The workspace looks really impressive and I hope it turns out to be the best software for me; but so far I can't even get through the second tutorial- basic modeling. After the human form gets put in, my scale tool won't reduce it so I can fit it into the green target area. Instead, when I click on the center axis of the scale tool, the form only enlarges about 50%, and will continue with every click. It won't shrink, no matter how I move the mouse around. Sometimes there's a message in the banner below about all my computer cache memory being used up. This feels like a processor problem. Could my desktop be too crowded with image files? I just have the MAC desktop with the 32" screen. Is Maya too powerful? Should I have to expect processor speed problems with it? Any ideas?      

[brentmc · Accepted solution]

Are you using a mouse or a tablet?

Posting a small video showing the problem might be helpful.

Finally, you could try resetting your preferences (see link below) as Maya saves the current tool options between launches and that can sometimes lead to strange problems if you have accidentally gotten into a weird mode.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-393D1ECA-9B6E-4625-B5B1-3F28E62AFB1C

[neumurals]

Thank you Brent. Here's what I have- a 24" Wacom tablet that I pretty much use for all my apps now- and a basic generic mouse that I bought at Walmart; as the Apple mouse doesn't have left/right/scroll wheel click capability. I haven't touched the setting preferences since I'm brand new to 3D software. My experience is with Photoshop, which is about 90% pen tool and 10% mouse. I figure Maya will be just the opposite. As I said, the scale tool feels like a processor speed problem, since I figure the human form must be a pretty large pre designed file. The cylindrical shape is a little sluggish but works when you resize it with the scale. I assumed because it's a smaller file. Although, the camera angle works perfectly fine when you Option, click and drag the image- perfectly smoothly, so it appears to be just the scale tool. I can't imagine a setting being the issue since it has to be on default, but what do I know? I noticed Maya and Photoshop are almost the same size, plus or minus 4.5 gigs, so I don't think my processor's being overwhelmed. If the Wacom is the issue, I'll try running the tutorial just on my MAC and see if that works. Should I splurge and get a more expensive mouse? Even a 3D one? I want the best possible tools to use with Maya because it looks like a great platform to start learning with. I don't need a sketchy scale tool at this point. If I can't resolve this simply, I'll post a video. It's a pretty straight forward issue. Scale tool "no work".     

[neumurals]

Oh, and forgot this. Here's the opening for the tutorial model building program. There's a warning at the bottom, "Cached playback out of memory". I figured it must have something to do with it. Can you explain? 

[syracoj · Accepted solution]

you can disregard the cache playback memory warning. It's an animation performance based feature separate from the scale tool. 

Could you use QuickTime to video capture your screen showcasing the scale tool behavior and zip it up and attach it here, please? Also, when you are on the scale tool, if you double-click the scale tool button on the left toolbar it will open the scale tool options. You could try hitting the button at the top of the tool that says 'Reset Tool' but before doing that could you do a screen capture of those tool options and post here as well?

[syracoj · Accepted solution]

I'll have to take a look at the lesson but what part of the character are you selecting to resize it with the scale tool? Are you selecting the geometry? Or does it have some sort of control structure under it?

[t_chanma · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

Just curious, if you just open a new scene and create something like a sphere, then attempt to scale that - does it work as expected?  And just to double-check, when you attempt to scale the character, the entire wireframe is green (i.e. Object mode) correct?  Finally, if you double-click the Scale Tool icon it will open the Tool Settings menu.  In here, I would try clicking the "Reset Tool" button in the top-right corner.  It's possible you tweaked a setting by accidentally by hitting a hotkey without realizing it (Soft Selection is notorious for this).   Judging by what you're describing, it sounds like "Step Snap" may be enabled (which only allows objects to increase/decrease by 2x, 3x, 4x etc.) when it shouldn't be.

If none of those are the issue, then I agree with Brent that the best course of action is to try deleting your preferences (as outlined in the link he shared above) and then try again. 

Side note: The cache warning shouldn't be the cause of this - this is a feature to help speed up animation.  However, if you want to be absolutely sure, you can click that small button on the bottom right with the "!" on it to disable the cache completely.  This will just slow down a bit of the animations, but otherwise won't have any effect on the rest of the scene.

And to answer your last question: plenty of people use Maya with a tablet, so if that's what you're comfortable with then keep going with it!  And don't worry about the cheap Walmart mouse - I use something similar and I'm the one that built the tutorials with it!

[syracoj · Accepted solution]

disregard my last comment above, I went through the lesson and it's just geometry that you select. So best thing is to get us a video that showcases the issue.

[neumurals · Accepted solution]

Yes, somebody else suggested it too syracoj- and it worked. Thanks anyway!

[neumurals]

Thanks Matt C,
I don't know how I might have clicked a hotkey but resetting the scale tool preferences appears to have worked. Human form shrinks and increases perfectly now. Will get right back to tutorial and see if I can finally finish it. Big relief! Hopefully smooth sailing from here. Thanks again.
Paul