Attaches & Parenting in Maya - The Cheat Method

In this short video above we demonstrate how to do Attaches and Parenting in Maya, using "The Cheat Method". It's a very simple approach which involves parenting an object to another - in this case, Monty's hat, using the simple Shift Select + P method.  Then, rather than un-attach the hat, we simply replace the hat with a new identical hat, which looks exactly the same.  This way, we don't have the bother of un-attaching the original hat - we can just remove it from the scene and replace it with a new one. 

Attach and Un-Attach a Hat in Maya

Attach & Un-attach a Hat in Maya Using the Parent Master

In this short tutorial for animation beginners we show how to attach and un-attach a hat to "Monty" in Maya using the free ZV Parent Master Plugin. 

The ZV Parent Master Plugin is a very useful tool that we recommend for attaching and un-attaching objects in Maya.  

To see how to download and install it, read this blog post and watch this video.  

How to Install & Use The Parent Master Plugin

In this short video we show how to install and use the free Parent Master Plugin for Autodesk Maya. The Parent Master Parent Master plugin is a very useful tool that allows animators to attach and un-attach objects easily and quickly.  Here at Escape Studios we've been using it and recommending this tool to our students since 2016.  The plugin is a Python script created by Paolo Dominici and has recently been updated for py3.  Watch the video above to see how to install it. You can also read our original blog post about the Parent Master from 2016. You can find the PM official site here, and also find the latest version at Paolo Dominici's site here.

Vimeo Tutorials - Installing Maya Plugins and Tools

Maya has many free plugins and tools which make an animators life much easier.  Below is a roundup of tutorials and links that explain how to use these free plugins.

The Escape Studios Vimeo Tutorial Channel is our main hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies. 

Animating with Constraints by Marc Stevenson

We've uploaded a new tutorial to our growing library on online tutorials, designed to complement and support our classroom teaching.

"Animating with Constraints" by Marc Stevenson is a technical tutorial showing how to attach and un-attach objects to one another in Maya, a process that can be somewhat fiddly.  You can find Marc's video tutorial here.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxIzoEJ0jom1fWGC90iL9exlp3xnoQoZc

Install The ParentMaster Plugin For Maya

Parent Master

The ParentMaster is an excellent free plugin for Maya. It was created by Paolo Dominici and it greatly simplifies the business of attaching and un-attaching objects in Maya - an essential part of the animator's toolkit.

Say you want to animate a character picking up a ball and then dropping it. Sounds simple, right? Well, in Maya, this can actually be a slightly tricky process.

But by downloading and installing this free tool, you will have made your life as a Maya animator much, much easier.