Maya Beginner Basics: Setting Preferences The following is a 10-Part series on Maya Beginner Basics. The tutorials are set up in-specific to game environment modeling. Maya Setting Preferences tutorial covers the basics of setting up preferences in Maya for game environment modeling. Tutorial covers: Basic overview of Settings/Preferences How to turn off background gradient in Maya 2011 Polygon Selection: Whole Face vs Center How to turn on Poly Count Heads Up Display Clean up User Interface Maya Beginner Basics: Setting Preferences   SETTINGS/PREFERENCES To access Maya Preferences head up to Window --> Settings/Preferences --> Preferences HOW TO TURN OFF BACKGROUND GRADIENT IN MAYA 2011 If you are used to having the old perspective color scheme and not the current 2011 background gradient in Maya, simply go to Window --> Settings/Preferences --> Preferences --> Display Turn off Background Gradient POLYGON SELECTION: WHOLE FACE VS CENTER Often asked question is how to set your polygon selection in Maya to Center Selection vs Whole Face. This simply means, the way you are able to select polygons. Center selection will display a center point on your polygon, allowing you to select that face only if you click on the center point. This depends on the workflow. I like to have Center Polygon Selection. I like being able to see the center of the polygon. Window --> Settings/Preferences --> Preferences --> Settings --> Selection POLY COUNT HEADS UP DISPLAY Poly Count Heads Up Display allows you to visually see your poly count inside the viewport. This becomes very important for modeling game environments, or anything else that requires you to keep a poly count. Display --> Heads Up Display --> Poly Count CLEANING UP USER INTERFACE Certain UI elements in Maya are not needed for modeling game environments. We can safely turn them off and maximize our working area. Display --> UI Elements