13 mighty Maya tutorials to try today

The best Maya tutorials can help you get more from Autodesk Maya, one of the go-to packages for 3D artists. With its advanced tools and high-end plugins, Maya is capable of creating some incredibly impressive 3D art to add to your design portfolio.

The Maya tutorials on this page will help you get to grips with its core features and improve your skills. So whether you're a beginner or seasoned pro, there's a Maya tutorial here for you.

If this inspires you to do some work on your own design portfolio here are some awesome examples of 3D art to get you started. And if you want to know all about the latest release, then see our Maya 2020 review.

01. Maya interface tour

If you're just getting started with Maya, it's definitely worth taking a look at this intro to Maya from the tool's maker, Autodesk. If you find this one useful, there's a whole series of these basic tutorials to choose from.

02. Create a custom Maya interface

Maya offers a bewildering array to tools, commands and options to suit every workflow. So where do you get started? This tutorial shows you how to build a custom interface to suit you.

03. How to create custom rig controls in Maya

The best rigs are the ones that are intuitive and simple to use, and make sense for a whole team of animators. This tutorial offers some best practice rules for rigs, and shows you how to set up your own custom rig control.

04. Create a UV wrap with the Roadkill plugin

UV wrapping is used to apply a 2D image texture onto a 3D mesh. Maya's Roadkill plugin automatically lays out UV co-ordinates and minimises distortion in just a few clicks. Here's how to use it, in four steps.

05. Simulate explosions in Maya

You can create explosive effects using nParticles and FumeFX. This in-depth Maya tutorial walks though how to craft a realistic explosion.

06. Create a portal effect in Maya

Fancy creating a Dr Strange-style portal effect? This Maya tutorial walks though exactly how to do that, with help from nParticles – and in particular, the Nucleus mode.

07. Create a scene with RenderMan for Maya

Maya tutorials: Renderman for Maya winter scene — Recreate this stunning scene (Image credit: Jeremy Heintz)

This tutorial by Jeremy Heintz shows you how to make a winter environment with RenderMan for Maya. It covers everything from creating a compelling composition through to shading, lighting and getting your image production-ready.

08. How to speed up retopology in Maya

maya tutorial: retopology in Maya — Retopology is becoming increasingly important (Image credit: Antony Ward)

Discover how to use Maya's tools to perform retopology. This tutorial focuses on using the Conform tool within Maya to create basic primitives.

09. Maya shaders and textures

As part of a Know the Basics series by Paul Hatton, this guide delves in to the process of creating and assigning materials in Maya. Wrap your head around all the different material types and how to render them in Maya's default renderer, Arnold.

10. Create better character animations

This tutorial presents a way to reskin a finished character that doesn't involve painstakingly importing and exporting skin weights with sloppy results. Using the Export Deformer Weights tool, labelled Export Weights and Import Weights, is a much more efficient and successful way to finish your animation.

11. Create a walk cycle in Maya

Learn how to create a convincing walk cycle with this detailed 40-minute Maya tutorial. In it, you'll learn how to master each pose, set up the timing and refine the walk cycle using the graph editor.

12. Create a realistic environment in Maya

Creating different environments is exciting, but to make them believable it's key to study your references. In this Maya tutorial, Eva Ng demonstrates how she made this project.

13. How to create smoke in Maya

This Mike Hermes tutorial will show you how to create loads of different types of smoke, from a trickle of cigarette smoke to a dense cloud of smoke from a grenade.