UDK/Maya: How to Set Up Grid in Maya to Match UDK

When modeling environments in Maya, it is important to know that when you import your models into UDK, they will match in scale and proportion. 1:1 ratio.

In the following tutorial, you will learn how to set up your grid in Maya to match UDK.

1 to 1 ratio.

So everything you create in Maya will be the same units as in UDK.

1. CHARACTER SCALE IN UDK

Character height in UDK is 96uu (unreal units) tall.

16uu = 1 foot

2. MAYA to UDK

1 Maya unit = 1 uu unit

1:1 ratio

In Maya, if you create a box and scale it up to 32x32x96, it will match the dimensions and scale of the box created in UDK. (image above).

Below is UDK imported static mesh (left) and Maya created model (right). As you can see they both match in scale.

3. SETTING UP GRID IN MAYA

Set up the grid to match Maya as follows: Display --> Grid Options

Length/Width: 512
Grid Lines Every: 512
Subdivisions: 32

This will give you every grid unit in Maya = 16uu.

How did we figure that out? We took

Grid Lines Every: 512 divide by Subdivisions: 32 = 16.

512/32=16

4. STAY ON THE GRID - POWERS OF 2

Make sure you stay on the grid that matches the grid in UDK. Keep your grid in powers of 2.

Power of 2 values are: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048 etc

Best values to have your grid on are: 8, 16, 32

Pay attention to the grid values in UDK.

5. EXAMPLE GRID 8UU

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