Usually, when you’re modeling something in Maya, you have a rough idea of what it should be like. However, what if you have actual images of the object you are modeling and want to be as accurate as possible? This is usually the case when you create a model from scratch. This is a very basic and important modeling skill to have. In this tutorial, I will teach you how to set up a basic reference plane to model your, for lack of better words, model after.

Settings
Remember to always check your settings before starting any new Maya file! In this tutorial, I used FEET for the linear option, DEGREES for the angle option, and NTSC 30fps for the time option.
Creating Reference Planes
Starting in the top bar, go to CREATE > POLYGON PRIMITIVES > PLANE > OPTION BOX.
Or alternatively, you can click on the PLANE icon in the POLYGONS shelf tab.

Download pdf How to Create a Reference Image