Maya Workflow Kit for Blender
for Maya users, in Blender
The whole Maya workflow in Blender, in one install.
The tutorial ends. Your Channel Box comes back.
Maya Workflow Kit is a free, open-source Blender extension for people who learned 3D in Maya. It brings the Maya
workflow to Blender — hotbox and marking menus, Channel Box and Attribute Editor, menu sets, shelves and option
windows, Maya-style navigation and selection, and Maya scene concepts such as Freeze Transformations, Delete History,
groups, centimetres and pCube1 — rebuilt on top of Blender's own tools. Installing it changes nothing until you
choose Maya, and one click on the Maya | Blender switch gives you plain Blender back whenever a tutorial uses
Blender's own keys.
▶ Watch the half-minute tour (MP4) · Website
· Install · Quick start · FAQ
📥 Free download: Blender Extensions, or in Blender: Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions → search "Maya Workflow Kit"
👋 Hi, a quick note from me
I spent years in Maya. When I finally tried to move to Blender, the software wasn't really the problem. My hands
were. I'd hold Space and nothing would pop up, I'd look for the Channel Box that wasn't there, and every few minutes
I'd catch myself reaching for a shelf. I made this hoping that people like me, who are used to Maya, can settle into
Blender a little more easily.
To be honest, it's still rough in places. Some Maya tools aren't there yet, and some don't feel quite right. I use it
myself and I'll keep improving it, but I can only fix what I know about. So if something breaks, feels off, or you
miss a Maya feature you use every day, please leave an issue.
Even a one-liner helps a lot. Want to help in other ways? Anything goes — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
Thanks for giving it a try 🙂
Why this exists
Many artists learned 3D in Maya and spent years building muscle memory there. When they need to work in Blender,
because a team, a client, a class or a personal project uses it, that muscle memory works against them. This project
tries to make that part a little easier.
It is not meant to replace Maya or to move anyone away from it. Many people use both, and this kit is for the moments
when you are in Blender and want your hands to feel at home.
Maya Workflow Kit is a free, personal open-source project. There is no paid version, no donations requested, and no
commercial goal behind it. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Autodesk.
Contents
Features
Modern Smart Extrude grows, carves and stitches intersecting
faces, with a combined Move/Rotate/Scale manipulator and cut-through support.
Make Live uses the Status Line magnet and history menu to
manage reference meshes, with dark green labels/wires, viewport selection
restrictions and Move/Quad Draw projection onto the live list.
Everything below is in the current version. Maya menu items that Blender cannot do are still shown — greyed, with a
one-line note saying why and what to use instead.
Look & layout
- Maya layout, added to the open file as workspaces when you choose Maya: menu bar, Status Line, Shelf, Tool Box,
Outliner, Channel Box / Layer Editor tab stack, Time Slider and Range Slider, Help Line and Command Line.
- Maya's docking: Channel Box, Attribute Editor and Modeling Toolkit share one tab stack next to the viewport and
tear off into floating windows by their
::::: handle; Outliner and Tool Settings dock on the left.
- The Maya Move / Scale manipulator.
- Alt+B cycles the background of every 3D view through Maya's solid background colours.
- The kit uses your own Blender theme; see Recommended setup for a Maya-like look.
Navigation & selection
- Alt + LMB / MMB / RMB tumble, track and dolly; F / A frame selected / all in the visible part of the view;
Shift+F / Shift+A in all views;
[ ] view undo / redo; Space tap toggles one view / four views.
- Q W E R T Y tools (Y = last non-QWERT tool), Maya selection modifiers (Shift toggles, Ctrl deselects, Ctrl+Shift
adds), F8 object / component toggle, F9–F12 vertex / edge / face / UV.
- Pre-selection highlight, edit-mode box select through occluded elements, selection priority, arrow-key pick-walk
(edge loops / rings, joints), soft select and symmetry.
- Hold keys: X / C / V snap to grid / edge / vertex while held, J step snap, D / Insert toggle pivot editing (D can also be held temporarily),
B soft select.
Insert edits the pivot; hold V while dragging and it snaps to a vertex. Insert again, and the object rotates around its new pivot.
During pivot editing, click a vertex, edge or face to snap and align the pivot.
Shift-click changes position; Ctrl-click changes orientation.
See custom pivot editing for the full controls.
Hotbox, marking menus & menu sets
- Space-hold hotbox with every menu of the current menu set, Recent Commands and the marking-menu zones.
- Right-click, Shift+right-click and Ctrl+right-click marking menus over objects and components, in Maya's radial
positions, with gestures, click mode, submenus and option boxes; Q / W / E / R + LMB tool option menus;
Shift+Q / Alt+Q / Shift+S hold menus.
- Marking Menu Editor (Windows > Settings/Preferences): change the kit's marking menus (Restore Default puts them
back) and make your own, opened by holding a hotkey + LMB like Maya.
- Menu sets Modeling / Rigging / Animation / FX / Rendering on F2–F6, Maya's menu order and names, Maya hotkeys
shown in the menus, dotted tear-off lines.
- Option boxes (❒) open Maya option windows with Maya 2022's factory values — Save Settings, Reset Settings, Apply
and the command button; a plain click then uses your saved values.
- Shelves: the factory shelves (Polygons, Rigging, Animation, Rendering, FX …) with every button in its Maya slot,
plus your own Python shelves.
Tap Space to toggle one view and four views; hold Space for the hotbox. Here: Select > All, straight from the hotbox.
Right-click over an object for its marking menu in Maya's positions: drag to Vertex for component mode, right-click again for Object Mode.
Channel Box & editors
- Channel Box / Layer Editor: Translate / Rotate / Scale / Visibility of every selected object, SHAPES and INPUTS
(history), keyed / locked / driven colours,
+=5 and *=2 entry, middle-drag virtual slider in the viewport for
selected channels, Channels menu and right-click menu, display layers.
- Attribute Editor with Maya's node tabs and sections (transform, shape, history, material, shading group) and
Notes; Ctrl+A toggles Channel Box ↔ Attribute Editor.
- Outliner with Maya's Display / Show menus (DAG hierarchy, Shapes toggle), sets and Maya's default rows.
- Maya menu bars in the Graph Editor, Dope Sheet, UV Editor, Hypershade, Render Settings and Script Editor; a
Tool Settings dock; the Modeling Toolkit.
- Command Line and Script Editor run Python with a small
maya.cmds look-alike (e.g. cmds.polyCube(),
cmds.move(5, 0, 0)).
S keys every channel and the Channel Box turns red; type +=90 into Rotate Z, right-click › Key Selected, then scrub the Time Slider.
Modeling & UV
- Maya creation defaults: Maya names (
pCube1, pCubeShape1, group1, polySmooth1), Maya sizes in
centimetres, a default lambert1 material; optional Maya Units preference (1 Blender unit = 1 cm).
- Maya concepts: Freeze Transformations (channels back to 0 / 0 / 1, pivot kept), Reset Transformations, Center
Pivot, Delete History and Delete by Type, Maya-style parenting (P / Shift+P keep the Channel Box values),
Ctrl+G groups, Duplicate Special.
- Smooth Mesh Preview on 1 / 2 / 3, display modes on 4 / 5 / 6 / 7.
- Mesh tools including Combine / Separate / Mirror / Boolean, extrude with editable history, Ctrl+B Bevel,
Circularize, Connect and Make Hole, Maya's convert-selection rules.
- UV: Cut / Sew UV Edges, 3D Cut and Sew, Unfold, Layout, UV shell selection, Maya UV Editor menus and UV Toolkit.
Animation
- S sets a key on every keyable channel; Shift+W / E / R key translate / rotate / scale.
- Time Slider with key ticks and Range Slider; K-drag to scrub; , / . previous / next key;
Alt+V play; Time Slider bookmarks.
- Graph Editor with Maya menus and the tangent toolbar (Spline, Linear, Clamped, Stepped, Flat …), Shift+S
tangents marking menu, I insert-key tool.
- Auto Key and Playblast.
Alt + left drag tumbles, Alt + middle drag tracks, Alt + right drag dollies; click an object and press F to frame it, A to frame everything.
Rigging
- Joint Tool, IK Handle and IK Spline, joint pick-walk, Reroot and Preferred Angle.
- Bind Skin and Paint Skin Weights (influence list, Replace / Add / Scale / Smooth), Hammer weights.
- Set Driven Key, constraints, Cluster and Soft Modification.
From the Rigging shelf: Create Joints by clicking, an IK Handle from shoulder to wrist, Bind Skin, pull the handle, then Paint Skin Weights.
Rendering & FX
- Hypershade menus and Browser tabs, Maya shader types with their Attribute Editor sections, shading groups.
- Render Settings window with Maya's Common tab; Rendering menu set (Render Current Frame, Keep Image in the
render view).
- FX menu set with Maya's simulation scale: nucleus gravity, nParticles emitters, nCloth.
Scene & files
- Maya projects: Set Project / Project Window; file dialogs start in the current project's folders (default
project
Documents/Maya Workflow Kit/projects/default).
- Ctrl+S / Ctrl+Shift+S save in the project's scenes folder; Ctrl+Alt+S increment and save the Maya way
(
shot_v001 → shot_v001.0001).
- Ctrl+R Create Reference: links a
.blend with a library override and namespace:name naming.
- File > Import / Export with Files of type (FBX, OBJ, Alembic, USD …) and Maya presets (cm, Y-up).
Switch & revert
- A Maya | Blender switch at the right of the top bar, an Edit menu entry and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M.
- Switching to Blender unregisters the Maya keys and Maya UI and gives Blender's own back — with the same scene open;
switch again whenever you like.
- Maya mode never changes your preferences, theme or active keymap, so there is nothing to restore.
One click on Blender in the top-bar switch gives plain Blender back with the same scene; one click on Maya brings the Maya layout and keys back.
All clips as MP4 (1920 × 1080): docs/distribution/marketing/clips/.
Known limits
Some Maya behaviour needs Blender's C++ code; the kit does not fork Blender, so these are worked around or left out:
- Z-up world. Blender is Z-up; Y-up applies only to the import / export presets.
- One pivot per object. Maya's separate rotate and scale pivots have no Blender equivalent.
- No middle-drag on fields. Select channels in the Channel Box and middle-drag in the viewport instead.
- No MEL. Scripting is Python, with a small
maya.cmds look-alike.
- No Maya scene files.
.ma / .mb can't be read — export FBX (or OBJ / Alembic / USD) from Maya.
- No theme. Maya's grey UI and green lead selection come from a theme you install yourself
(Recommended setup); extensions.blender.org add-ons may not change themes.
- Docking stays inside Blender's areas. Maya's side tabs and OS-level docking of panels are not imitated.
- Not every Maya menu item has a Blender counterpart; those items are greyed with a note.
- Blender versions after 5.2 are not offered the extension until they are tested.
Installation
Requirements
- Blender 5.2 LTS. For now the kit is supported and tested on Blender 5.2 only. It still installs on Blender 5.0
and 5.1 (
blender_version_min = "5.0.0", blender_version_max = "5.3.0" exclusive), but those versions are no
longer tested and may have problems — please use 5.2 if you can. Blender 4.5 LTS is no longer supported:
0.6.2 is the last version for Blender 4.5 — keep using 0.6.2 there.
- Pure Python, no compiled code, no network access. On Windows, hold keys read the keyboard state with one read-only
system call; elsewhere Blender's own key-release event is used. Development and testing so far have been on Windows
only.
Option 1 — Blender Extensions platform (not yet listed)
Maya Workflow Kit is not on extensions.blender.org yet. Once it is, install it from inside Blender:
Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions, search Maya Workflow Kit, click Install.
Option 2 — Install the zip from disk
- Get
maya-workflow-kit-<version>.zip (current version: 0.2.1) from
GitHub Releases — or build it as in option 3.
- In Blender: Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions > ▾ (top-right menu) > Install from Disk… and pick the zip — or
drag the zip onto the Blender window.
Command line (installs into the user repository and enables it):
blender --command extension install-file -r user_default --enable maya-workflow-kit-<version>.zip
Option 3 — Build from source
git clone https://github.com/5hyuns/maya-workflow-kit-for-blender.git
cd maya-workflow-kit-for-blender
python tools/build.py # -> dist/maya-workflow-kit-<version>.zip (+ dist/maya-workflow-kit-<version>-legacy.zip)
python tools/build.py --blender "/path/to/blender" # point it at your Blender 5.x
The build runs blender --command extension build (which also validates the manifest) in a throwaway user config;
then install dist/maya-workflow-kit-<version>.zip as in option 2.
First run: turning Maya mode on and off
Enabling the extension does not change your keymap, preferences, theme or layout. It only adds the Maya | Blender
switch at the right of the top bar, an Edit menu entry, the shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M and, once, a welcome dialog.
Turn Maya mode on — click Make Blender feel like Maya in the welcome dialog or in
Preferences > Add-ons > Maya Workflow Kit, or click Maya in the top-bar switch. The kit then adds its Maya-style
keys (as add-on keymap items: your active keymap stays selected), its Maya menus and panels, and the Maya layout as
workspaces appended to the open file. It does not change your theme or your Blender preferences.
Go back — any of these:
| Want | Do |
|---|
| Plain Blender for a while | Click Blender in the switch (or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M). The Maya keys and UI go away; switch again any time. |
| Uninstall | Disable or Remove the extension (Preferences > Add-ons). Everything it registered is unregistered; there is nothing else to undo. |
| Drop the Maya layout from a file | Delete its workspace tabs, or don't save the file — they are ordinary file data. |
The kit never saves your preferences.
Files it writes outside the extension
- The extension's user folder — your shelves.
- Maya project folders — the default project
Documents/Maya Workflow Kit/projects/default the first time a
project-aware dialog opens, and folders you choose with Set Project.
- Playblast writes its movie to Blender's temporary folder; exports and saves go where you choose.
Recommended setup
Optional — the kit leaves your theme and preferences to you. Maya users usually like:
- A dark grey theme. Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions, filter by Themes, and install a dark grey theme you
like (or pick one in Preferences > Themes > Presets).
- Navigation (Preferences > Navigation): Orbit Method Turntable, Orbit Around Selection off, Zoom to Mouse
Position off, Auto Perspective on, Zoom Method Dolly with Zoom Axis Horizontal.
- Undo Steps 256 (Edit > Preferences > System > Memory & Limits > Undo Steps) — Maya's undo queue is unlimited,
Blender keeps only 32 steps by default, so a long modeling session runs out of undo much sooner than in Maya. 256 is
Blender's maximum; the kit can't set it for you (extensions may not change Blender's preferences) and shows this hint
in its preferences while Undo Steps is lower.
- Emulate 3 Button Mouse off (Preferences > Input). When it is on, Blender turns Alt+left drag into a middle
drag before any key map sees it, so Maya's Alt+LMB tumble can't work (the kit shows a hint while it is on).
- Linux: many desktops (GNOME, KDE, Xfce) move windows on Alt+drag before Blender gets the mouse. Set the window
manager's move modifier to Super (as for Maya on Linux) to tumble / track / dolly with Alt.
- Region Overlap off (Preferences > Interface > Editors), so side panels sit beside the viewport like Maya's.
- Only Insert Available (Preferences > Animation > Keyframes) for Maya-like auto key.
Quick start for Maya users
With Maya mode on. Every Maya hotkey and its Blender counterpart is listed in Maya's Hotkey Editor
(Windows > Settings/Preferences > Hotkey Editor).
| Action | Keys / mouse |
|---|
| Tumble / track / dolly | Alt + LMB / MMB / RMB drag |
| Frame selected / all | F / A (Shift+F / Shift+A: all views) |
| One view ↔ four views | Space (tap) |
| Hotbox | Space (hold) |
| Marking menus | RMB, Shift+RMB, Ctrl+RMB over an object or component |
| Select / Move / Rotate / Scale | Q / W / E / R (hold + LMB for the tool's marking menu) |
| Last tool | Y |
| Add / toggle / remove from selection | Ctrl+Shift+click / Shift+click / Ctrl+click |
| Object ↔ component mode | F8; F9 vertex, F10 edge, F11 face, F12 UV |
| Pick-walk | Arrow keys |
| Edit pivot | D (hold) or Insert (toggle) |
| Snap to grid / edge / vertex | X / C / V (hold while dragging) |
| Soft select | B |
| Smooth preview / display modes | 1 / 2 / 3 · 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 |
| Channel Box ↔ Attribute Editor | Ctrl+A |
| Menu sets | F2 Modeling · F3 Rigging · F4 Animation · F5 FX · F6 Rendering |
| Undo / redo | Z or Ctrl+Z / Shift+Z |
| Duplicate / with transform / special | Ctrl+D / Shift+D / Ctrl+Shift+D |
| Group / parent / unparent | Ctrl+G / P / Shift+P |
| Delete history | Alt+Shift+D |
| Hide / show | Ctrl+H / Shift+H |
| Set key / key T, R, S | S / Shift+W, Shift+E, Shift+R |
| Previous / next key · play | , / . · Alt+V |
| Scrub time | K + LMB drag |
| Tangent marking menu | Shift+S (hold) + LMB |
| Background colour | Alt+B |
| Save / increment and save | Ctrl+S / Ctrl+Alt+S |
| Create Reference | Ctrl+R |
| Switch Maya ↔ Blender | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M |
FAQ
Does it change my Blender settings?
No. Maya mode adds add-on keymap items, menus, panels and layout workspaces in the open file; it never writes your
preferences, theme or active keymap. The settings Maya users usually change are listed under
Recommended setup for you to set yourself.
Is it reversible?
Yes. Click Blender in the top-bar switch, or disable / remove the extension — everything the kit registered is
unregistered, and nothing else was changed. See
First run.
Can I follow Blender tutorials with it installed?
Yes — switch to Blender, follow along with Blender's own keys, and switch back to Maya.
Which Blender versions are supported?
For now, Blender 5.2 LTS only. The kit also installs on 5.0 and 5.1, but they are not tested and may have
problems. 0.6.2 is the last version for Blender 4.5 LTS; versions after 5.2 are added once they are tested.
Does it open Maya .ma / .mb files?
No. Export FBX (or OBJ, Alembic, USD) from Maya; the kit's Import uses Maya presets (cm, Y-up).
Does it include any Maya code or files?
No. It contains no Autodesk code, icons, MEL scripts or other Autodesk assets; behaviour is re-implemented on
Blender's own tools. It does not need Maya installed.
Is it affiliated with Autodesk?
No. Maya Workflow Kit is an independent, free and open-source project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Autodesk or
the Blender Foundation. See Trademarks.
Does it use the network?
No network access and no auto-updater. Help menu items open Blender manual pages in your browser only when you click
them.
Development
The extension's internal id is allset (package src/allset/, operators allset.*, classes ALLSET_*, environment
variables ALLSET_*); the id stays the same whatever the display name.
Repository layout
| Path | What |
|---|
src/allset/ | The extension: blender_manifest.toml, preferences.py, switch.py, keymap/, marking/, operators/, ui/, compat.py (all Blender-version differences) |
tests/ | Headless harness run.py, GUI tests gui/, helpers kit.py, tests test_*.py |
tools/ | build.py (packages), release_check.py, build_repo.py (static extension repository), make_startup.py (layout template) |
docs/ | distribution/ (release notes, store and marketing media), user guides |
Build and test
Every Blender run uses a sandbox user config under tmp/ — your real Blender settings are never read or written.
python tools/build.py # build dist/maya-workflow-kit-<version>.zip and the legacy zip
python tests/run.py # build + install into tmp/test_env + run all headless tests
python tests/run.py -k enable # only matching test files
python tests/run.py --no-build # reuse the zip in dist/
python tests/gui/run.py # GUI tests with simulated key / mouse events (a Blender window opens briefly)
python tools/release_check.py # build, extension validate, clean-config install + enable, screenshots
python tools/build_repo.py # static extension repository in dist/repo/ (zip + index.json + index.html)
Contributors
Thank you to everyone who sent code to the kit! 🙏
| Contribution |
|---|
| @cnzim | Real-time transforms, joint selection and the Paint Skin Weights workspace (#125) |
| @LSKianhao | Time slider scaling on high-DPI screens and ruler text size tests (#188) |
| @youngmin2k | Hidden-mesh warning before component mode (#196); pivot editing, Prevent Negative Scale, Smart Extrude and Make Live (#207) |
| @Kevorama | Outliner hide keys and hidden parents (#223) |
| Tom Pilott | Channel Box value dragging, Alt+B gradient, ViewCube controls and selected wire depth (#224) |
Many more people helped by reporting issues and testing; they are thanked in each release note.
Pull requests are welcome.
Credits
The scenes in the screenshots and clips use third-party models and images under their own licences; every asset, its
author, source and licence is listed in
docs/distribution/marketing/CREDITS.md. Captions are set in Inter (SIL OFL).
These assets are used only in the marketing media and are not shipped in the extension.
License
Code: GPL-3.0-or-later (LICENSE). The kit-made images and data files in the extension (welcome PNGs,
the Maya layout startup.blend) are CC0-1.0
(src/allset/ASSETS_LICENSE.txt). Copyright 2026 5hyuns.
Trademarks
Autodesk and Maya are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates
in the USA and/or other countries. This project is an independent, free and open-source (GPL) extension for Blender.
It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise approved by Autodesk, Inc. or the Blender
Foundation. It contains no Autodesk code, icons, MEL scripts or other Autodesk assets; references to Maya are solely to
describe compatibility and the intended audience.
