Introduction Add-on – Maya Config Lite!

 

If you’d like to use Blender with a Maya-like feel, one option is installing an add-on.

In this article, I’ll write about the add-on I actually use myself, called “Maya Config Lite,” covering three points:

If you’re interested in Maya Config Lite, I hope you’ll give this a read.

 

*I’ve also written an article comparing various aspects of Blender and Maya! Please give that a read too~

 

 

Feature Overview — What Kind of Add-on Is Maya Config Lite?

Maya Config Lite is an add-on that lets you change Blender’s operation feel to be more Maya-like.

Beyond just changing the controls to feel like Maya, it also adds a few handy menus.
To sum it up:

I’ll introduce each of these in order.

 

・Maya-Style Viewport Navigation and Shortcuts

First, the 3D viewport controls and commonly used shortcuts are nearly identical to those in Maya.

This is almost the same as using the “industry compatible keymap” that comes standard with Blender.

 

For Maya-like controls & their shortcuts, see START Blender 4) – Basic Operations! The First Thing to Learn. The explanation is given in the following section. For details on how to operate the system, please click here~

 

 

・Handy dedicated menu is added below the toolbar

When you install Maya Config Lite, a dedicated menu is added under the Blender toolbar. This is what I like the most.

Especially useful is the ability to quickly change between
Maya-like / Blender / Industry Compatible keymaps at the touch of a button.

 

When I look at Blender-related information and tutorials, I often find that they are explained based on the standard Blender keymap; when I use Maya-style keymaps, the operations don’t match.

In such a case, just press the Blender button from the dedicated menu under the toolbar, and you can quickly switch to the Blender standard keymap. Very convenient.

In addition, industry-compatible keymaps are easier to use than Maya-style keymaps when editing UVs, so it is convenient to easily change keymaps using the Industry button here as well.

 

Other button menus are also quite useful. Here is a brief introduction.

By the way, you can collapse additional menus by clicking on the top portion of the menu. You can make it smaller if it is too much of a nuisance.

 

・Dedicated pie menu appears with the spacebar or right-click

Another great addition to the Maya Config Lite is the dedicated pie menu.
When you press space or right mouse click, a dedicated pie menu will appear respectively.

●Pie menu for 3D view operation (displayed by pressing the space key)

This makes me a little happy because I used to press the space key a lot when I was using Maya. The numbers on the pie menu are shortcuts, so you can also use space + 3 for a four-part display.

 

●Mode selection, smooth/flat shade pie menu (right-click to view)

This will be useful for those who often use the pie menu when operating Maya. You can also invert selections, add objects, and turn the 3D viewport into a max-screen display.

 

・Special tools menu appears with Shift + right-click

When in vertex, edge, or face edit mode, Shift + right mouse click will bring up the “Special Tools Menu”.

●Special tools menu in vertex edit mode

 

●Special Tools menu in Edit Edge mode

 

●Special tools menu in surface edit mode

This is another convenient menu that is organized and easy to use.

 

 

・Shelf is displayed in the top area of Blender

Installing Maya Config Lite displays a Maya-like shelf in the top area of the 3D viewport.

You can perform actions like adding objects by clicking shelf buttons. (*customization is not possible.)

These shelves live in the Scene tab of the Properties panel. By splitting an area in Blender to create a new area and displaying the Properties panel there, you can also show the shelf in a lower area.

Since you can bring the shelf back at any time this way, if you prefer a cleaner look, it’s fine to merge the area away to remove the shelf area.

 

That’s it for Maya Config Lite. Next, I’ll walk you through how to install it.

Sound interesting? Thinking about giving this add-on a try? If so, keep reading.

 

 

 

Installation — Setting Up Maya Config Lite

I’ll walk you through how to install Maya Config Lite.

After considering the simplest approach that’s also least likely to run into issues, this article will proceed through installation using the following steps.

I’ll go through them one by one.

 

 

1) Download Blender 5.2 as a zip file

First, download Blender as a zip file, rather than using the installer version.

The reason for using the zip version is that installing the Maya Config add-on into the installer version of Blender is a bit more complicated, and there’s a chance of running into issues related to your computer’s administrator privileges.

With the zip version of Blender, as long as you keep the original data, you can quickly revert to the original state if something goes wrong — which makes it more reassuring overall.

 

First, go to the Blender download page. From this page, you can download Blender 5.2 LTS. Under Download, select Portable (.zip) to download it.

 

The downloaded zip file will have an icon that looks like a yellow folder with a zipper on it. If the icon instead looks like a small computer, that’s the installer version — not what you want.

 

When you extract the zip file, you’ll find an executable file called blender.exe inside. Double-clicking it launches Blender.

 

2) Create a new folder for your Maya-style-controls Blender

Next, create a new folder to serve as your Maya-style-controls Blender.

Give this new folder a name that makes it clear it’s “the Blender set up with Maya-style controls.” (*avoid using full-width characters.)

I personally name mine “Blender 5.2.0LTS_MCL1.0” — feel free to use whatever name you like~

Copy all of the extracted Blender 5.2 data into this newly named folder.

From here on, we’ll install Maya Config Lite into the Blender data you copied into the new folder. You can go ahead and close the original Blender folder now.

If you ever want to launch a clean version of Blender without any add-ons installed, just run the executable in the original Blender folder.

 

3) Download Maya Config Lite

Now that Blender is ready, let’s download the add-on data.

Go to the Maya Config Lite page on Gumroad and click the Subscribe button to download Maya Config Lite.

 

Maya Config Lite is a $12/year subscription add-on, but every purchaser gets a 1-month free trial. Try it out first, and if it’s not for you, you can cancel during the trial period at no cost.

You can manage or cancel your subscription from the Maya Config Lite purchase page on Gumroad.

Once you’ve purchased it, a Membership section will be shown there, from which you can cancel or change your payment method.

Once you’ve downloaded Maya Config Lite, go ahead and extract the zip file.

 

 

4) Copy the data into your new Blender folder to install it

 

Now that everything’s ready, let’s install Maya Config Lite.

Open both the Blender folder you created in step 2) and the extracted Maya Config Lite folder.

With both folders open, copy the data from the Maya Config Lite folder into the Blender folder using the steps below.

 

After purchasing Maya Config Lite, you’ll get access to the official installation walkthrough video. In this article, I’m using a slightly different method from the official steps, in order to consolidate everything into a single presets folder!

I’ve confirmed this method causes no issues with the add-on’s operation, but if you’d prefer, feel free to follow the official steps instead.

That completes the installation of Maya Config Lite via copying the data.

Double-click blender.exe found directly in the Blender folder to launch the Blender with the add-on installed.

 

 

5) Launch Blender and activate Maya Config Lite

Once Blender launches, activate Maya Config Lite.

Open the Activate MCL tab in the sidebar, then copy and paste the license key (which you can find on the post-purchase screen in Gumroad’s MCL page) and click the Activate button.

Once activation is complete, a message will appear at the bottom of Blender — restart Blender after this.

After restarting, if the Maya Config Lite panel has been added below the toolbar, you’re done~

The Maya Config Lite-specific keymap, fa_hotkeys, loads automatically, but if clicking the Maya-controls button in the MCL panel doesn’t switch the keymap, it means it hasn’t loaded properly.

In that case, right-click blender.exe and launch it with “Run as administrator” — that reportedly resolves the issue.

 

That completes the installation of Maya Config Lite!

From here, go ahead and try it out for yourself to see how it feels.

 

By the way, installing Maya Config Lite also changes the display names of the workspace tabs to feel more Maya-like. It looks like only the display names and their order change — the contents themselves remain the same.

 

 

Note: When using the Maya Config Lite

Maya Config Lite is a useful add-on, but sometimes Maya-like operations do not work when editing with certain tools or modes.

The part of the add-on that behaves strangely is fixed every time the add-on is upgraded, but it does not work perfectly every time, so you need to be a little careful about that.

If the add-on’s Maya-like operation does not work, here are two ways to solve the problem.

 

・If there is a conflict with an existing keymap, fix it manually

Sometimes the shortcuts that are originally registered in Blender and the shortcuts that are newly registered in the Maya Config Lite overlap and do not work properly.

In such cases, you can go through the registered shortcuts and customize them manually.

How to do this is described in Blender Modeling [addendum], How to check for existing shortcuts.

 

For example, if there is an operation that does not work well when in weight paint mode, search for the following.

Shortcut keys are shown on the right side, so check here and uncheck any shortcuts that seem to conflict with operations that do not work well.

I’ll see if the Maya Config Lite works well with the checkbox unchecked. If it works, it is OK. (*The unchecked one will not be able to operate the shortcut.)

 

・Use Industry Compatible keymaps for your situation

Another solution is to use industry-compatible keymaps.

Maya Config Lite and Industry Compatibility Key map, both of which allow you to use Blender with Maya-like operations, so you can use whichever is easier to use depending on your situation.

 

If you want a Maya-like feel, Maya Config Lite!

That wraps up my introduction to Maya Config Lite, the add-on that gives Blender a Maya-like feel.

It’s not just about Maya-style controls — it’s actually packed with all sorts of other handy features too.

 

I’ve personally relied on this add-on ever since the days of the now-discontinued Maya Config Addon For Blender, and honestly, I’m relieved that it’s been reborn as the subscription-based Maya Config Lite.

That’s because a free add-on always comes with a nagging worry of “what if this stops working someday…?”

The fact that it’s become a paid subscription add-on is a sign that the developer intends to keep updating and maintaining it going forward — which means I can keep using it with peace of mind~! I’m glad about that.

 

If reading this article has you thinking “Maya Config Lite might be worth it,” go ahead and give it a try at least once.

There might be all kinds of use cases for it.

 

Go to the Getting Started with Blender series of articles, please click here.