You can set the following preferences in the UI category of the Preferences window.
Hides or displays UI elements. You can also control this display from the Display > UI Elements menu.
Turns on any elements you want displayed in the Maya main window.
You can select to show or hide the Editor. The Editor can be one of the Attribute Editor, Tool Settings, or Channel Box/Layer Editor. You can also control this display from the Display > UI Elements menu or the three icons on the far right of the Status Line.
When Save panel layouts with file is turned on, the panel layouts are saved with the scene file. The default is on. (This replaces the former Save File options.)
Turn this option off when making objects/sub-scenes to use as referenced files. By default, Maya remembers everything about every editor you’ve opened, such as location, size, window-specific options, etc., in every scene file (.ma/.mb). This is saved as a attribute on a script node named uiConfigurationScriptNode that displays as MEL code added into a node's string-valued attributes.
Controls if the Maya File Browsers expand environment variables in pathnames.
Environment variables typed into Maya File Browser pathname textfields are displayed unexpanded. When accepting the selected filename in a Maya File Browser, the unexpanded pathname is passed to the recipient in unexpanded form. For example, if the file browser were invoked on a file texture node and a pathname such as $IMAGES/sgi/mandrill.gif is entered, the unexpanded name $IMAGES/sgi/mandrill.gif is displayed in the file texture’s Image Name textfield. Should the recipient field be exportable, that field is output in unexpanded form.
Environment variables are automatically expanded by the Maya File Browser. This is the default setting for the preference and also the behavior consistent with previous Maya releases. For example, if the environment variable $IMAGES is set to /usr/images, and the pathname $IMAGES/sgi/mandrill.rgb is typed into the pathname textfield of a Maya File Browser and the user accepts the current selection, the typed pathname changes to the expanded name; that is, /usr/images/sgi.mandrill.rgb.
