Create assets

Basic Assets

The most commonly used asset is the asset with a transform node. Assets with transform nodes are most appropriate for collections of objects that you want to manipulate as a whole (for example, multiple pieces of geometry that compose a single prop in a scene).

To create an asset with a transform

Select the nodes you want to place in an asset.
Select Assets > Create Asset with Transform> .
The Create Asset with Transform Options window appears.
Set Operation to Create asset with transform.
Set the connected nodes to be included in the asset by turning on the appropriate options in the Include Options.
Click Apply and close.
An asset node is created containing the selected nodes and their children.

Advanced Assets

You can also create an asset without a transform node. Assets without transforms work well for nodes that don’t have parenting relationships in the DAG (for example, lighting and shading).

Advanced assets require more management if you do want them to interact with the DAG hierarchy, but are useful if you want to create an asset without inserting a node into the hierarchy, or if you want advanced control over parenting encapsulated nodes.

You can use the Create Advanced Asset Options window to customize which nodes, connected or related to your selected nodes, will also be included.

To create an asset without a transform

Select the nodes you want to place in an asset.
Select Assets > Advanced Assets > Create > .
The Create Advanced Asset Options window appears.
Set Operation to Create asset.
Name your asset.
Set the connected nodes to be included in the asset by turning on the appropriate options in the Include Options.
Note
Include Connected option includes nodes directly connected to the selected nodes, as well as indirectly connected nodes (nodes connected to directly connected nodes and so forth).
Select Selection Transform to automatically publish the selected object as the asset’s selection transform. Select Transform Attributes to automatically publish the selection transform node’s basic attributes (translation, rotation, and scale) to the asset.
Click Apply and close.
An asset node is created containing the selected objects and any related nodes you specified.

Including a subset of nodes

When working with either basic assets or advanced assets, you may want to include a subset of the nodes that are included when you use the provided Include Options. Rather than including and then removing unwanted nodes manually, you can use the Preview contents option to customize your selection before creating the asset.

To create an asset with a subset of connected or related nodes

Use the Preview contents option in the Create Advanced Asset Options window to select a set of connected or related nodes (for information on how to do this, see Preview the contents of an asset).
Even if you don’t want all the connected or related nodes, these options often provide a good starting point for a node selection.
Modify the selection to include only the nodes you want in the asset.
Select Assets > Advanced Assets > Create > .
The Create Advanced Asset Options window appears.
Set Operation to Create asset.
Turn off Include connected and Include hierarchy.
Maya creates an asset encapsulating only the currently selected nodes.

Note
You can also use this technique for assets with transforms, though it is not as useful since children of the selected nodes are automatically placed in such an asset.