Booleans in Maya or just about any 3D application leave MUCH to be desired... usually you find yourself just pulling your hair out trying to get something to work unless they are very simple objects. However, never fear for a solution is available for Maya to make booleans actually WORK.
It's a little gem of a MEL script called fRayBooleanMaster click the name to download.
It is very straight forward to use. First, place the MEL file in your Maya scripts directory. Then in the Maya MEL script box at the bottom of the screen type "fRayBooleanMaster" no quotes. Capitalization has to MATCH the name of the MEL script file.
If the script file is in the correct folder immediately the little BooleanMaster script window will pop up. Select your first object, and then click "load intruder" then select your second object and select " load victim" Then you can either press "Finalize Boolean" to make the cut or "Keep animatable" if you want the objects to stay movable and animatable during the operation.
It creates a hierarchy in your outliner where you can move the effector and victim objects independently and even keyframe their movement if you like.
This powerful script was graciously created and provided freely by http://www.creativecrash.com/users/escopos
Enjoy your new found ability to Boolean!
If the script file is in the correct folder immediately the little BooleanMaster script window will pop up. Select your first object, and then click "load intruder" then select your second object and select " load victim" Then you can either press "Finalize Boolean" to make the cut or "Keep animatable" if you want the objects to stay movable and animatable during the operation.
It creates a hierarchy in your outliner where you can move the effector and victim objects independently and even keyframe their movement if you like.
This powerful script was graciously created and provided freely by http://www.creativecrash.com/users/escopos
Enjoy your new found ability to Boolean!