Change default save from binary to ASCII (maya)

Simple tip but if you can't find where to change this can be frustrating.

Just go to file menu in the top of maya. Then click the little square next to "save scene as" Now in the popup you can select maya ASCII as the default save type.

Fix the h264 MOV video washed out, pale gamma playback issue on PC.

To fix that horrid washed out MOV playback problem on Windows in the Quicktime player. Go to Edit>Preferences> QuickTime Preferences you can disable Direct3D video acceleration. This fixed the low contrast problem I had with the h264 and foto jpeg codecs. I also prefer this solution over the “straight alpha” solution (which I was doing in the past) because the straight alpha method seems to make jittery, slow playback for MOV files.

Note it did seem like it maybe caused videos to open up a little slower before playing back, but it still beats the alpha straight method IMO.

Some other great information about the problem.
http://vitrolite.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/quicktime_gamma_bug/

Maya won't see network file paths (Maya 2015)

So for whatever reason to get maya to actually see network paths when you try to link a file that is on a NAS for example you have to change a setting in your maya preferences.

Go to the menu in the top of maya. Window>settings/prefernces>preferences

Then in the catagories section on the left side of the dialog. Choose Files/Project

Scroll down on the right side till you see "file dialog" section. And select "OS native" now you can browse in maya to network drives.