| Menu Select | This pull-down contains at least 4 choices: Animation, Modeling, Dynamics, and Rendering. Simply put, there are so many menus in Maya, they couldn't display all of them without getting very confusing (more so than it may already be to you), so to access the menus regarding each of these, you select it in this menu. There are shortcuts: Animation - F2, Modeling - F3, Dynamics - F4, Rendering - F5. If you happen to have Maya Unlimited, you'll also have a Cloth choice to access the menus for creating cloth simulations.
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| New | Quite self-explanatory... creates a new file.
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| Open | Opens a file.
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| Save | Saves your current file.
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| Hier. Select | This is the Hierarchy Selection mode button. If you have a large scene with lots of characters or complex objects that consist of many parented objects and groups of objects, this mod will automatically select the top-most node of your selection. So if your character is holding a sword and wearing a crown, when you click on these objects, instead of selecting them, it would select the entire character's top-most selection, allowing you to move the entire object without having to worry about finding the one you want.
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| Obj Select | This is the Object Selection mode button, usually on by default. In this example, if you click the previously mentioned characters sword or crown, it would select that object, and not the entire character.
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| Comp. Select | This is the Component Selection mode button. Whenever you want to go into an object's components (points, faces, CVs, etc), you would need to be in Component Mode. A shortcut to switch between Component and Object Mode is F8. You'll notice that the Selection Masks section of the Status Line changes when Component Mode is active. We'll go over those soon.
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| Set Mask | This little pull-down has three options: All Objects On, All Objects Off, and Save to Shelf. Simply put the first two options will turn all of the selection mask buttons on or off. The third selection is cool, as it will save your current mask selections to a button on the shelf. For example, if you currently have your masks so that only bones and curves can be selected, and you use that selection mask often, you can Save to Shelf. It will add a button to your Shelf bar and whenever you want to use that Selection Mask again, you simply push the button. Very, very good time-saver!
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| Handles | The Handles Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select handles in your scene.
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| Bones | The Bones Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select bones in your scene. This is one I use often when working with animated objects.
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| Curves | The Curves Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select curves in your scene.
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| Surfaces | The Surfaces Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select surfaces in your scene.
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| Deformers | The Deformations Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select deformers in your scene.
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| Dynamics | The Dynamics Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select dynamics in your scene.
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| Rendering | The Rendering Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select rendering in your scene.
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| Misc. | The Misc. Selection Mask allows you to turn on or off your ability to select misc. objects in your scene.
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One quick note about all these selection masks... if you right-click and hold it over them, you'll be able to fine tune exactly what you are turning on/off. For example, if you Right click on the Curves Selection Mask, you'll see that you are able to turn ON Surface Curves, but turn off other types of curves to give you more control. I think you get the idea, so I won't go over the Component Mode selection masks. If you aren't sure, simply hold your mouse over them, and a little box will pop up with what it turns on/off. And right-clicking on them will also bring up more precise options.
| Lock/Unlock | This function simply locks or unlocks your selection, so that you cannot accidently mess anything up.
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| Highlight On/Off | I've never used this function, but apparantly, if you ever find that your component selections do not highlight, check this box.
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| Grid Snap | With this on, your movements will snap to the grid of the scene. Shortcut is X.
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| Curve Snap | With this on, your movements will snap to a curve in the scene. Shortcut is C.
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| Point Snap | With this on, your movements will snap to a point in the scene. Shortcut is V.
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| View Snap | This is a neat function that will maintain the object's position relative to your active camera.
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| Live | The Make Live button will make the object act as a surface which can be "drawn" on.
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| See Description | These aren't complicated, but I couldn't shorten their function to simply two words, heh heh. The left button gives you a list of all nodes that ARE AFFECTING the current selection. It also shows you in what order Maya calculates each change, with the highest on the list being the last calculated. You can also bring up a small list and you can turn each item on or off for the time being, so you can manipulate it. The same thing for the right button, except is gives you a list of all nodes that ARE BEING AFFECTED BY the current selection. That way, you can make sure you won't be messing anything else up when you delete something by making sure nothing else is affected by it. Very useful.
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| History On/Off | When you first create an object, by default, it comes with what is called "history" which allows you to adjust the object using sliders in the Channel Box. If this button is off, those options won't be there. It depends on the situation for if you'd want this on or off.
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| Render | Begins to render the current view.
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| IPR Render | Begins an IPR render of the current view.
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| Render Globals | Opens the rendering options.
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| Text-Based Selection | This area is really for MEL-enthusiasts (in my opinion anyway). It allows you to select and modify object using text commands.
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