Maya is normally Y-up, while some game engines such as Unreal use Z-up.
By default, the upward direction in Maya is the Y axis. This is the recommended setup when rigging an AdvancedSkeleton character.
Maya’s standard scene orientation uses Y as the up axis.
Some game engines, including Unreal, use Z as the upward direction. You do not need to rig the character in a Z-up Maya scene just because the target engine is Z-up.
Unreal-style scenes use Z-up orientation after import.
If exporting to Unreal, keep the rig in the standard Maya Y-up setup and convert the rig during Unreal import instead.
Use the Unreal FBX import settings to convert the scene orientation.
Recommended workflow: rig in Maya’s standard Y-up orientation, then let Unreal convert the scene on import.
