Unity fails to recognize Maya models/Unity scenes

Hello!

I’m a student learning to work with Unity and Maya. To work on my projects, I have to work in the computer lab, which has Autodesk Maya 2015 and Unity 4.5.2f1 Pro.

Naturally, given the how crowded the labs can become, I’d much prefer if I could work on my projects from home. I managed to download a working student version of Autodesk Maya 2015 from their website and I downloaded Unity 4.5.2f1 Free. Autodesk Maya works perfectly, however, I cannot seem to load any of the Unity or Maya files I’ve created at home/in the lab through the assets folder.

Simply put, the files come up as Maya or Unity icons which do not allow me to place in the scene.

What should I do to fix this problem?

Unity only supports certain file formats. What are you saving/exporting them as?
Open up your models in Maya, select the mesh/meshes you’d like to export, go to File > Export Selection.
Then down the bottom it says “Files of type: Maya Binary” just click the drop down menu, scroll to the bottom and click FBX export. This is the file type that works best with Unity. Maya Binary files are only able to be read by Maya.
Export into your assets folder and then you’re able to just drag it into the scene/hierarchy or do with it however you see fit.