Working between Maya and Max

Back face culling

Maya - is done on a per veiwport basis - enable back face culling in shading tab of the viewport and un-checking two sided lighting in the lighting tab

Insert two edge loops (for high poly models)

Maya - use insert loop tool and select multiple edge loops and scale tool to push the edges

Mirror geometry

Maya - either use mirror geometry tool, or duplicate selection and set the scale for the axis to mirror in to -1 and the others to 1. using mirror gemoetry tool method will only mirror where thr current object is, to mirror across an axis (like using the mirror modifyier in Max), but it requires the pivot to be on position 0.

Select objects by material

Maya - in hypershade - Edit > Select Objects with Material

Rotate pivot

Maya - rotate the object back to world orientation, then use freeze transforms

Move/scale in two axis only

Maya - hold CTRL and drag on the one axis you don't want to move/rotate. Be careful when using in orthographic views as it still scales in all three axis.

Snapping

Maya - hold v to snap to vert/egde hold x to snap to grid

Isolate Selection

Maya - Shift + I to enter isolation in the current viewport, or check View Selected under Show > Isolate Select. To exit isolation uncheck View Selection in the same place.

Bend Modifier

Maya - apply a Nonliner Bend deformer found in the Animation menu Create Deformers > Nonliner > Bend

or the following icon on the Deformer shelf (if enabled)

View poly/tri count

Maya - It's in the menus but really easy to miss (as are many things in Maya's menus)

Display > Heads Up Display > Poly Count

Re-topologising geometry

Maya - Split Polygon Tool which is hidden away in recent version of Maya (2013). Useful to create an item on one of your shelves for quick access. Thanks to my tutor Ian Harrison for that one!

Max - Cut tool

Finding n gons

Maya - Mesh > Cleanup... choose Select matching polygons and Faces with more than 4 sides

Toggle Wireframe

Maya - create a custom command in the Hot Key Editor using the following code and assign to a key (I like to use the T key as by default it toggles displaying manipulators which seems a pretty pointless operation).

string $panel = `getPanel -wf`;
modelEditor -e -wos ( !`modelEditor -q -wos $panel` ) $panel;

Combine Meshes while keeping pivot points

Max - Automatically done when using Attach tool.

Maya - use mel script "FlattenCbombine".

Download from http://area.autodesk.com/downloads/scripts/flattencombinemel and extract the .mel file to Maya's script folder which is C:\Users\[UserName]\Documents\maya\scripts by default, but custom installations of Maya will use the directory during install. Then, open script editor window - Window > General Editors > Script Editor and type "flattenCombine". Note: this is case sensitive.

Now highlight the text and drag to the shelf to create a shelf icon for easy access and use. To use the script select the meshes you want to combine and press the icon on the shelf. Note: select the mesh with the pivot point you want to keep first, followed by all other meshes.

Maximize Viewport

Max - Alt + W

Maya - Spacebar

Push modifier

Max - Using the push modifier allows you to push the geometry based on face normals

Maya - Select the object (or faces of sub objects) and go to Modify > Transformation Tools > Move Normal Tool, then Edit Mesh > Transform. Use the Z axis (blue arrow) to push the faces in or out. This is the same as using the extrude tool, but means you don't have to remove the 'inside' gemoetry created.
https://youtu.be/UVRL4esNUlE?t=42s