Visual Studio Maya Plugin Settings:
(Maya 2012)

Start with new project as General > Empty Project

Before going to Properties of project, create c++ file (can be empty), otherwise C++ settings might not appear in properties.

General properties:

target extension: .mll
configuration type: dynamic library (.dll)

C/C++:

additional include directories: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2012\include
preprocessor definitions (add these):

WIN32
NDEBUG
_WINDOWS
NT_PLUGIN
REQUIRE_IOSTREAM

Linker:

additional library directories: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2012\lib
additional dependencies:

Foundation.lib
OpenMaya.lib
OpenMayaUI.lib
OpenMayaAnim.lib
OpenMayaFX.lib
OpenMayaRender.lib
Image.lib
opengl32.lib

command line – additional options:
/export:initializePlugin /export:uninitializePlugin