How to Cheat in Maya

How to Cheat in Maya

by Eric Luhta
Released March 2013
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136136771

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Book description

Take your animations to the next level with this essential guide to Maya 2010. Packed with character animation techniques and the secrets of professional animators, How to Cheat in Maya 2010 provides the tips and tools to help you create high quality animation in the most efficient way possible. This comprehensive guide to animating with Maya contains gold-mine coverage, including animation techniques, using Maya's tools with the 12 animation principles, working with constraints, and even foolproof lighting tricks to show off your work.

With this essential handbook, learn which circumstances call for which techniques, and how to get quality results fast. You will not only learn how to be productive in Maya, but also be given access under the hood to the actual scene files of a professional animator. Covering such topics such as pose to pose blocking, layered animation, fixing gimbal lock, facial animation, and much more, How to Cheat in Maya 2010 is an invaluable resource for artists and animators alike.

-- See "under the hood" of a professional animator's workflow with beginning and ending scene files for every technique and workflow example in the book.

--Complete, step-by-step walkthroughs of essential techniques every animator needs to know such as walk cycles, pose-to-pose blocking, lip syncing to dialogue, and much, much more.

-- Proven "How to Cheat" series - Learn to create impressive, appealing animations using the fastest techniques possible, containing everything you need to know about Maya as a character animator.

--Includes rarely discussed topics, such as reading spline curves, avoiding gimbal lock, animation layers, creating appealing lighting for demo reels, and features interviews with some of the most experienced animation leads and TDs working in the industry

-- Learn to apply these professional techniques to your own animations with the accompanying downloadable resources which include all scene files to follow along with, as well as final versions to study in the Graph Editor

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. How to Cheat in Maya 2010
  3. Full Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. How to cheat, and why
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. How to use this book
  9. 1 Workflow Foundations
    1. Setting up Projects
    2. Workspace Layout
    3. Playblasting
    4. File Referencing
    5. Creating a Shot Camera
    6. Quick Selection Sets
    7. Quick Selection Set Icons
    8. Creating Shelf Buttons
    9. Using MEL Scripts
    10. Creating Hotkeys
    11. Proxy References
    12. Interlude: Opening Maya Files
  10. 2 Splines
    1. How Splines Work
    2. Splines and Spacing
    3. Tangent Types
    4. Tangent Handles
    5. Spline Technique
    6. Spline Reference
    7. Interlude: Graphics Cards
  11. 3 Graph Editor
    1. Graph Editor Windup
    2. Visual Tools
    3. Working with Keys
    4. Value Operators
    5. Buffer Curves
    6. Interlude: Using Video Reference
  12. 4 Techniques
    1. AutoKey
    2. Timeline Techniques
    3. Figure 8 Motion
    4. Copying Curves
    5. Tracking Arcs
    6. IK and FK
    7. IK/FK Switching
    8. Character Sets
    9. Multiple Pivot Points
    10. Re-Blocking
    11. Interlude: Spotlight: P.J. Leffelman
  13. 5 Constraints
    1. Parenting
    2. Parent Constraints
    3. Constraining a Prop
    4. Constraint Weights
    5. Animating with Constraints
    6. Interlude: Doing Personal Work
  14. 6 Gimbal Lock
    1. What Is Gimbal Lock?
    2. Rotation Modes
    3. Setting Rotation Order
    4. Zeroing Out Poses
    5. Euler Filter
    6. Interlude: Keeping Perspective
  15. 7 Blocking
    1. Thumbnails and Reference
    2. Setting up the Scene
    3. Key Poses 1
    4. Key Poses 2
    5. Rough Timing
    6. Camera Animation
    7. Tween Machine
    8. Breakdown Poses
    9. Adding the Shuriken
    10. Refining the Timing
    11. Copied Pairs
    12. Interlude: Making a Short Film
  16. 8 Walk Cycles
    1. Blocking the Core Positions
    2. Rotating the Hips
    3. Body and Feet Side Motion
    4. Rotating the Spine
    5. Blocking the Arms
    6. Head and Neck
    7. Splining the Walk
    8. Refining the Body
    9. Hips
    10. The Feet
    11. Spine, Neck, and Head
    12. Arms and Hands
    13. Fixing Knee Pops
    14. Translating the Walk Cycle
    15. Interlude: Spotlight: Chris Williams
  17. 9 Polishing
    1. Cushions
    2. Moving Holds
    3. Texture
    4. Finishing Touches
    5. Interlude: Getting Feedback
  18. 10 Facial Animation
    1. Planning and Prep
    2. Core Poses
    3. Lip Sync 1 - Jaw Motion
    4. Lip Sync 2 - Mouth Corners
    5. Lip Sync 3 - Mouth Shapes
    6. Lip Sync 4 - Tongue
    7. Blinks
    8. Blink and Brows
    9. Eye Darts
    10. Final Touches
    11. Interlude: Repetitive Stress Injury
  19. 11 Animation Layers
    1. How Animation Layers Work
    2. Animation Layer Basics
    3. Creating Variations
    4. Creating Variations 2
    5. Layers for Texture
    6. Interlude: Spotlight: Sean Burgoon
  20. 12 Lighting and Rendering
    1. Basic Materials
    2. Rendering with Shadows
    3. Render Settings
    4. Clay Render
    5. Interlude: Staying Inspired
  21. Index
  22. What's on the DVD

Product information

  • Title: How to Cheat in Maya
  • Author(s): Eric Luhta
  • Release date: March 2013
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136136771