book

Mastering Maya® 2009

Name: Mastering Maya® 2009
ISBN: 9780470392201

by Eric Keller, Eric Allen, Anthony Honn

April 2009

Beginner

1079 pages

29h 32m

English

Sybex

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Copyright
Dear Reader,
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Introduction
0.1. Who Should Buy This Book0.2. What's Inside0.3. How to Contact the Author
1. Working in Maya
1.1. Maya Nodes1.1.1. Using the Hypergraph1.1.2. The Connection Editor1.1.3. Using the Outliner1.1.4. Display Options in the Outliner1.1.5. The Channel Box1.1.6. The Attribute Editor1.1.7. The Hypershade1.2. Maya Projects1.2.1. Create a New Project1.2.2. Edit and Change Projects1.3. Assets1.3.1. Containers1.3.2. Creating Assets from Containers1.3.3. Using the Asset Editor1.3.4. Template Containers1.4. File References1.4.1. Referencing a File1.4.2. Using Reference Proxies1.5. The Bottom Line
2. Maya Cameras
2.1. Image Size and Resolution2.1.1. Set Image Size2.1.2. Set Film Speed2.2. Camera Settings2.2.1. Creating a Camera2.2.2. Camera Attributes2.2.3. Clipping Planes2.2.4. Film Back2.2.5. Camera Shake2.3. Custom Camera Rigs2.3.1. Swivel Camera Rig2.3.2. Swivel Camera Rig Asset2.4. Depth of Field and Motion Blur2.4.1. Depth of Field Settings2.4.2. Creating a Rack Focus Rig2.4.3. Motion Blur2.5. Orthographic and Stereo Cameras2.5.1. Orthographic Cameras2.5.2. Stereo Cameras2.6. The Bottom Line
3. NURBS Modeling in Maya
3.1. Image Planes3.1.1. Creating Image Planes3.1.2. Reference Plane Display Layers3.2. Understanding NURBS3.2.1. Understanding Curves3.2.2. Understanding NURBS Surfaces3.2.3. Surface Seams3.2.4. NURBS Display Controls3.3. Modeling NURBS Surfaces3.3.1. Lofting Surfaces3.3.2. Intersecting Surfaces3.3.3. Trim Surfaces3.3.4. Working with Trim Edges3.3.5. Extruding Surfaces: Distance Extrude3.3.6. Extruding Surfaces: Profile Extrude3.3.7. Fillet Surfaces3.3.8. Creating Rail Surfaces3.3.9. Lofting across Multiple Curves3.3.10. Live Surfaces3.3.11. Project Curves on the Surface3.3.12. Revolve3.3.13. Using the Bend Deformer3.4. Creating Realism3.5. NURBS Tessellation3.6. The Bottom Line
4. Polygon and Subdivision Surface Modeling
4.1. Understanding Polygon Geometry4.2. Working with Smooth Mesh Polygons4.2.1. Using Smooth Mesh Polygons4.2.2. Selecting Components4.2.3. Moving Components4.2.4. Inserting Edge Loops4.2.5. Extruding Polygons4.2.6. Edge Creasing4.2.7. Mirror Cut4.3. Modeling with Deformers4.3.1. Using a Lattice4.3.2. Soft Modification Tool4.4. Combining Meshes4.4.1. Creating the Bolt Detail4.5. Using Bevel Plus and Bevel Edges4.5.1. Creating the Curves4.5.2. Bevel Plus4.5.3. Bevel Edges4.6. Polygon Modeling with Paint Effects4.6.1. Attaching Strokes to Curves4.6.2. Modifying the Converted Stroke4.6.3. Drawing Curves on a Live Surface4.7. Converting NURBS Objects to Polygons4.7.1. Revolve4.7.2. NURBS Extrusions4.8. Boolean Operations4.8.1. Using Booleans4.9. Sculpting Polygons Using Artisan4.9.1. Sculpting Polygons4.10. Advanced Polygon Modeling: The Head4.10.1. Creating the Eye Socket4.10.2. Creating the Mouth Area4.10.3. Shaping the Mouth and Eye Areas4.10.4. Creating the Nose4.10.5. Connecting the Sections of the Face4.10.6. Enhancing Lips and Eyelids4.10.7. Creating the Cranium and Ear4.11. Creating a Character4.11.1. Transform Component4.11.2. Offset Edge Loop Tool4.11.3. Slide Edge Tool4.11.4. Flip Triangle Tool4.11.5. Sculpting the Head4.12. Using Subdivision Surfaces4.12.1. Working with SubDs4.12.2. SubD Levels4.13. The Bottom Line
5. Animation
5.1. Using Joints and Constraints5.1.1. Joint Basics5.1.2. Point Constraints5.1.3. Aim Constraints5.2. Inverse Kinematics5.2.1. IK Handle Tool5.2.2. Create a Master Control5.3. Keyframe Animation5.3.1. Creating Keyframes5.3.2. Auto Keyframe5.3.3. Move and Scale Keyframes on the Timeline5.3.4. Copy, Paste, and Cut Keyframes5.4. The Graph Editor5.4.1. Animation Curves5.4.2. Editing Animation Curves5.4.3. Weighted Tangents5.4.4. Additional Editing Tools5.4.5. Breakdowns and In-Betweens5.4.6. Pre- and Post-Infinity5.5. Playblast and F Check5.5.1. Create and View a Playblast5.6. Driven Keys5.6.1. Creating a Driven Key5.6.2. Looping Driven Keys5.6.3. Copying and Pasting Driven Keys5.7. Animation Using Expressions5.7.1. Conditional Statements in Expressions5.8. Motion Path Animation5.8.1. Create a Motion Path5.9. Animating Constraints5.9.1. Dynamic Parenting5.10. Animation Layers5.10.1. Create an Animation Layer5.10.2. Layer Mode5.10.3. Other Options in the Layer Editor5.10.4. Layer Hierarchy5.10.5. Merging Layers5.11. The Bottom Line

6. Animating with Deformers
6.1. Animate Facial Expressions6.1.1. Blend Shape Targets6.1.2. Create Blend Shapes6.1.3. Paint Blend Shape Weights6.1.4. Adding Targets6.1.5. Create a Custom Mouth Control Slider6.1.6. Connect the Slider to the Blend Shape6.2. Create Blend Shape Sequences6.2.1. Create the Base Mesh6.2.2. Create the Blend Shape Targets6.2.3. Create the Blend Shape Sequence6.3. Use Lattices6.3.1. Create a Lattice6.3.2. Animating Lattices6.4. Animate Clusters6.4.1. Cluster Objects6.4.2. Paint Cluster Weights6.4.3. Cluster Components6.4.4. Constraining Clusters6.5. Nonlinear Deformers6.5.1. The Wave6.5.2. Squash6.5.3. Twist6.6. Create Jiggle Deformers6.6.1. Apply Jiggle Deformers6.6.2. Paint Jiggle Weights6.7. Use the Geometry Cache6.7.1. Create a Geometry Cache6.7.2. Editing the Cache Playback6.8. The Bottom Line
7. Rigging and Muscle Systems
7.1. Understanding Rigging7.2. Creating and Organizing Joint Hierarchies7.2.1. Create Joints7.2.2. Orient Joints7.2.3. Name Joints7.2.4. Rotation Limits7.2.5. Label Joints7.2.6. Mirror Joints7.3. Inverse Kinematic Rigs7.3.1. IK Solvers7.3.2. Creating a Custom Control7.3.3. Pole Vector Constraint7.3.4. FK/IK Blending7.4. Skinning Geometry7.4.1. Smooth Binding7.4.2. Paint Skin Weights7.4.3. Edit Skin Weights in the Component Editor7.4.4. Copy Skin Weights7.4.5. Mirror Skin Weights7.5. Maya Muscle System7.5.1. The Maya Muscle System7.5.2. Using Capsules7.5.3. Edit Capsule Shape7.5.4. Create a Muscle Using Muscle Builder7.5.5. Edit a Muscle Using Muscle Builder7.5.6. Finalize the Muscle7.5.7. Edit Muscle Parameters7.5.8. Convert the Smooth Skin to a Muscle System7.5.9. Sliding Weights7.6. The Bottom Line
8. Paint Effects and Toon Shading
8.1. Using the Paint Effects Canvas8.1.1. The Paint Effects Window8.1.2. Painting in Scene Mode8.2. Painting on 3D Objects8.3. Understanding Strokes8.3.1. The Anatomy of a Paint Effects Stroke8.3.2. Brush Sharing8.3.3. Brush Curve Nodes8.4. Designing Brushes8.4.1. Painting with the Default Paintbrush8.4.2. Brush Types8.4.3. Brush Profile8.4.4. Coloring Strokes8.4.5. Texturing Strokes8.5. Creating Tubes8.5.1. Tubes Controls8.5.2. Width Scale8.5.3. Tube Color8.5.4. Tube Direction8.6. Add Growth8.6.1. The Growth Controls8.6.2. Adding Branches and Twigs8.6.3. Adding Leaves and Flowers8.7. Shaping Strokes with Behavior Controls8.7.1. Forces8.7.2. Displacement, Spiral, and Bend8.8. Animating Strokes8.8.1. Animating Attribute Values8.8.2. Adding Turbulence8.8.3. Animating Growth8.8.4. Modifiers8.9. Rendering Paint Effects8.9.1. Illumination8.9.2. Shadow Effects8.9.3. Rendering Strokes with mental ray8.10. Toon Shading8.10.1. Toon Fills8.10.2. Toon Outlines8.10.3. Using Paint Effects Presets for Toon Lines8.11. The Bottom Line
9. mental ray Lights
9.1. Shadow-Casting Lights9.1.1. Shadow Preview9.1.2. Depth Map Shadows9.1.3. mental ray Shadow Map Overrides9.1.4. Ray Trace Shadows9.2. Indirect Lighting: Global Illumination9.2.1. Global Illumination9.2.2. Tuning Global Illumination9.2.3. Working with Photon Maps9.2.4. Color Bleeding9.2.5. Importons9.2.6. Caustics9.2.7. Caustic Light Setup9.3. Indirect Illumination: Final Gathering9.3.1. Light-Emitting Objects9.3.2. Final Gathering Maps9.3.3. Using Lights with Final Gathering9.4. Image-Based Lighting9.4.1. Enabling IBL9.4.2. IBL and Final Gathering9.4.3. IBL and Global Illumination9.4.4. IBL Light Shader9.5. Physical Sun and Sky9.5.1. Enable Physical Sun and Sky9.5.2. Editing the Sky Settings9.6. mental ray Area Lights9.6.1. Using Area Lights9.7. Light Shaders9.7.1. Physical Light Shader9.7.2. Photometric Lights and Profiles9.7.3. Portal Light9.8. Participating Media9.8.1. Tuning Participating Media9.8.2. Rendering Participating Media with Indirect Lighting9.9. The Bottom Line
10. mental ray Shaders
10.1. Ambient Occlusion10.1.1. Create an Ambient Occlusion Shader10.1.2. Ambient Occlusion and Bump Textures10.1.3. Reflection Occlusion10.1.4. Additional Ambient Occlusion Techniques10.1.4.1. Fast Occlusion10.1.4.2. Ambient Occlusion and Transparency10.2. Shading Concepts10.2.1. Diffusion10.2.2. Reflection10.2.3. Refraction10.2.4. The Fresnel Effect10.3. Using Reflections and Refraction Blur10.3.1. Reflection Blur10.3.2. Refraction Blur10.4. Basic mental ray Shaders10.4.1. DGS Shaders10.4.2. Dielectric Material10.4.3. mental ray Base Shaders10.5. Car Paint Materials10.5.1. Using the Car Paint Material10.6. The MIA Material10.6.1. Using the MIA Material Presets10.6.2. Creating Thick and Thin Glass and Plastic10.6.3. Other MIA Material Attributes10.7. Controlling Exposure with Tone Mapping10.7.1. Using Exposure Shaders10.8. Rendering Contours10.8.1. Enable Contour Rendering10.9. The Bottom Line
11. Texture Mapping
11.1. UV Texture Layout11.1.1. What Are UV Texture Coordinates?11.1.2. Creating UV Texture Coordinates11.1.3. Mapping the Scalp11.1.4. Creating UV Shells11.1.5. Flipped and Overlapping UVs11.1.6. Smooth UV Tool11.1.7. UV Smudge and UV Lattice Tools11.1.8. Automatic Mapping11.1.9. UV Mapping the Face11.1.10. Sewing UV Shells11.1.11. Unfolding UVs11.1.12. Arranging UV Shells11.1.13. UV Snapshot11.1.14. Additional UV Mapping Considerations11.1.15. Transferring UVs11.1.16. Multiple UV Sets11.1.17. UV Mapping Alternatives11.2. Bump and Normal Mapping11.2.1. Bump Maps11.2.2. Applying the Bump Texture to the Model11.2.3. 3D Paint Tool11.2.4. Rendering Textures Using the Optimized Format11.2.5. Normal Maps11.2.6. Creating Normal Maps11.2.7. The Search Envelope11.2.8. Applying Normal Maps11.3. Displacement Mapping11.3.1. Creating Terrain with Displacement Maps11.3.2. Converting Displacement to Polygons11.3.3. Displacement Maps for Characters11.3.4. Combined Displacement and Bump Maps11.4. PSD Networks11.5. Subsurface Scattering11.5.1. Fast, Simple Skin Shader Setup11.5.2. Subsurface Scattering Layers11.5.3. Subsurface Specularity11.6. Texture Mapping NURBS Surfaces11.6.1. Convert Texture to File Texture11.7. The Bottom Line
12. Rendering for Compositing
12.1. Render Layers12.1.1. Creating Render Layers12.1.2. Render Layer Overrides12.1.3. Creating Overrides for Rendering Cameras12.1.4. Using Different Shaders on Render Layers12.1.5. Material Overrides12.1.6. Render Layer Blend Modes12.2. Render Passes12.2.1. Creating an Ambient Occlusion Pass12.2.2. Creating Reflection, Specular, Depth, and Shadow Passes12.2.3. Render Pass Contribution Maps12.2.4. Lights and Contribution Maps12.2.5. Render Pass Sets12.3. Batch Rendering12.3.1. File Tokens12.3.2. Specifying Frame Range12.3.3. Renderable Cameras12.3.4. File Formats and the Frame Buffer12.3.5. Starting a Batch Render12.3.6. Command-Line Rendering12.3.6.1. Windows Command-Line Render12.3.6.2. Mac Command-Line Render12.3.7. Creating a Batch Script12.3.7.1. Windows Batch Render Script12.3.7.2. Mac Batch Render Script12.4. mental ray Quality Settings12.4.1. Tessellation and Approximation Nodes12.4.2. Anti-Aliasing and Sampling12.4.3. Filtering12.4.4. Rasterizer12.4.5. Raytrace Acceleration12.4.6. Diagnose BSP12.5. The Bottom Line
13. Introducing nParticles
13.1. Creating nParticles13.1.1. Drawing nParticles Using the nParticle Tool13.1.2. Spawning nParticles from an Emitter13.1.3. Emitting nParticles from a Surface13.1.4. Filling an Object with nParticles13.2. nParticle Collisions13.2.1. Passive Collision Objects13.3. Liquid Simulation13.3.1. Creating Liquid Behavior13.3.2. Converting nParticles to Polygons13.3.3. Shading the nParticle Mesh13.4. Texture Emission Attributes13.4.1. Surface Emission13.5. Using Wind13.5.1. The Wind Settings13.6. Shading and Hardware Rendering nParticles13.6.1. Creating an nCache13.6.2. Using the Hardware Render Buffer13.7. nParticles and Fields13.7.1. Using Multiple Emitters13.7.2. Volume Axis Curve13.7.3. Working with Force Fields13.7.4. Painting Field Maps13.7.5. Using Dynamic Fields13.8. Rendering Particles with mental ray13.8.1. Setting nParticle Shading Attributes13.9. The Bottom Line
14. Advanced nDynamic Effects
14.1. nCloth14.1.1. Creating nCloth Objects14.1.2. nCloth Nodes14.1.3. nCloth Presets14.1.4. Stickiness14.1.5. nConstraints14.1.6. Pressure14.1.7. Additional Techniques14.1.8. Create an nCache14.2. Using nCloth with nParticles14.2.1. nParticles and Goals14.2.2. Using nCloth as a Goal14.2.3. Collision Events14.2.4. Tearable nConstraints14.3. nCloth and Rigid Body Simulations14.3.1. Rigid nCloth Objects14.3.2. Set nCloth Start Frame14.3.3. nCloth and Fields14.4. Traditional Rigid Body Dynamics14.4.1. Baking Simulations14.5. nParticle Instancing14.5.1. Particle Debris14.5.2. nParticles and Fields14.5.3. nParticle Size and Mass14.5.4. Instancing Geometry14.6. nParticle Expressions14.6.1. Randomizing Instance Index14.6.2. Connecting Instance Size to nParticle Mass14.6.3. Rotation Expressions14.7. Creating Smoke Effects14.7.1. Using the Cloud nParticle Style14.8. The Bottom Line
15. Fur, Hair, and Clothing
15.1. Add Fur to Characters15.1.1. Prepare Polygons for Maya Fur15.1.2. Create a Fur Description15.1.3. Edit the Fur Description: Baldness15.1.4. Edit the Fur Description: Direction15.1.5. Edit the Fur Description: Length15.1.6. Test Render Fur15.1.7. Apply a Color Map15.1.8. Map Offsets and Multipliers15.1.9. Additional Fur Attributes15.2. Add Dynamic Motion to Fur15.2.1. Attach a Fur Description to Hair Curves15.3. Render Fur Using mental ray15.3.1. Render Fur Using Raytracing15.4. Dynamic Curves15.4.1. Use Dynamic Curves with IK Splines15.4.2. Create an IK Spline Handle from the Dynamic Curve15.4.3. Use Forces15.5. Add Hair to a Character15.5.1. Apply Hair to a Surface15.5.2. Hair Collisions15.5.3. Hair Collision Constraints15.5.4. Hair Shape15.6. Style Hair15.6.1. Start and Rest Positions15.6.2. Paint Follicle Attributes15.6.3. Style Hair with Fields15.6.4. Modify Curves15.6.5. Curling, Noise, Sub Clumping, and Braids15.7. Hair Constraints15.7.1. Create a Constraint15.8. Render Hair15.8.1. Color Hair15.8.2. Tips for Rendering Hair15.9. Create Clothing for Characters15.9.1. Model Clothes for nCloth15.9.2. Convert Smooth Mesh Polygons to nCloth15.9.3. Add a Transform Constraint15.9.4. Use Component Constraints15.9.5. Connect Buttons to the Shirt15.10. Paint nCloth Properties15.10.1. Paint a Vertex Property Map15.11. The Bottom Line
16. Maya Fluids
16.1. Use Fluid Containers16.1.1. Use 2D Containers16.1.2. Use Fields with Fluids16.1.3. Fluid Examples16.1.4. Use 3D Containers16.2. Create a Reaction16.2.1. Fluid Emitters16.2.2. Add Velocity16.2.3. Add Fuel16.3. Render Fluid Containers16.3.1. Texturing Fluids16.3.2. Glowing Fluids16.3.3. Lighting Fluids16.4. Fluids and nParticles16.4.1. Add Sparks to a Flame16.5. Create a Pond16.5.1. Set Up the Pond16.5.2. Create a Wake16.5.3. Use Boats16.5.4. Convert Fluids to Polygons16.6. Create an Ocean16.6.1. The Ocean Shader16.7. The Bottom Line
17. MEL and Python
17.1. Use a MEL Command17.1.1. MEL Interfaces17.2. MEL Scripting Techniques17.2.1. Learning From the Script Editor17.2.2. Create a MEL Script File17.2.3. Add Attributes with MEL17.2.4. Add an Image Sequence to the Sprites17.2.5. Add Expressions Using MEL17.2.6. Create a Conditional Statement17.2.7. Create a Loop17.3. Procedures17.3.1. Make a Procedure from a Script17.3.2. Use a Procedure within a Script17.3.3. Global Procedures17.4. Use Python17.4.1. Use Maya Commands within Python17.5. The Bottom Line
A. The Bottom Line
A.1. Chapter 1: Working in MayaA.2. Chapter 2: MAYA CAMERASA.3. Chapter 3: NURBS MODELING IN MAYAA.4. Chapter 4: Polygon and Subdivision Surface ModelingA.5. Chapter 5: AnimationA.6. Chapter 6: Animating with DeformersA.7. Chapter 7: Rigging and Muscle SystemsA.8. Chapter 8: Paint Effects and Toon ShadingA.9. Chapter 9: mental ray LightsA.10. Chapter 10: mental ray ShadersA.11. Chapter 11: Texture MappingA.12. Chapter 12: Rendering for CompositingA.13. Chapter 13: Introducing nParticlesA.14. Chapter 14: Advanced nDynamic EffectsA.15. Chapter 15: Fur, Hair, and ClothingA.16. Chapter 16: Maya FluidsA.17. Chapter 17: MEL and Python
B. About the Companion DVD
B.1. What You'll Find on the DVDB.1.1. Chapter FilesB.2. System RequirementsB.3. Using the DVDB.4. TroubleshootingB.5. Customer Care

Content preview from Mastering Maya® 2009

Chapter 17. MEL and Python

MEL is a powerful scripting language that can be used to automate many tasks within Maya. As a matter of fact, The Maya interface itself is actually the result of many MEL scripts working together. Using MEL you can create your own scripts, which can save you time and labor and extend the capabilities of Maya. If you already know the popular scripting language Python, then you can use Python to run MEL commands, which makes Maya more compatible with other software packages that use Python.

In this chapter you will learn to:

Use a MEL command
Use MEL scripting techniques
Create a procedure
Use Python

Use a MEL Command

MEL stands for Maya Embedded Language. MEL is a scripting language similar to a programming language such as ...

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Mastering Maya® 2009

by Eric Keller, Eric Allen, Anthony Honn

Chapter 17. MEL and Python

Use a MEL Command

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