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Maya® Professional Tips and Techniques

Name: Maya® Professional Tips and Techniques
Author: Lee Lanier
ISBN: 9780470107409

by Lee Lanier

March 2007

Beginner

239 pages

5h 19m

English

Sybex

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Copyright
Dear Reader,
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Who Can Benefit from This BookAbout This BookThe Companion CDWebsitesAbout the Author
1. Customization and MEL Scripting
1.1. Resetting to Factory/Swapping Prefs Files1.2. Creating Custom Shelf Icons1.3. Building a Simple MEL Window1.4. Building an Intermediate MEL Window1.4.1. Retrieving Values from Fields1.5. Creating an Autosave MEL Script1.5.1. Timing with timerX and Killing with scriptJob1.6. Creating Your Own Paint Effects Brushes1.6.1. Customizing a Tube Brush1.7. Creating Notes for Your Fellow Animators1.8. Passing Information to Files1.8.1. Reading Text Files1.9. Industry Tip: Creating an "Expert Mode" MEL Script
2. Modeling
2.1. Breaking Up NURBS Surfaces2.1.1. Important Rules for NURBS Modeling2.2. Cleaning Up NURBS Surfaces with Attach and Detach2.3. Closing Holes in NURBS Objects2.4. Building a NURBS Gear2.5. Building a NURBS Eye2.5.1. Mapping the Iris2.6. Cleaning Up Imported Polygons2.7. Industry Tip: Building a Polygon Head by Extruding Edges2.8. Industry Tip: Adjusting the Maya Grid for Linear Units
3. History, Scripting, and Animation
3.1. Deleting Select History in the Hypergraph3.2. Using Variables within Expressions or MEL Scripts3.3. Choosing between Local and Global Variables3.4. Driving Vehicle Wheels and Bike Pedals3.5. Massaging Curves in the Graph Editor3.5.1. Removing Pops3.5.2. Introducing Float3.5.3. Mimicking Motion with Curves3.6. Wilting a Paint Effects Flower3.7. Creating Realistic Eye Movement3.8. Animating Realistic Camera Moves3.8.1. Limiting Camera Motion3.8.2. Fine-Tuning Camera Stops3.8.3. Matching the Camera to the Subject Matter
4. Dynamics, Particles, and the Ocean System
4.1. Driving a Boat through an Ocean4.2. Creating an Ocean Wake4.3. Building a Dynamic Chain4.4. Filling a Water Glass with Particles4.4.1. Swapping Solid Geometry for Particles4.5. Animating Gelatin with a Soft Body4.6. Generating Swarms with Goals4.7. Industry Tip: Scattering Geometry with Instanced Particles and Expressions4.8. Adding Additional Variation to Instanced Geometry4.9. Offsetting Animation within an Instancer
5. Character Rigging
5.1. Resetting Bind Poses with dagPose5.2. Creating a Poor Man's Foot and Leg Rig5.2.1. Controlling the Leg and Foot Rig5.3. Setting Up an Easy Spine Controller5.4. Picking Up a Prop with a Constraint5.5. Using Blended Wire Deformers for Facial Rigging5.6. Weighting a Head with the Component Editor5.6.1. Using the Paint Skin Weights Tool5.7. Preventing Cluster Drift5.7.1. Creating a Spline IK Spine5.8. Industry Tip: Creating an Advanced Arm Rig
6. Texturing
6.1. Building a Texture Library6.1.1. Choosing Texture Bitmaps6.1.2. Exporting Maya Shaders6.2. Fractals and Noise in Math, Nature, and Maya6.3. Combining Generic Bitmaps in Maya6.4. Coloring Particles Individually6.4.1. Coloring Software-Rendered Particles6.5. Texturing Paint Effects Tubes6.5.1. Controlling the Paint Effects Texture6.6. Industry Tip: Rendering ZBrush Displacement Maps in Maya

7. Lighting
7.1. Mastering 1-, 2-, and 3-point Lighting7.1.1. Adding the Second Light7.1.2. Adding the Third Light7.2. Mastering Naturalistic Lighting7.3. Setting the Mood with Light Color and Position7.3.1. Creating Stylistic Lighting7.4. Setting Up Believable Lamplight7.5. Forcing Decay on Directional and Ambient Lights7.6. Industry Tip: Unusual Lighting Techniques7.7. Producing Quality Depth Map Shadows
8. Rendering
8.1. Splitting Up Renders per Object8.2. Rendering Interlocking Characters in Separate Passes8.3. Splitting Up Renders per Shading Component8.4. Rendering Lone Shadows8.5. Rendering Multiple Passes with the Render Layer Editor8.6. Mastering Render Layer Editor Intricacies8.7. Avoiding Raytraced "Black Pits"8.8. Rendering a Wireframe for Your Reel8.8.1. Rendering a Wireframe with the Hardware Render Buffer8.8.2. Rendering a Wireframe with a Custom Shader8.9. General Rendering Tips for Your Reel
9. Advanced Rendering Techniques
9.1. Rendering OpenEXR and .hdr Images with mental ray9.1.1. Viewing HDR Images9.2. Texturing with HDR Images9.2.1. Previewing HDR Images in the Render View Window9.3. Rendering Super-White Values with mental ray9.4. Choosing Between 16-Bit and HDR Formats9.4.1. Compositing 16-Bit and HDR Images9.5. Lighting with LDR and HDR Images9.6. Importing ZBrush Normal Maps9.7. Normal Mapping in Maya9.7.1. Normal Mapping with the Transfer Maps Window9.8. Linking and Unlinking Shadows
10. Demo Reels and Project Work Flow
10.1. Adding to Your Demo Reel10.1.1. Rendering Models for Your Reel10.1.2. Preparing Animation for Your Reel10.1.3. Editing and Outputting Your Demo Reel10.2. Calibrating Your Monitor10.3. Creating 3D on Multiple Machines10.3.1. Setting Up a Render Farm10.3.2. Sharing Texture Libraries10.4. Estimating Project Requirements10.5. Industry Tip: Animation Project Management10.6. Prepping Animation for Video10.7. Prepping Animation for 35mm Film10.8. Finding an Audience for a 3D Short Film10.8.1. Distributing on the Internet10.8.2. Screening at Film Festivals

Content preview from Maya® Professional Tips and Techniques

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to the excellent editorial and production staff at Wiley, including my acquisitions editor, Mariann Barsolo; my production editor, Martine Dardignac; and my technical editor, Keith Reicher.

Special thanks to this book's special contributors: Michael Stolworthy, Matt Orlich, James Chandler, Kirk Buckendorf, Rocky Bright Jr., Joshua Perez, and Tim Kelly.

Special thanks to all the animators who have toiled before me and along with me. 3D animation is a wonderful, inspiring medium, particularly when so many pour their passion into the work.

Special thanks to my family and friends who supported my wild ambitions. And the biggest thanks go to my beautiful wife, Anita, who encouraged me all the way despite all those late, late ...

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Maya® Professional Tips and Techniques

by Lee Lanier

Acknowledgments

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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