3D-UNRAVELED

2012-02-26T02:36:00.000-08:00

CHAPTER-3

MAYA-THE DIVINE POWER OF 3D WORLD

Hi Friends , after a long break i have finally finished my 3rd post....iam so sorry for the delay...had a lot of problems in making the videos that i have used for this blog post ...

This is my first video post...and in this we are going to deal with AUTODESK MAYA , the most popular software used in the industry of 3D-Animation .....There are two common softwares used for 3D

MAYA
3DS MAX

Other than these two there are other softwares like Z-brush ,Mudbox, etc... which are not that prominent... 3DS MAX is generally used less for animation and used more for architectural and product visualization purposes ... so for now lets concentrate on MAYA which is used more in the industry for animation

WHAT IS MAYA??

Maya is an award winning, integrated 3D modelling, Animation, Effects and Rendering solutions software

Maya is an all-in-one software for 3d animation ..... which gives the complete 3D pipeline (Modelling,Animating,Tracking,Texture Mapping,Lighting and Rendering) that we saw in the previous post in a single package...Earlier different aspects of 3D needed different softwares and when Maya was introduced it was used only for high-end productions...but currently the trend has changed and Maya is being used in almost all the film and television industries dealing with 3D

MEL (SCRIPTING LANGUAGE)

The core of maya is written by a programming language called C++ and in addition to this MEL (Maya Embedded Language) scripted above C++... and MEL is generally used in the front-end of the software (i.e) the user can use MEL for customization of Maya core functionality....eg. the user can give commands to the software rather than using the predefined values and functions for a particular action to happen inside the software

MAYA INTERFACE

Before learning any software it is ideal to know all the tools and the functions that a particular software offers its users ..... which is nothing but the interface of the software....without knowing the tools there is no way one can use them in action...so this video gives you the location of all Key elements (tools,menu..) present in Maya ...

MAYA INTERFACE PART- ONE

if you are not able to view the video clearly....feel free to go to my You Tube Channel....this will give you a much clear and a bigger view

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLtqpO-paBY&feature=related

I agree that learning the interface is not as interesting as working in Maya....so i am skipping Maya Interface part -two for my next blog to avoid monotony ....In this next video we are going to see some interesting tips that can be used in Maya...to make your work easier ...

MAYA INTERFACE PART- THREE

if you are not able to view the video clearly....feel free to go to my You Tube Channel....this will give you a much clear and a bigger view

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wlxGZiroBY&feature=youtu.be

okay guys tats it for chapter three....hope u liked my first video post....in the next post we will finish with Maya Interface by seeing all the menus and tools in detail....if you have any doubts or clarifications or suggestions about my blogs feel free to mail me ... my id is mangal1105@gmail.com.....

REFERENCE

Escape studio learning material
And of course GOOGLE....

2012-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

CHAPTER-2

3D-PIPELINE (LIFE CYCLE)

Hi friends, in the last chapter we saw-what is true 3D.....Our next step is to learn about the steps involved in the process of creating our virtual 3D world.....Like our real world which contains water, land , animals, birds, people, machines,buildings etc....In our virtual world we can create anything from a small drop of water to a big skyscraper......Most of us in the real world believe in a supernatural power (God) who created this world ...... but remember in our virtual world ..you are the "virtual God" ....you have the power to do anything in our virtual space....you can build a fantasy castle or even the devil's hell here...its your choice...there's no one to stop you.....so keep your imagination open!!!

Lets move on to the steps involved in the creation of our virtual world...There are six steps in creating any object in 3D (whether its a simple needle or a complex character)

Modelling
Texturing
Rigging
Animation
Lighting
Rendering

But before we go through each one of them in detail.....we must ensure that you have done the most basic and most important element ..... whether you have a Model sheet in your hand or in your system???

Model sheet

This is the most essential element that is needed to create any object in your virtual world.....Model Sheet is a reference sheet of a character in different poses or an object in different views which is essential for a modeler before he starts creating something.....A modeler creating a object without a model sheet is similar to a blindfolded painter painting the scenery before him.....He won't have a clue on where to start painting or even what to paint...similarly the modeler will neither know from where to start his/her model nor the proportion of the model...

Reference image-LCD television

Character Model sheet
Superman

The right-side picture shows the character Model sheet of Superman....if you're designing only an object like a Television, then even if you don't have a model sheet of a TV, a reference image like the one in the left-side would do.

But remember for designing a character a model sheet is mandatory.....without which something will definitely go wrong in the middle of the Modelling Phase

Now , lets move to our 1st step in actually creating a element in the virtual world.....Modelling.....I am going to explain most of the phases (steps) with a human character as an example but this process is applicable to all the elements whether its an object or a background etc...

MODELLING

The process of constructing a geometry in 3D is known as Modelling....and the person who does the Modelling is know as the Modeler

Now if you are going to make a painting of your friend...what will you do first??....you won't go straight to the paints, would you???...first you will do a sketch of your friend's physical appearance - the body structure,face,eye shape etc... Similarly here, you are creating a Model with the physical characteristics of your character.....its just like pulling and punching a clay in different directions and moulding it into the desired shape...i'd like to refer modelling as creating a muscular structure of our character like the ones we have inside our bodies

In the left picture you can see the muscular system of a Human being and in the right you can see a model of a 3D man...you can clearly see the similarities

In general, Modelling is of two types

a) Hard Surface Modelling- includes geometric shapes like bikes, buildings etc
b) Organic Modelling- includes modelling of muscles,faces..used mostly in character modelling

TEXTURING

The process of adding the specific outer texture or the outer skin to our models is known as texturing

As our real world God gave us a skin to cover our muscular system....we as a virtual god should also give the appropriate skin to all our models ... to make it look complete and more realistic

A textured model of a man

Texturing is done by a method know as "UV MAPPING"....where all the parts of the model are divided and made flat and mapped to its respective textures....we will see more about uv mapping in the upcoming chapters

UV mapping done for a Rabbit

RIGGING

Rigging is closely attached with Animation. Rigging takes Geometry and make it suitable for animation. This can range from a simple constrain to a full character muscle system

we started with modelling a man and then we gave the required outer skin for the man.....so do you think we can make him walk or run or do any action??.....No....do you know why??....because the man model does not have a skeleton system....do you remember your biology classes in school days....we used to learn that because of our skeletal system,we are able to move our hands , feet, legs etc....similarly you have to define a skeletal structure to your model...which is nothing but Rigging....without which your character can be used no more than a clay doll....with no Actions or Animations

In the above image you can see that the right side is the Rigged structure (skeletal structure) which is linked to the left side model....hence the model can be animated-the model is able to walk.

ANIMATION

Animation is the process that brings our 3D geometry to life. 3D animation involves manipulating the physical position of the object over time. Time is Displayed via Timeline in which each second is divided into frames

In simple terms , Animation is changing the position of the different parts of a model-frame by frame....so that when its played back you will get the illusion of movement to our 3D model...For example...for a walk cycle you might move your character's legs and hands frame by frame and finally if you play it .... it will look like your 3D model is walking

The above pictures show frame by frame animation of a boy throwing a ball....you can see the change in position of the ball and the boy's body movement in each frame....so when these frames are played in real-time it will be seen as a clear action

LIGHTING

Just like in films where the camera man gives importance to lighting, Digital scenes should also be lit with lights and lighting techniques

Imagine that you have created a wonderful house in 3D and need to show that it is night time inside the house....This is where Lighting process comes handy....you can create artificial lights in 3D software and place the correct types of lights in the appropriate places inside the house so that the house gets a night-lighting Effect...there are different types of lights found in 3D softwares like Hard light, soft light, directional lights... like the ones used in a real-world film production. You should also know the subjective awareness of how to use lights ... for example....you cannot have a brightly lit background in a scene for a sad situation...then background and the story wont sink together

In the above picture you can see how the same scene is lit in two different types of lighting techniques and it shows the difference as day and night effect....you can also see that lighting also adds extra life to your scenes

RENDERING

This is the last process in the 3D pipeline...

Rendering is a series of complex calculations that converts the digital scene via camera(virtual) into a high quality image or movie in case of animation

This is nothing but getting the final output of the your animation....the 3D movies that you watch in televisions or theaters are Rendered output....Only the rendered output can be played outside the 3D software so that the general public can view the movie!!

you can see that the above image is a rendered output of a single frame of the movie "Ratatouille"....similarly if you get a rendered output of 2 or more frames of the same movie...you will get it as a small movie clip that can be played in players like vlc players...

okay guys tats it for chapter two....from my next blog post we will start with - MAYA (3D software)....and from my next post i will have a mix of video and text content so that your better understanding....if you have any doubts or clarifications or suggestions about my blogs feel free to mail me ... my id is mangal1105@gmail.com.....and i like to thank all the people who viewed my 1st first blog and and encouraged me to write more blogs!!!

REFERENCE

Escape studio learning material
And of course GOOGLE.....

2012-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

CHAPTER-1

WHAT IS 3D? WHAT IS NOT 3D??

Hi friends, this is our 1st chapter in 3D. This chapter contains a basic theoretical view of 3D which is necessary before getting into this world, it does not involve any practical work in sophisticated software....the topic that we are going to discuss in this session are

What is True 3D ?
Difference between 2D and 3D

Lets get started...............

WHAT IS TRUE 3D??

In technical terms 3D is known as stereoscopic vision (illusion of depth) ...... to put this in a simpler form , -3D is any cartoon series or a cartoon movie which has 1 essential factor - Depth- in all its character and backgrounds (layouts) .... lets look at a small example to make this much more clear .... place a cube in front of you and view it ... now turn the same cube a little in the clockwise or anticlockwise direction

Cube - front of you

Cube- turned in anti-clock wise
direction

we can clearly see the difference between the two position of the cube. The front position just shows you the flat view of the cube you cant see the thickness of it,but in the side turned position you can see the thickness - which is the depth - which makes the cube looks more realistic.

From my own experience from my dad i realized when we mention something about 3D they often misunderstands it as polarized 3D glasses (the glasses that are given in theaters in 3D movies). But we have to be clear that it is just a type of viewing system - polarized 3D viewing system - but this is not the only 3D ... for example once i designed a 3D model and showed it to my dad and my brother .... my dad asked whether he has to view it with those 3D glasses and my brother was also arguing with me that only the movies that we are seeing in theaters with the 3D glasses are true 3D and if we see the same movie in our laptop or television without those glasses is not true 3D .... so please understand that when you see Avatar movie in theaters it is 3D and when you see the same in your laptop or TV that is also True 3D.....its just that in theaters they are using a different viewing system ( if u want to know know more about this polarized 3D viewing system let me know i will write a separate blog about it)

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 2D AND 3D

Now moving on to our next topic ..... difference between 2D and 3D the reason i added this topic is because of my first 3D class in my college....in our class our sir asked us one basic question how will you identify a 3D cartoon from a 2D cartoon .... half of the class was in a confusion and the other half of the class was giving too technical answers...

Lets see the technical part later.... now i will give you a simple example to remember the difference between 2D and 3D ...... Example- If you draw a teddy bear or a bike in a drawing sheet that's 2D and if you make a clay model of the teddy bear or the bike that's 3D....and the difference is simple the clay model will give the depth to the teddy bear making it a True 3D object which we saw under the previous heading

Moving to the technical part 2D is based on the Cartesian co-ordinates which has only X and Y axis where as in 3D we have a additional Z-axis to the Cartesian co-ordinates which gives the Depth with a center (0,0,0) known as center of the global space or world space

Cartesian co-ordinates
2D

3D - with Z-axis

Now lets see the difference where its really required-in cartoons and movies-lets identify which is 3D and which is 2D in the below cartoons

Tom and jerry my favorite cartoon since my childhood times ..... its 2D cartoon where as Tangled my latest favorite animated movie is 3D

Nobody can forget the man with the spinach - Popeye the sailor man....the right side image is from the original Popeye series which is 2D whereas the same Popeye show was created in 3D now due to its popularity which is in the left side

Hope you have enjoyed my 1st blog and also understood the basics of the 3D world.....To check your understanding i have a small test for you below please try to do it.... we will have these kind of test after each chapter

Questions

Identify five 2D and 3D animated movie or cartoon series and 2 cartoon series or movies which was 2D in the beginning and was later converted to 3D like Popeye
Identify which side is 2D and which is 3D in the below images with the name of the cartoon series or movies

okay guys tats it for chapter one we might have one more theory chapter about 3D PIPELINE after which we can get into the software and start to have some fun!!!....if you have any doubts or clarifications or suggestions about my blogs feel free to mail me ... my id is mangal1105@gmail.com.....you can send your answers to the above question also to my mail....

REFERENCE

Escape studio learning material
Using maya - basics (eBook)
And of course GOOGLE.....