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Ngons - Eliminate them for Real-Time Engines and Renderings

2012-08-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

Arvid Schneider talking a bit about N-Sided or multi-sided polygons that have more than 4 edges. Arvid shows that you can search for N-Sides in Maya by using selection constraints to easily search out, find and highlight the offending polygons.

…With this video I want to show you how to remove n-sided polygons, ngons from your meshes…

Arvid also shows some techniques for dealing with N-sides in Maya by manually adding edges to re-configure how the N-Sides are affected, or by using the Cleanup Dialog for automatically changing N-side configurations.

Arvid notes that “In some occasions especially in real-time engines ngons are so to speak the devil. In a very detailed mesh its hard to see ngons and remove them, therefore I want to show you a really neat selection trick to select specific faces, like ngons, quads, triangles and much more.”

Texturing Tips & Tricks for Newbies

2012-08-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, did you like last weeks post Modeling Tips & Tricks from Shaun Keenan? This post is a followup of that posting and contains some equally awesome texturing tips. These tips are great one for beginners.

Texturing Tips & Tricks for Newbies

From Shaun: Today we’re following up last week’s Modeling Tips post with some equally awesome Texturing Tips from Shaun Keenan. Aimed at those new to texturing and uvmapping, these tips will help you build upon what you learned in the previous lessons while working your way to a better, more efficient workflow. Even experienced artist will benefit from the tips found here.

TUTORIAL 1/5: Clean UV Shells

TUTORIAL 2/5: How To Retopologize Correctly

TUTORIAL 3/5: Baking Textures From Maya

TUTORIAL 4/5: Using Photoshop To Enhance Textures

TUTORIAL 5/5: Overlaying Normal Maps

For more latest tutorials visit cgtuts+. A great learning resource for CG Artists !

Maya Tutorial: Human Head UV Mapping

2012-08-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial from ”Polygoncore“, you will learn How to UV mapping a female head in maya. This basic tutorial is good for beginners.

Maya Tutorial: Human Head UV Mapping

Export Maya Position & Normal Pass to Pixel Cloud for After Effects

2012-08-13T14:16:00.002-07:00

In the following tutorial, the author, Michael of TheBlurrypixel, shows us how to use Maya to create a normal pass and postion pass to be used with Pixel Cloud plugin for After Effects.
He shows How to export the passes from Maya and what adjustmets you need to make after importing into After Effects.

Export Maya Position & Normal Pass to Pixel Cloud for After Effects

TUTORIAL:

Cartoony Wheel Rig v1 for Maya

2012-08-12T17:00:00.002-07:00

In this video from Jorn-Harald Paulsen, He demonstrate how to use the Cartoony Wheel Rig v1, to create and rig wheels. His requirements for the rig is to be clean, fast flexible and animation friendly.

This current version of the rig works, but can’t be pushed as far as he would like it to. The current verison is basicly just a lattice of clusters and a nurbs-
circle and all of the extra-controllers are connected to the circle through MotionPath-nodes.

You will find the main controllers: contact-controller for floor contact, two controllers for rolling of the wheel and a main-controller for translation/rotation/scaling.

Dowmload: Click here to download Cartoony Wheel Rig v1 for Maya.

Cartoony Wheel Rig v1 for Maya

Create an “Explode Effect” using Transform Component in Maya

2012-08-12T16:40:00.004-07:00

In this quick tip ” Hector Bermudez‘ will explain you, How to create an Explode effect using a simple tool in Maya the “Transform Component” without using any Dynamics.

Hector shows to use Extract Polygons in this video, however you can save a couple of steps by simply selecting vertices and choosing Detach Component which will separate all the faces but keep the faces under one shape node… which is the end result of Hector’s efforts in the video.

It’s important to note that the Transform Component tool will only show in the Marking Menu if you are in any Component mode in Maya, if you have an object selected, choosing the Transform Component tool from the application menu will kick you to component mode.

Also, if you are using the extract polygon method shown in the video, it’s imperative to Combine the separated faces together again so Maya sees them as one object. If not, the transform component tool will be placed on every single object giving you a Transform Manipulator for each face… which is not useful at all.

The transform Component will give you a polyMoveFace node in the channel box with plenty of items that can be keyed and animated to your taste.

Quick Tip - Square Tubing made easy

2012-08-02T02:54:00.000-07:00

Arvid Schneider shows a quick method for creating square tubing in Autodesk Maya, by using the Torus Primitive and setting the attributes in the channel box for it to come out square. Arvid also shows how to automate some of the settings here by creating a shelf button for this task.

Arvid Schneider writes: This Quick tip will help you in creating easy Square Tubing for any Industrial purpose. Its a simple procedure done with a PolyTorus in Maya, and a little adjustments in the channel box. I will even show a little trick with a tiny tiny bit of scripting where you ll create you own shelf button. So be sure to check out my videos, and give feedback for more information and details. If you want to know specific workflows, feel free to ask.

Modeling Tips - Speeding up workflow

2012-08-02T02:30:00.004-07:00

Arvid Schneider shows some tips for speeding up modeling in Maya by demonstrating some shortcuts keys, marking menus and little bits here and there – some you may already know and others you may not.

Check out more Maya tutorials and tips from Arvid at URs3D here.

Arvid Schneider writes: Hey there, so in this quick tip I want to show you what shortcuts I use to speed up my workflow. First of all its about using your shortcuts..Shift, Ctrl and Space bar which a really really time savers in Maya. This tutorial is a little longer than the others, but it also has a little more tips in it. So I hope it helps, and I hope you can learn something.

CREATING A PROCEDURAL TERRAIN IN MAYA GENERATING RANDOM ROAD PATTERNS

2012-08-02T02:20:00.004-07:00

Autodesk’s MayaHowTos channel post the first part of a multipart tutorial which shows how to create a procedural terrain in Maya showing how to create a script that will randomly assign roads, trees, rocks and hills to a game scene. Part one focuses on creating procedural terrain in maya, part one specifically looks at generating road patterns with the files used for this part of the Maya tutorial being available here

This movie shows you how to use interlocking hexes to create random road patterns

CREATING A 3D ANIMATED COUNTDOWN IN MAYA

2012-08-02T02:11:00.000-07:00

An easy way to create animated 3d count down timer in Maya. It is interactive and can be controlled with basic expressions. This video has added Remaining/ played time in seconds and in frames. you can add any count down or animated text if you know the expression.

View the step by step tutorial at http://www.fermicg.com/2012/06/animated-3d-count-down-timer-in-maya.html