Maya Rendering Guides

Add New Features to User Interface Mel Scripting for Maya

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:17:42 GMT

First, we'll add controls to the dialog box that give the user a choice between having 10 and 20 vehicles in the simulation. A 20-vehicle simulation will have 4 leaders and 16 followers. A 10-vehicle simulation will have 2 leaders and 8 followers. Let's start by adding these options to the global proc crowdSystem window procedure. We will be able to test the window by cutting and pasting the changes into the Script Editor. Look through the script to find the code to define the window. -title...

Hints for Planning a Good User Interface Mel Scripting for Maya

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:31:30 GMT

Building excellent user interfaces is an art which requires that many factors work well together. However, there are a few guidelines that can help you find a useful design. Do the repetition for the user When you know, or can reasonably anticipate, that your user is going to want to perform the same operation on multiple objects, build your script to handle operating on multiple objects at once. Alternatively, if you can traverse the directed graph or the transform hierarchy to figure out what...

Applying D Textures and Projections Maya Texturing and Lighting

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:19:43 GMT

The 3D Placement utilities generated by 3D and environment textures possess unique application traits. Projection utilities, on the other hand, are designed to work with 2D textures. Three-dimensional textures procedurally create a wide range of solid patterns that is, they have height, width, and depth. In addition, you can convert 3D textures into 2D bitmaps with the Convert To File Texture tool. Review and application of 3D textures Attributes of 2D and 3D noise textures Application of 2D...

Upgrading To A New Shave Version Maya Shave And Haircut

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:02:54 GMT

Just run the new installation it will clean up the old one as long as it's 2.1 or better MOVING A SHAVE LISCENSE Shave keys are tied to your NIC card, so you can definitely move your NIC card to a new machine to maintain the license. That said, it is a node locked license, and one of the reasons it is so cheap we don't charge for rendering , is that we expect you to license every workstation in your studio which may ever touch a scene that's got hair. We realize that's a big commitment, but...

How This Book Is Organized MayaTutorial

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:47:16 GMT

Chapter 1, Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D, introduces you to the common computer graphics terms and concepts to give you a basic overview of how CG happens and how Maya relates to the overall process. This chapter explores the basics of CG creation and its core concepts. In addition, it describes the process of CG production and discusses how to establish a commonly used workflow. Chapter 2, The Maya 2008 Interface, presents the entire Maya interface and shows you how it is used in...

Center the view on selected or all objects MayaReference

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:18:50 GMT

In the panel menus choose View gt Frame In the panel menus choose View gt Frame all. In the panel menus choose View gt Look at

A Few Hints for Efficient Particle Expressions Mel Scripting for Maya

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:47:35 GMT

If your expression manipulates position or velocity directly, you can get strange behaviors that result from a confused dynamics engine, as in Example 2. If you can, use Runtime Expressions After Dynamics and manipulate acceleration then the dynamics engine will ensure that the positions and velocities stay continuous. Manipulating per-particle goal weights is also safe. When possible, only access per-particle attributes and variables in your particle expressions. If you use the values of...

Suggestions for Modeling Polygons MayaTutorial

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:56:15 GMT

Poly modeling lends itself nicely to a wide range of objects practically anything you can think of, and some things you can't. Try modeling the following objects to fine-tune your skills and explore the toolset. Dining room table and chairs This is an easy place to start. There is good amount of leeway in the design, which will give you as much a challenge as you feel you can handle. Computer monitor With all its angles and overall surface details, a monitor makes for a great extrusion and...

Polygon Modeling MayaTutorial

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:36:23 GMT

Polygons are made up of faces. A single polygon face is a flat surface made when three or more points called vertices are connected. The position of each vertex defines the shape and size of the face, usually a triangle. The line that connects one vertex to another is called an edge. Some polygonal faces have four vertices instead of three, creating a square face instead of a triangular one. Polygonal faces are attached along their polygonal edges to make up a more complex surface that...

Rendering Maya Tips and Techniques

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:56:17 GMT

P in any 3D animation is rendering. Although rendering isn't glamorous, proper attention to the process can improve any project. In particular, you can save time and energy by splitting up renders based on objects or shading components. You can even separate shadows from the rest of the scene or temporarily assign objects to specialized materials through the Render Layer Editor. Careful attention to rendering can also prevent such problems as raytraced black pits. Last, specialized rendering...

The Control Panel MayaTutorial

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:17:35 GMT

You can load the scene file RocketModel_04.ma from the Scenes folder in the Red Rocket project to skip to this point or to check your work. Now let's create the Control panel. 1. Choose Create NURBS Primitives Sphere , set the Number of Spans to the default value of 4, and create a sphere. 2. Place the sphere where the Control panel is in the top view and shape it to the panel's general shape, as shown in Figure 5.68. Figure 5.68 Starting the Control panel Figure 5.68 Starting the Control panel...

Springs dont move the particles CVs vertices or points MayaDynamics

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:41:06 GMT

Either no force is acting on the particles or the restLengthPS is turned on but you didn't set any values for it. By default, each spring's rest length equals its original length. It won't move unless an external force is applied to it. A pair of identical particle grids with springs are shown here after several frames of play. The particles on the right fail to move because restLengthPS is turned on while the default values are in use. To make the springs take effect, do the appropriate action...

Pants and Legs and Shoes MayaGuide

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:31:21 GMT

The pants are built from a cylinder. It becomes one side of the pants and is sculpted using Artisan and pulling CVs. Attach and sculpt a bit more, creasing the crotch area as shown next. Another cylinder is used for the leg, is mirrored for the other leg. Note the bunching of CVs at the knee area. The shoe is created from a sphere. Several sections are bunched up at the sides to make the bottom flat, and it is perhaps too simple a shoe, but itmll deform well enough.

Scene File Icons MayaTutorial

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:17:56 GMT

The tools in the first section of the Status line deal with file operations Displays a window in which you can find and open any scene file you've saved Displays a window in which you can specify a filename and location to save a new scene or, if the current scene has already been saved and named, saves it to that location

Designing an Organic Character CharacterCreation

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:40:45 GMT

This section shows you how to begin creating a 3D character in Maya by taking you through the basic preproduction design process. Some character-idea generation approaches are presented, and you are shown how to create the designs that you will later use as guides for modeling vour characters skin. The first thing you want to do when designing your character is to decide the style you want to use. At one extreme, you could design a completely stylized cartoon character at the other extreme, you...

What You Need to Know Before You Proceed Mel Scripting for Maya

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:35:07 GMT

Making dialog boxes using web panels is a powerful, new feature in Maya 6 that will appeal most to MEL scripters who already know the tools and techniques to build web pages. If you are not familiar with web authoring, you may find it easier to use Maya's built-in user interface commands. For this chapter, you should know how to make a simple web page using Hypertext Markup Language HTML , what Uniform Resource Locators URLs are and how they are formatted, and how to create dialog boxes in MEL...

Objects MayaProgramming

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:30:41 GMT

MEL is most commonly used to create and edit objects. This section covers the variety of commands devoted to objects. As mentioned earlier, all Maya objects are actually Dependency Graph nodes, so the process of creating and manipulating objects really involves creating and manipulating nodes. Fortunately you don't have to know the exact details of each object or node in order to use it. There are a lot of MEL commands designed specifically to access objects without your knowing their inner...

What Is the Hypergraph MayaGuide

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:17:04 GMT

The Hypergraph is, in its essence, a hypertext-like view of your scene thus the name . If you have worked with an HTML authoring tool, you will recognize the web-like appearance of linked objects in the Hypergraph. Every element visible in a scene is represented by a text box, and any linked objects have a line that connects them together, showing their connection in the scene. Passing your cursor over the line, younll see which elements of each object are connected. Besides displaying the...

Taking the Kettle Further MayaTutorial

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:29:18 GMT

Try creating more detail for the kettle or experimenting with your own designs. An easy addition is a whistle cap for the spout. You can also create a matching set of teacups and saucers with subdivision surfaces. With the skills you have acquired here, you should feel confident to tackle an entire kitchen full of models. Also, try your hand at creating the models suggested at the end of Chapter 5, Modeling with NURBS, using subdivision techniques instead of NURBS. Subdivisions, sometimes...

Adding a Blend to Overlapping Clips MayaGuide

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:57:30 GMT

Partially overlapping clips create additive animation during the frames when the two clips overlap. The trouble with the overlapped section is that the animation can pop when the new clip is introduced because the values of the animated channels suddenly change. To resolve the popping problem, you can add a blend to the clips, creating a smoother alteration from the values of one clip to values of the other. To create a blend, Shift select the two clips and, with the cursor over one of the...

Cutting Up the Body MayaGuide

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:48:58 GMT

Things are going to get a bit more complicated from here on. We need to make holes for the legs, which means we need to cut the body into pieces. But first, we need to put in more isoparms in select places for smoother stitching later on. To insert isoparms, you need to select existing isoparms and specify where you want to put the 1. In perspective view, select the Select tool from the Minibar. Pick-mask Isoparm and click on the first vertical isoparm going around the nose area. In the...

Headlights MayaCinematography

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:41:53 GMT

This headlight shows a lighting situation that is not dealt with by a default light. This kind of headlight has a light bulb in its center that is then bounced off a highly reflective surface. This creates a spotlight effect where the beam of light emerges, not from o point, but from the face of the light fixture. To achieve this effect in Mayo, you can use the Decoy Regions you learned about in the Light Effects section of this chapter. Put a spotlight behind the light fixture, then make sure...

Feature Disabling Programming Mental Ray

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:36:33 GMT

Ignore all lens shaders if set to off. The default is on. Ignore all volume shaders if set to off. The default is on. Ignore all geometry shaders if set to off. The default is on. Ignore all displacement shaders if set to off. The default is on. Ignore all output shaders if set to off. The default is on. File output statements are not affected. Note that all five disable options also affect shaders installed by phenomena. This means that the phenomenon can fail if it installs cooperating...

Fig Specular reflection OpenGLMaya

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:06:27 GMT

The GL_SPECULAR parameter affects the color of the specular highlight. Let us see how to implement a specular lighting scheme in openGL. Typically, a real-world object such as a glass bottle has a specular highlight that is whitish. Therefore, if you want to create a realistic effect, set the GL_SPECULAR parameter of the light to a dull white. By default, GL SPECULAR is defined to be 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0 for GLLIGHTO and 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 for any other light. We can modify Example6_3, by adding...

GLfloat GetLocationO return location private OpenGLMaya

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:24:19 GMT

GLfloat location 2 II meteor's location. location 0 x-, location - y- coordinate The location array stores the current x, -coordinates of the meteor. For this example, we let all meteors fall straight down along they-axis. The update function merely decrements the location l variable in order to make the meteor fall down. You can experiment with giving meteors an x-direction as well. The Draw routine draws a white colored point glVertex at the meteor's current location, whereas the...

Goals MayaDynamics

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:46:32 GMT

A goal is an object that particles follow or move towards. You can use goals to give trailing particles a flowing motion that's hard to generate with other animation techniques. The trailing particles move as if connected to the goal by invisible springs. In the context of goals, soft bodies are considered particles. Tentacles created by Jason Schleifer Tentacles created by Jason Schleifer Understanding goals on page 162 Creating goals on page 164 Editing goal attributes on page 165 Animating...

UV Coordinate Space MayaGuide

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:53:47 GMT

One of the object types you will build in Maya is surfaces. While surfaces are positioned in 3D space using XYZ coordinates, they also have their own coordinate system that is specific to the topology of the surface, instead of using XYZ axes, this system uses U, V, and N, where U and v represent the two axes that lie on the surface and N is the surface normal axis that points out from the front of the surface. When you create a curve, it has a U direction that lets you measure points along the...

The structure of Factin AnimationSimulation

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:16:45 GMT

Like the monomers themselves, the F-actin polymer Figure 15.02 is a polar structure with a barbed and a pointed end terms coined from an early observation of how filaments appeared in electron micrographs when bound to another protein, myosin. Under physiological conditions, filaments grow more rapidly at their barbed than at their pointed ends, a feature that led to the terms plus and minus end which are used interchangeably with barbed and pointed, respectively. The F-actin filament can be...

Dynamic Relationships Editor MayaDynamics

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:48:27 GMT

The Dynamic Relationships Editor lets you connect and disconnect dynamic relationships between objects and fields, emitters, and collisions. This chapter describes how to use the Dynamic Relationships Editor, including Understanding the Dynamic Relationships Editor on page 325 Making connections on page 326 Example Connecting and disconnecting gravity on page 327 Connecting to selected fields or emitters of an object on page 330

Mastering Maya Complete Cete MayaGuide

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:49:26 GMT

Courtesy of P0WDER, bookmarks added by crystal_fish John Kundert-Gibbs Peter Lee Associate Publisher Cheryl Applewood Contracts and Licensing Manager Kristine ODCallaghan Acquisitions amp Developmental Editor Cheryl Applewood Editors James A. Compton, Marilyn Smith, Jeff Gammon, Pat Coleman, Pete Gaughan Technical Editors Mark Smith, Mike Stivers Book Designers Patrick Dintino, Catalin Dulfu, Franz Baumhackl Graphic Illustration Publication Services Electronic Publishing Specialists Robin...

Fig Application clipping area OpenGLMaya

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:41:43 GMT

and shapes, etc. Objects within the clipping area are drawn, and those outside this area are removed or clipped from the scene. The clipping area is mapped onto a physical region in the computer display by mapping the application boundaries to the physical pixel boundaries of the window. If the clipping area defined matches the physical resolution of the window, then each call to draw an x,y point with integer values in the world coordinate system will have a one-to-one mapping with a...

Preparing Polygons Maya Texturing and Lighting

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:27:42 GMT

Although NuRBs surfaces are ready to render with their default uvs, polygon surfaces often need a great deal of adjustment. The use of primitives is the exception since the primitive's inherent uvs are orderly. As soon as various polygon modeling tools are applied to a primitive, however, the resulting uv texture space is cluttered and unusable see Figure 9.8 . Figure 9.8 A polygon cylinder's default UV texture space and the result of numerous modeling tools Figure 9.8 A polygon cylinder's...

Projection manipulators LearningMaya

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:20:30 GMT

The projection manipulator allows you to transform the projection to better suit your geometry. Translate along Y-axis Translate on XY plane ' You can toggle the manipulator type for a conventional all-in-one manipulator by clicking on the red T.

Summary Igm MayaGuide

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 23:34:28 GMT

In this chapter on animation, we went through a simple walk cycle step-by-step, and then we examined a few advanced-level animations such as running, somersaulting, and grabbling and throwing a ball. We also discussed a few of the more important animation principles. In the next and later chapters, wenll be switching gears in a major way. So relax and take a break wenll soon be getting physical. Books24x7.com, Inc. 2000 - Feedback Chapter 15 - Working with Rigid Body Dynamics Perry Harovas,...

Shapes and Scan Converting OpenGLMaya

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:01:44 GMT

We are all familiar with basic shapes such as lines and polygons. They are easy enough to visualize and represent on paper. But how do we draw them on the computer The trick is in finding the right pixels to turn on The process by which an idealized shape, such as a line or a circle, is transformed into the correct on values for a group of pixels on the computer is called scan conversion and is also referred to as rasterizing. Over the years, several algorithms have been devised to make the...

Pass a Float into panelBreakup Mel Scripting for Maya

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:37:53 GMT

You can change the function to accept a float parameter and pass it to the -delta setting. In the panelBreakup function header, add the following global proc panelBreakup float myDelta Figure 20.67 Results of panelBreakup script. Figure 20.67 Results of panelBreakup script. nurbsToPoly -name polyPanel -polygonType 1 -delta myDelta panel Save the script, and re-source it. If the script is in one of the Maya environment script path directories, you can simply type and execute it in the Script...

Details LearningMaya

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:29:18 GMT

From the side view, click on the head joint to highlight it. Doing so tells the tool that you want to start drawing joints from the head joint. Draw one joint for the eye and two for the jaw as follows The new head joints Rename, translate, and mirror the new joints when needed. Tip When mirroring the eye joint, make sure to set the Mirror function to Orientation so the eyes move together and are not mirrored.

Diffuse Reflectance OpenGLMaya

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:00:27 GMT

Surfaces with diffuse reflectance scatter light equally in all directions. The amount of light reflected is directly proportional to the angle of incidence of the incoming beam of light. Diffuse reflectance can be observed on dull objects such The exact math to calculate diffuse reflection was proposed by Lambert and so this reflectance is often referred to as Lambert reflectance. If we assume the light to have a diffuse color of R , Gz-j, Blcj and the surface to have a diffuse reflection...

Examples of using the Particle Sampler Info node MayaDynamics

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:30:02 GMT

To help you use the Particle Sampler Info node we've included the following examples to help you learn how to use the Particle Sampler Info Node to achieve some commonly used effects. Refer to Set Particle Sampler Info node attributes on page 137 for complete information on Particle Sampler Info node attributes. Example Using the particles' age to color particles on page 129 Example Using the Particle Sampler Info node with rgbPP on page 131 Example Creating fading particle on page 133 Example...

LipSynching Characters DigitalAnimation

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:28:38 GMT

Synchronizing the lip movements of a character to match the words of a recorded voice track is called lip synching. Lip-synching a character is a lot like choreographing, but on a smaller scale. In fact, motion capture systems are designed for capturing facial and lip movements of an actor in real time. In the same way that live motion capture is not used unless the project is for a regular, repetitive, or large project, lip synching by hand is preferred by most animators who only require the...

The selfAssembly expression AnimationSimulation

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:56:46 GMT

Save this file in your Maya Scripts directory under the following name selfAssembly.txt Unlike reset, this expression must run once every frame greater than frame 1. Again, this condition can be tested with an if statement. This is a runtime animation expression that updates the actin assembly simulation. Diffusion, collision avoidance, and reactions are parcelled off as procedures that are called when needed from Reminder variables that have been described previously will not be given a...

Lighting Effects DigitalAnimation

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:44:08 GMT

Another form of shadow effect is a gobo. This term comes from the film industry and refers to a piece of metal or cardboard placed over a directional lighting source with holes cut in it to form a light pattern. Some gobos have horizontal slots to imitate light from a Venetian blind, whereas others have leaf-shaped holes to simulate forest lighting. Many animation programs offer gobos or shadow masks, which enable the artist to use a picture file for instance, a JPEG drawing of black and white...

Volume fields MayaDynamics

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 10:19:58 GMT

You can select a volume to define the region in space in which particles or rigid bodies are affected by any field in Maya. The volume shapes you can use are cube, sphere, cylinder, cone, and torus. For example, if you create a Turbulence field and set its volume shape to cube, only particles or rigid bodies within the region of the cube are affected by the turbulence. This works with all fields in Maya, as well as with the Volume Axis field.

Operator Precedence MayaProgramming

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 08:33:38 GMT

It is very important to understand the precedence of a given operator. Not knowing the order in which an expression will be evaluated can cause obscure bugs. The code looks right and runs just fine, but the end result is wrong. The cause is often an incorrect assumption about the order in which operators are evaluated. Take the following piece of code From mathematics you know that the multiplication should be evaluated first then the addition, resulting in 20. If the multiplication didn't have...

The Magnitude of a Vector OpenGLMaya

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 20:43:25 GMT

is also referred to as its magnitude. The magnitude of a vector is the distance from the tail to the head of the vector. It is represented as Vj and is equal to - j x2 y2 It is very useful to scale a vector so that the resultant vector has a length of 1, with the same direction as the original vector. This process is called normalizing a vector. The resultant vector is called a unit vector. To normalize a vector V, we simply scale it by the value l Vj. The resultant unit vector is represented...

Custom Installation Options MayaReference

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:50:45 GMT

You can customize your installation of Maya so that you install 1 Insert the Maya Software CD into your CD-ROM drive. The Maya installer window appears. 2 Click Install Maya to begin the software installation and follow the online instructions. The Maya Installation Wizard appears. 3 Click Next to continue the installation. The Maya Software License Agreement and Documentation Server License Agreements appear. These agreements require your acceptance in order for the Maya software installation...

Shave and a Haircut for Maya Maya Shave And Haircut

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:32:43 GMT

1998-2003 Joseph Alter, inc Patent Pending Los Angeles, CA joealteriac hotmail.com http www.joealter.com www.egroups.com groups shaveman is the address of the user group Shave and a Haircut, it's comcepts and accompanying materials are the sole property of joseph alter, inc. End Users are entitled to the use of one 1 end user license of the software per software key. Although Joseph Alter, Inc. JAI makes best effort to answer user questions and incorporate bug fixes and upgrades, this is by no...

Setting attributes with the type flag AnimationSimulation

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:15:35 GMT

Unlike single-value, numerical attributes like translateX, visibility, and so on some attributes must be set using the type flag and an appropriate argument. Two common examples include compound transform and string attributes etAttr myGlobe.translate -type doub1e3 5 10 15 etAttr someObject.customAttribute -type fstring someValue String attributes are rare in Maya and usually take the form of a custom attribute in which you want to store textual information. Unlike numerical attributes like...

Caustics LearningMaya

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 12:59:18 GMT

In this exercise, you will learn to enable Caustics and fine-tune its effects. 1 Open scene file cognacGlass_start.mb Render the scene to see the initial results using Maya Software Rendering. This is a simple scene consisting of a glass and a Spot Light. The glass and its contents have refractive materials, and the Spot Light caits Raytraced Shadows. You can see that the shadows cast by the glass are properly colored and transparent, but the image lacks the hot spots usually seen when light...

Selecting the History Node MayaGuide

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:06:30 GMT

These ore alternatives to the Channel Box and the Hypergraph window when you want to access the History nodes. In oil cases, the object must be active or tfce cursor must be over the object when accessing the marking menu. Once selected, the node will appear in the Channel Box or Attribute Editor. This Tool lets you occess the Input node of on object with history. This Selects the History Input or Output of the selected object. By defoult, this button is On. If it is turned Off, there will be...

Create mrBlahControlsmel Mel Scripting for Maya

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:59:49 GMT

Open your favorite text editing program, and start building the script mrBlahControls.mel. At the top of the file, start writing the global proc mrBlahControls . global proc mrBlahControls window -title mrBlah Controls -widthHeight 450 450 MBcontrols This first command in the mrBlahControls procedure will give us the framework and title for the window. Now, let's create the static text headings to form sections for the buttons. string form formLayout string txt1 text -label Right Arm Left Arm...

Mac OS X Feature differences between Mac OS X and Windows MayaReference

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 03:56:02 GMT

Threaded rendering on multi-processor systems now available on Mac OS X. The following features differ between Mac OS X and Windows versions of Maya. Features for Windows not available for Mac OS X Ability to read in pre-Maya 3.0 files Features for Mac OS X not available for Windows Threaded sound playback in time line during scrubbing AppleScript executes Maya MEL commands with results returned. See also Communicating between Maya and Mac OS X in the Release Notes and Calling MEL from...

Installation troubleshooting FAQ Linux MayaReference

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:26:06 GMT

The following section refers to problems that may occur during installation on Linux. Conflict messages during installation you may need to uninstall a previous version of Maya for Linux before installing the new version. Follow the instructions Installing Maya on file systems other than usr on page 76. Conflict with lesstif and openMotif use the replacefiles option when installing openMotif. This overwrites previous files. If lesstif is not needed, it can be removed and openMotif installed by...

Building a Render Farm DigitalAnimation

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:38:59 GMT

This book is designed to take you from having no knowledge of animation to the stage where you are ready to open and successfully run your own animation studio. During this journey, you may not have much of an opportunity to work with mass-production hardware, but I urge you to use whatever opportunity may come your way to gain experience in computer maintenance and network management. Get to Know Computer Hardware Typically, when you start your own studio, you will be working alone with one...

Adjusting Interface Options MayaGuide

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:39:03 GMT

The first and most obvious place to start customizing Mayans interface to optimize your work is via the general interface options. Changing these options can make the interface cleanernallowing you to work with fewer distractionsnand also give over more space to the main scene view. Most interface options are, fittingly enough, under the Options gt UI Preferences menu. On selecting this choice from the menu, you will see a multi-tabbed window that allows you to adjust many of Mayans UI...

Long hair and dynamic curves for Maya Unlimited MayaReference

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:54:43 GMT

Maya Unlimited 6 introduces Hair, a major new feature set that combines a dynamic curve simulation engine with a variety of rendering options for the creation of hair and other objects, such as ropes, chains, feathers and vines. The simulation engine can also be used to control NURBS curves connected to other objects, such as IK chains, surfaces, emitters, and deformers. gt Soft Modification Tool and Deformer Using Hair, you can easily and quickly create realistic hair on characters directly...

Beyond the lesson Uoh MayaGuide

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:08:14 GMT

Create dynamic hair on a surface. You can add hair to a NURBS or polygonal surface by creating or painting the hair. For polygons, UVs should be non-overlapping and fit between 0 and 1. Automatic mapping is a quick way to achieve this see Automatic UV mapping in the Mapping UVs guide . For more information, see Creating hair in the Hair guide. Before creating hair, you should determine which renderer you'll be using as this will affect what type of hair output you select NURBS curves or Paint...

Extra controls Maya Realistic Creature Creation

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:55:36 GMT

Every animator and studio is going to be different with what they want and need for controls in a rig. bat is not even including the different needs for every creature for every shot. Just like the rest of this book's techniques, each of these steps can be customized to achieve different end results. This section will not cover how to create different types of controls, but that doesn't mean that you can't experiment and add your own favorite control into the control rig. In fact, you are...

Homogenous Coordinates and Composition of Matrix Transformations OpenGLMaya

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:19:23 GMT

We have seen the different vector matrix representations for translation, scaling, and rotation. Unfortunately these all differ in their representations and cannot be combined in a consistent manner. To treat all transformations in a consistent way, the concept of homogenous coordinates was borrowed from geometry and applied to CG. With homogenous coordinates, we add a third coordinate to a 2D point. Instead of being represented by a pair of numbers x,y , each point is now represented by a...

Clearing the Selection Mel Scripting for Maya

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:56:41 GMT

Many scripts start off by getting a list of what the user has selected. Since many commands require that objects be selected to tell the command on what to operate, often you'll want to consider clearing the selection immediately after using the ls -sl command to get the selection list. Clear the selection with this command Once you've run this, nothing is selected. This command is equivalent to clicking on empty space in the Maya interface to deselect everything.

Research Methods You Can Use DigitalAnimation

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:51:38 GMT

You can certainly use my methods to do your own prepurchase evaluations. If you want to find out the best products in a particular area, explore the topic on your favorite search engine mine is Coppernic at www. copernic.com and then examine the web sites of each company you discover. Although I would not recommend you impersonating a member of the press, you can and should contact the company's investor relations office, requesting the appropriate annual reports and Form 10K a more complete...

Test render LearningMaya

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:45:02 GMT

Now that you have materials and textures assigned, it is a good time to do a test render. Your current view panel may not be displaying the actual proportions that will be rendered. You can display the camera's resolution gate to see how the scene will actually render. Make the Perspective view the active panel. Use the hotbox to select View Camera Settings Resolution Gate. The view is adjusted to show a bounding box that defines how the default render resolution of 640x480 pixels relates to...

To return the skeleton to the bind pose MayaGuide

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:24:09 GMT

1 Click the Select Tool and cancel the selection of Jackie. 2 Turn off Modify gt Evaluate Nodes gt IK Solvers. After you use an IK handle to pose a character, you must do this step before you can return the skeleton to the bind pose. 3 Select back_root, the root of the skeleton. 4 Select Skin gt Go To Bind Pose. 5 Select the ikHandleLeftArm in the Hypergraph. Use the Move Tool to move the handle manipulator slightly in any direction. When you release the mouse, note that the arm does not move...

Arm and hand joints LearningMaya

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:01:59 GMT

Select Display Animation Joint Size Set the Joint Size to 0.25. Doing so will reduce the display size of the joints in the viewport, making it easier to place joints close together, such as the finger joints. From the front view, draw a joint to represent the clavicle between the spine1 and neck joints, then draw the shoulder joint. Move the clavicle on the Z-axis to better fit the geometry. Draw the character's elbow and wrist joints. Rotate down the joints on the Z-axis to better fit the...

Tips for Using and Animating Lights MayaTutorial

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:50:37 GMT

When lighting a scene, invoking a lighting mode in your perspective or camera View panel will give you great feedback on the relative brightness and direction of your lights. Most computer system's graphics cards can handle a maximum of eight lights in Lighted mode, with some professional cards increasing this capability. You invoke Lighted mode by pressing the number 7 on your keyboard not through the number pad on the side . You must first be in Shaded mode press 5 or Texture mode press 6 for...

Rendering in the Maya software renderer vs mental ray for Maya MayaReference

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:02:01 GMT

Refer to the following table for the differences between rendering Fur in the Maya software renderer and mental ray for Maya. Fur is refracted through refractive material, but is not refractive itself Support for correct penumbra and drop off Fur can be transparent, but is not visible through transparent material can render in layers and composite Fur is able to be transparent and to show up through transparent material Geometry information is written to a .sbs file that is then used by the Fur...

Animation using joints AnimationSimulation

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:19:56 GMT

Underlying the movements of animated characters the articulated CG actors you see in films and on television are what animators refer to as character rigs. A rig is a set of deformers and other tools that an animator uses to control everything from A skeleton rig applied to a polygonal cylinder. The surface CVs are under the influence of the joints. As the joints rotate, the surface deforms. Bones relate the joints to one another throughout the Scene Hierarchy and constrain the locations of...

The Martini Glass OpenGLMaya

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:04:30 GMT

Fig.8.8 The master contour of the martini glass Fig.8.8 The master contour of the martini glass If you find you need to edit the curve follow the steps below 2. Click down on the right mouse button until a new window called the Marking Menu pops up. The marking menu is used for context- related actions. The way to use it is to click the right mouse down till the menu shows up, and then drag the mouse to select the item desired. 3. Do not release the mouse. Drag the mouse to the menu item marked...

Skeleton Binding Game Character Development

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:14:58 GMT

Now we need to attach the mesh to the joints. The skeleton essentially drives the model and deforms it for us. 1. Select the first joint of your skeleton. Then hold Shift and select the geometry so that you have both the skeleton and the mesh selected. 2. Open up the options for a smooth bind Skin gt Bind Skin gt Smooth Bind . 3. Make sure your Smooth Bind options are configured in Figure 6.4. The important sections are Max Influences and Dropoff Rate. Figure 6.4. Setting Smooth Bind options...

The Importance of Seamless Texture Maps TexturingTechniques

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:40:45 GMT

Seamless textures are used in many situations within gaming walls, terrain, rooftops, and so forth. A small square map is created, for example, 512 X 512. By making the map seamless, you can repeat the texture multiple times without displaying any noticeable seams or repeating patterns. Make sure the map is of proper size 256 X 256, 512 X 512, etc. . In Photoshop, go to Filter gt Other gt Offset. Set the Horizontal value to 1 2 the map width, in this case 256. Set the Vertical value also to 1 2...

From RealWorld to CG Cameras MayaCinematography

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:03:18 GMT

To better understand how Maya's CG camera works, it is helpful to compare it to a real-world cornera, fl real-world camera is designed to take bouncing light ond focus it onto the camera's film. In this way, cornera controls are closely linked to lighting controls. Maya deals with lighting and cameras separately. Below is a short description of why real-world cameras and CG corneras work differently. The first comeros used o hole punched in a box to focus the light onto o bock plote. This small...

dont wait start flushing OpenGL calls to display buffer gIFIushO OpenGLMaya

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:44:17 GMT

Note that with OpenGL, the description of the shape of an object being drawn is independent of the description of its color. Whenever a particular geometric object is drawn, it is drawn using the currently specified coloring scheme. Until the color or coloring scheme is changed, all objects are drawn in the current coloring scheme. Similarly, until the point or line sizes are changed, all such primitives will be drawn using the most currently specified size. Try composing your own objects by...

glFlushl OpenGLMaya

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:18:30 GMT

forces all previously issued OpenGL commands to begin execution. If you are writing your program to execute within a single machine, and all commands are truly executed immediately on the server, glFlush might have no effect. However, if you're writing a program that you want to work properly both with and without a network, include a call to glFlush at the end of each frame or scene. Note that glFlush doesn't wait for the drawing to complete it just forces the drawing to begin execution. Voila...

Avoid Using MEL Commands in Expressions Mel Scripting for Maya

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:14:38 GMT

As discussed in Chapters 3 and 4, using MEL commands is not recommended in expressions. Maya does support using MEL commands in expressions when necessary, as we've seen, but doing so often forces Maya to recalculate the entire scene graph to allow the MEL command to execute. If you avoid using MEL commands in an expression, Maya can take advantage of internal optimizations that keep your expressions running much faster. Often, when you are tempted to use a MEL command in a script to calculate...

Contour Output Shaders Programming Mental Ray

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:03:43 GMT

Output shaders are called after the image has been computed. An output shader can use the function mLget-contourJine to get endpoints of a contour. When mi-get-contour dine returns mi FALSE, there are no more contour lines. Here is a very simple output shader that prints the screen-space coordinates of the contour endpoints. miBoolean my_contour_output_shader miColor result, unused miState state no parameters miContour_endpoint pi miContour_endpoint p2 mi_info Contour endpoints Get and write...

The Workflow Process DigitalAnimation

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:49:42 GMT

Regardless of the type of animation you are contemplating, its complexity, audience, deadline, or budget, the same general workflow takes place and the same eight steps apply. Keep in mind that not all steps are required for every project and that, unless you are a studio owner, you may not be required to execute all the steps in your specific job category. 1. Pitching the project Chapter 1 2. Contracting and billing Chapter 1 3. Storyboard Chapter 2, From Concept to Screen The Workflow Process...

MFnClip MayaReference

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:28:10 GMT

You can now create pre-cycles when creating clips. MObject createInstancedClip MObject amp sourceClip, const MTime amp start, MDGModifier amp dgMod, MStatus ReturnStatus NULL, bool absolute 1, double postCycle 0.0, double weight 1.0, double scale 1.0, double preCycle 0.0 This method has been modified. The previously used cycle parameter has now been renamed to postCycle and a new preCycle parameter has been added. double getPreCycle MStatus ReturnStatus NULL This method returns the value of...

Getting the Dimensions Right MayaGuide

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:18:23 GMT

One huge problem with mapping separate parts of the body like this is that Maya, while powerful, is unpleasantly consistent as far as the relative sizes of the maps it creates. It always makes the maps as large as possible within the UV texture space regardless of how large the area being mapped in the view space is, leaving you to try to scale the map down by eye with varying results. By taking the original height of the full body projection and dividing it into the height of the projection of...

Computer Graphics MayaTutorial

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:03:00 GMT

CG is the abbreviation for computer graphics imagery, also known as CGI. CG literally refers to any picture or series of pictures that is generated with the aid of a computer. However, the industry convention is to use the terms CG and CGI to refer to 3D graphics and not to images created using 2D image or paint programs such as Photoshop. Most 2D graphics software is bitmap based, and all 3D software is vector based. Bitmap software creates an image as a mosaic of pixels, filled in one at a...

Branching MayaGuide

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:23:44 GMT

The last basic program structure wenll look at is branching, a slightly more complex type of loop that allows MEL to ask a question and decide whether to do some further action given the answer the for statement actually contains a branch in its test value statement . Letns use the same script as above, only this time letns put a conditional statement inside it What happens when you execute these commands The first three balls are stacked up on the Y axis when i is less than or equal to 3 , and...

Variables Loops and Branching MayaGuide

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:23:32 GMT

Now that we have looked at the basics of how to use MEL, let's take a closer look at how to create more sophisticated scripts using the language. If you've done any programming at all, you've probably been waiting for this point the main reasons to program are 1 to create flexibility and 2 to take care of repetitive tasks. Flexibility comes through variables and branching repetition is made possible through looping. It's actually much easier to see what a variable is than to talk about it. Type...

Attaching Subdivision Surfaces MayaModeling

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:15:02 GMT

The Attach function allows you to attach two selected subdivision surfaces ond create a new single subdivision surface. For the attach to work, the selected surfaces must have the same number of polygonal edges at the base mesh level. The Threshold settings are defined in the polygon Merge Multiple Edges Tool. Partial Crease Vertex Full Crease Vertex Depending on the complexity of the base mesh, there may olreody be o few hierarchy levels from when the Subdivision surface was created. This...

Smoothing Layering and Rough Tweaking MayaGuide

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:02:15 GMT

Now we need to smooth and tweak the hand. We will need to do this in two stages, beginning with applying Smooth and fixing some problems. 1. Select the smooth hand and apply Edit Polygons gt Smooth to it with the default setting. Some things immediately stand out as needing improvement, such as consistency in the width and the direction of the fingers. We need to fix these problems before we can apply Smooth again. 2. Before we start to tweak, letns put the smooth hand and the rough hand on...

deleteUI MBcontrols Display Only What You Want User to See Mel Scripting for Maya

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:58:40 GMT

Let's hide all the locators, handles, and IK handles in the scene to reduce the temptation for the user to select them in the interface. We can do this by using the Show menu in the persp panel. Enlarge the persp panel to full screen by pressing the space bar with the mouse over the window. Now go to the Show menu, and turn off the options shown in Figure 22.28 by de-selecting them from the list. Figure 22.27 User interface for mrBlah. Figure 22.27 User interface for mrBlah.

Bump and displacement maps AnimationSimulation

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:12:07 GMT

Bump maps and displacement maps Figure 08.12 use grayscale procedural or bitmap textures to create surface relief at render time. This allows you to make alterations to surface topography that would be difficult if not impossible to model via conventional NURBS or polygon tools. Bump maps create the illusion of relief by altering the directions of surface normals, and therefore changing the way the light interacts with a surface. In contrast, a displacement map actually changes the topography...

Making Them Move 1 OpenGLMaya

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:18:52 GMT

In the last few sections, we saw how to model objects and render them to create photo-realistic images. Our next task is to give life to our creations by making them move animation When you see a cartoon on TV, you see characters in motion. This motion is just an illusion the strip itself is actually composed of a sequence of still images or frames which when played back in rapid succession gives the illusion of motion. The most popular way to create animation is by generating a number of...

Work with perparticle field attributes MayaDynamics

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:15:32 GMT

You can manipulate field attributes on a per-particle level. This functionality works for the case where particleShape is used as the source of the field, as well as the case where the particleShape is affected by a field. In the case where the attribute is affected by both, the value from the particleShape acting as the source of the field will take precedence. If the particleShape is acting as the source of the field, this feature allows each field to behave its own way. If the particleShape...

Maya Cameras AnimationSimulation

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:25:11 GMT

Like a real camera, a Maya camera defines the visible region of a scene what will be captured in a rendering and any image distortion due to the type of simulated lens used. You are by now no doubt familiar with maneuvering the default perspective camera, persp, to view a scene. Persp and the other default cameras the orthographic front, top, and side have all the same attributes as a camera you would create, and therefore can be used to render. It is advisable, however, to use the default...

Add Cancel Button Mel Scripting for Maya

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:18:08 GMT

To close the window, thus far we have been using the Close box at the top of the window, which is provided automatically. To be consistent with Maya's dialog boxes, we should add a Cancel button next to the existing Create button that also closes the window without changing the scene. In addition, because our dialog box's operation should be run only once in the scene, we want the window to close after the script is run. To do this, we'll use the deleteUI command to tell Maya to close the...

Working with Quads CharacterModeling

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:08:32 GMT

My approach to modeling, like that of many others, is to work only with quads A quad is a polygon that is made up of four points that generally but not always assume a rectangular shape see Figure 2-1 . There is much debate as to the validity of quad-only modeling. Also, working with quads is a bit more difficult than working with triangles, and maintaining a mesh that contains only quads can be quite tricky for the novice. However, I firmly believe that using this method makes you a better...

viewer basics some hotkeys Maya Shave And Haircut

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:16:31 GMT

Although, admittedly, the shave interface doesn't conform to Maya's, it is quite easy to learn and very intuitive. To orbit - just hold down the LMB in the viewer area and move the mouse To drag things just hold down the RMB in the viewer area and move the mouse What the 'drag' will actually do gets modified by two things, one is the type of selection you have, the other is the type of transformation you've selected in the 'TOOLS' menu. You can also pan around with the arrows, and zoom with ','...

Making the Camera Move MayaGuide

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:10:58 GMT

In this next brief tutorial, we will set up a moving camera attached to a path that can still remain focused on an object. We will continue working with our floating chair. Open the scene youDve just finished. The surface plane is wavy, but is not moving. Letns create some animated waves on it. 1. Select the plane and choose Deform gt Nonlinear gt Wave to apply Wave deformation to it see Chapter 12 for more information about Mayans deformers . 2. Translate the waveHandle node to D100, 0, 100...

Set Driven Keys LearningMaya

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:23:51 GMT

Zero the rotation of the bones. Select Animate Set Driven Key Set In the Driver section, load the middle joint and select the Rotate Y attribute. Select the flexor and press F8 to display its points. Select all the flexor's lattice points and click the Load Driven button in the Set Driven Key window. Highlight all the driven objects in the Driven section and highlight the XYZ values on the right side. Click the Key button to set the normal position. Go back into Object mode and rotate the...

The UV Texture Editor Game Character Design

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:39:50 GMT

The UV Texture Editor Window gt UV Texture Editor is where you perform the sometimes-tedious action of arranging your UV layout. Let's go over some of the more common commands found in the UV Texture Editor toolbar and menus. Flip UVs UV Texture Editor gt Polygons gt Flip UVs This command will flip a group of selected UVs 180 degrees in either the U or V directions. Rotate UVs UV Texture Editor gt Polygons gt Rotate UVs This command will rotate a group of selected UVs 45 degrees in either the U...

Easily view fluids cache contents MayaReference

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:25:10 GMT

You can now easily view fluids cache files that do not have a container. In previous versions of Maya, there was no way of knowing the contents of a fluids cache without creating a fluid container to view the cache's contents. In Maya 6, you can view the contents of a fluids cache file by selecting the .mcfi or .mcfp fluids cache file on your disk and then dragging it into Maya's scene view. When you drag a fluids cache file into Maya, Maya automatically creates the appropriate type of...

Mirroring Joints Maya Character Animation

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:05:31 GMT

Since many characters are symmetrical with two arms and two legs, you can build one side, then select Skeleton gt Mirror Joint to mirror joints and their IK handles across an axis. First, you select the joint to be mirrored, then you set up the mirror plane os either XY, Y2, or XZ in the tool options. The joint, its children joints, and kinematic controls are mirrored and connected back to the parent. Local rotation axes oriented olong the bone Local rotation axes oriented olong the bone when...

To split the polygon face into multiple faces MayaGuide

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:01:24 GMT

1 Select the Polygons menu set. 2 With LeftHand still selected, select Edit Mesh gt Split Polygon Tool gt D . In the tool settings window click the Reset Tool button. You'll use this tool to split the front face of the proxy into several faces to be extruded into fingers. 3 In the front view, click the point on the top edge as shown in the following figure, then click the corresponding point directly below it on the bottom edge. If the line between the points isn't perfectly straight, use the...

Advanced rendering techniques with the mental ray for Maya renderer AnimationSimulation

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:56:57 GMT

The developers of mental ray for Maya have incorporated numerous advances in 3D rendering that mimic real-world lighting and material situations. While these can improve the photorealism of a rendering, they can add substantially to your render times. Figure 11.04 shows examples of several of these rendering features. Examples of advance rendering techniques using the mental ray for Maya renderer. The molecule pictured here is hemoglobin. Examples of advance rendering techniques using the...

Example Lkv MayaDynamics

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:14:13 GMT

An emitter shoots particles up in a 150-frame animation. The following steps show how to control the velocity of the particles by keying Current Time. 1 Select the emitted particle object not the emitter . 2 In the Channel Box, click the Current Time attribute, then right-click and select Break Connections. 3 Set keys for Current Time at the following frames At the beginning of the animation frame 0 , the Current Time of the emitted particles is synchronized with the scene time. Both have the...

Rigging Up a Leg MayaGuide

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:08:43 GMT

When a choracter walks, one foot remains planted on the ground os the other moves up then down where it becomes planted so that the first foot can move step forward . The foot first touches the ground with its heel, then the foot rolls to the boll and then pushes off using the toe. This heel-to-toe motion is important to a walk cycle ond con be set up using o reverse foot setup. This foot is a joint hierarchy that is set up in the opposite direction to the leg joints. The leg's IK handle ond...

attachOppositeControl Mel Scripting for Maya

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:00:43 GMT

-attachOppositeControl fixes an object's side a specific number of pixels from the same side of another control. You could use -attachOppositeControl to set a distance between the right sides of two buttons, as in -attachOppositeControl button_1 right 100 button_2 This would place the right side of button_1 100 pixels to the left of the right side of button_2. This time, unlike in the -attachOppositeForm example above, we have chosen an offset in the same direction as -attachControl would have...