Maya Rendering Guides

The Container Properties Section MayaGuide

Sun, 20 May 2012 05:53:22 GMT

Starting with the top, let's first look at the Container Properties section of the Attribute Editor, which adjusts the resolution and behavior of the fluid container itself. The Resolution settings set to 40 in X and Y by default control how many voxels are in the container. A larger number such as 100 in each direction means a finer fluid simulation but one that runs slower due to the greater number of calculations that must be performed since there are more voxels over which to run the...

Fundamentals of Hair Systems MayaGuide

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:13:32 GMT

Maya uses a special node called a hair system to control the dynamics of a group of follicles. Each follicle contains a hair curve and can influence how individual hair strands look and behave. When making hair systems, you can create hair as paint effects and or NURBS curves. Paint effects can achieve realistic-looking strands of hair by using strokes that follow simulated hair curves. If you opt for creating NURBS surfaces, you can use lofting and other surface-building modeling operations....

Hardware and Software Considerations MayaTutorial

Thu, 17 May 2012 03:20:53 GMT

Because computer hardware is a quickly moving target, and Maya 2008 now runs on three distinct operating systems Windows 2000 XP Vista, Linux, and Mac OS X , specifying which hardware components will work with Maya is something of a challenge. Fortunately, Autodesk has a qualified hardware page on its website that describes the latest hardware to be qualified to work with Maya for each operating system. Go to www.autodesk.com maya for the most up-to-date information. Although you can find...

Choosing a Filename MayaTutorial

Sun, 06 May 2012 01:49:27 GMT

Rendered images are identified by a filename, a frame number, and an extension, in the form fi7ename. .ext, for example, sti l life.0234.tif. In the filename prefix text box, enter the image sequence name. If you don't enter anything in this text box, Maya automatically names your rendered images after your scene file stmife in the example . When you're dealing with numerous scene files, this is the preferred naming convention using it, you can immediately identify the scene file from which a...

History Scripting and Animation Maya Tips and Techniques

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:42:43 GMT

TIME TAKES SEVERAL forms in Maya. The history function stores innumerable steps an animator takes as nodes and hence provides a malleable record of the past. The Graph Editor threads curves through keys at specific points along the Timeline. Expressions and MEL scripts, on the other hand, are able to sidestep history, the Graph Editor, and the Timeline by permanently linking the attribute of one object to another and thus create automation. Of course, it is the animator who must break down time...

Using Snaps MayaTutorial

Tue, 01 May 2012 07:10:15 GMT

Now is the perfect time to start using snaps, the icons you looked at in the previous chapter Table 3.1 . Snap to Grids Snap to Curves Snap to Points Snap to View Planes Snaps objects to intersections of the view's grid Snaps objects along a curve Snaps objects to object points such as CVs or vertices Snaps objects to view planes You use snaps to snap objects into place with precision, by placing them by their pivot points directly onto grid points, onto other object pivots, onto curve points,...

Fixing the Nose MayaTutorial

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:48:32 GMT

Right now, there is a small gap between the body and the nose. There should be an indentation that runs the length around the nose where it meets the body, not just an empty gap. We will loft a little trough in between the two surfaces in the following steps. We could use the end isoparms on both the body and the nose geometry to loft between, but that would create a flat surface, effectively smoothing out the connection between the two surfaces. Because we need a trough to run between them, we...

Chapter The Basics of MEL Commands Mel Scripting for Maya

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:16:37 GMT

In this chapter you will learn 23 Can I Use MEL Without Scripting 23 Command Line and Command Feedback Line 24 Command Shell 25 Script Editor 25 Script Editor Versus Command Shell 27 Script Editor's Messages as MEL Code 27 Making a Shelf Button for a MEL Script 29 Saving a MEL Script 29 Seductive Dangers of the Status Message Area 30 Where to Find Information About Maya and MEL on the Internet 33 Newsgroups 34 How to Use MEL Scripts Found on the Internet 34 What to Remember About How to Use MEL...

Layered Shader part LearningMaya

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:09:06 GMT

This node can be used in two different ways. It can be used to layer materials or it can be used to layer textures. However, there is a newer node specifically designed for layering textures that will be covered in the chapter on textures. When using the Layered Shader node, ask yourself if you need to see different material types on different areas of the same surface, or if you need to see different materials at the same time such as clear coat over car paint. If not, then you should use a...

Control Panel Buttons MayaTutorial

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:06:46 GMT

Let's throw a few buttons into the Control panel in the following steps. You can load the scene file RocketModel_07.ma from the Scenes folder in the Red Rocket project to skip to this point or to check your work. 1. With Interactive Creation still off, create a NURBS cylinder with the Caps attribute set to Top. The Number Of Spans can remain at your previous value or be reset to 1. 2. Place the cylinder where a button goes in the Control panel using the top view to line it up. Scale it...

Shadowing with Maya Fur Maya Texturing and Lighting

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:58:01 GMT

the Maya Fur system grows numerous hairs over a surface. You can use depth map shadows with fur if special attributes are added to a spot light. if the special attributes lt are added to other light types, self-shadowing is available. in addition, you can create raytrace fur shadows with the mental ray renderer. To create a simple fur setup and cast depth map shadows, follow these steps 1. Create a NuRBS, polygon, or subdivision surface. Switch to the Rendering menu set and choose Fur gt...

Rendering Test Frames MayaGuide

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:27:29 GMT

After specifying render settings, you are ready to render. Typically, test frames are rendered throughout the production pipeline to test materials, models, lighting, effects, and efficiency. Since they are for testing purposes alone, you should generally use lower-quality render settings. To render a frame, click the Render The Current Frame button on Maya's Status line Alternatively, open the Render View window see Figure 2.46 by choosing Window Rendering Editors Render View. To render the...

Cleanup MayaGuide

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:54:55 GMT

We need to get this model ready to pass off to the rigging and texture mapping technical directors. We need to make sure that all surfaces have no construction history and are grouped properly and that no unused groups or transforms are lying around the scene. Can you proceed without doing this Yes, but this is the type of cleanup that professional modelers do to make their files production ready. 1. Place WindShieldRimSrf and CockPitRimSrf into CockPitGrp by MM dragging them in the Outliner....

Materials 1 LearningMaya

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:36:21 GMT

A material is a set of instructions that describes how the surface of an object will look when rendered. It is not just a collection of attributes you can texture map, but also a mathematical description of how light will behave when it strikes the surface. Maya provides many attributes to fine-tune the look of a material whether it will be a cartoon effect or photorealism. In this chapter, you will learn the following Materials and shading networks Layering Shaders and textures with a Layered...

Vectors Mel Scripting for Maya

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:23:39 GMT

Definition In Maya, a vector is a group of three floating-point numbers that are bound together in a single attribute or variable, and that can be operated on as a unit. Chapter 4 contains an introduction to the concept of vectors and their use. How to declare a vector variable Vectors are declared much like integers and floating-point numbers, as in To assign a value to a vector at the point where you declare it, you can surround the list of three numbers with lt lt and gt gt to establish that...

An Overview of Dynamics MayaTutorial

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 06:57:09 GMT

Dynamics is the simulation of motion through the application of the principles of physics. Rather than assigning keyframes to objects to animate them, with Maya dynamics you assign physical characteristics that define how an object behaves in a simulated world. You create the objects as usual in Maya and then convert them to dynamic bodies. Dynamic bodies are defined through dynamic attributes you've added to them, which affect how the objects behave in a dynamic simulation. Dynamic bodies are...

Using Final Gather Maya Texturing and Lighting

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:30:44 GMT

although Final Gather is often used in conjunction with Global Illumination, it is not the same system. Final Gather employs a specialized variation of raytracing in which each camera eye ray intersection creates sets of Final gather rays, the Final gather rays are sent out in a random direction within a hemisphere see Figure 12.22 . When a Final gather ray intersects a new surface, the light energy of the newly intersected point and its potential contribution to the surface intersected by the...

What You Will Learn from This Book MayaGuide

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 09:39:50 GMT

What will you, gentle reader, get from this book You will find in these pages an introduction not only to Maya as a software package, but to the way Autodesk's software plays a starring role in the creative and technical process known as the CG production pipeline. You will find a wealth of information in the following pages, with intensive discussions on everything from modeling to rigging to production-quality cloth and hair simulation. For readers both new and old, we cover the creative...

RaytraceScanline Quality MayaGuide

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 02:16:40 GMT

In this section are options to control the precision mental ray will use to determine pixel colors. If you have Adaptive Sampling chosen the default , mental ray adjusts its sampling based on the requirements of the scene, using the Max Sample Level slider setting as an exponent to adjust the required samples with the slider set at 2, 1 sample is the minimum, 16 the maximum. With fixed sampling, the Max Sample Level slider sets the exact number of samples per pixel. With Custom Sampling chosen,...

Component Editor Maya Realistic Creature Creation

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:21:35 GMT

If you encounter areas where a few vertices are not behaving like you want, consider using the Window General Editors - gt Component Editor. This editor allows you to manually set the weights of vertices to their influences. PolMira I rtt I Wntffcd Ootanrn Rod Skm BtadSh . Orfc ,, 5moo 51 Spnogc P 1cl., HHII itaolAl HRR . WB IHRR JC IHRR -1 Tip You can zero an entire unwanted influence simply by selecting its column and setting it to 0.

Lining Up the Model and the Side View MayaTutorial

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:56:58 GMT

So far we have been modeling a little bit off the side view. This is more apparent at the back of the rocket, as shown from the side. To fix the issue, we'll use a deformer called a lattice. Deformers are tools in Maya that allow you to easily change the shape of an object. As opposed to using CVs to manually distort or bend an object, you can use a deformer to affect the entire object. For more on modeling with deformers, see Chapter 6, Further Modeling Topics Deformers and Subdivision...

Irradiance LearningMaya

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:54:11 GMT

Irradiance can most easily be defined as total incoming illumination. It is an environmental lighting parameter that determines the amount of light that is incident upon a surface. This irradiance attribute is found on each individual shader's Attribute Editor, under the mental ray section. It is used to map an incoming illumination map, such as one created using Convert to File Texture, mental ray, or other texture map that may have been created. With this shader attribute mapped, the Final...

Dolly vs zoom LearningMaya

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:27:50 GMT

The difference between dolly and zoom is that when you dolly, you are physically moving the camera in space while zoom refers to changing the camera's focal length. What is the difference between moving the camera and changing the focal length Why would you choose one over the other The answer is that when you move the camera, the perspective changes. Objects far from the camera change in relative size at a slower rate than objects close to the camera. This is essentially what you see through...

Planning Your Model MayaTutorial

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:10:15 GMT

The first step in making any object is to understand how it's constructed. The best training for a CG modeler is to visualize the elements that make up an object. Dissecting the components of an object into primitive shapes will help you translate and re-create it in 3D terms. You create the elements in Maya and then join them to form the desired object. Gather as much information as you can about the object you want to model. Take pictures from many angles, get sizes and dimensions, and write...

Advanced Rendering Techniques Maya Tips and Techniques

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:55:48 GMT

BASIC RENDERING TECHNIQUES produce 8-bit, Low Dynamic Range LDR images. Yet Maya supports 16-bit and 32-bit floating-point High Dynamic Range HDR images for texturing, lighting, and rendering. You can render OpenEXR and .hdr image formats with the mental ray renderer, thus achieving dynamic ranges that approach those found in the natural world. In addition, you can import HDR bitmaps and apply them as textures if the textures are rendered with mental ray, the full dynamic range is preserved....

ReCreating Metal Maya Texturing and Lighting

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 02:30:34 GMT

Metal is perhaps the most difficult surface to re-create. Chrome, polished silver, stainless steel, and similar metals can be reproduced with raytraced reflections. See Chapter 11 for raytracing tips. Many metal finishes, however, do not create coherent reflections. In such a situation, believability comes from the metal's color and the contrast of the metal to its specular highlight. For instance, cast iron is a very dark metal. Although iron has a moderately bright secular highlight, the...

StepbyStep D Lighting Examples Maya Texturing and Lighting

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 10:04:34 GMT

In this section, I'll discuss the lighting approach of various independent animations. The lighting style varies from naturalistic to stylized. Millennium Bug featured a series of otherworldly characters inserted into photographs of San Francisco. Simple naturalistic lighting was employed to match the cloudy, overcast weather conditions of the photos. In one shot see Figure 1.39 , a 3D head was added to a preexisting crane. A single spotlight, positioned high and to the right, served as a key....

Source Files MayaProgramming

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:44:18 GMT

Please note that all the files used in this book are available at www.davidgould.com. A list, though not exhaustive, of the information available at the site includes MEL scripts and C source code for all the examples in the book Additional examples of MEL scripts Additional examples of C API source code Continually updated glossary Updated list of other relevant websites and online resources

Past Approaches MayaProgramming

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 00:45:57 GMT

Generally, a 3D application provides a given set of tools to perform the tasks of modeling, animating, lighting, and rendering. It is clear that these tasks are quite different from one another. The operations that you perform when modeling are quite different from those when you render. The information and data created, manipulated, then stored when modeling are also very different from that when rendering. Since each area has its own particular set of data and operations, it follows logically...

Who Should Read This Book MayaTutorial

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:08:46 GMT

Anyone who is curious about learning Maya or who is migrating from another 3D software package can learn something from this book. Even if you are highly experienced in other 3D packages such as Lightwave or XSI, you will find this book helpful in showing you how Maya operates, so you can migrate your existing skill set quickly and efficiently. By being exposed to everything Maya has to offer, you will better understand how you can use its toolset to create or improve on your art and work. If...

A Note on Environment and Volume Fog Maya Texturing and Lighting

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:19:19 GMT

Environment Fog produces a fog effect similar to Light Fog. Environment Fog, however, occurs at all points within the camera view between a camera's near to far clipping planes. You can create Environment Fog by clicking the Environment Fog attribute button in the Render Options section of the Maya Software tab in the Render Settings window. Environment Fog consists of four nodes envFogLight, environmentFog, envi-ronmentFogShape, and envFogMaterial. The envFogLight node is an ambient light...

Rigid and Soft Dynamic Bodies MayaTutorial

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:38:40 GMT

The two types of dynamic bodies are rigid and soft. Rigid bodies are solid objects, such as a pair of dice or a baseball, that move and rotate according to the dynamics applied. Fields and collisions affect the entire object and move it accordingly. Soft bodies are malleable surfaces that deform dynamically, such as drapes in the wind or a bouncing rubber ball. In brief, this is accomplished by making the surface points NURBS, CVs, or polygon vertices of the soft body object dynamic instead of...

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...