Mastering Autodesk Maya 2011: Autodesk Official Training Guide Book

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1 Working in Maya 1

Creating and Editing Maya Nodes 1

Using the Hypergraph 3

Connecting Nodes with the Connection Editor 7

Creating Node Hierarchies in the Outliner 11

Displaying Options in the Outliner 14

The Channel Box 17

The Attribute Editor 21

Working with Shader Nodes in the Hypershade 23

Creating Maya Projects 31

Creating a New Project 31

Editing and Changing Projects 33

Organizing Complex Node Structures with Assets 34

Creating an Asset 34

Publishing Asset Attributes 39

Using the Asset Editor 40

File References 42

Referencing a File 42

Using Reference Proxies 44

The Bottom Line 47

Chapter 2 Virtual Filmmaking with Maya Cameras 49

Determining the Image Size and Film Speed of the Camera 49

Setting the Size and Resolution of the Image 50

Setting the Film Speed 51

Creating and Animating Cameras 52

Creating a Camera 52

Setting Camera Attributes 58

Limiting the Range of Renderable Objects with Clipping Planes 62

Composing the Shot Using the Film Back Settings 63

Creating a Camera Shake Effect 65

Using an Expression to Control Alpha Offset 68

Creating Custom Camera Rigs 70

Swivel Camera Rig 71

Swivel Camera Rig Asset 72

Applying Depth of Field and Motion Blur 76

Rendering Using Depth of Field 76

Creating a Rack Focus Rig 80

Adding Motion Blur to an Animation 83

Using Orthographic and Stereo Cameras 89

Orthographic Cameras 89

Stereo Cameras 90

The Bottom Line 92

Chapter 3 NURBS Modeling in Maya 95

Understanding NURBS 95

Understanding Curves 96

Understanding NURBS Surfaces 99

Surface Seams 102

NURBS Display Controls 102

Employing Image Planes 103

Creating Image Planes 104

Reference Plane Display Layers 107

Modeling NURBS Surfaces 108

Lofting Surfaces 112

Intersecting Surfaces 117

Trim Surfaces 118

Working with Trim Edges 120

Extrude Surfaces: Distance Extrude 123

Extruding Surfaces: Profile Extrude 126

Fillet Surfaces 129

Creating Rail Surfaces 133

Lofting Across Multiple Curves 139

Live Surfaces 140

Project Curves on the Surface 144

Revolve 148

Using the Bend Deformer 151

Creating Realism 153

NURBS Tessellation 154

The Bottom Line 155

Chapter 4 Polygon Modeling 157

Understanding Polygon Geometry 157

Polygon Vertices 158

Polygon Edges 160

Polygon Faces 162

Working with Smooth Polygons 164

Using Smooth Mesh Polygons 165

Editing Polygon Components 167

Using Soft Selection 167

Create the Shape for the Torso 170

Adding Components 173

Insert Edge Loops 173

Extruding Polygons 175

Edge Creasing 177

Mirror Cut 182

Modeling with Deformers 185

Using a Lattice 186

Soft Modification Tool 189

Combining Meshes 191

Creating the Bolt Detail 191

Using Bevel Plus and Bevel Edges 194

Creating the Curves 194

Bevel Plus 197

Bevel Edges 200

Polygon Modeling with Paint Effects 205

Attaching Strokes to Curves 206

Modifying the Converted Stroke 208

Drawing Curves on a Live Surface 209

Convert NURBS Surfaces to Polygons 211

Employing Revolved Surfaces 211

NURBS Extrusions 214

Boolean Operations 216

Using Booleans 217

Sculpting Polygons Using Artisan 222

Sculpting Polygons 222

Advanced Polygon Editing Tools 227

Append a Polygon 227

Split a Polygon 228

Spin a Polygon Edge 229

Bridge Polygons 230

Using Subdivision Surfaces 232

Working with SubDs 232

SubD Levels 235

The Bottom Line 237

Chapter 5 Animation Techniques 239

Using Joints and Constraints 239

Joint Basics 239

Point Constraints 241

Aim Constraints 246

Inverse Kinematics 249

IK Handle Tool 250

Create a Master Control 253

Keyframe Animation 256

Creating Keyframes 256

Auto Keyframe 258

Move and Scale Keyframes on the Timeline 260

Copy, Paste, and Cut Keyframes 261

The Graph Editor 262

Animation Curves 263

Editing Animation Curves 268

Weighted Tangents 272

Additional Editing Tools 273

Breakdowns and In-Betweens 276

Pre- and Post-Infinity 278

Playblast and FCheck 281

Creating and Viewing a Playblast 281

Driven Keys 283

Creating a Driven Key 283

Looping Driven Keys 285

Copying and Pasting Driven Keys 286

Animation Using Expressions 288

Conditional Statements in Expressions 290

Motion Path Animation 292

Animating Constraints 295

Dynamic Parenting 295

Animation Layers 298

Creating an Animation Layer 298

Layer Mode 300

Other Options in the Layer Editor 302

Layer Hierarchy 303

Merging Layers 305

The Bottom Line 307

Chapter 6 Animating with Deformers 309

Animating Facial Expressions Using Blend Shapes 309

Creating Blend Shape Targets 312

Creating Blend Shapes 317

Painting Blend Shape Weights 318

Adding Targets 322

Creating a Custom Mouth Control Slider 323

Connecting the Slider to the Blend Shape 325

Animating Blend Shapes Sequentially 329

Creating the Base Mesh 329

Creating the Blend Shape Targets 332

Creating the Blend Shape Sequence 333

Animating with Lattices 334

Creating a Lattice 335

Using the Lattice Membership Tool 337

Adding an Object to an Existing Lattice 338

Animating Lattices 338

Animating Object Components with Clusters 340

Adding Cluster Objects 341

Painting Cluster Weights 342

Applying Cluster Components 343

Constraining Clusters 345

Animating a Scene Using Nonlinear Deformers 347

Creating a Wave Deformer 347

Squashing and Stretching Objects 349

Twisting Objects 350

Creating a Jiggle Effect 352

Applying Jiggle Deformers 352

Painting Jiggle Weights 353

Optimizing Animations with the Geometry Cache 354

Creating a Geometry Cache 354

Editing the Cache Playback 356

The Bottom Line 357

Chapter 7 Rigging and Muscle Systems 359

Understanding Rigging 359

Creating and Organizing Joint Hierarchies 361

Orienting Joints 368

Naming Joints 369

Mirroring Joints 371

Rigging the Giraffe 372

IK Legs 373

FK Blending 375

Rotate Plane Solvers 377

Creating Custom Attributes 381

Spline IK 384

Full Body Inverse Kinematics 389

Skinning Geometry 389

Interactive/Smooth Binding 390

Weighting the Giraffe 390

Painting Skin Weights 396

Editing Skin Weights in the Component Editor 401

Copying Skin Weights 401

Mirroring Skin Weights 402

The Maya Muscle System 402

Understanding the Maya Muscle System 403

Using Capsules 403

Creating a Muscle Using Muscle Builder 405

Editing Muscle Parameters 410

Converting the Smooth Skin to a Muscle System 412

Sliding Weights 414

The Bottom Line 415

Chapter 8 Paint Effects and Toon Shading 417

Using the Paint Effects Canvas 417

The Paint Effects Window 418

Painting in Scene Mode 422

Painting on 3D Objects 422

Understanding Strokes 424

The Anatomy of a Paint Effects Stroke 424

Brush Sharing 427

Understanding Brush Curve Nodes 428

Designing Brushes 429

Starting from Scratch 430

Tubes 433

Growing Flowers 434

Adding Leaves 439

Create Complexity by Adding Strokes to a Curve 442

Shaping Strokes with Behavior Controls 446

Applying Forces 446

Displacement, Spiral, and Bend 447

Animating Strokes 449

Animating Attribute Values 450

Adding Turbulence 450

Animating Growth 451

Modifiers 453

Rendering Paint Effects 453

Illumination 453

Shadow Effects 454

Shading Strokes and Tubes 456

Texturing Strokes 458

Converting Strokes to Geometry 462

Using Toon Shading 464

Toon Fills 464

Toon Outlines 466

Using Paint Effects Presets for Toon Lines 468

The Bottom Line 469

Chapter 9 Lighting with mental ray 471

Shadow-Casting Lights 471

Shadow Preview 472

Depth Map Shadows 474

mental ray Shadow Map Overrides 479

Ray Trace Shadows 481

Indirect Lighting: Global Illumination 483

Global Illumination 483

Tuning Global Illumination 488

Working with Photon Maps 491

Color Bleeding 492

Importons 493

Caustics 493

Caustic Light Setup 497

Indirect Illumination: Final Gathering 498

Light-Emitting Objects 499

Final Gathering Maps 503

Using Lights with Final Gathering 508

Image-Based Lighting 509

Enabling IBL 510

IBL and Final Gathering 510

Physical Sun and Sky 512

Enabling Physical Sun and Sky 512

Editing the Sky Settings 514

mental ray Area Lights 515

Using Area Lights 515

Light Shaders 518

Physical Light Shader 519

Tone Mapping 522

Photometric Lights and Profiles 524

The Bottom Line 524

Chapter 10 mental ray Shading Techniques 527

Shading Concepts 527

Diffusion 530

Reflection 530

Refraction 531

The Fresnel Effect 532

Anisotropy 533

Creating Blurred Reflections and Refractions Using Standard Maya Shaders 533

Reflection Blur 533

Refraction Blur 535

Basic mental ray Shaders 536

DGS Shaders 536

Dielectric Material 542

mental ray Base Shaders 544

Car Paint Materials 551

Diffuse Parameters 553

Specular Parameters 554

Flake Parameters 554

Reflection Parameters 555

The MIA Material 557

Using the MIA Material Presets 557

Add Bump to the Rubber Shader 559

Create Beveled Edges Using mia_roundcorners 560

Creating Thick and Thin Glass and Plastic 562

Other MIA Material Attributes 563

Controlling Exposure with Tone Mapping 567

Using Exposure Shaders 567

Rendering Contours 569

Enable Contour Rendering 569

The Bottom Line 571

Chapter 11 Texture Mapping 573

UV Texture Layout 573

What Are UV Texture Coordinates? 574

Mapping the Giraffe Leg 578

Unfolding UVs 583

Mapping the Giraffe Head 586

Mirroring UVs 589

More UV Tools 592

Arranging UV Shells 594

Additional UV Mapping Considerations 596

Transferring UVs 597

Multiple UV Sets 597

Optimizing Textures 597

Bump and Normal Mapping 598

Bump Maps 599

Normal Maps 600

Creating Normal Maps 601

Applying Normal Maps 606

Displacement Mapping 607

Converting Displacement to Polygons 608

Displacement Maps for Characters 608

Combined Displacement and Bump Maps 612

Subsurface Scattering 614

Fast, Simple Skin Shader Setup 614

Subsurface Scattering Layers 619

Subsurface Specularity 621

The Bottom Line 623

Chapter 12 Rendering for Compositing 625

Render Layers 625

Creating Render Layers 626

Render Layer Overrides 629

Creating Overrides for Rendering Cameras 633

Using Different Shaders on Render Layers 634

Material Overrides 636

Render Layer Blend Modes 636

Render Passes 641

Upgrade Materials for Rendering Passes 643

Render Multiple Passes from a Single Render Layer 644

Creating an Ambient Occlusion Pass 649

Render Pass Contribution Maps 655

Lights and Contribution Maps 658

Render Pass Sets 661

Setting Up a Render with mental ray 662

File Tokens 663

Specifying Frame Range 666

Renderable Cameras 666

File Formats and the Frame Buffer 666

Starting a Batch Render 667

Command-Line Rendering 669

Creating a Batch Script 673