Maya^®: Secrets of the Pros^TM

by John Kundert-Gibbs

• ISBN13: 9780782140552
• ISBN10: 0782140556
• Edition: CD
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: Sybex

Summary

In this unique full-color book, a cadre of professionals led by Maya expert and best-selling author, John Kundert-Gibbs, team up to share what they've learned using Maya in the CG trenches. Contributing authors include veterans of such high-profiles projects as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Star Wars: Episode I, The Perfect Storm, as well as animations featured at SIGGRAPH. Whether you're new to the field or already have solid 3D experience, Maya: Secrets of the Pros offers insights and step-by-step instructions designed to help you build and sharpen a range of critical skills, including: * Preparation techniques for modeling and animation * Improving motion capture and lip synching * Creating crowd scenes from a small number of base models * Controlling dynamics in plot-driven sequences * Developing massively complex particle systems for film effects, such as those in The Perfect Storm * Modeling subdivision surfaces * Creating a GUI animation set-up for animators * Using effective natural lighting * Writing software for a multi-platform renderfarm

Table of Contents

Part One Beginnings: Modeling	1	(82)
Accelerating the Preproduction Process	3	(32)
Eric Kunzendorf
Getting from Concept to Animation	3	(1)
Scriptwriting, Thumbnailing, and Drawing	4	(4)
Modeling Methods	8	(8)
Texturing a Flour Sack	16	(3)
Setting Up for Animation	19	(3)
Creating an Arm	22	(9)
Blobbyman Comes to Life	31	(2)
Summary	33	(2)
Modeling a SubDivision Surface Horse	35	(16)
Peter Lee
Creating Basic Shapes with NURBS	35	(2)
Conversion to Polygons	37	(2)
Modeling Details	39	(10)
Summary	49	(2)
Organix---Modeling by Procedural Means	51	(32)
Mark Jennings Smith
Stop and Smell the Roses: A Primer	52	(2)
A Visual Maya Zoo	54	(2)
Bring Simple Life to a Creation	56	(3)
Abusing the Cone	59	(6)
Alternate Uses of Paint Effects	65	(3)
Organix and Paint Effects	68	(13)
Summary	81	(2)
Part Two Putting Things in Motion: Animation	83	(82)
Animation and Motion Capture---Working Together	85	(34)
Robin Akin
Remington Scott
What Is Motion Capture?	85	(1)
Animation and Mocap	86
When Should You Use Mocap?	7	(81)
Using Motion Capture as Reference or Straight out of the Box	88	(3)
Cleaning Mocap	91	(26)
Summary	117	(2)
Lip-Synching Real-World Projects	119	(46)
John Kundert-Gibbs
Dariush Derakhshani
Rebecca Johnson
Creating a Lip-Synched Animation	120	(8)
Hands-on Example 1: Lip-Synching Using Blend Shapes and the Trax Editor	128	(21)
Hands-on Example 2: Photo-Real Facial Replacement and Lip-Synching	149	(14)
Summary	163	(2)
Part Three The Numbers Game: Dealing with Complex Systems	165	(126)
Creating Crowd Scenes from a Small Number of Base Models	167	(28)
Emanuele D'Arrigo
Not Only Big Studios	168	(1)
Heroes	169	(1)
Deploying Three Task Forces	170	(22)
Always Room for Improvement	192	(1)
Summary	193	(2)
Taming Chaos: Controlling Dynamics for Use in Plot-Driven Sequences	195	(68)
John Kundert-Gibbs
Robert Helms
When To Use Rigid Body Simulations	196	(1)
The Setup: Plan, Plan, Plan	196	(1)
Preproduction: Research and Development	197
Production: Getting the ``Shot''	98	(101)
Integration and Postproduction: Cheating the Shot So It Works	199	(2)
Working Example 1: A Quasi-Deterministic Pool Break	201	(11)
Working Example 2: Shattering Glass Over a Live-Action Plate	212	(9)
Summary	221	(2)
Complex Particle Systems
Habib Zargarpour
Industrial Light and Magic	223	(1)
Preproduction: Research and Development	223	(8)
Choosing the Best Method: Which Type of Simulation to Use	231	(10)
Visualization Techniques: Tips and Tricks	241	(5)
Putting the Method to the Test: Pushing the Limits	246	(1)
Advanced Techniques	247	(10)
Creating the Button	257	(1)
Testing and Documenting Before Postproduction	258	(1)
Final Result	259	(1)
Summary	260	(3)
Creating a Graphic User Interface Animation Setup for Animators	263	(28)
Susanne Werth
Planning the GUI	264	(4)
Creating the Window	268	(10)
Procedures	278	(10)
Warnings and Other User Helpers	288	(1)
Summary	289	(2)
Part Four Endings: Surfacing and Rendering	291
Effective Natural Lighting	293
Frank Ritlop
Lighting Design	293
Lighting Passes	294
The Properties of Light	294
Mapping a Texture to a Light's Color Attribute	295
Light Types	297
Shadows	304
Light Rigs	319
Finishing Touches	322
Summary	323
Distributed Rendering	325
Timothy A. Davis
Jacob Richards
The Maya Dispatcher	326
Tools and Recommendations	332
The Socks Program	335
Summary	349