Mastering Autodesk Maya 2012 E-Book

Todd Palamar

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 1375

Beschreibung

The exclusive, official guide to the very latest version of Maya Get extensive, hands-on, intermediate to advanced coverage of Autodesk Maya 2012, the top-selling 3D software on the market. If you already know Maya basics, this authoritative book takes you to the next level. From modeling, texturing, animation, and visual effects to high-level techniques for film, television, games, and more, this book provides professional-level Maya instruction. With pages of scenarios and examples from some of the leading professionals in the industry, author Todd Palamar will help you master the entire CG production pipeline. * Provides professional-level instruction on Maya, the industry-leading 3D animation and effects software used in popular films, games, and commercials * Covers the very latest Maya 2012 tools and features, including the new fluid simulation tools * Showcases the techniques of professionals through numerous examples, demonstrating how to set up and manage 3D animation and visual effects pipelines * Includes challenging tutorials and real-world scenarios from some of the leading professionals in the industry If you're looking for an in-depth, professional Maya resource to turn to again and again, this is the book you need.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Credits

Copyright

Publisher's Note

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Introduction

Who Should Buy This Book

What’s Inside

How to Contact the Author

Chapter 1: Working in Autodesk Maya

Creating and Editing Maya Nodes

Creating Maya Projects

Organizing Complex Node Structures with Assets

File References

The Bottom Line

Chapter 2: Virtual Filmmaking with Autodesk Maya Cameras

Determining the Image Size and Film Speed of the Camera

Creating and Animating Cameras

Creating Custom Camera Rigs

Applying Depth of Field and Motion Blur

Using Orthographic and Stereo Cameras

Using the Camera Sequencer

The Bottom Line

Chapter 3: Modeling I

Understanding Polygon Geometry

Using Subdivision Surfaces

Understanding NURBS

Employing Image Planes

Modeling NURBS Surfaces

NURBS Tessellation

Modeling with Polygons

The Bottom Line

Chapter 4: Modeling II

Modeling with Deformers

Combining Meshes

Using Bevel Plus and Bevel Edges

Using Curves

Convert NURBS Surfaces to Polygons

Boolean Operations

Sculpting Polygons Using Artisan

Advanced Polygon Editing Tools

Working with SubDs

The Bottom Line

Chapter 5: Animation Techniques

Using Joints and Constraints

Inverse Kinematics

Keyframe Animation

The Graph Editor

Playblast and FCheck

Driven Keys

Motion Path Animation

Motion Trails

Animating Constraints

Animation Layers

The Bottom Line

Chapter 6: Animating with Deformers

Animating Facial Expressions Using Blend Shapes

Animating Blend Shapes Sequentially

Animating with Lattices

Animating Object Components with Clusters

Animating a Scene Using Nonlinear Deformers

Creating a Jiggle Effect

Optimizing Animations with the Geometry Cache

The Bottom Line

Chapter 7: Rigging and Muscle Systems

Understanding Rigging

Creating and Organizing Joint Hierarchies

Rigging the Giraffe

Human Inverse Kinematics

Skinning Geometry

The Maya Muscle System

The Bottom Line

Chapter 8: Paint Effects

Using the Paint Effects Canvas

Painting on 3D Objects

Understanding Strokes

Designing Brushes

Create Complexity by Adding Strokes to a Curve

Shaping Strokes with Behavior Controls

Animating Strokes

Rendering Paint Effects

The Bottom Line

Chapter 9: Lighting with mental ray

Shadow-Casting Lights

Indirect Lighting: Global Illumination

Indirect Illumination: Final Gathering

Image-Based Lighting

Physical Sun and Sky

mental ray Area Lights

Light Shaders

The Bottom Line

Chapter 10: mental ray Shading Techniques

Shading Concepts

Creating Blurred Reflections and Refractions Using Standard Maya Shaders

Basic mental ray Shaders

Car Paint Materials

The MIA Material

Controlling Exposure with Tone Mapping

Rendering Contours

The Bottom Line

Chapter 11: Texture Mapping

UV Texture Layout

Bump and Normal Mapping

Displacement Mapping

Subsurface Scattering

The Bottom Line

Chapter 12: Rendering for Compositing

Render Layers

Render Passes

Render Pass Contribution Maps

Setting Up a Render with mental ray

mental ray Quality Settings

The Bottom Line

Chapter 13: Introducing nParticles

Creating nParticles

Making nParticles Collide with nRigids

Using nParticles to Simulate Liquids

Emit nParticles Using a Texture

Using Wind

Shading nParticles and Using Hardware Rendering to Create Flame Effects

nParticles and Fields

Rendering Particles with mental ray

The Bottom Line

Chapter 14: Dynamic Effects

Creating nCloth Objects

Creating nCloth and nParticle Interactions

Rigid Body Dynamics

Soft Body Dynamics

Creating Flying Debris Using nParticle Instancing

Animating Instances Using nParticle Expressions

The Bottom Line

Chapter 15: Fur, Hair, and Clothing

Adding Fur to Characters

Rendering Fur Using mental ray

Animating Using Dynamic Curves

Adding Hair to a Character

Styling Hair

Creating Hair Constraints

Rendering Hair

Creating Clothing for Characters

Painting nCloth Properties

The Bottom Line

Chapter 16: Autodesk Maya Fluids

Using Fluid Containers

Creating a Reaction

Rendering Fluid Containers

Create Fluids and nParticle Interactions

Creating Water Effects

The Bottom Line

Appendix 1

Chapter 1: Working in Autodesk Maya

Chapter 2: Virtual Filmmaking with Autodesk Maya Cameras

Chapter 3: Modeling I

Chapter 4: Modeling II

Chapter 5: Animation Techniques

Chapter 6: Animating with Deformers

Chapter 7: Rigging and Muscle Systems

Chapter 8: Paint Effects

Chapter 9: Lighting with mental ray

Chapter 10: mental ray Shading Techniques

Chapter 11: Texture Mapping

Chapter 12: Rendering for Compositing

Chapter 13: Introducing nParticles

Chapter 14: Dynamic Effects

Chapter 15: Fur, Hair, and Clothing

Chapter 16: Autodesk Maya Fluids

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

What You’ll Find on the DVD

System Requirements

Using the DVD

Troubleshooting

Customer Care

Index

Acquisitions Editor: Mariann Barsolo

Development Editor: Heather O’Connor

Technical Editor: Jon McFarland

Production Editor: Christine O’Connor

Copy Editor: Elizabeth Welch

Editorial Manager: Pete Gaughan

Production Manager: Tim Tate

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley

Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde

Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher

Associate Producer: Josh Frank

Quality Assurance: Shawn Patrick

Book Designers: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama; Judy Fung

Compositor: Jeff Wilson, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Proofreader: Sheilah Ledwidge, Word One New York

Indexer: Nancy Guenther

Project Coordinator, Cover: Katherine Crocker

Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed

Cover Image: ©Pete Gardner/DigitalVision/Getty Images

Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-91977-4 ISBN: 978-1-118-14855-6 (ebk.)ISBN: 978-1-118-14853-2 (ebk.)ISBN: 978-1-118-14852-5 (ebk.)

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Mastering Autodesk Maya 2012. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, we’re still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, we’re working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected]. If you think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

Best regards,

Neil Edde Vice President and Publisher Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley

Acknowledgments

I would like to first thank Eric Keller, who passed the reigns of the Mastering Autodesk Maya series on to me after expertly crafting the two previous editions. Eric is also a co-author for this edition and wrote Chapter 1, “Working in Autodesk Maya,” and Chapter 2, “Virtual Filmmaking with Autodesk Maya Cameras,” as well as bonus material for the DVD. Eric is a skilled artist and great to work with. I’d also like to thank Lee Lanier. Lee wrote Chapter 9, “Lighting with mental ray,” and Chapter 10, “mental ray Shading Techniques.” We were very fortunate to have Lee’s expertise on this book. Thank you also to Beau Janzen, who wrote Chapter 12, “Rendering for Compositing.” Beau also helped edit several chapters, making my job a lot easier!

Anthony Honn built the vehicle models used in many of the example scenes; Eric Keller’s brother, Travis Keller, designed the kitchen and pergola models used in the lighting chapters; and Chris Sanchez provided the fantastic space suit design used in the modeling chapters.

I would like to thank all the people from Wiley. A special thanks to Mariann Barsolo, Heather O’Connor, and Christine O’Connor. Their management and editing skills are superior.

—Todd Palamar

About the Authors

Todd Palamar is a 21-year veteran in the computer animation industry. After transitioning early in his career from traditional special effects to computer-generated imagery, Todd did effects work for several direct-to-video movies. He later went on to work on numerous video games, including Sega of Japan’s coin-operated title Behind Enemy Lines, as well as Dukes of Hazzard and Trophy Buck 2 for the Sony PlayStation console. For six years, Todd taught at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. During this time, he received numerous accolades as an outstanding educator. Additionally, Todd was a trainer at the Digital Animation & Visual Effects (DAVE) School at Universal Studios Florida, bringing postgraduate students up to speed in Maya. Todd has written several books, among them Maya Cloth for Characters (Surrealistic Producing Effects, 2008), Maya Studio Projects Dynamics (Sybex, 2009), and Maya Studio Projects Photorealistic Characters (Sybex, 2011). His breadth of experience has allowed him to work in location-based entertainment, military simulation, television commercials, and corporate spots. Todd is currently Technical Art Director at Vcom3D, creating real-time characters capable of lip syncing to multiple languages and sign language. You can see more of Todd’s work on his company’s website, www.speffects.com.

Eric Keller is a freelance visual effects artist working in Hollywood. He divides his time between the entertainment industry and scientific visualization. He teaches an introductory ZBrush class at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects and has authored numerous animation and visualization tutorials for the Harvard Medical School course “Maya for Molecular Biologists,” taught by Gael McGill.

Eric has worked at some of the best design studios in Los Angeles, including Prologue Films, Imaginary Forces, Yu and Company, BLT and Associates, and The Syndicate. Projects include feature-film title animations for The Invasion, Enchanted, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and Dragon Wars. He has also contributed to numerous commercials, television shows, and design projects.

Other books by Eric Keller include Introducing ZBrush 4 (Sybex, 2011), Maya Visual Effects: The Innovator’s Guide (Sybex, 2007), and Introducing ZBrush (Sybex, 2008). He was a contributing author to Mastering Maya7 (Sybex, 2006). He authored the video series Essential ZBrush 3.1 for Lynda.com as well as numerous tutorials and articles for industry magazines. Many of his tutorials are available online at www.highend3d.com and www.molecularmovies.org.

About the Contributing Authors

Lee Lanier is a 3D animator, digital compositor, and director. His films have played in more than 200 museums, galleries, and film festivals worldwide. Before directing the shorts Millennium Bug, Mirror, Day Off the Dead, Weapons of Mass Destruction, 13 Ways to Die at Home, and Blood Roulette, he served as a senior animator in the lighting and modeling departments at PDI/DreamWorks on Antz and Shrek. He created digital visual effects for such films as Mortal Kombat while at Buena Vista Visual Effects at Walt Disney Studios. He is the author of Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting (Sybex, 2006) and Professional Digital Compositing (Sybex, 2009). You can view his work at www.BeezleBugBit.com.

Beau Janzen is a faculty member at the Art Institute of California, Los Angeles, where he teaches digital animation and mathematics. His production credits include X-Men, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Speed Racer. He has worked with Autodesk Maya since its inception, serving as a beta tester on the first pre-release of the software. Beau has written and produced award-winning instructional films for such clients as NASA, General Motors, WGBH Boston, and Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in addition to creating work for his own company, Zipheron Design Labs (www.zipheron.com).

Anthony Honn created the vehicle models used in the example scenes throughout this book. Anthony originally trained in industrial design and architecture. After graduating from the Art Center College of Design, a series of fateful events resulted in a career in the film and design industries. His clients have included multiple recording artists such as Janet Jackson, as well as lifestyle brands such as Nike. Arguably, the industrial designer still lurks beneath, with his continued passion for robotics, automobiles, and furniture. For more of Anthony’s work, visit www.anthonyhonn.com.

Introduction

Autodesk Maya is big. It is really, really huge. The book you hold in your hands and all the exercises within it represent a mere sliver of what can be created in Autodesk Maya. Mastering Autodesk Maya takes years of study and practice. I have been using Autodesk Maya almost every day since 1999, and I’m still constantly faced with new challenges and making new discoveries.

This book is meant to be a guide to help you not only understand Autodesk Maya but also understand how to learn about Autodesk Maya. The title Mastering Maya implies an active engagement with the software. This book is packed with hands-on tutorials. If you’re looking for a quick-reference guide that simply describes each and every button, control, and tool in the Autodesk Maya interface, use the Autodesk Maya documentation that comes with the software instead. This book is not a description of Autodesk Maya; it is an explanation illustrated with practical examples.

The skills you acquire through the examples in this book should prepare you for using Autodesk Maya in a professional environment. To that end, some features, such as lighting and rendering with mental ray, nDynamics, Fluids, and Maya Muscle, have received more emphasis and attention. Features that have not changed significantly over the past few versions of the software, such as Maya Software rendering, standard Maya shaders, and older rigging techniques, receive less attention since they have been thoroughly covered elsewhere.

When you read this book and work through the exercises, do not hesitate to use the Autodesk Maya help files. The authors of this book will not be insulted! The Autodesk Maya documentation has a very useful search function that allows you to find complete descriptions of each control in the software. To use the help files, click the Help menu in the Autodesk Maya menu interface. The documentation consists of a large library of Autodesk Maya resources, which will appear in your default web browser when you access the help files. Experienced Autodesk Maya artists never hesitate to use the help files to find out more information about the software; there is no shame in asking questions!

Who Should Buy This Book

This book is written for intermediate Autodesk Maya users and users who are advanced in some aspects of Autodesk Maya and want to learn more about other aspects. The book is intended to be used by artists who are familiar with Autodesk Maya and the Autodesk Maya interface or who have significant experience using similar 3D packages. If you have used older versions of Autodesk Maya, this book will help you catch up on the newer features in Autodesk Maya 2012.

If you have never used Autodesk Maya or any other 3D software on a computer before, this book will be too challenging, and you will quickly become frustrated. You are encouraged to read Introducing Autodesk Maya 2012 by Dariush Derakhshani (Sybex, 2011) or to read through the tutorials in the Maya documentation before attempting this book.

You should be familiar with these principles before reading this book:

The Autodesk Maya interface.Computer image basics such as color channels, masking, resolution, and image compression.Computer animation basics such as keyframes, squash and stretch, and 3D coordinate systems.Standard Autodesk Maya shaders, such as the Blinn, Phong, Lambert, Layered, and Anisotropic materials, as well as standard textures, such as Fractal, Ramp, Noise, and Checker.Lighting and rendering with standard Autodesk Maya lights and the Autodesk Maya Software rendering engine.The basics of working with NURBS curves, polygon surfaces, and NURBS surfaces.Your operating system. You need to be familiar with opening and saving files and the like. Basic computer networking skills are helpful as well.

What’s Inside

Here is a description of the chapters in this book. The lessons in each chapter are accompanied by example scenes from the companion DVD.

Chapter 1: Working in Autodesk Maya This chapter discusses how to work with the various nodes and the node structure that make up a scene. Using the Hypergraph, Outliner, Hypershade, Attribute Editor, and Connection Editor to build relationships between nodes is demonstrated through a series of exercises. References and the Asset Editor are also introduced. These features have been created to aid with large Maya projects that are divided between teams of artists. This chapter was written by Eric Keller, author of Introducing ZBrush 4 (Sybex, 2011).

Chapter 2: Virtual Filmmaking with Autodesk Maya Cameras This chapter provides an in-depth discussion of the Autodesk Maya virtual camera and its attributes. A number of exercises provide examples of standard and custom camera rigs. Stereo 3D cameras are also introduced. This chapter was also written by Eric Keller.

Chapter 3: Modeling I This chapter introduces the various types of surfaces you can model with. It walks you through numerous approaches for modeling parts of a helmet for a space suit based on a concept drawing created by a professional artist.

Chapter 4: Modeling II This chapter continues to build on the model started in Chapter 3, using polygon and subdivision surface techniques. Smooth mesh polygons, creasing, and soft selection are demonstrated on various parts of the model.

Chapter 5: Animation Techniques This chapter demonstrates basic rigging with inverse kinematics as well as animating with keyframes, expressions, and constraints. Animation layers are explained.

Chapter 6: Animating with Deformers This chapter takes you through the numerous deformation tools available in Autodesk Maya. Creating a facial animation rig using blend shapes is demonstrated, along with using lattices, nonlinear deformers, and the geometry cache.

Chapter 7: Rigging and Muscle Systems This chapter explains joints, inverse kinematics, smooth binding, and proper rigging techniques. Autodesk Maya Muscle is introduced and demonstrated on a character’s arm.

Chapter 8: Paint Effects This chapter provides a step-by-step demonstration of how to create a custom Paint Effects brush as well as how to animate and render with Paint Effects.

Chapter 9: Lighting with mental ray This chapter demonstrates a variety of lighting tools and techniques that can be used when rendering scenes with mental ray. Indirect lighting using global illumination, Final Gathering, and the Physical Sun and Sky shader are all demonstrated. This chapter was written by Lee Lanier.

Chapter 10: mental ray Shading Techniques This chapter describes commonly used mental ray shaders and how they can be used to add material qualities to the space helmet created in Chapter 3. Tips on how to use the shaders together as well as how to light and render them using mental ray are discussed. This chapter was also written by Lee Lanier.

Chapter 11: Texture Mapping This chapter demonstrates how to create UV texture coordinates for a giraffe. Applying textures painted in other software packages, such as Adobe Photoshop, is discussed as well as displacement and normal maps and subsurface scattering shaders.

Chapter 12: Rendering for Compositing This chapter introduces render layers and render passes, which can be used to split the various elements of a render into separate files that are then recombined in compositing software. This chapter was written by Beau Janzen.

Chapter 13: Introducing nParticles This chapter provides numerous examples of how to use nParticles. In this chapter, you’ll use fluid behavior, particle meshes, internal force fields, and other techniques to create amazing effects.

Chapter 14: Dynamic Effects This chapter demonstrates a variety of techniques that can be used with nCloth to create effects. Traditional rigid body dynamics are compared with nCloth, and combining nCloth and nParticles is illustrated.

Chapter 15: Fur, Hair, and Clothing This chapter discusses how to augment your Maya creatures and characters using Maya Fur, Maya Hair, and nCloth. Using dynamic curves to create a rig for an armored tail is also demonstrated.

Chapter 16: Autodesk Maya Fluids This chapter explains how 2D and 3D fluids can be used to create smoke, cloud, and flame effects, and a demonstration of how to render using the Ocean shader is given. Using nParticles as a Fluid emitter is introduced.

Appendix A: The Bottom Line This appendix contains all of the solutions from the Master It suggestions at the end of each chapter.

Appendix B: Autodesk Maya 2012 Certification This appendix contains the certification objectives to obtain an Autodesk certification in Maya.

Appendix C: About Companion DVD This appendix lists the contents of the DVD.

Companion DVD

The companion DVD is home to all the demo files, samples, two bonus chapters on MEL scripting and toon shading, as well as the bonus resources mentioned in the book. See Appendix C for more details on the contents of the DVD and how to access them.

How to Contact the Author

You can contact author Todd Palamar with questions, comments, or concerns through his website at www.speffects.com, where you can see other books and productions he has worked on.

Sybex strives to keep you supplied with the latest tools and information you need for your work. Please check the book’s website at www.sybex.com/go/masteringmaya2012, where we’ll post additional content and updates that supplement this book should the need arise.

Chapter 1

Working in Autodesk Maya

Maya’s working environment has evolved to accommodate both the individual artist as well as a team of artists working in a production pipeline. The interface presents tools, controls, and data in an organized fashion to easily allow you to bring your fantastic creations to life. Maya’s interface is made up of four views: the perspective, front, side, and top. Each camera can be customized. Additional cameras can also be created. In each camera view or viewport is a viewing cube located in the upper right corner. The cube allows you to quickly set the current camera to a specific view by clicking on a highlighted area of the cube.

Understanding the way Maya organizes data about the objects, animation, textures, lights, dynamics, and all the other elements contained within the 3D environment of a scene is essential to understanding how the interface is organized. Maya uses what’s known as the Dependency Graph to keep track of the various packets of data, known as nodes, and how they affect each other. Any single element of a Maya scene consists of multiple nodes connected in a web, and each one of these nodes is dependent on another. Maya’s interface consists of editing windows that allow you to connect these nodes in an intuitive way and edit the information contained within each node.

There is usually more than one way to accomplish a task in Maya. As you grow comfortable with the interface, you’ll discover which editing windows best suit your working style.

This chapter is a brief overview of what professionals need to understand when working in Maya. You’ll learn what types of nodes you’ll be working with and how they can be created and edited in Maya. You’ll also learn how to work with projects and scene data as well as the various windows, panels, and controls that make up the interface. This will help you whether you are working alone or as part of a team of artists.

If you’ve never used Maya before, we strongly encourage you to read the Maya documentation as well as Introducing Maya 2012 by Dariush Derakhshani (Sybex, 2011). This chapter is about working with nodes, but it is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to each and every control within Maya. That information is contained within the Maya documentation.

In this chapter, you will learn to:

Understand transform and shape nodesCreate a projectUse assetsCreate file references

Creating and Editing Maya Nodes

A Maya scene is a system of interconnected nodes that are packets of data. The data within a node tells the software about what exists within the world of a Maya scene. The nodes are the building blocks you, as the artist, put together to create the 3D scene and animation that will finally be rendered for the world to see. So if you can think of the objects in your scene, their motion, and appearance as nodes, think of the Maya interface as the tools and controls you use to connect those nodes. The relationship between these nodes is organized by the Dependency Graph, which describes the hierarchical relationship between connected nodes. The interface provides many ways to view the graph, and these methods are described in this chapter.

Any given workflow in Maya is much like a route on a city map. There are usually many ways to get to your destination, and some of them make more sense than others depending on where you’re going. In Maya, the best workflow depends on what you’re trying to achieve, and there is typically more than one possible ideal workflow.