Advanced Maya® Texturing and Lighting, Second Edition

Advanced Maya® Texturing and Lighting, Second Edition

Released August 2008
Publisher(s): Sybex
ISBN: 9780470292730

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Book description

If you already understand the basics of Maya, the industry-leading 3D animation and effects software, you’ll be ready to move on to the sophisticated topics in this updated edition of Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting. Detailed, easy-to-follow instructions will teach you the real-world production secrets that professional animators use to achieve amazing results. In the second edition, you will find extensive and updated coverage of the latest theories and trends in addition to an enclosed CD with exclusive content to help you sharpen your skills.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Dear Reader,
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. About the Author
  5. Introduction
    1. Second Edition
    2. Who Should Read This Book
    3. How to Use This Book
    4. The Companion CD
    5. Maya Versions
    6. Shading Network Figures
    7. Abbreviations
    8. Websites
  6. 1. Understanding Lighting, Color, and Composition
    1. 1.1. Understanding the Art of Lighting
      1. 1.1.1. Using 1-Point Lighting
      2. 1.1.2. Using 2-Point Lighting
      3. 1.1.3. Using 3-Point Lighting
      4. 1.1.4. Using Naturalistic Lighting
      5. 1.1.5. Using Stylized Lighting
    2. 1.2. Understanding Color and Composition
      1. 1.2.1. Color Theory Overview
      2. 1.2.2. Checking Color Calibration
      3. 1.2.3. A Note on Color Temperature
      4. 1.2.4. Setting a White Point
      5. 1.2.5. Applying the Golden Mean
      6. 1.2.6. Rule of Thirds
    3. 1.3. Step-by-Step: 3D Lighting Examples
  7. 2. Applying the Correct Maya Light Type
    1. 2.1. Maya Light Types
      1. 2.1.1. Common Light Attributes
      2. 2.1.2. Using Spot Lights
      3. 2.1.3. Using Directional Lights
      4. 2.1.4. Using Ambient Lights
      5. 2.1.5. Using Point Lights
      6. 2.1.6. Using Area Lights
      7. 2.1.7. Using Volume Lights
    2. 2.2. Linking and Unlinking Lights
    3. 2.3. Using Light Fog and Light Glow
      1. 2.3.1. Creating Light Fog
      2. 2.3.2. A Note on Environment and Volume Fog
      3. 2.3.3. Light Glow
    4. 2.4. Chapter Tutorial: Lighting an Interior
  8. 3. Creating High-Quality Shadows
    1. 3.1. Rendering Depth Maps
      1. 3.1.1. Understanding Depth Maps
        1. 3.1.1.1. Adjusting Use Mid Dist and Bias
        2. 3.1.1.2. Creating Multiple Depth Maps
      2. 3.1.2. Refining Depth Maps
        1. 3.1.2.1. Setting the Resolution, Filter Size, and Shadow Color
        2. 3.1.2.2. Setting a Light's Focus
        3. 3.1.2.3. Using mental ray Shadow Maps and Area Lights
      3. 3.1.3. Solving Light Gap Errors
      4. 3.1.4. Comparing Shadows
    2. 3.2. Raytracing Shadows
    3. 3.3. Linking and Unlinking Shadows
    4. 3.4. Creating Effects Shadows
      1. 3.4.1. Shadowing with Light Fog
      2. 3.4.2. Shadowing with Paint Effects
      3. 3.4.3. Shadowing with Maya Fur
      4. 3.4.4. Shadowing with Maya Hair
      5. 3.4.5. Shadowing with nCloth
      6. 3.4.6. Shadowing with the Toon System
    5. 3.5. Chapter Tutorial: Lighting a Flickering Fire Pit with Shadows
  9. 4. Applying the Correct Material and 2D Texture
    1. 4.1. Reviewing Shading Models and Materials
      1. 4.1.1. Shading with Lambert
      2. 4.1.2. Shading with Phong
      3. 4.1.3. Shading with Blinn
      4. 4.1.4. Shading with Phong E
      5. 4.1.5. Shading with the Anisotropic Material
      6. 4.1.6. Shading with a Shading Map
      7. 4.1.7. Shading with a Surface Shader
      8. 4.1.8. Shading with Use Background
    2. 4.2. Reviewing 2D Textures
      1. 4.2.1. Applying Cloth
      2. 4.2.2. Applying Water
      3. 4.2.3. Applying Perlin Noise
      4. 4.2.4. Applying Ramps, Bitmaps, and Square Textures
    3. 4.3. Mastering Extra Map Options
      1. 4.3.1. Setting the Filter Type
      2. 4.3.2. Shifting Color with Invert and Color Remap
    4. 4.4. Stacking Materials and Textures
    5. 4.5. Mastering the Blinn Material
      1. 4.5.1. Re-Creating Wood
      2. 4.5.2. Re-Creating Metal
      3. 4.5.3. Re-Creating Plastic
    6. 4.6. Chapter Tutorial: Re-Creating Copper with Basic Texturing Techniques
  10. 5. Applying 3D Textures and Projections
    1. 5.1. Exploring 3D Textures
      1. 5.1.1. Applying Random Textures
        1. 5.1.1.1. Using the Brownian Texture
        2. 5.1.1.2. Using Volume Noise
        3. 5.1.1.3. Using Solid Fractal
        4. 5.1.1.4. Using the Cloud Texture
      2. 5.1.2. Applying Natural Textures
        1. 5.1.2.1. Using Marble
        2. 5.1.2.2. Using Wood
        3. 5.1.2.3. Using Leather
        4. 5.1.2.4. Using Snow
      3. 5.1.3. Applying Granular Textures
        1. 5.1.3.1. Using Rock
        2. 5.1.3.2. Using Granite
      4. 5.1.4. Applying Abstract Textures
        1. 5.1.4.1. Using Stucco
        2. 5.1.4.2. Using Crater
    2. 5.2. Applying Environment Textures
    3. 5.3. 2D Texture Projection Options
      1. 5.3.1. Placing Placement Boxes and Projection Icons
      2. 5.3.2. Applying the Convert To File Texture Tool
    4. 5.4. Chapter Tutorial: Creating Skin with Procedural Textures
  11. 6. Creating Custom Connections and Applying Color Utilities
    1. 6.1. Mastering the Hypershade Window
      1. 6.1.1. Reviewing the Basics
      2. 6.1.2. Creating Custom Connections
        1. 6.1.2.1. Using the Connection Editor
        2. 6.1.2.2. Employing Drag and Drop
        3. 6.1.2.3. Duplicating a Line
        4. 6.1.2.4. Right-Clicking a Node Corner
        5. 6.1.2.5. A Note on Alpha and Transparency
      3. 6.1.3. Cleaning Up
        1. 6.1.3.1. Filling Bins, Containers, and Tabs
        2. 6.1.3.2. Focusing the Work Area
        3. 6.1.3.3. Deleting Unused Nodes
    2. 6.2. Shifting Colors
      1. 6.2.1. Converting RGB to HSV
      2. 6.2.2. Converting RGB to Luminance
      3. 6.2.3. Blending Colors
      4. 6.2.4. Remapping Color
      5. 6.2.5. Remapping HSV
      6. 6.2.6. Remapping Value
      7. 6.2.7. Smearing Colors
      8. 6.2.8. Correcting Gamma
      9. 6.2.9. Adjusting Contrast
      10. 6.2.10. A Note on Sliders and Super-White
      11. 6.2.11. Clamping Values
      12. 6.2.12. Reading Surface Luminance
    3. 6.3. Chapter Tutorial: Creating a Custom Paint Material
  12. 7. Automating a Scene with Sampler Nodes
    1. 7.1. Employing Samplers
      1. 7.1.1. A Review of the Ramp Shader Material
      2. 7.1.2. Coordinate Space Refresher
      3. 7.1.3. Using the Sampler Info Utility
        1. 7.1.3.1. Applying Car Paint
        2. 7.1.3.2. Creating Disco Ball Glitter
      4. 7.1.4. Using the Light Info Utility
        1. 7.1.4.1. A Transform and Shape Node Refresher
        2. 7.1.4.2. Creating Falloff for Directional and Ambient Lights
        3. 7.1.4.3. Making Objects Glow in the Dark
        4. 7.1.4.4. Deriving Color from a Spatial Vector
      5. 7.1.5. Using the Particle Sampler Utility
        1. 7.1.5.1. Particle Refresher
        2. 7.1.5.2. Texturing Particles
      6. 7.1.6. Using the Distance Between Utility
    2. 7.2. Tying into Nonmaterial Nodes
      1. 7.2.1. Creating Simulated Propeller Spin
      2. 7.2.2. Reproducing the Hitchcock Zoom-Dolly
      3. 7.2.3. Tapping into Construction History Nodes
      4. 7.2.4. Redirecting the Initial Shading Group Node
    3. 7.3. Connecting Multiple Materials in One Network
    4. 7.4. Using the Studio Clear Coat Utility
    5. 7.5. Chapter Tutorial: Building a Custom Cartoon Shading Network
  13. 8. Harnessing the Power of Math Utilities
    1. 8.1. Math Utilities
      1. 8.1.1. Reversing Input
      2. 8.1.2. Multiplying and Dividing
      3. 8.1.3. Adding, Subtracting, and Averaging Values
      4. 8.1.4. Using Expressions
      5. 8.1.5. Changing the Range of a Value
      6. 8.1.6. Mapping Per-Particle Attributes
      7. 8.1.7. Working with Vectors and Matrices
        1. 8.1.7.1. Understanding Vector Math
        2. 8.1.7.2. Using the Vector Product Utility
        3. 8.1.7.3. An Overview of Maya Matrices
        4. 8.1.7.4. Converting Camera Space to World Space
      8. 8.1.8. Testing a Condition
      9. 8.1.9. Switching Outputs
    2. 8.2. Using Esoteric Utilities and Scene Nodes
      1. 8.2.1. Stenciling Color
      2. 8.2.2. Applying Optical FX
      3. 8.2.3. Converting Units
      4. 8.2.4. Understanding Scene Nodes
    3. 8.3. Chapter Tutorial: Creating Eye Glow with Advanced Math Utilities
  14. 9. Improving Textures through Custom UVs, Maps, and Sliders
    1. 9.1. Preparing UV Texture Space
      1. 9.1.1. Prepping NURBS Surfaces
        1. 9.1.1.1. Adjusting Parameterization
        2. 9.1.1.2. Avoiding Texture Stretch
        3. 9.1.1.3. Aligning NURBS Surfaces
      2. 9.1.2. Preparing Polygons
        1. 9.1.2.1. Pelt Mapping
        2. 9.1.2.2. Applying UV Mappings
        3. 9.1.2.3. Refining UV Points
          1. 9.1.2.3.1. Manipulating Points
          2. 9.1.2.3.2. Normalizing UVs
          3. 9.1.2.3.3. Relaxing UVs
          4. 9.1.2.3.4. Laying Out UVs
          5. 9.1.2.3.5. Creating UV Sets
        4. 9.1.2.4. A Note on Subdivision Surfaces
    2. 9.2. Using the 3D Paint Tool
      1. 9.2.1. The Basic Workflow
      2. 9.2.2. Roughing in a Texture
    3. 9.3. PSD Support
    4. 9.4. Bump and Displacement Mapping
      1. 9.4.1. Bump Mapping
      2. 9.4.2. Displacement Mapping
      3. 9.4.3. The Height Field Utility
    5. 9.5. Custom Sliders
    6. 9.6. Chapter Tutorial: Preparing the UVs of a Polygon Model
  15. 10. Prepping for Successful Renders
    1. 10.1. Determining Critical Project Settings
      1. 10.1.1. Deciphering Aspect Ratios
      2. 10.1.2. Switching between Square and Nonsquare Pixels
      3. 10.1.3. Selecting a Film Back
      4. 10.1.4. Displaying Gates
      5. 10.1.5. Selecting a Focal Length
      6. 10.1.6. Selecting Frame Rates and Interlacing
      7. 10.1.7. A Note on Frame Rate Conversion
    2. 10.2. Mastering the Render Settings Window
      1. 10.2.1. Prepping Maya Software Renders
      2. 10.2.2. Prepping Maya Hardware Renders
      3. 10.2.3. Prepping Maya Vector Renders
    3. 10.3. Rendering with the Command Line
    4. 10.4. Organizing the Render
      1. 10.4.1. Cleaning Up
      2. 10.4.2. Recovering Lost Bitmaps
    5. 10.5. Selecting Image Formats and Render Resolutions
      1. 10.5.1. Differentiating Image Formats
      2. 10.5.2. A Note on 16-Bit Color Space
      3. 10.5.3. Changing Compression Settings
      4. 10.5.4. Oversized Rendering
    6. 10.6. Creating Depth of Field
    7. 10.7. Applying Motion Blur
    8. 10.8. Step-by-Step: Splitting Up a Render
  16. 11. Raytracing with Maya Software and mental ray
    1. 11.1. Maya Software vs. mental ray
    2. 11.2. Raytracing with Maya Software
      1. 11.2.1. Comparing the Scanline and Raytracing Processes
      2. 11.2.2. Setting Up a Raytrace
      3. 11.2.3. Creating Reflections
      4. 11.2.4. Managing Refractions and Aberrations
    3. 11.3. Raytracing with mental ray
      1. 11.3.1. Mastering mental ray Quality Settings
      2. 11.3.2. Using mental ray Motion Blur
      3. 11.3.3. Controlling mental ray Shadows
      4. 11.3.4. Creating Reflections and Refractions with mental ray
    4. 11.4. Reproducing Water
      1. 11.4.1. Water as a Liquid
        1. 11.4.1.1. Creating Water Droplets
        2. 11.4.1.2. Creating Turbulent Water
      2. 11.4.2. Water as a Solid
    5. 11.5. Reproducing Glass
      1. 11.5.1. Creating Glass with Maya Software
    6. 11.6. Chapter Tutorial: Texturing and Rendering an Ice Cube
  17. 12. Working with Global Illumination, Final Gather, and mental ray Shaders
    1. 12.1. Understanding Indirect Illumination
      1. 12.1.1. Tracing Photons
      2. 12.1.2. Rendering Global Illumination with mental ray
      3. 12.1.3. Adjusting Global Illumination Attributes
      4. 12.1.4. Reviewing Photon Hits
    2. 12.2. Applying Caustics
    3. 12.3. Applying mental ray Shaders
      1. 12.3.1. Using Dgs_material
      2. 12.3.2. Using Dielectric_material
      3. 12.3.3. Using "Mib" Shaders
      4. 12.3.4. Using "Misss" Shaders
      5. 12.3.5. Using Lens Shaders
      6. 12.3.6. Using Environment Shaders
      7. 12.3.7. Using Mib_volume and Parti_volume
      8. 12.3.8. Preparing mental ray Shaders for Global Illumination
    4. 12.4. Using Final Gather
      1. 12.4.1. Adjusting Final Gather Attributes
      2. 12.4.2. Using Irradiance
    5. 12.5. Fine-Tuning mental ray Renders
      1. 12.5.1. Rendering the Cornell Box
      2. 12.5.2. Rendering the Cornell Box with Maya Software
    6. 12.6. Chapter Tutorial: Creating Caustics with Final Gather
  18. 13. Texturing and Lighting with Advanced Techniques
    1. 13.1. Adding Realism with HDRI
      1. 13.1.1. Comparing LDR and HDR Images
      2. 13.1.2. An Overview of Supported HDR Formats
      3. 13.1.3. Displaying HDR Images
      4. 13.1.4. Texturing with HDR Images
      5. 13.1.5. Tone Mapping with mental ray Lens Shaders
      6. 13.1.6. Lighting with HDR and LDR Images
        1. 13.1.6.1. Using HDR Images with Final Gather
        2. 13.1.6.2. Using LDR Images with IBL
        3. 13.1.6.3. Using HDR Images with Global Illumination
        4. 13.1.6.4. Using HDR Images with the Light Shader
        5. 13.1.6.5. Using Light Probe Images with the Env Ball Texture
    2. 13.2. An Introduction to RenderMan For Maya
    3. 13.3. Creating Textures with the Transfer Maps Tool
      1. 13.3.1. Normal Mapping
      2. 13.3.2. Creating Displacement Maps
      3. 13.3.3. Baking Lighting and Shading Information
    4. 13.4. Managing Renders with the Render Layer Editor
      1. 13.4.1. Render Layer Overview
      2. 13.4.2. Creating Member Overrides and Render Pass Options
      3. 13.4.3. Creating Render Settings Window Overrides
      4. 13.4.4. Using Presets
      5. 13.4.5. Creating Material Overrides
    5. 13.5. Step-by-Step: Creating the Cover Illustration
  19. A. About the Companion CD
    1. A.1. What You'll Find on the CD
      1. A.1.1. Project Files
      2. A.1.2. Bonus Chapter
    2. A.2. System Requirements
    3. A.3. Using the CD
    4. A.4. Troubleshooting
      1. A.4.1. Customer Care
  20. Additional Techniques
    1. A.5. 4.1: Creating a Custom Wireframe Render with a Ramp Texture
    2. A.6. 4.2: Creating a Custom Window Reflection with Ramp Textures
    3. A.7. 6.1: Controlling a Bicep with a Clamp Utility
    4. A.8. 6.2: Creating Stylized Chrome with the Surface Luminance Utility
    5. A.9. 7.1: Replicating Iridescence with the Surface Sampler Utility
    6. A.10. 7.2: Re-creating Skin Translucence
    7. A.11. 8.1: Rotating a Tire with Multiply Divide Utilities
    8. A.12. 8.2: Solving the Length of a Triangle's Edge with a Plus Minus Average Utility
    9. A.13. 9.1: Rebuilding Closed and Periodic Surfaces
    10. A.14. 10.1: Adjusting NURBS Surface Tessellation
    11. A.15. 12.1: Applying mental ray Diagnostic Tools

Product information

  • Title: Advanced Maya® Texturing and Lighting, Second Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: August 2008
  • Publisher(s): Sybex
  • ISBN: 9780470292730