Mastering Autodesk® Maya® 2011: Autodesk® Official Training Guide

Mastering Autodesk® Maya® 2011: Autodesk® Official Training Guide

Released September 2010
Publisher(s): Sybex
ISBN: 9780470639351

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Book description

A beautifully-packaged, advanced reference on the very latest version of Maya

If you already know the basics of Maya, the latest version of 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, this book will help you master the entire CG production pipeline.

  • Provides professional-level instruction on Maya, the industry-leading 3D animation and effects software

  • Covers the very latest Maya tools and features, including Dynamics, Maya Muscle, Stereo Cameras, rendering with mental ray, and more

  • Offers complete coverage of advanced topics such as cloth, fur, and fluids

  • Showcases the techniques of professionals through numerous examples and real-world scenarios, showing you how to set up and manage 3D animation and visual effects pipelines

  • Includes a CD with all support files from the book, along with movies to illustrate concepts

If you're looking for an in-depth, professional Maya resource to turn to again and again, Mastering Maya is the book you need.

CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Dear Reader,
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. About the Authors
  5. Foreword
  6. Introduction
    1. Who Should Buy This Book
    2. What's Inside
    3. How to Contact the Author
  7. 1. Working in Maya
    1. 1.1. Creating and Editing Maya Nodes
      1. 1.1.1. Using the Hypergraph
      2. 1.1.2. Connecting Nodes with the Connection Editor
      3. 1.1.3. Creating Node Hierarchies in the Outliner
      4. 1.1.4. Displaying Options in the Outliner
      5. 1.1.5. The Channel Box
      6. 1.1.6. The Attribute Editor
      7. 1.1.7. Working with Shader Nodes in the Hypershade
    2. 1.2. Creating Maya Projects
      1. 1.2.1. Creating a New Project
      2. 1.2.2. Editing and Changing Projects
    3. 1.3. Organizing Complex Node Structures with Assets
      1. 1.3.1. Creating an Asset
      2. 1.3.2. Publishing Asset Attributes
      3. 1.3.3. Using the Asset Editor
    4. 1.4. File References
      1. 1.4.1. Referencing a File
      2. 1.4.2. Using Reference Proxies
    5. 1.5. The Bottom Line
  8. 2. Virtual Filmmaking with Maya Cameras
    1. 2.1. Determining the Image Size and Film Speed of the Camera
      1. 2.1.1. Setting the Size and Resolution of the Image
      2. 2.1.2. Setting the Film Speed
    2. 2.2. Creating and Animating Cameras
      1. 2.2.1. Creating a Camera
      2. 2.2.2. Setting Camera Attributes
      3. 2.2.3. Limiting the Range of Renderable Objects with Clipping Planes
      4. 2.2.4. Composing the Shot Using the Film Back Settings
      5. 2.2.5. Creating a Camera Shake Effect
      6. 2.2.6. Using an Expression to Control Alpha Offset
    3. 2.3. Creating Custom Camera Rigs
      1. 2.3.1. Swivel Camera Rig
      2. 2.3.2. Swivel Camera Rig Asset
    4. 2.4. Applying Depth of Field and Motion Blur
      1. 2.4.1. Rendering Using Depth of Field
      2. 2.4.2. Creating a Rack Focus Rig
      3. 2.4.3. Adding Motion Blur to an Animation
    5. 2.5. Using Orthographic and Stereo Cameras
      1. 2.5.1. Orthographic Cameras
      2. 2.5.2. Stereo Cameras
    6. 2.6. The Bottom Line
  9. 3. NURBS Modeling in Maya
    1. 3.1. Understanding NURBS
      1. 3.1.1. Understanding Curves
      2. 3.1.2. Understanding NURBS Surfaces
      3. 3.1.3. Surface Seams
      4. 3.1.4. NURBS Display Controls
    2. 3.2. Employing Image Planes
      1. 3.2.1. Creating Image Planes
      2. 3.2.2. Reference Plane Display Layers
    3. 3.3. Modeling NURBS Surfaces
      1. 3.3.1. Lofting Surfaces
      2. 3.3.2. Intersecting Surfaces
      3. 3.3.3. Trim Surfaces
      4. 3.3.4. Working with Trim Edges
      5. 3.3.5. Extrude Surfaces: Distance Extrude
      6. 3.3.6. Extruding Surfaces: Profile Extrude
      7. 3.3.7. Fillet Surfaces
      8. 3.3.8. Creating Rail Surfaces
      9. 3.3.9. Lofting Across Multiple Curves
      10. 3.3.10. Live Surfaces
      11. 3.3.11. Project Curves on the Surface
      12. 3.3.12. Revolve
      13. 3.3.13. Using the Bend Deformer
    4. 3.4. Creating Realism
    5. 3.5. NURBS Tessellation
    6. 3.6. The Bottom Line
  10. 4. Polygon Modeling
    1. 4.1. Understanding Polygon Geometry
      1. 4.1.1. Polygon Vertices
      2. 4.1.2. Polygon Edges
      3. 4.1.3. Polygon Faces
    2. 4.2. Working with Smooth Polygons
      1. 4.2.1. Using Smooth Mesh Polygons
    3. 4.3. Editing Polygon Components
      1. 4.3.1. Using Soft Selection
      2. 4.3.2. Create the Shape for the Torso
    4. 4.4. Adding Components
      1. 4.4.1. Insert Edge Loops
      2. 4.4.2. Extruding Polygons
      3. 4.4.3. Edge Creasing
      4. 4.4.4. Mirror Cut
    5. 4.5. Modeling with Deformers
      1. 4.5.1. Using a Lattice
      2. 4.5.2. Soft Modification Tool
    6. 4.6. Combining Meshes
      1. 4.6.1. Creating the Bolt Detail
    7. 4.7. Using Bevel Plus and Bevel Edges
      1. 4.7.1. Creating the Curves
      2. 4.7.2. Bevel Plus
      3. 4.7.3. Bevel Edges
    8. 4.8. Polygon Modeling with Paint Effects
      1. 4.8.1. Attaching Strokes to Curves
      2. 4.8.2. Modifying the Converted Stroke
      3. 4.8.3. Drawing Curves on a Live Surface
    9. 4.9. Convert NURBS Surfaces to Polygons
      1. 4.9.1. Employing Revolved Surfaces
      2. 4.9.2. NURBS Extrusions
    10. 4.10. Boolean Operations
      1. 4.10.1. Using Booleans
    11. 4.11. Sculpting Polygons Using Artisan
      1. 4.11.1. Sculpting Polygons
    12. 4.12. Advanced Polygon Editing Tools
      1. 4.12.1. Append a Polygon
      2. 4.12.2. Split a Polygon
      3. 4.12.3. Spin a Polygon Edge
      4. 4.12.4. Bridge Polygons
    13. 4.13. Using Subdivision Surfaces
      1. 4.13.1. Working with SubDs
      2. 4.13.2. SubD Levels
    14. 4.14. The Bottom Line
  11. 5. Animation Techniques
    1. 5.1. Using Joints and Constraints
      1. 5.1.1. Joint Basics
      2. 5.1.2. Point Constraints
      3. 5.1.3. Aim Constraints
    2. 5.2. Inverse Kinematics
      1. 5.2.1. IK Handle Tool
      2. 5.2.2. Create a Master Control
    3. 5.3. Keyframe Animation
      1. 5.3.1. Creating Keyframes
      2. 5.3.2. Auto Keyframe
      3. 5.3.3. Move and Scale Keyframes on the Timeline
      4. 5.3.4. Copy, Paste, and Cut Keyframes
    4. 5.4. The Graph Editor
      1. 5.4.1. Animation Curves
      2. 5.4.2. Editing Animation Curves
      3. 5.4.3. Weighted Tangents
      4. 5.4.4. Additional Editing Tools
      5. 5.4.5. Breakdowns and In-Betweens
      6. 5.4.6. Pre- and Post-Infinity
    5. 5.5. Playblast and FCheck
      1. 5.5.1. Creating and Viewing a Playblast
    6. 5.6. Driven Keys
      1. 5.6.1. Creating a Driven Key
      2. 5.6.2. Looping Driven Keys
      3. 5.6.3. Copying and Pasting Driven Keys
    7. 5.7. Animation Using Expressions
      1. 5.7.1. Conditional Statements in Expressions
    8. 5.8. Motion Path Animation
    9. 5.9. Animating Constraints
      1. 5.9.1. Dynamic Parenting
    10. 5.10. Animation Layers
      1. 5.10.1. Creating an Animation Layer
      2. 5.10.2. Layer Mode
      3. 5.10.3. Other Options in the Layer Editor
      4. 5.10.4. Layer Hierarchy
      5. 5.10.5. Merging Layers
    11. 5.11. The Bottom Line
  12. 6. Animating with Deformers
    1. 6.1. Animating Facial Expressions Using Blend Shapes
      1. 6.1.1. Creating Blend Shape Targets
      2. 6.1.2. Creating Blend Shapes
      3. 6.1.3. Painting Blend Shape Weights
      4. 6.1.4. Adding Targets
      5. 6.1.5. Creating a Custom Mouth Control Slider
      6. 6.1.6. Connecting the Slider to the Blend Shape
    2. 6.2. Animating Blend Shapes Sequentially
      1. 6.2.1. Creating the Base Mesh
      2. 6.2.2. Creating the Blend Shape Targets
      3. 6.2.3. Creating the Blend Shape Sequence
    3. 6.3. Animating with Lattices
      1. 6.3.1. Creating a Lattice
      2. 6.3.2. Using the Lattice Membership Tool
      3. 6.3.3. Adding an Object to an Existing Lattice
      4. 6.3.4. Animating Lattices
    4. 6.4. Animating Object Components with Clusters
      1. 6.4.1. Adding Cluster Objects
      2. 6.4.2. Painting Cluster Weights
      3. 6.4.3. Applying Cluster Components
      4. 6.4.4. Constraining Clusters
    5. 6.5. Animating a Scene Using Nonlinear Deformers
      1. 6.5.1. Creating a Wave Deformer
      2. 6.5.2. Squashing and Stretching Objects
      3. 6.5.3. Twisting Objects
    6. 6.6. Creating a Jiggle Effect
      1. 6.6.1. Applying Jiggle Deformers
      2. 6.6.2. Painting Jiggle Weights
    7. 6.7. Optimizing Animations with the Geometry Cache
      1. 6.7.1. Creating a Geometry Cache
      2. 6.7.2. Editing the Cache Playback
    8. 6.8. The Bottom Line
  13. 7. Rigging and Muscle Systems
    1. 7.1. Understanding Rigging
    2. 7.2. Creating and Organizing Joint Hierarchies
      1. 7.2.1. Orienting Joints
      2. 7.2.2. Naming Joints
      3. 7.2.3. Mirroring Joints
    3. 7.3. Rigging the Giraffe
      1. 7.3.1. IK Legs
      2. 7.3.2. FK Blending
      3. 7.3.3. Rotate Plane Solvers
      4. 7.3.4. Creating Custom Attributes
      5. 7.3.5. Spline IK
    4. 7.4. Full Body Inverse Kinematics
    5. 7.5. Skinning Geometry
      1. 7.5.1. Interactive/Smooth Binding
      2. 7.5.2. Weighting the Giraffe
      3. 7.5.3. Painting Skin Weights
      4. 7.5.4. Editing Skin Weights in the Component Editor
      5. 7.5.5. Copying Skin Weights
      6. 7.5.6. Mirroring Skin Weights
    6. 7.6. The Maya Muscle System
      1. 7.6.1. Understanding the Maya Muscle System
      2. 7.6.2. Using Capsules
      3. 7.6.3. Creating a Muscle Using Muscle Builder
      4. 7.6.4. Editing Muscle Parameters
      5. 7.6.5. Converting the Smooth Skin to a Muscle System
      6. 7.6.6. Sliding Weights
    7. 7.7. The Bottom Line
  14. 8. Paint Effects and Toon Shading
    1. 8.1. Using the Paint Effects Canvas
      1. 8.1.1. The Paint Effects Window
      2. 8.1.2. Painting in Scene Mode
    2. 8.2. Painting on 3D Objects
    3. 8.3. Understanding Strokes
      1. 8.3.1. The Anatomy of a Paint Effects Stroke
      2. 8.3.2. Brush Sharing
      3. 8.3.3. Understanding Brush Curve Nodes
    4. 8.4. Designing Brushes
      1. 8.4.1. Starting from Scratch
      2. 8.4.2. Tubes
      3. 8.4.3. Growing Flowers
      4. 8.4.4. Adding Leaves
    5. 8.5. Create Complexity by Adding Strokes to a Curve
    6. 8.6. Shaping Strokes with Behavior Controls
      1. 8.6.1. Applying Forces
      2. 8.6.2. Displacement, Spiral, and Bend
    7. 8.7. Animating Strokes
      1. 8.7.1. Animating Attribute Values
      2. 8.7.2. Adding Turbulence
      3. 8.7.3. Animating Growth
      4. 8.7.4. Modifiers
    8. 8.8. Rendering Paint Effects
      1. 8.8.1. Illumination
      2. 8.8.2. Shadow Effects
      3. 8.8.3. Shading Strokes and Tubes
      4. 8.8.4. Texturing Strokes
      5. 8.8.5. Converting Strokes to Geometry
    9. 8.9. Using Toon Shading
      1. 8.9.1. Toon Fills
      2. 8.9.2. Toon Outlines
      3. 8.9.3. Using Paint Effects Presets for Toon Lines
    10. 8.10. The Bottom Line
  15. 9. Lighting with mental ray
    1. 9.1. Shadow-Casting Lights
      1. 9.1.1. Shadow Preview
      2. 9.1.2. Depth Map Shadows
      3. 9.1.3. mental ray Shadow Map Overrides
      4. 9.1.4. Ray Trace Shadows
    2. 9.2. Indirect Lighting: Global Illumination
      1. 9.2.1. Global Illumination
      2. 9.2.2. Tuning Global Illumination
      3. 9.2.3. Working with Photon Maps
      4. 9.2.4. Color Bleeding
      5. 9.2.5. Importons
      6. 9.2.6. Caustics
      7. 9.2.7. Caustic Light Setup
    3. 9.3. Indirect Illumination: Final Gathering
      1. 9.3.1. Light-Emitting Objects
      2. 9.3.2. Final Gathering Maps
      3. 9.3.3. Using Lights with Final Gathering
    4. 9.4. Image-Based Lighting
      1. 9.4.1. Enabling IBL
      2. 9.4.2. IBL and Final Gathering
    5. 9.5. Physical Sun and Sky
      1. 9.5.1. Enabling Physical Sun and Sky
      2. 9.5.2. Editing the Sky Settings
    6. 9.6. mental ray Area Lights
      1. 9.6.1. Using Area Lights
    7. 9.7. Light Shaders
      1. 9.7.1. Physical Light Shader
      2. 9.7.2. Tone Mapping
      3. 9.7.3. Photometric Lights and Profiles
    8. 9.8. The Bottom Line
  16. 10. mental ray Shading Techniques
    1. 10.1. Shading Concepts
      1. 10.1.1. Diffusion
      2. 10.1.2. Reflection
      3. 10.1.3. Refraction
      4. 10.1.4. The Fresnel Effect
      5. 10.1.5. Anisotropy
    2. 10.2. Creating Blurred Reflections and Refractions Using Standard Maya Shaders
      1. 10.2.1. Reflection Blur
      2. 10.2.2. Refraction Blur
    3. 10.3. Basic mental ray Shaders
      1. 10.3.1. DGS Shaders
      2. 10.3.2. Dielectric Material
      3. 10.3.3. mental ray Base Shaders
    4. 10.4. Car Paint Materials
      1. 10.4.1. Diffuse Parameters
      2. 10.4.2. Specular Parameters
      3. 10.4.3. Flake Parameters
      4. 10.4.4. Reflection Parameters
    5. 10.5. The MIA Material
      1. 10.5.1. Using the MIA Material Presets
      2. 10.5.2. Add Bump to the Rubber Shader
      3. 10.5.3. Create Beveled Edges Using mia_roundcorners
      4. 10.5.4. Creating Thick and Thin Glass and Plastic
      5. 10.5.5. Other MIA Material Attributes
        1. 10.5.5.1. Built-in Ambient Occlusion
        2. 10.5.5.2. Translucency
    6. 10.6. Controlling Exposure with Tone Mapping
      1. 10.6.1. Using Exposure Shaders
    7. 10.7. Rendering Contours
      1. 10.7.1. Enable Contour Rendering
    8. 10.8. The Bottom Line
  17. 11. Texture Mapping
    1. 11.1. UV Texture Layout
      1. 11.1.1. What Are UV Texture Coordinates?
      2. 11.1.2. Mapping the Giraffe Leg
      3. 11.1.3. Unfolding UVs
      4. 11.1.4. Mapping the Giraffe Head
      5. 11.1.5. Mirroring UVs
      6. 11.1.6. More UV Tools
      7. 11.1.7. Arranging UV Shells
      8. 11.1.8. Additional UV Mapping Considerations
      9. 11.1.9. Transferring UVs
      10. 11.1.10. Multiple UV Sets
      11. 11.1.11. Optimizing Textures
    2. 11.2. Bump and Normal Mapping
      1. 11.2.1. Bump Maps
      2. 11.2.2. Normal Maps
      3. 11.2.3. Creating Normal Maps
      4. 11.2.4. Applying Normal Maps
    3. 11.3. Displacement Mapping
      1. 11.3.1. Converting Displacement to Polygons
      2. 11.3.2. Displacement Maps for Characters
      3. 11.3.3. Combined Displacement and Bump Maps
    4. 11.4. Subsurface Scattering
      1. 11.4.1. Fast, Simple Skin Shader Setup
      2. 11.4.2. Subsurface Scattering Layers
      3. 11.4.3. Subsurface Specularity
    5. 11.5. The Bottom Line
  18. 12. Rendering for Compositing
    1. 12.1. Render Layers
      1. 12.1.1. Creating Render Layers
      2. 12.1.2. Render Layer Overrides
      3. 12.1.3. Creating Overrides for Rendering Cameras
      4. 12.1.4. Using Different Shaders on Render Layers
      5. 12.1.5. Material Overrides
      6. 12.1.6. Render Layer Blend Modes
    2. 12.2. Render Passes
      1. 12.2.1. Upgrade Materials for Rendering Passes
      2. 12.2.2. Render Multiple Passes from a Single Render Layer
      3. 12.2.3. Creating an Ambient Occlusion Pass
    3. 12.3. Render Pass Contribution Maps
      1. 12.3.1. Lights and Contribution Maps
      2. 12.3.2. Render Pass Sets
    4. 12.4. Setting Up a Render with mental ray
      1. 12.4.1. File Tokens
      2. 12.4.2. Specifying Frame Range
      3. 12.4.3. Renderable Cameras
      4. 12.4.4. File Formats and the Frame Buffer
      5. 12.4.5. Starting a Batch Render
      6. 12.4.6. Command-Line Rendering
        1. 12.4.6.1. Windows Command-Line Render
        2. 12.4.6.2. Mac Command-Line Render
      7. 12.4.7. Creating a Batch Script
        1. 12.4.7.1. Windows Batch Render Script
        2. 12.4.7.2. Mac Batch Render Script
    5. 12.5. mental ray Quality Settings
      1. 12.5.1. Tessellation and Approximation Nodes
      2. 12.5.2. Anti-aliasing and Sampling
      3. 12.5.3. Filtering
      4. 12.5.4. Rasterizer
      5. 12.5.5. Raytrace Acceleration
      6. 12.5.6. Diagnose BSP
    6. 12.6. The Bottom Line
  19. 13. Introducing nParticles
    1. 13.1. Creating nParticles
      1. 13.1.1. Drawing nParticles Using the nParticle Tool
      2. 13.1.2. Spawning nParticles from an Emitter
      3. 13.1.3. Emitting nParticles from a Surface
      4. 13.1.4. Filling an Object with nParticles
    2. 13.2. Making nParticles Collide with nCloth Surfaces
      1. 13.2.1. Passive Collision Objects
      2. 13.2.2. Collide Strength and Collision Ramps
    3. 13.3. Using nParticles to Simulate Liquids
      1. 13.3.1. Creating Liquid Behavior
      2. 13.3.2. Converting nParticles to Polygons
      3. 13.3.3. Shading the nParticle Mesh
    4. 13.4. Emit nParticles Using a Texture
      1. 13.4.1. Surface Emission
    5. 13.5. Using Wind
      1. 13.5.1. The Wind Settings
    6. 13.6. Shading nParticles and Using Hardware Rendering to Create Flame Effects
      1. 13.6.1. Shading nParticles to Simulate Flames
      2. 13.6.2. Creating an nCache
      3. 13.6.3. Using the Hardware Render Buffer
    7. 13.7. nParticles and Fields
      1. 13.7.1. Using Multiple Emitters
      2. 13.7.2. Volume Axis Curve
      3. 13.7.3. Working with Force Fields
      4. 13.7.4. Painting Field Maps
      5. 13.7.5. Using Dynamic Fields
    8. 13.8. Rendering Particles with mental ray
      1. 13.8.1. Setting nParticle Shading Attributes
    9. 13.9. The Bottom Line
  20. 14. Dynamic Effects
    1. 14.1. Creating nCloth Objects
      1. 14.1.1. Making a Polygon Mesh Dynamic
      2. 14.1.2. Understanding nCloth Nodes
      3. 14.1.3. Applying nCloth Presets
      4. 14.1.4. Making Surfaces Sticky
      5. 14.1.5. Creating nConstraints
      6. 14.1.6. Making nCloth Objects Expand Using Pressure
      7. 14.1.7. Additional Techniques
      8. 14.1.8. Creating an nCache
    2. 14.2. Creating nCloth and nParticle Interactions
      1. 14.2.1. Creating an nParticle Goal
      2. 14.2.2. Using nCloth as a Goal
      3. 14.2.3. Controlling Collision Events
      4. 14.2.4. Ripping an Object Open Using Tearable nConstraints
    3. 14.3. Rigid Body Dynamics
      1. 14.3.1. Creating an Exploding Tower
      2. 14.3.2. Tuning the Rigid Body Simulation
      3. 14.3.3. Baking the Simulation
    4. 14.4. Creating Flying Debris Using nParticle Instancing
      1. 14.4.1. Adding nParticles to the Scene
      2. 14.4.2. Sending the Debris Flying Using a Field
      3. 14.4.3. Creating a More Convincing Explosion by Adjusting nParticle Mass
      4. 14.4.4. Instancing Geometry
    5. 14.5. Animating Instances Using nParticle Expressions
      1. 14.5.1. Randomizing Instance Index
      2. 14.5.2. Connecting Instance Size to nParticle Mass
      3. 14.5.3. Controlling the Rotation of nParticles
    6. 14.6. Creating Smoke Trails
      1. 14.6.1. Using the Cloud nParticle Style
    7. 14.7. The Bottom Line
  21. 15. Fur, Hair, and Clothing
    1. 15.1. Adding Fur to Characters
      1. 15.1.1. Preparing Polygons for Maya Fur
      2. 15.1.2. Creating a Fur Description
      3. 15.1.3. Editing the Fur Description: Baldness
      4. 15.1.4. Editing the Fur Description: Direction
      5. 15.1.5. Editing the Fur Description: Length
      6. 15.1.6. Test Render Fur
      7. 15.1.7. Applying a Color Map
      8. 15.1.8. Applying Map Offsets and Multipliers
      9. 15.1.9. Enhancing the Realism of Fur
    2. 15.2. Adding Dynamic Motion to Fur
      1. 15.2.1. Attaching a Fur Description to Hair Curves
    3. 15.3. Rendering Fur Using mental ray
      1. 15.3.1. Rendering Fur Using Raytracing
    4. 15.4. Animating Using Dynamic Curves
      1. 15.4.1. Using Dynamic Curves with IK Splines
      2. 15.4.2. Creating an IK Spline Handle from the Dynamic Curve
      3. 15.4.3. Using Forces
    5. 15.5. Adding Hair to a Character
      1. 15.5.1. Applying Hair to a Surface
      2. 15.5.2. Creating Hair Collisions
      3. 15.5.3. Hair Collision Constraints
      4. 15.5.4. Determining Hair Shape
    6. 15.6. Styling Hair
      1. 15.6.1. Start and Rest Positions
      2. 15.6.2. Painting Follicle Attributes
      3. 15.6.3. Styling Hair with Fields
      4. 15.6.4. Modifying Curves
      5. 15.6.5. Curling, Noise, Sub Clumping, and Braids
    7. 15.7. Creating Hair Constraints
    8. 15.8. Rendering Hair
    9. 15.9. Creating Clothing for Characters
      1. 15.9.1. Modeling Clothes for nCloth
      2. 15.9.2. Converting Smooth Mesh Polygons to nCloth
      3. 15.9.3. Adding a Transform Constraint
      4. 15.9.4. Using Component Constraints
      5. 15.9.5. Connecting Buttons to the Shirt
    10. 15.10. Painting nCloth Properties
      1. 15.10.1. Painting a Vertex Property Map
    11. 15.11. The Bottom Line
  22. 16. Maya Fluids
    1. 16.1. Using Fluid Containers
      1. 16.1.1. Using 2D Containers
      2. 16.1.2. Adding an Emitter
      3. 16.1.3. Using Fields with Fluids
      4. 16.1.4. Using 3D Containers
    2. 16.2. Creating a Reaction
      1. 16.2.1. Emitting Fluids from a Surface
      2. 16.2.2. Adding Velocity
      3. 16.2.3. Adding Fuel
    3. 16.3. Rendering Fluid Containers
      1. 16.3.1. Texturing Fluids
      2. 16.3.2. Glowing Fluids
      3. 16.3.3. Lighting Fluids
    4. 16.4. Create Fluids and nParticle Interactions
      1. 16.4.1. Emitting Fluids from nParticles
      2. 16.4.2. Creating Flaming Trails
      3. 16.4.3. Adding Sparks to a Flame
    5. 16.5. Creating an Ocean
    6. 16.6. The Bottom Line
  23. 17. MEL Scripting
    1. 17.1. Using a MEL Command
      1. 17.1.1. MEL Interfaces
    2. 17.2. MEL Scripting Techniques
      1. 17.2.1. Learning from the Script Editor
      2. 17.2.2. Creating a MEL Script File
      3. 17.2.3. Adding Attributes with MEL
      4. 17.2.4. Adding an Image Sequence to the Sprites
      5. 17.2.5. Adding Expressions Using MEL
      6. 17.2.6. Creating a Conditional Statement
      7. 17.2.7. Creating a Loop
    3. 17.3. Procedures
      1. 17.3.1. Making a Procedure from a Script
      2. 17.3.2. Using a Procedure Within a Script
      3. 17.3.3. Global Procedures
    4. 17.4. Using Maya Commands Within Python
    5. 17.5. The Bottom Line
  24. A. The Bottom Line
    1. A.1. Chapter 1: Working in Maya
    2. A.2. Chapter 2: Virtual Film Making with Maya Cameras
    3. A.3. Chapter 3: NURBS Modeling in Maya
    4. A.4. Chapter 4: Polygon Modeling
    5. A.5. Chapter 5: Animation Techniques
    6. A.6. Chapter 6: Animating with Deformers
    7. A.7. Chapter 7: Rigging and Muscle Systems
    8. A.8. Chapter 8: Paint Effects and Toon Shading
    9. A.9. Chapter 9: Lighting With Mental Ray
    10. A.10. Chapter 10: Mental Ray Shading Techniques
    11. A.11. Chapter 11: Texture Mapping
    12. A.12. Chapter 12: Rendering for Compositing
    13. A.13. Chapter 13: Introducing nParticles
    14. A.14. Chapter 14: Dynamic Effects
    15. A.15. Chapter 15: Fur, Hair, and Clothing
    16. A.16. Chapter 16: Maya Fluids
    17. A.17. Chapter 17: MEL Scripting
  25. B. About the Companion DVD
    1. B.1. What You'll Find on the DVD
    2. B.2. System Requirements
    3. B.3. Using the DVD
    4. B.4. Troubleshooting
    5. B.5. Customer Care

Product information

  • Title: Mastering Autodesk® Maya® 2011: Autodesk® Official Training Guide
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: September 2010
  • Publisher(s): Sybex
  • ISBN: 9780470639351