Contents
Getting Started with Maya
Overview
Introduction
Installing Maya
About the Getting Started lessons
Conventions used in the lessons
Using the lesson files
Using the Maya Help
Additional learning resources
Restoring default user settings
Maya Basics
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: The Maya user interface
Introduction
Starting Maya
The Maya interface
Downloading the lesson files and setting the Maya project
Saving your work
Exiting Maya
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Creating, manipulating, and viewing objects
Introduction
Creating a new scene
Primitive objects
The Toolbox: Layout shortcuts
The Toolbox: Transformation tools
The Channel Box
Duplicating objects
Save your work
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Viewing the Maya 3D scene
Introduction
Camera tools
Workflow overview
Viewing objects in shaded mode
Grouping objects
The Hypergraph
Selection modes and masks
Pivot points
Save your work
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 4: Components and attributes
Introduction
Template display
Components
The Attribute Editor
Surface materials
Save your work
Beyond the lesson
Polygonal Modeling
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Modeling a polygonal mesh from a reference image
Introduction
Setting modeling preferences
Using 2D reference images
Creating a polygon primitive
Modeling in shaded mode
Model symmetry
Selecting components by painting
Selecting edge loops
Editing components in the orthographic views
Editing components in the perspective view
Drawing a polygon
Extruding polygon components
Bridging between edges
Adding polygons to a mesh
Splitting polygon faces
Terminating edge loops
Deleting construction history
Mirror copying a mesh
Working with a smoothed mesh
Creasing and hardening edges on a mesh
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Sculpting a polygon mesh
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Using Soft Select
Selecting with Camera based selection
Sculpting with symmetry
Sculpting with Surface based falloff
Selecting with Drag select
Adjusting the Seam tolerance
Beyond the lesson
NURBS Modeling
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Revolving a curve to create a surface
Introduction
Creating a profile curve
Creating a revolve surface
Editing a revolve surface
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Sculpting a NURBS surface
Introduction
Preparing a surface for sculpting
Basic sculpting techniques
Additional sculpting techniques
Sculpting a nose
Sculpting eye sockets
Sculpting eyebrows
Sculpting a mouth
Sculpting other facial features
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Lofting curves to create a surface
Introduction
Creating profile curves for a surface
Duplicating curves
Lofting a surface
Modifying a primitive object
Using the Outliner to parent objects
Beyond the lesson
Subdivision Surfaces
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Modeling a subdivision surface
Introduction
Creating a subdivision surface
Splitting a surface in polygon proxy mode
Extruding polygon faces
Deleting polygon faces
Subdivision surface levels
Refining surface components
Creating a crease in a subdivision surface
Beyond the lesson
Animation
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Keyframes and the Graph Editor
Introduction
Setting the playback range
Setting keyframes
Using the Graph Editor
Changing the timing of an attribute
Fine tuning an animation
Deleting extra keyframes and static channels
Using Playblast to playback an animation
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Set Driven Key
Introduction
Lesson setup
Using Set Driven Key to link attributes
Viewing the results in the Graph Editor
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Path animation
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Animating an object along a motion path
Changing the timing of an object along a motion path
Rotating an object along a motion path
Blending keyframe and motion path animation
Using Playblast to playback an animation
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 4: Inverse kinematics
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Understanding hierarchies
Viewing hierarchies using the Hypergraph
Creating a skeleton hierarchy
Parenting a model into a skeleton hierarchy
Applying IK to a skeleton hierarchy
Creating a control object for an IK system
Constraining an IK system
Limiting the range of motion of an IK system
Simplifying the display of a hierarchy
Applying parent constraints on an IK system
Planning an animation for an IK system
Animating an IK system
Beyond the lesson
Character Setup
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Skeletons and kinematics
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Creating joints
Adding joints to a skeleton
Creating a skeleton hierarchy
Forward and inverse kinematics
Posing and animating using inverse kinematics
Posing and animating using forward kinematics
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Smooth skinning
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Smooth binding a skeleton
Skin weighting and deformations
Modifying skin weights
Influence objects
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Cluster and blend shape deformers
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Creating a target object for a blend shape
Creating a cluster deformer on a target object
Editing cluster weights
Creating a blend shape
Refining deformation effects
Adding target objects to an existing blend shape
Beyond the lesson
HumanIK
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Setting up a HumanIK character
Introduction
Define an existing skeleton for HumanIK
Define a skeleton using a template
Create and define a HumanIK skeleton
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: HumanIK retargeting
Introduction
Retarget animation from one character to another
Adjust retargeting parameters
Advanced HumanIK retargeting
Beyond the Lesson
Polygon Texturing
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: UV texture mapping
Introduction
Creating a cracker box model
Applying a texture map to a polygon mesh
Viewing UVs in the UV Texture Editor
Mapping UV texture coordinates
Working with UVs in the UV Texture Editor
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: UV unfolding
Introduction
Lesson setup
Dividing the mesh
Creating a planar map
Unfolding a UV mesh
Adjusting the checker pattern
Outputting UVs
Unfolding with constraints
Sewing UV Edges
Smoothing/Relaxing a mesh interactively
Fixing problem areas
Applying textures
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Normal mapping
Introduction
Lesson setup
Open the scene for the lesson
Creating a normal map
Viewing a normal map
Beyond the lesson
Rendering
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Rendering a scene
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Creating shading materials for objects
Refining shading materials for objects
Maya renderers
Rendering a single frame using IPR
Rendering a single frame using Maya Hardware 2.0
Rendering using the Maya Hardware 2.0 renderer
Batch rendering a sequence of animation frames
Viewing a sequence of rendered frames
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Shading surfaces
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Assigning a shading material
Using the mental ray for Maya renderer
Modifying surface specularity
Material types
Assigning textures
Using the Hypershade editor
Creating a texture within the Hypershade editor
Modifying a bump texture
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Lights, shadows, and cameras
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Directional lights
Spotlights
Editing light attributes
Shadows
Creating additional cameras in a scene
Animating camera moves
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 4: Global Illumination
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Render the scene using raytracing
Render the scene using Global Illumination
Beyond the Lesson
Lesson 5: Caustics
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Render the scene using raytracing
Render the scene using caustics
Beyond the Lesson
Dynamics
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Particles, emitters, and fields
Introduction
Creating an emitter
Creating volume axis fields
Adjusting the velocity of moving particles
Setting the particle render type
Adding dynamic attributes
Adding per particle attributes
Adding color to particles with a color ramp
mental ray rendering particles
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Rigid bodies and constraints
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating hinge constraints
Running a dynamics simulation
Changing an active rigid body to passive
Beyond the lesson
Painting
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Painting in 2D using Paint Effects
Introduction
Painting strokes
Modifying the default brush settings
Modifying the canvas
Modifying the colors of a preset brush
Editing strokes with tubes attributes
Saving brush settings for future use
Blending brushes
Smearing, blurring, and erasing paint
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Painting in 3D using Paint Effects
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Brushes and strokes
Rendering Paint Effects strokes
Paint Effects on 3D objects
Creating a surface to paint on
Painting on objects
Using turbulence with brush stroke tubes
Using additional preset brushes
Mesh brushes
Converting mesh strokes to polygons
Modifying a converted polygonal mesh
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Painting textures on surfaces
Introduction
Open the scene for the lesson
Preparing for painting
Painting with an Artisan brush
Painting symmetrical strokes
Using Flood All to apply a single color
Brush shapes
Painting with a Paint Effects brush
Smearing and blurring
Painting a bump map texture
Beyond the lesson
Expressions
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Creating a simple expression
Introduction
Creating expressions to control a single attribute
Editing expressions
Using expressions to control multiple attributes
Linking multiple attributes on the same object
Controlling attributes in two objects
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Conditional expressions
Introduction
Creating a conditional expression
Other conditional statement options
Fixing a problem in an expression
Using else statements
Simplifying expressions
Editing expressions to refine an animation
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Controlling particle attributes
Introduction
Creating particle objects
Using creation expressions to set a constant color
Using runtime expressions
Modifying runtime expressions
Beyond the lesson
Scripting in Maya
Introduction
Some basic concepts
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Commands in MEL
Introduction
Entering MEL commands
Observing script history
Modifying object attributes
Editing Objects
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Saving scripts to the Shelf
Introduction
Setting up the scene
Recording the script history
Compare the rendered images
Saving the history as a button
Beyond the Lesson
Lesson 3: Using Variables in MEL
Introduction
Setting up the scene
Storing scene information
Create a row of barrels
Stacking the row of barrels
Using MEL built-in functions to calculate the Y offset
Creating dynamics with MEL commands
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 4: User interface creation and procedures
Introduction
Creating a window
Window naming
Introduction to procedures
Loading a script file
Linking the user interface
Saving the script
Using the saved script file
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 5: Using Python in Maya
Introduction
Entering Python commands
Using flags in Python
Using the edit flag in Python
Communicating between Python and MEL
Beyond the lesson
Assets
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Setting up an asset
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating an asset
Publishing attributes
Publishing multiple attributes to a single published name
Open the second scene for the lesson
Creating a template
Creating Views
Creating a binding set
Assigning a custom icon
Setting Black Box mode
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Using assets in a scene
Introduction
Lesson setup
Importing assets to dress a scene
Assigning an existing template to an asset
Autobinding attributes
Manually binding attributes
Swapping assets
Referencing assets in a scene
Creating a proxy asset
Modifying a proxy asset
Dressing the rest of the scene with assets
Beyond the lesson
File Referencing
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Using file references
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating a file reference
Using the Outliner to view and control file references
Exporting objects in your scene
Creating a proxy for a referenced object
Creating a proxy for a referenced asset
Creating proxy references
Tweaking the zombie’s walk cycle
Exporting reference tweaks
Applying reference tweaks
Storing animation as reference edits
Applying animation as reference edits
Beyond the Lesson
Fluid Effects
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Creating a dynamic 2D fluid effect
Introduction
Creating a two-dimensional fluid container
Adding a fluid emitter to a container
Changing the behavior of a fluid
Combining colors in a fluid
Colliding a fluid with an object
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Creating a non-dynamic 3D fluid effect
Introduction
Creating a 3D fluid container
Adding fluid to a container
Defining shader attributes for a fluid
Texturing the contents of a fluid container
Adding self shadowing to texture density
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Creating a dynamic 3D effect
Introduction
Creating a 3D container
Painting Fuel and Density into a container
Painting Temperature values into a container
Adding color to Density and Temperature
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 4: Creating an ocean effect
Introduction
Creating an ocean plane and shader
Work with the preview plane of the ocean
Modifying ocean attributes
Floating objects
Beyond the lesson
Fur
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Assigning a fur description
Introduction
Lesson setup
Duplicating objects across an axis of symmetry
Renaming surfaces on a model
Assigning objects to a reference layer
Assigning a fur description preset to a model
Reversing surface normals
Modifying the fur direction
Painting fur attributes
Modifying the color of a fur description
Creating a new fur description
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Rendering fur
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating lights in a scene
Adding mental ray shadow maps to lights
Rendering the scene
Beyond the lesson
nCloth
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Creating nCloth collisions
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating an nCloth object
Making an nCloth collide with its environment
Adjusting the accuracy of nCloth collisions
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Creating nCloth constraints
Introduction
Lesson setup
Constraining an nCloth to a passive object
Changing which nCloth points are constrained
Making nCloth flap in dynamic wind
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Creating nCloth Clothing
Introduction
Lesson setup
Making the dress into an nCloth object
Making the character wear the dress
Caching nCloth to speed up playback
Adjusting the fit of the dress
Defining the behavior of nCloth clothing
Painting nCloth properties
Open the second scene for the lesson
Constraining nCloth clothing
Setting the initial state
Improving the quality of the nCloth simulation
Smoothing nCloth clothing
Beyond the lesson
nParticles
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Creating nParticles
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating an nParticle system
Making nParticles collide with their environment
Setting Nucleus Space Scale
Adjusting nParticle size and color
Adjusting nParticle collision attributes
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Creating a smoke simulation with nParticles
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating an nParticle system
Editing nParticle Lifespan and Radius
Open the second scene for the lesson
Adding a Volume Axis field
Adjusting nParticle velocity
Adjusting nParticle Shading attributes
Open the third scene for the lesson
Fine tuning your smoke effect
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 3: Creating a liquid simulation with nParticles
Introduction
Lesson setup
Creating a Water style nParticle object
Adjusting Liquid Simulation attributes
Adding fluidity to the nParticles
Open the second scene for the lesson
Convert nParticles to a polygon mesh
Cache your nParticle simulation
Adding surface tension
Adding Motion Streak
Open the third scene for the lesson
Render your liquid simulation
Assigning material shaders
Rendering a simulated frame
Beyond the lesson
nHair
Introduction
Preparing for the lessons
Lesson 1: Creating a basic hairstyle
Introduction
Lesson setup
Create nHair on a surface
Modify nHair attributes
Add passive hair curves
Set Nucleus node attributes
Render the hair
Beyond the lesson
Lesson 2: Creating a dynamic curve simulation
Introduction
Lesson setup
Setting up the curtain scene
Making hair collide with another object
Assigning a Paint Effects brush to the hair
Rendering the curtain scene
Setting up nConstraints
Setting the initial state
Beyond the lesson