Projection manipulators
The projection manipulator allows you to transform the projection to better suit your geometry. Translate along Y-axis Translate on XY plane ' You can toggle the manipulator type for a conventional all-in-one manipulator by clicking on the red T.
Details
From the side view, click on the head joint to highlight it. Doing so tells the tool that you want to start drawing joints from the head joint. Draw one joint for the eye and two for the jaw as follows The new head joints Rename, translate, and mirror the new joints when needed. Tip When mirroring the eye joint, make sure to set the Mirror function to Orientation so the eyes move together and are not mirrored.
Test render
Now that you have materials and textures assigned, it is a good time to do a test render. Your current view panel may not be displaying the actual proportions that will be rendered. You can display the camera's resolution gate to see how the scene will actually render. Make the Perspective view the active panel. Use the hotbox to select View Camera Settings Resolution Gate. The view is adjusted to show a bounding box that defines how the default render resolution of 640x480 pixels relates to...
Arm and hand joints
Select Display Animation Joint Size Set the Joint Size to 0.25. Doing so will reduce the display size of the joints in the viewport, making it easier to place joints close together, such as the finger joints. From the front view, draw a joint to represent the clavicle between the spine1 and neck joints, then draw the shoulder joint. Move the clavicle on the Z-axis to better fit the geometry. Draw the character's elbow and wrist joints. Rotate down the joints on the Z-axis to better fit the...
Set Driven Keys
Zero the rotation of the bones. Select Animate Set Driven Key Set In the Driver section, load the middle joint and select the Rotate Y attribute. Select the flexor and press F8 to display its points. Select all the flexor's lattice points and click the Load Driven button in the Set Driven Key window. Highlight all the driven objects in the Driven section and highlight the XYZ values on the right side. Click the Key button to set the normal position. Go back into Object mode and rotate the...
Turn on hardware lighting if possible
One step beyond hardware texturing is hardware lighting. This lets you see how the light is affecting the surface that it is shining on. Press the 6 hotkey to display textures in the viewport. Select Lighting Use All Lights or press the 7 hotkey. You will see the scene being lit by the point light.
Shape the bicep
The arm is very simplistic and the first step is to add more geometry to play with. You will add several edge loops to define the muscles. Note An edge loop is defined by a continuous line of connected edges. The edges C perpendicular to an edge loop are called edge rings. The difference between an edge loop and an edge ring With the body geometry selected, select Edit Mesh Insert Edge Loop Tool. Click drag on any horizontal edge in the upper arm bicep area. Release the mouse button to execute...
Layout UVs
At this time, the UVs of the character are good enough to start texturing except for one thing. The front and back of the torso are overlapping, which would cause undesirable effects when texturing. The following shows a simple solution to solve this. In the UV Texture Editor, select a few UVs of the torso UV shell. Still in the UV Texture Editor, choose Select Select Shell. Doing so selects all the UVs that are part of the same continuous group of UVs. Select Polygons Layout O. In the option...
More details
Now that you know how to place objects and interact with the Perspective view, you will add more details to the inner room by making a cathedral ceiling and adding decorative drapes coming down from it. The last thing missing to complete the room is a roof. Select Create Polygon Primitives Cone. Translate the roof up on the Y-axis to about 25 units. Scale the roof up on the Y-axis to about 6 units. Scale up the roof in both the X and Z-axes by holding down the Ctrl key to about 30 units. If you...
Create a lattice deformer
From the Animation menu set, select Create Deformers A large lattice box is created around your model. In the Channel Box with the lattice selected, set theffd1LatticeShape node as follows S Divisions to 9 T Divisions to 9 U Divisions to 3. Doing so will change the amount of subdivisions in the lattice deformer, which in turn adds more lattice points to deform the surface with. This will allow more control over the deformations. Tip You may adjust these settings to better fit your geometry and...
Delete edges
By inserting two new edge loops, you can now delete the edge loop in the middle of the forearm, which is no longer required. If you need to delete edges, it is possible to simply select them and press the delete key on your keyboard. However, working this way leaves vertices on the perpendicular edges that are not wanted. In order to compensate for this, there is a specialized command that can be used to correctly delete edges and vertices. Press F10 to go into Component mode with the edge...
Keep on modeling
You now have a good understanding of polygonal modeling basics. By continuing to refine the character, you will see that the time spent experimenting will provide invaluable experience. Throughout the modeling process, you can explore trial and error processes that will eventually achieve great solutions. At some point, you will be able to visualize the different steps to take without ever touching the model. The following are some general directions to finish modeling the character. To see the...
Rock texture
Create a Blinn material and assign it to the rock. Map the Color attribute with a Brownian from the 3D Textures section. Tweak the 3D texture to your liking so it looks like granite. With the rock selected, select Create UVs Automatic Mapping. Doing so will simplify the UV layout of the polygonal rock to minimize texture stretching and overlapping. Viewport vs. rendered procedural texture Viewport vs. rendered procedural texture Note You will need to render the scene in order to see the exact...
Light FX
Open the Attribute Editor for the pointLightShape1. Scroll down to the Light Effects section. Click on the map button next to the Light Glow attribute. W Illuminates by Default I Emit Diffuse Light Fog Fog Type Fog Radius l .000 Maya software will automatically create, select, and display an opticalFX node in the Attribute Editor. Set the opticalFX1 attributes as follows Lens flare to Enabled Glow Type to Linear Halo Type to Lens Flare. Under Lens Flare Attributes, set Flare Intensity to 2....
Key the ball rotation
In the Driven section, click on ballControl and then on rotate Z. Click on the Key button to set the starting rotation. Click on heelControl in the Driver section and set the roll value to 10. Click on ballControl and set the Rotate Z to 30. Again, click on the Key button in the Set Driven Key window. Click on heelControl and set the Roll value back to 0. Tip When working with Set Driven Key, always set the value of the driver before setting the driven. If you set the driver second, it will...
H hh
Make sure all of its rotation and translation values are set to 0. At the top of the interface, change the current menu sets for Animation. Tip The Animation menu set hotkey is F2. With the door still selected, select Animate Set Key. Tip Set Key can also be executed by pressing the s hotkey. In the current frame field on the left of the rewind button, type 25 and hit Enter. Notice the position of the current frame mark in the Time Slider. Current frame marker Current frame field 5 10 15 20 g5...
L Rjm
Note The Y key drives the last spot on the QWERTY palette, which is for the last tool used. The advantages of this will be discussed later in this lesson under the heading Tools and Actions. The Universal Manipulator lets you transform geometry in translation, rotation, or scaling, both manually and numerically. A single click on any of the manipulators will display a numeric field allowing you to type in a specific value. The Soft Modification Tool lets you push and pull geometry as a sculptor...
Conclusion
Congratulations You have completed your first exercise using Maya software. You should now be able to easily navigate the different views and change the basic hardware display settings. You should also be confident in creating, duplicating, transforming, and renaming objects, along with using the translation, rotation, and scale manipulators. At this point you should also understand the difference between Component mode and Object mode. As well, be careful to save scene files. In the next...
Wave deformer
Select the tree geometry, then select Create Deformers Nonlinear Wave. The Wave handle is created and selected. In the Attribute Editor, highlight the wave1 input. Experiment by moving, rotating, scaling, and combining the different attributes to see their effect on the geometry. ,4s you can see, this deformer can have several uses, such as creating a rippling effect for water. When you finish experimenting, select the deformer and delete it.
Attach surfaces
You will now attach the three surfaces together so the entire arm is a single piece of geometry. Select the cylinder and the lofted surfaces. Select Edit NURBS Attach Surfaces . In the option window, set the following Attach method to Blend Blend bias to 0.5 Keep originals to Off. The two pieces should now have become a single surface. Select the arm and the sphere surfaces. Select Edit NURBS Attach Surfaces. The entire arm is now a single surface. Tweak the arm shape to your liking.
Share one brush
At the moment, every stroke that you have drawn uses a different brush, letting you customize each one individually. To modify the trees simultaneously, you can set-up the strokes so they share the same brush. You should see all the different strokes you have drawn on the ground. Select all the strokeGloppy strokes. Select Paint Effects Share One Brush. Now all the strokes use the same brush. Modifying this brush will change all the trees at the same time.
Info 1
Press Ctrl g to group all the geometry together. Move the new group next to the original character. Rename the new body geometry to smile. Duplicate the group you have just created and rename the body geometry for the following Tip It is good to duplicate the other objects like the eyes, since you will be able to use them as a reference for when you model the Blend Shapes. Never modify an object other than the one intendedfor deformation. Select the character's original body. In the Channel...
A
CV components and lattice point components To toggle between Object and Component modes, press the F8 key. Another way of accessing the components of an object is to select an object, then press the RMB. This brings up a marking menu that lets you choose from the various components available for that object. If you select another object, you return to your previous select mask selection. This is a very fast way of selecting components when in hierarchy mode, or for components that are not in...
Foundation
A hands-on introduction to key tools and techniques in Autodesk Maya 2009 software, based on the Fathom Studios feature film Delgo. Learning Autodesk Maya 2009 Foundation is your key to unlocking the power of Autodesk Maya software, directly from the creators of one of the world's most powerful 3D animation and effects software products. Get hands-on experience with the innovative tools and powerful techniques available in Maya 2009 through all-new project-based lessons. Learn key Maya tools...
Joint rotation axis
To better understand the effect of the joint orientation, you need to rotate in local mode and compare the two chains you have created. Double-click on the Rotate Tool icon in the toolbox. The tool's option window is displayed. Select Local as the Rotation Mode. This specifies that you want to rotate nodes based on their local orientation rather than using the global world axis. Select the second joint of both chains and see the difference between their rotation axes as you rotate them. Notice...
Test the movement of the reverse foot
Rotate the different joints of the foot setup to test them. Notice how you can easily achieve the motion of peeling the foot off the floor. You can also easily roll the toes or the heel on the floor, which would otherwise be very difficult to achieve. Orient constrained foot setup Undo your moves to bring the foot setup back to its original position.
Smooth Mesh Preview
So far, you need a bit of imagination in order to see the character's shape. Smooth Mesh Preview is a simple tool that allows you to see a smoothed version of your model while still modeling on the cube from the previous steps. With the body selected, press the 2 hotkey. Doing so displays the original geometry, known as the cage, in wireframe and displays the smoothed resulting geometry within it. Whenever you update the cage geometry, the smoothed version will automatically update. Once you...
Eyelid
With the eyeball selected, select Edit Duplicate Special O. In the shown window, select Edit Reset Settings, then turn On the Duplicate input graph option. This option duplicates the geometry along with all its inputs, such as construction history, which will be used here. From the Channel Box, rotate the eyelid by -90 degrees on its Y-axis. Scale the eyelid so that it is a little bigger than the eyeball. In the Channel Box, highlight the makeNurbsSphere2 Input node. Set the Start Sweep to 20...
Infinity
The current driven animation curves are finite, and that is why when you translate the catapult, at some point the wheels stop turning. To correct this, you need to change the infinity of the animation curve. Select all four wheel groups. Select all the animation curves that are visible in the Graph Editor. Select Curves Pre Infinity Linear. Select Curves Post Infinity Linear. To make sure the curves are set correctly, select View Infinity. Translate the master on its Z-axis to test the setup....
Reflection
Since the shirt is to be symmetrical, it is a good idea to turn on the reflection capability of the 3D Paint Tool. Under the Stroke section, turn On the Reflection option, and make sure the Reflection axis is set to X. Under the Paint Operations section, you can set various paint operations like Paint, Erase, Clone, Smear, and Blur. You can also set the Blend Mode, which affects the way new strokes are painted on your texture. Those options can be very useful for tweaking your texture. Continue...
Automatic joint orientation
When using the automatic orientation, all three joint axes are aligned according to the right-hand rule. For example, if you select an orientation of XYZ, the positive X-axis points into the joint's bone and toward the joint's first child joint, the Y-axis points at right angles to the X-axis and Z-axis, and the Z-axis points sideways from the joint and its bone. Note If you look closely at the joints in the Perspective view, you can see these axes and where they are pointing. Double-click on...
Skin envelope
Before you start making blend shapes, you must ensure that the geometry is in its original position. One way to get the skin back to its exact original position is to turn off the skin's influence. Select the character's body. In the Channel Box, highlight the skinClusterinode. Doing so temporarily turns off the skinCluster, thus removing any influence of the skeleton and placing the geometry back to its exact original position.
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Note You might have to expand the hierarchy in the Outliner using the sign to reach the desired node. Turn On the Maintain Offset checkbox, then click the Add button. Repeat for the rEye joint. Select the lookAt locator and move it around to see how the eyeball reacts. It would be good to have a blink attribute on the locator, to make it easy to blink the character's eyes. Select the lookAt locator and select Modify Add Attribute Set the following in the new attribute window Long Name to blink...
Interactive Placement Tool 1
Select the place2dTexture node of the wood file texture used by the armBase surface. In the Attribute Editor, with the file texture's place2dTexture tab selected, click on the Interactive Placement button. Doing so will access the NURBS Texture Placement Tool. This tool displays a red manipulator on the NURBS geometry, which allows you to interactively place the texture in the viewport. Note You can also access the NURBS Texture Placement Tool via the Texturing menu when a NURBS surface is...
Mirror the geometry
You can now make the entire body a single polygonal mesh. While in Object mode with the body selected, select Mesh Mirror Cut. A plane will be added to your scene, which is used as a mirror to make your model symmetrical. With the mirrorCutPlane selected, set its Translate X attribute to 0.0. Select Edit Delete All by Type History. Doing so will allow you to finalize the geometry and delete the mirror plane.
Parent the deformer
In order for the bend deformer to act as intended, its handle needs to be parented into the catapult hierarchy. Select the bend deformer handle, then Ctrl-select the armGrp from the Outliner. Press p to parent the handle to the armGrp. Hide the bend deformer by pressing Ctrl h. Tip Deleting the history on the armGrp or its pieces would delete the bend deformer effect. Make sure to keep the history on the affected surfaces.
Convert to shading network
Autodesk Maya software can convert a complex shading network into a single texture file. Select the shader from the previous exercise and Shift-select its corresponding surface. From the Hypershade, select Edit Convert to File Texture Maya Software O. In the option window, set the following UV Range to Entire Range X Resolution to 512 Y Resolution to 512 I mage Format to Tiff tif . Click the Convert and Close button. Maya will convert the network to a texture and will create and assign a new...
Flatten the feet
As you can see, the smoothed character model does not have flat feet. This can be fixed by extruding an additional face underneath the foot. Select the face under the foot. Select Edit Mesh Extrude. Doing so forces the smoothed version of the geometry to be flatter in that area. Using the extrude manipulator, scale the face so it is a little smaller.
Cluster deformer
The point on curve works well, but has its limitations. For instance, it can only control one edit point at a time, and it cannot be used for rotation. The cluster deformer will create a handle that controls one or more vertices. When a cluster has multiple vertices in it, it can also be rotated. RMB on the NURBS curve and select Control Vertex. Select the two CVs in the middle of the trunk. Tip It might be easier to locate the CVs by also displaying hulls. If you select only one CV, rotating...
Learning Autodesk Maya
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Reroot a skeleton
In the last step, you created a spine bone that is the child of the shoulder bone. This is not a proper hierarchy since the spine should be the parent of the shoulder. There is a command that allows you to quickly reroot a joint chain. Select the spine bone, which was the last joint created. Select Skeleton Reroot Skeleton. The spine is now the root of the hierarchy. Another very useful feature is the ability to mirror a joint chain automatically. Select Skeleton Mirror Joint O. In the option...
Navigate in joint hierarchy
Delete all the joint chains in your scene. Press the y hotkey to access the Joint Tool. Note Make sure the tool Orientation is set to XYZ. Arm chain Draw a thumb made of two joints. Press the up arrow twice on your keyboard to put the selection on the wrist joint. The arrows let you navigate in the hierarchy without exiting the Joint Tool. Draw the index joints and press the up arrow again. Draw the remaining fingers as above.
Snap the central axis of the body
The following will ensure that all the vertices on the central axis of the body are correctly aligned on the X-axis. Select the mirrored instance and then hit the Delete key. With the body selected, select Display Polygons Border Edges. Doing so shows any edges that are located on borders in the geometry with thicker lines. From the front view, select all the vertices that are on a border. Tip Confirm in the Perspective view that you have selected all the required vertices. Double-click on the...
Screen projection
When painting with a Paint Effects brush, you will notice that the brush icon in the viewport looks stretched. This is because the brush bases itself on the object's UVs, which are stretched. To correct the problem, you need to enable the screen projection option. Expand the Stroke section in the 3D Paint Tool window. Turn On the Screen Projection attribute. Note When painting with Screen Projection, you are painting using the current camera view. This can be very useful in some cases, but can...
Info Pai
Select Modify Add Attribute Set the following in the new attribute window Long Name to smooth Data Type to Integer Minimum to 0 Maximum to 2 Default to 0. Click the OK button to add the new attribute. Using the Connection Editor, connect the new Smooth attribute to the polySmoothFacefs Divisions attribute. You can now easily increase or decrease the resolution of the model. In the next lesson, you will use keyframing techniques to make the character walk. To organize all animation channels...
Extruding the legs
Now that you can see the rough shape of the character's body, you need to extrude the legs. Here, you will extrude both legs at the same time. Select the cage geometry and display its faces. Select the two faces from underneath the pelvis to start extruding the legs. Turn Off the Edit Mesh Keep Faces Together. You will now be able to extrude both faces at the same time, still creating independent legs. Select Edit Mesh Extrude. Move and scale the extruded faces down to the character's knees....
Sine deformer
Select the tree geometry, then select Create Deformers Nonlinear Sine. The Sine handle is created and selected. In the Attribute Editor, highlight the sine1 input. Experiment by moving, rotating, scaling, and combining the different attributes to see their effect on the geometry. Tip The Offset attribute is great for animating a waving effect. This deformer can help achieve refined randomization and could be used to simulate a flag animation or waves on a shore. When you finish experimenting,...
Squash deformer
Select the tree geometry, then select Create Deformers Nonlinear Squash. The Squash handle is created and selected. In the Attribute Editor, highlight the squash1 input. Experiment by moving, rotating, scaling, and combining the different attributes to see their effect on the geometry. This deformer is useful for adding stretch and squash to an animated object. When you finish experimenting, select the deformer and delete it.
Edit smooth bind influence
Modifying the influences of each bone on each vertex can be a tedious task, but you can use the Paint Skin Weights Tool to paint the weights of the vertices directly on the geometry in the viewport. The Paint Skin Weights Tool will display an influence of 100 as white, an influence of 0 as black, and anything in-between as grayscale. This makes it easier to visually edit the influence of bones on the geometry. Select polyCylinder and go to Shading Smooth Shade All. Select Skin Edit Smooth Skin...
Deform the lattice box
RMB on the lattice object in the viewport to bring up the lattice context menu, and select Lattice Point. DG Traversal Inputs Outputs Actions Assign New Material Assign Existing Material Remove Material Ovenide Baking The lattice context menu Transform the lattice points just as you would do with vertices. Notice how the lattice points deform the geometry. Delgo proportions Find the best proportions possible. This is a good time to place the character's feet on the world grid, if they are not...