Understanding 3D Animation Using Maya (eBook)

John Edgar Park (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2007 | 2005
XVIII, 313 Seiten
Springer New York (Verlag)
978-0-387-26904-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Many animators and designers would like to supplement their Maya learning with a less-technical, more helpful book. This self-study manual is both a general guide for understanding 3-D computer graphics and a specific guide for learning the fundamentals of Maya: workspace, modeling, animation, shading, lighting, and rendering.

Understanding 3-D Animation Using Maya covers these fundamentals in each chapter so that readers gain increasingly detailed knowledge. After an initial 'concepts' section launches each chapter, hands-on tutorials are provided, as well as a chapter project that progressively adds newly learned material and culminates in the final animated short. This is the first book on Maya that teaches the subject using a sensible, proven methodology for both novices and intermediate users.

Topics and features:

- Proven method that emphasizes preliminaries to every chapter

- Integrates the 'why' concepts of 3-D simultaneously with the 'how-to' techniques

- Skills reinforced with tutorials and chapter projects

- Real-world experience distilled into helpful hints and step-by-step guides for common tasks

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Many animators and designers would like to supplement their Maya learning with a less-technical, more helpful book. This new self-study manual is both a general guide for understanding 3-D computer graphics and a specific guide for learning the fundamentals of Maya: workspace, modeling, animation, shading, lighting, and rendering. This well-integrated and produced volume covers these fundamentals in each chapter so that readers gain increasingly detailed knowledge. After an initial 'concepts' section launches each chapter, hands-on tutorials are provided, as well as a chapter project that progressively adds newly learned material and culminates in the final animated short. This is the first book on Maya that teaches the subject using a sensible, proven methodology for both novices and intermediate users. Topics and features: * Proven method that emphasizes preliminaries to every chapter * Integrates the "e;why"e; concepts of 3-D simultaneously with the "e;how-to"e; techniques * Skills reinforced with tutorials and chapter projects * Real-world experience distilled into helpful hints and step-by-step guides for common tasksThe book, suitable for novices or intermediate users, presents all the basic 3-D animation concepts and Maya software background needed for learning animation techniques and creating sophisticated, state-of-the-art animations. It is an essential resource for animators, game developers, effects specialists, and computer graphic artists, as well as an ideal self-study guide for students or individuals pursuing interests in graphics or animation.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments 6
Preface 7
Contents 11
Color Plate 17
Essential Skills 29
1.1 Introduction to 3D Space – Cartesian Coordinate System 31
1.2 Workspace – Getting Around Maya 35
1.3 Modeling — Primitives, Wireframes, Surfaces, and Normals 45
1.4 Animation – Keyframe Basics 60
1.5 Shading — Color, Specular, and Ambient 64
1.6 Lighting — Point Lights: Intensity, Color, and Shadows 68
1.7 Rendering — Outputting a Scene to Frames 73
1.8 Project 1 — Ball Rolling Down an Inclined Plane 79
Refinements 80
2.1 Workspace – Organization 81
2.2 Modeling – Geometry Types 86
2.3 Animation – Copying Keyframes and Moving Pivots 95
2.4 Shading – Material Types 103
2.5 Lighting – Spotlights 106
2.6 Rendering – Camera Basics 110
2.7 Project 2 – Rolling Egg 114
Intermediate Skills 115
3.1 Review – Attribute Editor 116
3.2 Workspace – Hypergraph 116
3.3 Modeling – Curves and Surfaces 118
3.4 Animation – Fine Tuning Animation 132
3.5 Shading – Texture Maps 145
3.6 Lighting – Soft Shadows and Gobos 156
3.7 Rendering – Depth of Field 162
3.8 Project 3 – Curved Half Pipe 165
Adding Character 166
4.1 Review – Graph Editor 167
4.2 Workspace – Efficient Workflow 167
4.3 Modeling – Box Modeling with Polygons and Sub-d Surfaces 169
4.4 Animation – Hierarchies and Groups 187
4.5 Shading – Bump Maps and Transparency 196
4.6 Lighting – Area Lights and Raytracing 201
4.7 Rendering – Camera Effects 208
4.8 Project 4 — Chicken Added to Scene 212
Wiring Things Up 213
5.1 Workspace – Artisan Tools 214
5.2 Modeling – Connecting Surfaces Using Fillets 217
5.3 Animation – Motion Paths, Driven Keys, Added Attributes, Skeletons 220
5.4 Shading – Displacement and UV Texture Mapping 251
5.5 Lighting – Three-point Scheme 275
5.6 Rendering – Camera Cuts 280
5.7 Project 5 – Preparing for Animation 284
Bringing It All Together 285
6.1 Review – Editing Your Camera Cuts 286
6.2 Workspace – Layers, Show by Type, Hiding and Showing 286
6.3 Modeling – Cluster Deformers 288
6.4 Animation – Constraints, Inverse Kinematics, and Skinning 295
6.5 Shading – 3D Paint 314
6.6 Lighting – Final Gathering in Mental Ray 318
6.7 Rendering –Motion Blur 323
6.8 Layout – Importing Elements 325
6.9 Project 6 – Bringing It All Together 329
Index 330

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 29.8.2007
• Zusatzinfo: XVIII, 313 p.
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Informatik ► Grafik / Design ► Maya
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Informatik ► Software Entwicklung
• Schlagworte: 3D • 3-D animation • 3D graphics • Animation • Autodesk Maya • Character animation • Computer Graphics • Image rendering • Maya • Modeling • Rendering • Shading
• ISBN-10: 0-387-26904-5 / 0387269045
• ISBN-13: 978-0-387-26904-7 / 9780387269047