Maya 5 Fundamentals

With the powerful 3D modeling program Maya 5, users are limited only by their own imagination. In these pages, veteran animator Jim Lammers (who brought life to the Sony/Tristar film "Starship Troopers") takes readers from a review of 3D fundamentals to full-blown Maya 5 content creation. A companion CD includes video-captured movies that walk readers through every tutorial in the book.

Real-world solutions for real-world production environments! Luis Cataldi, BlueSky Studios Maya is a very powerful application. Before artists can create and share their ideas and visions, they must understand its complicated tools and learn to harness its power.Inside Maya 5can help develop a functional understanding of Maya's many tools through solid examples and production-proven methods. From the back cover Are you familiar with the basic Maya tools? Can you complete most tasks with little or no reliance on the help files? Do your questions about Maya center on how to put all the pieces together and use the software in a production setting? If so,Inside Maya 5is just what you want and need. Industry professionals who have worked for such houses as Digital Domain, ILM, PDI/DreamWorks, and Pixar provide insights into making great production decisions that take advantage of the power of Maya without compromising production quality - real-world solutions to real-world challenges! You'll get coverage of: Using Maya in the digital studio pipeline MEL and the Maya API Modeling techniques for NURBS, polygonal modeling, and subdivision surfaces Modeling characters, sets, and props Maya's node-based architecture Particles and dynamics Character animation and rigging Lighting, shading and rendering Bonus interviews with Scott Clark (Pixar) and Paul Thuriot (Tippett Studios) The companion CD includes the source files you need to complete the exercises in each chapter.

Savvy—n. Practical know-how. Maya, the premier high-end 3D application, is so powerful that no one masters it without help. Maya 5 Savvy—a thorough update to Maya 4.5 Savvy—is written for the Maya user looking to boost their skills to the next level. Running throughout this book is a completely new, cohesive, expertly organized animation project that teaches specific Maya skills and, at the same time, gives you valuable hands-on exposure to the entire animation production process. Staged support files mean that you can begin and end work on this project anywhere you like—which in turn means you can read this book cover to cover or use it as a reference, dipping in wherever you need information on or practice with specific modeling, animation, and rendering techniques. Everywhere you turn,you'll find expert advice on the latest Maya features, time-saving shortcuts, and advanced capabilities. Coverage includes: Core Maya: interface briefing, plus planning, writing, and storyboarding your animation. Modeling: NURBS, polygons and subdivision surfaces, character modeling. Animation: paths and bones, deformers, binding, Trax, rigid body dynamics, MEL scripting, particle animation, expression-driven animation. Output: rendering architecture, rendering, shading and texturing, lighting, special light effects. Advanced Tools and Techniques: Paint Effects, ramps and volumes, soft body dynamics, Fluid Effects, Fur, Cloth. Note:CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Expand your animation toolkit and remain competitive in the industry with this leading resource for 2D and 3D character animation techniques. Apply the industry's best practices to your own workflows and develop 2D, 3D and hybrid characters with ease. With side by side comparisons of 2D and 3D character design, improve your character animation and master traditional principles and processes including weight and balance, timing and walks. Develop characters inspired by humans, birds, fish, snakes and four legged animals. Breathe life into your character and develop a characters personality with chapters on acting, voice-synching and facial expressions. Expertly integrate core animation techniques with your software of choice featuring step-by-step tutorials, highlighting 3ds Max, Maya and Blender workflows. Adapt the tips, tricks and techniques for unique projects like character design for rotoscoping and motion capture. Advance beyond the fundamentals of 2D and 3D character animation with the companion website which includes short demonstration movies, 2D and 3D exercises and fully rigged character models.

Finally a book that bridges the world of software instruction with the classical principles of animation - for animators. Lee Montgomery offers the only artistic guide to applying the principles of traditional animation with Maya's tool set.

Every subject identity is dependent on fundamental principles. Indian philosophy plays an important role in every other philosophy of the world. Every man must have a religion, especially one which appeals to the intellectual mind. This book in an analytical approach to providing all the important fundamental principles of Indian philosophy in a brief and precise format, so that the needs of civil services, state civil services, national eligibility test, under graduate, post graduate of university students, all are fulfilled by mastering a single book. This book is also for philosophers, researches and academic professors of the world. The author’s own views concerning different issues of Indian philosophy are provided at the end of each subject. His approach may be termed as integral humanism which looks at all aspects of a problem and views it from a humanist view point.

"This book...is long overdue, and something that Maya users will undoubtedly welcome with open text editors" --Joaquin Kino Gil, CreativeCOW.net Learning Maya 5: MEL Fundamentals is you key to harnessing the full power of Maya, and you don't have to be a programmer to learn. MEL (Maya Embedded Language) is the scripting language used by Maya and is the foundation of the Maya User Interface and of many of its tools. Knowing MEL will permit you to customize the Maya UI, automate repetitive tasks, modify existing tools, and even create your own tools. Learning Maya 5 | MEL Fundatmentals is your key to solving production challenges creatively and efficiently. This book is written for the artist, so don't be intimidated if you have no prior programming experience. Features: Starting from an introductory level, this book will allow you to explore advanced concepts in a comfortable format. Each topic is explored in both theory and practice so that you'll not only understand the concepts presented, you'll be able to complete easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorials to ensure that you master them. You'll benefit from sample scripts and examples that will prove invaluable to you as your Maya skills increase. In addition, you'll take advantage of valuable chapter-by-chapter overviews provided in QuickTime(r) format on CD-ROM. Offered by Glen Chang, and Alias|Wavefront(TM) Certified Instructor, these helpful movies will allow you to gain additional insight as you work through the book. With this book you will: * Explore MEL's role in Maya * Customize the Maya User Interface with MEL. * Understand Maya's architecture, Nodes, and Attributes * Learn MEL commands and syntax. * Explore variables and expressions. * Write conditional and looking statements. * Learn scripting and procedures. * Get advanced scripting examples. * Create UI windows, layouts and tools. And much more...