Introducing Autodesk Maya 2016
Autodesk Official Press

Introducing Autodesk Maya 2016 is the official guide to the most popular and complex 3D application on the market. Building from the ground up, this book combines straightforward text with practical examples that make it easy to absorb the basics and start designing and animating your own digital models and scenes. The tutorials offer realistic challenges and clear explanations, laid out in fun, step-by-step lessons that help you gain confidence and learn by doing. You'll delve into CG and 3D core concepts and production workflows, then get right to work designing an animation of the solar system as you learn the interface and basic tools. As your modeling skills grow, you'll build a steam locomotive, a starfish, a table lamp, and much more as you learn to rig your model for animation, create fabric motion with nCloth, and add the lighting and effects that bring your scenes to life. The companion website features downloadable project files that help you see how the pros do it, and the book includes real-world examples from talented users who were beginners just like you.

• Master the Maya 2016 interface, menus, and plug-ins
• Begin building simple animations right away
• Explore modeling, rendering, animation, and cloth motion
• Add lighting, rendering, dynamics, simulations, and effects

If you want to work like the pros, Introducing Autodesk Maya 2016 is the perfect primer for getting started.

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D 1

A Preview of the CG Process 2

The CG Production Workflow 2

Digital Images 4

Summary 9

Chapter 2 Jumping into Basic Animation Headfirst 11

You Put the U in User Interface 12

Project: The Solar System 17

Creating a Project 17

The Production Process: Creating and

Animating the Objects 19

Hierarchy and Maya Object Structure 32

The Solar System, Resumed 34

Outputting Your Work: Playblasting 41

Summary 42

Chapter 3 The Autodesk® Maya® 2016 Interface 45

Navigating in Maya 46

Exploring the Maya Layout 46

Building a Decorative Box 58

Mapping the Box’s Reference Planes with Hypershade 61

Organizing Workflow with the Layer Editor 67

Modeling the Decorative Box 68

Editing the Decorative Box Model Using the Shelf 73

Continuing the Decorative Box Model 77

Finishing the Decorative Box Model 80

Summary 87

Contents

Chapter 4 Beginning Polygonal Modeling 89

Planning Your Model 90

Polygon Basics 92

Poly Editing Tools 94

Putting the Tools to Use: Making a Cartoon Hand 101

Creating Areas of Detail on a Poly Mesh 110

Modeling a Catapult 124

Summary 153

Chapter 5 Modeling with NURBS Surfaces and Deformers 155

NURBS for Organic Curves 156

Using NURBS Surfacing to Create Polygons 163

Converting a NURBS Model to Polygons 165

Using Artisan to Sculpt NURBS 167

Creating a Pair of Glass Candle Holders 167

Modeling with Simple Deformers 175

The Lattice Deformer 180

Animating Through a Lattice 185

Summary 188

Chapter 6 Practical Experience! 189

Evaluating the Toy Plane 190

Building the Landing Pontoons 192

Oh, What a Body! Modeling the Body of the Plane 208

The Rear Stabilizers 213

You Spin Me Right Round—The Engine and Propeller 217

The Plane’s Wings 221

Assembling the Plane 230

Summary 232

Chapter 7 Autodesk® Maya® Shading and Texturing 233

Maya Shading 234

Shader Types 234

Shader Attributes 238

Shading and Texturing the Toy Plane 242

Textures and Surfaces 247

Textures and UVs for the Red Wagon 256

Photo-Real Mapping: The Decorative Box 292

Toon Shading 309

For Further Study 312

Summary 312

Chapter 8 Introduction to Animation 315

Keyframe Animation: Bouncing a Ball 316

Throwing an Axe 327

Replacing an Object 338

Animating Flying Text 340

Animating the Catapult 344

Summary 349

Chapter 9 More Animation! 351

Skeletons and Kinematics 352

Skeletons: The Hand 368

Inverse Kinematics 383

Basic Relationships: Constraints 387

Basic Relationships: Set-Driven Keys 392

Rigging the Locomotive 396

Creating a Simple Character Rig 404

For Further Study 413

Summary 414

Chapter 10 Autodesk® Maya® Lighting 415

Basic Lighting Concepts 416

Maya Lights 420

Light Linking 427

Adding Shadows 429

Raytracing Soft Shadows 433

Mental ray Lighting 434

Mental ray Physical Sun and Sky 436

Lighting Effects 440

Assembling and Lighting a Scene 444

Further Lighting Practice 452

Tips for Using and Animating Lights 452

Summary 454

Chapter 11 Autodesk® Maya® Rendering 455

Rendering Setup 456

Previewing Your Render: The Render

View Window 465

Setting the Default Renderer 467

Reflections and Refractions 468

Using Cameras 470

Motion Blur 478

Batch Rendering 479

Rendering the Wine Bottle 480

Mental ray for Maya 485

Render Layers 491

Final Gather 502

Ambient Occlusion 506

HDRI 515

Displacement Mapping the Decorative Box 518

Rendering the Scene with mental ray 530

Summary 541

Chapter 12 Autodesk® Maya® Dynamics and Effects 543

An Overview of Maya Dynamics 544

Rigid Bodies 544

Rigid Body Dynamics: Shoot the Catapult! 548

nParticle Dynamics 556

Emitting nParticles 556

Animating a Particle Effect:

Locomotive Steam 564

Introduction to Paint Effects 573

Getting Started with nCloth 577

Customizing Maya 583

Summary 588

Where Do You Go from Here? 588

Index 589

Dariush Derakhshani is an award-winning visual effects supervisor, author, and educator whose work has appeared in The Fantastic Four, Pan's Labyrinth, the South Park TV series, and countless commercials and music videos. An Autodesk Certified Instructor, he teaches 3D animation and is the author of previous editions of Introducing Maya. Dariush is coauthor of the Autodesk 3ds Max series of books.