HOUR 1: Introduction to Autodesk Maya and This Book 1 Our Goal 1What Is Autodesk Maya? 2Our Approach 3How We Use Screenshots 4Supplementing Your 3D Training 6Setting a Pace for Learning Maya 8Summary 8Q&A 9Workshop 9 HOUR 2: Menus and Navigating the Maya UI 11 The Maya Interface 11Starting from the Default Maya Interface 12 The Top Area 13 The Center Area 18 The Left Area 19 The Right Area 21 The Bottom Area 23 Axes, Planes, Coordinates 24The Outliner 24Summary 26Q&A 26Workshop 27 HOUR 3: File Types and Managing Assets 29 3D File Types 30 Maya Scene Files 30 Maya Binary 30 Maya ASCII 30 Other 3D File Types 31 OBJ 32 FBX 32 ANIM 33 ATOM 33 2D File Types 33 Texture File Types 34 Miscellaneous Formats 37Maya Projects 37 Set Project 37 Creating a Project 38 Summary 39Q&A 39Workshop 40 HOUR 4: Modeling with Polygonal Geometry 43 Objects in Maya 44Creating Polygons 44 Polygons 46 Summary 57Q&A 58Workshop 58 HOUR 5: Modeling NURBS Curves and Surfaces 61 What Are NURBS? 62 Curve Components 62 Surface Components 63 Modeling with NURBS 65 Creating a Simple Surface 66 More Uses for Curves 74 Animation Controllers 74 Path Animation 74 Summary 77Q&A 78Workshop 78 HOUR 6: Unfolding UVs and Applying Textures 81 What Are UVs? 82 More Complicated Models 83 Texturing in Maya 88 Applying Our Texture 90 Standard Material Options 91 Standard Materials 93 Customizing Our Blinn 94Summary 97Q&A 97Workshop 98 HOUR 7: Creating Node Networks in the Hypershade 101 Navigating the Hypershade 101 The Panels 102 Creating a Simple Network 108Summary 116Q&A 116Workshop 117 HOUR 8: Character Modeling 119 Character Model Basics 120 Working From Designs 120 Using Symmetry In Modeling 125 Starting a Model 128 Edge Loops 129 Continue Refining Your Model 133 Multi-Edged Intersections: Poles 134 Adding the Arms 135 Inside the Mouth 138 Armpits and Shoulders 138 Hands 139 Eyelids 140 Elbows and Knees 140 Smoothing 142 Smoothing Reduces Detail 142 Deciding on Smoothing 142 Crease Edges 143Combining Geometry 143 UVs Review 145 Summary 148Q&A 148Workshop 148 HOUR 9: Relationships and Making Nodes Work Together 151 Viewing Relationships 152Creating Connections 154 The Connection Editor 154 Connecting New Attributes 159 Other Relationships 162 Expressions 162 Driven Keys 163 The Relationship Editor 164 Choosing the Right Relationship 165Summary 167Q&A 167Workshop 168 HOUR 10: Basic Rigging: Preparing Objects for Animation 171 What Is a Rig? 172Why We Rig 172Preparing Your Mesh 173Simple Hierarchy 176 The Geo Group 178 Adding Controls 178Adding Functionality 180 Creating the Bend 181 Summary 183Q&A 183Workshop 184 HOUR 11: Character Rigging: Articulating Characters 187 Joints 188Forward Kinematics Versus Inverse Kinematics 189Starting a Rig 190 Placing Joints 191 Mirroring Joints 194 Finishing the Joint Chain 194 Jaw Joint 196 Joint Orientation 196 Adding IK to the Arms 197Adding Controls 199Connecting Controls 203 Connecting the IK Hand Controls 204 Other Controls 204 BlendShape Control 205 Eye Target 205 Final Cleanup 206Summary 208Q&A 208Workshop 209 HOUR 12: Skinning: Attaching Geometry to a Rig 211 The Skin Nodes 211Rigid Bind 212 Flexors 214 Deform vs. Transform 215 Smooth Bind 216Skinning Sam 216Painting Weights 217 Painting 217 Prune Small Weights 220 Locking Weights 221 Adding More Deformation 222Summary 225Q&A 225Workshop 226 HOUR 13: Animation: Adding Movement to Your Scene 227 The Principles of Animation 228 Squash and Stretch 228 Anticipation 228 Staging 228 Straight-Ahead Action and Pose to Pose 228 Follow Through and Overlapping Action 229 Slow In and Slow Out 229 Arcs 229 Secondary Action 229 Timing 229 Exaggeration 230 Solid Drawing 230 Appeal 230 Time in Maya 230The Timeline 231The Range Slider 232What Is a Keyframe? 232Creating Keyframes 233Using AutoKey to Set Keys 235Manipulating the Timeline 236Copying and Pasting Keys 237The Graph Editor and Editing Keys 239 Working with the Graph Editor 240 Interpolation and Tangents 241 Buffer Curves 244 The Dope Sheet 246Editing Motion with the Trax Editor 248Constraints and Animating 250 Constraint Versus Parent 250 Using Other Animation Tools 252 Creating Dynamic Relationships with Expressions 253 Creating Animation on a Path 254 Driven Keys 256 An Animated Scene 257Summary 258Q&A 258Workshop 259 HOUR 14: Creating and Adjusting Cameras 261 Creating Cameras 262Common Camera Attributes 265 Camera Attributes 265 Depth of Field 268 Output Settings 269 Environment 269 Special Effects 270 Display Options 270 2D Pan/Zoom 271 Movement Options 271 Orthographic Views 272 The Different Camera Types 272 Camera 272 Camera and Aim 272 Camera, Aim, and Up 272 Stereo Camera and Multi-Stereo Rig 272 Animating Cameras 272 Keyframing 273 Summary 276Q&A 276Workshop 277 HOUR 15: Making Diverse Shapes with BlendShapes 279 BlendShape Node 280Applying a BlendShape 281Creating BlendShapes 284 Sculpting Geometry 285 Adding a BlendShape 289 Making Controllers 290 Corrective BlendShapes 291Other Uses for BlendShapes 293Summary 294Q&A 294Workshop 295 HOUR 16: Animating Using Dynamics and Simulations 297 What Are Dynamics? 298 What are nDynamics? 298 Physics in Action 298 What Does Simulating Mean? 299 Getting Started with Rigid Bodies 299 Creating the Scene 300 Getting Dynamic 302 Let the Apple Fall from the Tree 302 Simulating the Apple Falling 307The Rigid Body Solver 310 Creating a Cache 310 Summary 311Q&A 311Workshop 312 HOUR 17: Scripting and Automating Common Tasks 315 MEL Scripting Basics 316Writing Scripts in the Script Editor 317Learning MEL from Maya in Action 320Getting Help on Commands 322Creating a Universe with MEL 325 Creating a Universe with MEL: Intermediate 329 Making Use of the Shelves 335Summary 337Q&A 337Workshop 337 HOUR 18: Using Particles to Create Effects 339 What Are Particles? 340 What Is an Emitter? 340 Particles or nParticles? 340 Getting Started with nParticles 341 Editing the Attributes of an Emitter 345 Making More Adjustments 349 Copying Attributes by Using Presets 352 Creating a Cache 354Summary 355Q&A 355Workshop 356 HOUR 19: Lighting Your Scene Correctly 359 Lighting Basics 360 Observing Light and Shadows 360 Creating Lights and Shadows 361 Maya Light Types 362 Casting Shadows 366 Positioning Lights 367 Common Light Attributes 370 Spot Light Attributes 372 Getting Started with Three-Point Lighting 374 Creating the Key Light 374 Creating the Fill Light 377 Creating the Back Light 378 Summary 380Q&A 381Workshop 381 HOUR 20: Applying Hair and Cloth for Realism 383 Applying Fur and Hair 384 Loading Fur 384 Applying Fur 384 Modifying Fur Attributes 385 Applying Hair 386 Follicles and Curves 388Creating Dynamic Hair and Fur 389 nHair and Dynamics 390 Fur and Dynamics 390 nCloth and nDynamics 391Attaching nCloth to Other Objects 392Characters and Clothes 393Animating with Hair and nCloth 394Summary 397Q&A 397Workshop 398 HOUR 21: Rendering Final Imagery 399 Render Basics 400 Render Buttons 401 Rendering Single Images 402 Render View 402 Rendering Regions 405 Comparing Saved Images 406 Fine-tuning with IPR 407 Render Settings 409 Common Settings 410 Quality Presets 413 Rendering Animations with Batch Render 415 Check Render Settings for Batch Rendering 415 To Batch Render 417 Viewing in FCheck 418 Summary 419Q&A 419Workshop 419 HOUR 22: Working with Film 421 Importing a Film Plate 421Using a 3D Tracked Camera 424Setting Up the Scene 424Scene Scale 426Masks 429More Camera Settings 430 Clip Planes 430 Film Back and Film Gate 431 Common Render Settings 431Aspect Ratios and Resolution 431Color 432Summary 433Q&A 433Workshop 434 HOUR 23: Correct Project Management and Scene Workflow 435 The Maya Project Structure 436Naming Conventions 437Directory Structure Issues 438Referencing Pipeline 439Relative and Absolute Paths 441Good Project Workflows 441Pull or Push Workflows 442Project X Workflow Case Study 443Summary 445Q&A 445Workshop 446 HOUR 24: Ideal Settings, Preferences, and Hotkeys 447 Settings and Preferences Basics 448 User Preferences 449 Saving and Deleting Preferences 455 Hotkeys 456 Hotbox and Marking Menus 456 Common Hotkeys 458 Summary 467Q&A 467Workshop 467 Index 469.