Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
NO CLASS TODAY - TUESDAY 2/8
My wife delievred a beautiful baby girl Saturday night. We are safe, healthy, home and resting...and tired! I am taking today as a sick day to help with the baby and household.
Class will resume Thursday. Since we do not have class today, your storyboards are due Thursday as well. I will schedule a make up class later in the semester.
Feel free to email me any storyboards in progress, or any maya questions you may have.
Class will resume Thursday. Since we do not have class today, your storyboards are due Thursday as well. I will schedule a make up class later in the semester.
Feel free to email me any storyboards in progress, or any maya questions you may have.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Texturing Tips
Texture adds richness and depth to scenes and characters. While not every project uses textures, knowing how to add and work with them will make you a more versatile digital artist.
The three most important qualities of good textures:
1- Define the material - Is it denim? wood? metal? a rusted door? an old dirty rag?
2- Define maunfacturing - Emblems, logos, stiching, bolts, seams, grain, panels
3- Define age - Wear and tear, dirt, scratches, nicks, paint chips, rust, smudges
There are many ways to add texture to objects in maya. Below is a summary of the various methods of doing so. These methods can often be combined; for example, you could use a procedural shader to define the visibility of image-based textures in a scene.
The two main categories that all of these techniques all into are:
Procedural - made inside of maya using procedural shading nodes. Ex: Ramp, Noise, Stucco, Volume Fractal. Can be 2d or 3d.
Authored - made inside/outside of maya using some type of external input. Ex: Photoshop painting using wacom tablet, digital camera, scanned drawing, movie sequence.
Authored textures can be made in a number of ways, such as....
Downloaded - visit a texture archive (see here and here) and grab some images. Grab several variations and you can tweak/blend them in Photoshop.
Digital camera - make your own textures by photographing your own. Pictures taken from a top-down/front-on view, with the sample flat under even lighting, will work best.
Painted/Drawn in Photoshop and Illustrator - go for it! Wheee!
Painting in Maya using 3d Paint tool - Maya has a 3d paint tool that allows painting on objects in real time. The resulting image can then be saved and exported to Photoshop for additional cleanup and fixes.
Painted in Zbrush or Mudbox, detail exported back to Maya - Zbrush and Mudbox offer ways of sculpting high level detail into a model. The detail can be exported as an image map that Maya can read and apply to the original model. When the model is rendered, the high level detail will be included.
Ideal authored texture size is 512x512, 1024 x 1024, or 2048 x 2048.
The three most important qualities of good textures:
1- Define the material - Is it denim? wood? metal? a rusted door? an old dirty rag?
2- Define maunfacturing - Emblems, logos, stiching, bolts, seams, grain, panels
3- Define age - Wear and tear, dirt, scratches, nicks, paint chips, rust, smudges
There are many ways to add texture to objects in maya. Below is a summary of the various methods of doing so. These methods can often be combined; for example, you could use a procedural shader to define the visibility of image-based textures in a scene.
The two main categories that all of these techniques all into are:
Procedural - made inside of maya using procedural shading nodes. Ex: Ramp, Noise, Stucco, Volume Fractal. Can be 2d or 3d.
Authored - made inside/outside of maya using some type of external input. Ex: Photoshop painting using wacom tablet, digital camera, scanned drawing, movie sequence.
Authored textures can be made in a number of ways, such as....
Downloaded - visit a texture archive (see here and here) and grab some images. Grab several variations and you can tweak/blend them in Photoshop.
Digital camera - make your own textures by photographing your own. Pictures taken from a top-down/front-on view, with the sample flat under even lighting, will work best.
Painted/Drawn in Photoshop and Illustrator - go for it! Wheee!
Painting in Maya using 3d Paint tool - Maya has a 3d paint tool that allows painting on objects in real time. The resulting image can then be saved and exported to Photoshop for additional cleanup and fixes.
Painted in Zbrush or Mudbox, detail exported back to Maya - Zbrush and Mudbox offer ways of sculpting high level detail into a model. The detail can be exported as an image map that Maya can read and apply to the original model. When the model is rendered, the high level detail will be included.
Ideal authored texture size is 512x512, 1024 x 1024, or 2048 x 2048.
Texture archive websites
Check out the two links below for a variety of high-quality images that can be used as textures in maya.
http://cgtextures.com/
http://mayang.com/textures/
http://cgtextures.com/
http://mayang.com/textures/
http://www.textureking.com/
Both sites are free but may require you to register in order to download.
Both sites are free but may require you to register in order to download.
Common Modeling Tools and Commands
Below are some of the more common menu commands used when modeling in Maya.
Create Deformers:
Create Deformers> Create Lattice
Create Deformers> Non-linear > Bend, Squash, Twist, etc
Mesh:
Edit Mesh > Keep faces together (turn on/off to change the way extrude works)
Edit mesh> Extrude (push/pull/scale in/out a selected face)
Edit mesh> Split Poly tool
Edit mesh> Cut Poly tool (use sparingly - can make geometry messy)
Edit mesh> Merge (welds vertexes together)
Mesh> Combine (combines multiple polyObjects into one)
Mesh>Sculpt Geometry Tool
Mesh> Booleans
Mesh>Mirror Geometry
Surfaces:
Revolve - spins a curve on an axis to create a shape. Great for beer bottles.
Loft - creates a surface by connecting multiple curves together.
Extrude - creates a shape by drawing a path along a curve. Great for tree branches.
Misc
Edit> Delete By Type> History - deletes "history and bakes in shape changes
Modify>Center Pivot (moves object's pivot to its center)
"G" hotkey - repeat last command (Ex: Extrude)
"Y" hotkey - repeat use of last tool (Ex: Sculpt Geometry Tool)
Create Deformers:
Create Deformers> Create Lattice
Create Deformers> Non-linear > Bend, Squash, Twist, etc
Mesh:
Edit Mesh > Keep faces together (turn on/off to change the way extrude works)
Edit mesh> Extrude (push/pull/scale in/out a selected face)
Edit mesh> Split Poly tool
Edit mesh> Cut Poly tool (use sparingly - can make geometry messy)
Edit mesh> Merge (welds vertexes together)
Mesh> Combine (combines multiple polyObjects into one)
Mesh>Sculpt Geometry Tool
Mesh> Booleans
Mesh>Mirror Geometry
Surfaces:
Revolve - spins a curve on an axis to create a shape. Great for beer bottles.
Loft - creates a surface by connecting multiple curves together.
Extrude - creates a shape by drawing a path along a curve. Great for tree branches.
Misc
Edit> Delete By Type> History - deletes "history and bakes in shape changes
Modify>Center Pivot (moves object's pivot to its center)
"G" hotkey - repeat last command (Ex: Extrude)
"Y" hotkey - repeat use of last tool (Ex: Sculpt Geometry Tool)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)