Description

Book Synopsis
Go from ''beginner'' to ''expert'' with this professional, tutorial-based guide to Maya 2016

Mastering Autodesk Maya 2016is your professional hands-on coverage to getting the most out of Maya. If you already know the basics of Maya, this book is your ticket to full coverage of all Maya 2016''s latest features, and showcases the tools and methods used in real-world 3D animation and visual effects. From modeling, texturing, animation, and effects to high-level techniques for film, television, games, and more, this book expands your skill set, and helps you prepare for the Autodesk Maya certification exam. Filled with challenging tutorials and real-world scenarios this book provides valuable insight into the entire CG production timeline.

Take your Maya skills to the next level with step-by-step instruction and insight from the industry professionals.

  • Learn professional techniques used in real-world visual effects
  • Master Dynamics, Maya Muscle,

    Table of Contents
    Introduction xix

    Chapter 1 Working in Autodesk Maya 1

    Color Management 1

    Creating and Editing Nodes 3

    Using the Hypergraph 3

    Connecting Nodes with the Node Editor 8

    Creating Node Hierarchies in the Outliner 13

    Displaying Options in the Outliner 17

    The Channel Box 20

    The Attribute Editor 24

    Working with Shader Nodes in the Hypershade 27

    Creating Maya Projects 35

    Creating a New Project 36

    Editing and Changing Projects 37

    The Bottom Line 38

    Chapter 2 Introduction to Animation 39

    Using Joints and Constraints 39

    Joint Basics 39

    Point Constraints 41

    Aim Constraints 41

    Inverse Kinematics 44

    IK Handle Tool 45

    Creating a Master Control 48

    Keyframe Animation 51

    Creating Keyframes 52

    Auto Keyframe 54

    Moving and Scaling Keyframes on the Timeline 55

    Copy, Paste, and Cut Keyframes 57

    The Graph Editor 59

    Animation Curves 60

    Editing Animation Curves 65

    Weighted Tangents 69

    Additional Editing Tools 70

    Breakdowns and In-Betweens 74

    Pre- and Post-Infinity 76

    Playblast and FCheck 79

    Driven Keys 81

    Creating a Driven Key 81

    Looping Driven Keys 84

    Copying and Pasting Driven Keys 85

    Motion-Path Animation 88

    Motion Trails 90

    Animating Constraints 93

    Animation Layers 97

    Creating an Animation Layer 97

    Layer Mode 99

    Other Options in the Layer Editor 102

    Layer Hierarchy 103

    Merging Layers 106

    Grease Pencil 107

    The Bottom Line 109

    Chapter 3 Hard-Surface Modeling 111

    Understanding Polygon Geometry 111

    Polygon Vertices 111

    Polygon Edges 112

    Polygon Faces 113

    Working with Smooth Polygons 114

    Understanding NURBS 115

    Understanding Curves 116

    Understanding NURBS Surfaces 118

    Surface Seams 121

    NURBS Display Controls 121

    Using Subdivision Surfaces 122

    Employing Image Planes 122

    Modeling NURBS Surfaces 126

    Lofting Surfaces 134

    Attaching Surfaces 136

    Converting NURBS Surfaces to Polygons 139

    Modeling with Polygons 140

    Using Booleans 141

    Cleaning Topology 146

    Creating Your Own Polygons 148

    Multi-Cut Tool 151

    Combining and Merging Geometry 153

    Bridge Polygon 155

    Mirror Cut 159

    The Bottom Line 160

    Chapter 4 Organic Modeling 163

    Implement Box Modeling 163

    Shaping Using Smooth Mesh Polygon Geometry 164

    Multi-Cut with Edge Flow 175

    Slide Edge Tool 177

    Offset Edge Loops 178

    Employ Build-Out Modeling 179

    Extrude along a Curve 181

    Sculpt Polygons 185

    Soft Select Tool 185

    Sculpting Tools 187

    Use Retopology Tools 189

    Importing and Exporting 189

    Alembic Cache Files 190

    Slide on Surface 190

    Quad Draw 193

    Reduce 198

    The Bottom Line 199

    Chapter 5 Rigging and Muscle Systems 201

    Understanding Rigging 201

    Creating and Organizing Joint Hierarchies 203

    Orienting Joints 211

    Naming Joints 212

    Mirroring Joints 215

    Rigging the Giraffe 216

    IK Legs 216

    FK Blending 219

    Rotate-Plane Solver 221

    Creating Custom Attributes 225

    Spline IK 230

    Human Inverse Kinematics 237

    Skeleton Generator 237

    Character Controls 239

    Interoperability 241

    Skinning Geometry 242

    Interactive/Smooth Binding 243

    Weighting the Giraffe 243

    Geodesic Voxel Binding 250

    Painting Skin Weights 253

    Editing Skin Weights in the Component Editor 258

    Copying Skin Weights 259

    Mirroring Skin Weights 260

    The Maya Muscle System 260

    Understanding the Maya Muscle System 260

    Using Capsules 261

    Creating a Muscle Using the Muscle Builder 262

    Editing Muscle Parameters 268

    Converting the Smooth Skin to a Muscle System 270

    Sliding Weights 272

    The Bottom Line 273

    Chapter 6 Animation Techniques 275

    Working with Deformers 275

    ShrinkWrapping Geometry 275

    Using Textures to Deform Objects 278

    Delta Mush 281

    Animating Facial Expressions Using Blend Shapes 283

    Creating Blend Shape Targets 286

    Creating Blend Shapes 292

    Painting Blend Shape Weights 294

    Adding Targets 297

    Animating a Scene Using Nonlinear Deformers 298

    Creating a Wave Deformer 299

    Squashing and Stretching Objects 300

    Twisting Objects 302

    Creating a Jiggle Effect 304

    Applying Jiggle Deformers 304

    Painting Jiggle Weights 305

    Optimizing Animations with the Geometry Cache 307

    Creating a Geometry Cache 307

    Editing the Cache Playback 308

    Applying Motion Capture 309

    The Bottom Line 311

    Chapter 7 Lighting with mental ray 313

    Shadow-Casting Lights 313

    Shadow Preview 314

    Depth Map Shadows 316

    mental ray Shadow Map Overrides 320

    Raytrace Shadows 322

    Indirect Lighting: Global Illumination 323

    Color Bleeding 326

    Indirect Illumination: Final Gathering 326

    Light-Emitting Objects 327

    Using Lights with Final Gathering 331

    Image-Based Lighting 332

    Enabling IBL 332

    IBL and Final Gathering 333

    Physical Sun and Sky 335

    Enabling Physical Sun and Sky 335

    Editing the Sky Settings 337

    mental ray Area Lights 338

    Light Shaders 341

    Physical Light Shader 341

    Tone Mapping 343

    Photometric Lights and Profiles 344

    The Bottom Line 345

    Chapter 8 mental ray Shading Techniques 347

    Shading Concepts 347

    Diffusion 350

    Reflection 351

    Refraction 351

    The Fresnel Effect 353

    Anisotropy 353

    Layering Shaders 354

    Creating Reflections and Refractions 355

    Creating Metals and Plastics 362

    Adding Shaders to Individual Polygons 364

    Building a Layered Car Paint Shader 365

    Base Parameters 367

    Flake Parameters 369

    Specular Reflection Layer 370

    Glossy Reflection Parameters 370

    The Bottom Line 371

    Chapter 9 Texture Mapping 373

    UV Texture Layout 373

    What Are UV Texture Coordinates? 374

    Mapping the Giraffe Leg 376

    Unfolding UVs 381

    Mapping the Giraffe Head 381

    Mirroring UVs 384

    More UV Tools 387

    Arranging UV Shells 388

    Additional UV Mapping Considerations 391

    Transferring UVs 392

    Multiple UV Sets 392

    Optimizing Textures 392

    Bump and Normal Mapping 393

    Bump Maps 393

    Normal Maps 394

    Creating Normal Maps 396

    Applying Normal Maps 400

    Displacement Mapping 402

    Subsurface Scattering 407

    Fast, Simple Skin-Shader Setup 407

    Subsurface Specularity 411

    ShaderFX 415

    The Bottom Line 417

    Chapter 10 Paint Effects 419

    Using the Paint Effects Canvas 419

    The Paint Effects Window 420

    Painting in Scene Mode 424

    Painting on 3D Objects 425

    Understanding Strokes 427

    The Anatomy of a Paint Effects Stroke 427

    Brush Sharing 430

    Understanding Brush Curve Nodes 431

    Designing Brushes 433

    Starting from Scratch 433

    Tubes 436

    Growing Flowers 438

    Adding Leaves 444

    Create Complexity by Adding Strokes to a Curve 447

    Shaping Strokes with Behavior Controls 450

    Applying Forces 450

    Displacement, Spiral, and Bend 451

    Animating Strokes 453

    Animating Attribute Values 455

    Adding Turbulence 456

    Animating Growth 457

    Modifiers 458

    Surface Collisions 459

    Rendering Paint Effects 460

    Illumination 461

    Shadow Effects 461

    Shading Strokes and Tubes 463

    Texturing Strokes 466

    Converting Strokes to Geometry 469

    The Bottom Line 471

    Chapter 11 Rendering for Compositing 473

    Render Layers 473

    Creating Render Layers 474

    Render Layer Overrides 477

    Creating Overrides for Rendering Cameras 479

    Material Overrides 481

    Render Layer Blend Modes 481

    Render Passes 486

    Rendering Multiple Passes from a Single Render Layer 488

    Creating an Ambient Occlusion Render Pass 492

    Setting Up a Render with mental ray 494

    File Tokens 494

    Specifying Frame Range 497

    Starting a Batch Render 498

    Command-Line Rendering 499

    mental ray Quality Settings 502

    Tessellation and Approximation Nodes 502

    Sampling 504

    Filtering 504

    The Bottom Line 504

    Chapter 12 Introducing nParticles 507

    Creating nParticles 507

    Drawing nParticles Using the nParticle Tool 508

    Spawning nParticles from an Emitter 512

    Emitting nParticles from a Surface 515

    Filling an Object with nParticles 518

    Making nParticles Collide with nRigids 523

    Passive Collision Objects 523

    Collide Strength and Collision Ramps 528

    Using nParticles to Simulate Liquids 531

    Creating Liquid Behavior 531

    Converting nParticles to Polygons 536

    Shading the nParticle Mesh 537

    Emitting nParticles Using a Texture 539

    Surface Emission 539

    Using Wind 545

    Shading nParticles and Using Hardware Rendering to Create Flame Effects 549

    Shading nParticles to Simulate Flames 549

    Creating an nCache 551

    Using the Hardware Render Buffer 553

    Controlling nParticles with Fields 556

    Using Multiple Emitters 556

    Volume Axis Curve 560

    Working with Force Fields 566

    Painting Field Maps 569

    Using Dynamic Fields 572

    Rendering Particles with mental ray 576

    The Bottom Line 579

    Chapter 13 Dynamic Effects 581

    Creating nCloth Objects 581

    Making a Polygon Mesh Dynamic 582

    Applying nCloth Presets 585

    Making Surfaces Sticky 587

    Creating nConstraints 589

    Making nCloth Objects Expand Using Pressure 593

    Additional Techniques 595

    Creating an nCache 595

    Creating nCloth and nParticle Interactions 597

    Creating an nParticle Goal 598

    Controlling Collision Events 601

    Bursting an Object Open Using Tearable nConstraints 603

    Crumbling Tower 604

    Soft Body Dynamics 606

    Creating Flying Debris Using nParticle Instancing 607

    Adding nParticles to the Scene 607

    Sending the Debris Flying Using a Field 610

    Creating a More Convincing Explosion by Adjusting nParticle Mass 612

    Instancing Geometry 613

    Animating Instances Using nParticle Expressions 615

    Randomizing Instance Index 615

    Connecting Instance Size to nParticle Mass 620

    Controlling the Rotation of nParticles 624

    Bullet Physics 626

    The Bottom Line 629

    Chapter 14 Hair and Clothing 631

    Understanding XGen 631

    Creating an XGen Description 632

    XGen Library 637

    Rendering an XGen Description 638

    Animating Using Dynamic Curves 642

    Using Dynamic Curves with IK Splines 642

    Creating an IK Spline Handle from the Dynamic Curve 647

    Using Forces 648

    Adding Hair to a Character 649

    Applying Hair to a Surface 649

    Determining Hair Shape 653

    Styling Hair 656

    Start and Rest Positions 656

    Painting Follicle Attributes 658

    Modifying Curves 660

    Curling, Noise, Sub Clumping, and Braids 660

    Rendering Hair 661

    Creating Clothing for Characters 662

    Modeling Clothes for nCloth 662

    Using Constraints 664

    Connecting Buttons to the Shirt 670

    Applying Forces 671

    Painting nCloth Properties 671

    The Bottom Line 675

    Chapter 15 Maya Fluids 677

    Using Fluid Containers 677

    Using 2D Containers 678

    Adding an Emitter 679

    Using Fields with Fluids 683

    Using 3D Containers 686

    Fluid Interactions 687

    Emitting Fluids from a Surface 687

    Making Flames 690

    Igniting the Fuel 693

    Filling Objects 694

    Rendering Fluid Containers 700

    Creating Fluids and nParticle Interactions 702

    Emitting Fluids from nParticles 702

    Creating Flaming Trails 706

    Creating Water Effects 708

    Bifrost Liquid Simulation 708

    Shading Bifrost Liquids 714

    Guiding Liquid 717

    Creating an Ocean 720

    The Bottom Line 722

    Chapter 16 Scene Management and Virtual Filmmaking 725

    Organizing Complex Node Structures with Assets 725

    Creating an Asset 726

    Publishing Asset Attributes 730

    Using the Asset Editor 731

    Viewing Assets in the Node Editor 733

    File References 733

    Referencing a File 734

    Bounding-Box Representations 736

    Determining the Image Size and Film Speed of the Camera 737

    Setting the Size and Resolution of the Image 738

    Setting the Film Speed 740

    Creating and Animating Cameras 740

    Creating a Camera 741

    Setting Camera Attributes 744

    Limiting the Range of Renderable Objects with Clipping Planes 747

    Composing the Shot Using the Film-Back Settings 750

    Creating a Camera-Shake Effect 752

    Using an Expression to Control Alpha Offset 755

    Creating Custom Camera Rigs 758

    Swivel Camera Rig 758

    Swivel Camera Rig Asset 760

    Applying Depth of Field and Motion Blur 764

    Rendering Using Depth of Field 764

    Creating a Rack Focus Rig 767

    Adding Motion Blur to an Animation 771

    Using Orthographic and Stereo Cameras 774

    Orthographic Cameras 774

    Stereo Cameras 775

    Using the Camera Sequencer 778

    The Bottom Line 782

    Appendixes

    Appendix A The Bottom Line 783

    Chapter 1: Working in Autodesk Maya 783

    Chapter 2: Introduction to Animation 784

    Chapter 3: Hard-Surface Modeling 785

    Chapter 4: Organic Modeling 786

    Chapter 5: Rigging and Muscle Systems 787

    Chapter 6: Animation Techniques 788

    Chapter 7: Lighting with mental ray 789

    Chapter 8: mental ray Shading Techniques 790

    Chapter 9: Texture Mapping 791

    Chapter 10: Paint Effects 792

    Chapter 11: Rendering for Compositing 794

    Chapter 12: Introducing nParticles 795

    Chapter 13: Dynamic Effects 796

    Chapter 14: Hair and Clothing 797

    Chapter 15: Maya Fluids 798

    Chapter 16: Scene Management and Virtual Filmmaking 799

    Appendix B Autodesk Maya 2016 Certification 803

    Index 807

Mastering Autodesk Maya 2016

    Product form

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Sat 18 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Todd Palamar

    4 in stock

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of Mastering Autodesk Maya 2016 by Todd Palamar

      Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc
      Publication Date: 22/09/2015
      ISBN13: 9781119059820, 978-1119059820
      ISBN10: 1119059828

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Go from ''beginner'' to ''expert'' with this professional, tutorial-based guide to Maya 2016

      Mastering Autodesk Maya 2016is your professional hands-on coverage to getting the most out of Maya. If you already know the basics of Maya, this book is your ticket to full coverage of all Maya 2016''s latest features, and showcases the tools and methods used in real-world 3D animation and visual effects. From modeling, texturing, animation, and effects to high-level techniques for film, television, games, and more, this book expands your skill set, and helps you prepare for the Autodesk Maya certification exam. Filled with challenging tutorials and real-world scenarios this book provides valuable insight into the entire CG production timeline.

      Take your Maya skills to the next level with step-by-step instruction and insight from the industry professionals.

      • Learn professional techniques used in real-world visual effects
      • Master Dynamics, Maya Muscle,

        Table of Contents
        Introduction xix

        Chapter 1 Working in Autodesk Maya 1

        Color Management 1

        Creating and Editing Nodes 3

        Using the Hypergraph 3

        Connecting Nodes with the Node Editor 8

        Creating Node Hierarchies in the Outliner 13

        Displaying Options in the Outliner 17

        The Channel Box 20

        The Attribute Editor 24

        Working with Shader Nodes in the Hypershade 27

        Creating Maya Projects 35

        Creating a New Project 36

        Editing and Changing Projects 37

        The Bottom Line 38

        Chapter 2 Introduction to Animation 39

        Using Joints and Constraints 39

        Joint Basics 39

        Point Constraints 41

        Aim Constraints 41

        Inverse Kinematics 44

        IK Handle Tool 45

        Creating a Master Control 48

        Keyframe Animation 51

        Creating Keyframes 52

        Auto Keyframe 54

        Moving and Scaling Keyframes on the Timeline 55

        Copy, Paste, and Cut Keyframes 57

        The Graph Editor 59

        Animation Curves 60

        Editing Animation Curves 65

        Weighted Tangents 69

        Additional Editing Tools 70

        Breakdowns and In-Betweens 74

        Pre- and Post-Infinity 76

        Playblast and FCheck 79

        Driven Keys 81

        Creating a Driven Key 81

        Looping Driven Keys 84

        Copying and Pasting Driven Keys 85

        Motion-Path Animation 88

        Motion Trails 90

        Animating Constraints 93

        Animation Layers 97

        Creating an Animation Layer 97

        Layer Mode 99

        Other Options in the Layer Editor 102

        Layer Hierarchy 103

        Merging Layers 106

        Grease Pencil 107

        The Bottom Line 109

        Chapter 3 Hard-Surface Modeling 111

        Understanding Polygon Geometry 111

        Polygon Vertices 111

        Polygon Edges 112

        Polygon Faces 113

        Working with Smooth Polygons 114

        Understanding NURBS 115

        Understanding Curves 116

        Understanding NURBS Surfaces 118

        Surface Seams 121

        NURBS Display Controls 121

        Using Subdivision Surfaces 122

        Employing Image Planes 122

        Modeling NURBS Surfaces 126

        Lofting Surfaces 134

        Attaching Surfaces 136

        Converting NURBS Surfaces to Polygons 139

        Modeling with Polygons 140

        Using Booleans 141

        Cleaning Topology 146

        Creating Your Own Polygons 148

        Multi-Cut Tool 151

        Combining and Merging Geometry 153

        Bridge Polygon 155

        Mirror Cut 159

        The Bottom Line 160

        Chapter 4 Organic Modeling 163

        Implement Box Modeling 163

        Shaping Using Smooth Mesh Polygon Geometry 164

        Multi-Cut with Edge Flow 175

        Slide Edge Tool 177

        Offset Edge Loops 178

        Employ Build-Out Modeling 179

        Extrude along a Curve 181

        Sculpt Polygons 185

        Soft Select Tool 185

        Sculpting Tools 187

        Use Retopology Tools 189

        Importing and Exporting 189

        Alembic Cache Files 190

        Slide on Surface 190

        Quad Draw 193

        Reduce 198

        The Bottom Line 199

        Chapter 5 Rigging and Muscle Systems 201

        Understanding Rigging 201

        Creating and Organizing Joint Hierarchies 203

        Orienting Joints 211

        Naming Joints 212

        Mirroring Joints 215

        Rigging the Giraffe 216

        IK Legs 216

        FK Blending 219

        Rotate-Plane Solver 221

        Creating Custom Attributes 225

        Spline IK 230

        Human Inverse Kinematics 237

        Skeleton Generator 237

        Character Controls 239

        Interoperability 241

        Skinning Geometry 242

        Interactive/Smooth Binding 243

        Weighting the Giraffe 243

        Geodesic Voxel Binding 250

        Painting Skin Weights 253

        Editing Skin Weights in the Component Editor 258

        Copying Skin Weights 259

        Mirroring Skin Weights 260

        The Maya Muscle System 260

        Understanding the Maya Muscle System 260

        Using Capsules 261

        Creating a Muscle Using the Muscle Builder 262

        Editing Muscle Parameters 268

        Converting the Smooth Skin to a Muscle System 270

        Sliding Weights 272

        The Bottom Line 273

        Chapter 6 Animation Techniques 275

        Working with Deformers 275

        ShrinkWrapping Geometry 275

        Using Textures to Deform Objects 278

        Delta Mush 281

        Animating Facial Expressions Using Blend Shapes 283

        Creating Blend Shape Targets 286

        Creating Blend Shapes 292

        Painting Blend Shape Weights 294

        Adding Targets 297

        Animating a Scene Using Nonlinear Deformers 298

        Creating a Wave Deformer 299

        Squashing and Stretching Objects 300

        Twisting Objects 302

        Creating a Jiggle Effect 304

        Applying Jiggle Deformers 304

        Painting Jiggle Weights 305

        Optimizing Animations with the Geometry Cache 307

        Creating a Geometry Cache 307

        Editing the Cache Playback 308

        Applying Motion Capture 309

        The Bottom Line 311

        Chapter 7 Lighting with mental ray 313

        Shadow-Casting Lights 313

        Shadow Preview 314

        Depth Map Shadows 316

        mental ray Shadow Map Overrides 320

        Raytrace Shadows 322

        Indirect Lighting: Global Illumination 323

        Color Bleeding 326

        Indirect Illumination: Final Gathering 326

        Light-Emitting Objects 327

        Using Lights with Final Gathering 331

        Image-Based Lighting 332

        Enabling IBL 332

        IBL and Final Gathering 333

        Physical Sun and Sky 335

        Enabling Physical Sun and Sky 335

        Editing the Sky Settings 337

        mental ray Area Lights 338

        Light Shaders 341

        Physical Light Shader 341

        Tone Mapping 343

        Photometric Lights and Profiles 344

        The Bottom Line 345

        Chapter 8 mental ray Shading Techniques 347

        Shading Concepts 347

        Diffusion 350

        Reflection 351

        Refraction 351

        The Fresnel Effect 353

        Anisotropy 353

        Layering Shaders 354

        Creating Reflections and Refractions 355

        Creating Metals and Plastics 362

        Adding Shaders to Individual Polygons 364

        Building a Layered Car Paint Shader 365

        Base Parameters 367

        Flake Parameters 369

        Specular Reflection Layer 370

        Glossy Reflection Parameters 370

        The Bottom Line 371

        Chapter 9 Texture Mapping 373

        UV Texture Layout 373

        What Are UV Texture Coordinates? 374

        Mapping the Giraffe Leg 376

        Unfolding UVs 381

        Mapping the Giraffe Head 381

        Mirroring UVs 384

        More UV Tools 387

        Arranging UV Shells 388

        Additional UV Mapping Considerations 391

        Transferring UVs 392

        Multiple UV Sets 392

        Optimizing Textures 392

        Bump and Normal Mapping 393

        Bump Maps 393

        Normal Maps 394

        Creating Normal Maps 396

        Applying Normal Maps 400

        Displacement Mapping 402

        Subsurface Scattering 407

        Fast, Simple Skin-Shader Setup 407

        Subsurface Specularity 411

        ShaderFX 415

        The Bottom Line 417

        Chapter 10 Paint Effects 419

        Using the Paint Effects Canvas 419

        The Paint Effects Window 420

        Painting in Scene Mode 424

        Painting on 3D Objects 425

        Understanding Strokes 427

        The Anatomy of a Paint Effects Stroke 427

        Brush Sharing 430

        Understanding Brush Curve Nodes 431

        Designing Brushes 433

        Starting from Scratch 433

        Tubes 436

        Growing Flowers 438

        Adding Leaves 444

        Create Complexity by Adding Strokes to a Curve 447

        Shaping Strokes with Behavior Controls 450

        Applying Forces 450

        Displacement, Spiral, and Bend 451

        Animating Strokes 453

        Animating Attribute Values 455

        Adding Turbulence 456

        Animating Growth 457

        Modifiers 458

        Surface Collisions 459

        Rendering Paint Effects 460

        Illumination 461

        Shadow Effects 461

        Shading Strokes and Tubes 463

        Texturing Strokes 466

        Converting Strokes to Geometry 469

        The Bottom Line 471

        Chapter 11 Rendering for Compositing 473

        Render Layers 473

        Creating Render Layers 474

        Render Layer Overrides 477

        Creating Overrides for Rendering Cameras 479

        Material Overrides 481

        Render Layer Blend Modes 481

        Render Passes 486

        Rendering Multiple Passes from a Single Render Layer 488

        Creating an Ambient Occlusion Render Pass 492

        Setting Up a Render with mental ray 494

        File Tokens 494

        Specifying Frame Range 497

        Starting a Batch Render 498

        Command-Line Rendering 499

        mental ray Quality Settings 502

        Tessellation and Approximation Nodes 502

        Sampling 504

        Filtering 504

        The Bottom Line 504

        Chapter 12 Introducing nParticles 507

        Creating nParticles 507

        Drawing nParticles Using the nParticle Tool 508

        Spawning nParticles from an Emitter 512

        Emitting nParticles from a Surface 515

        Filling an Object with nParticles 518

        Making nParticles Collide with nRigids 523

        Passive Collision Objects 523

        Collide Strength and Collision Ramps 528

        Using nParticles to Simulate Liquids 531

        Creating Liquid Behavior 531

        Converting nParticles to Polygons 536

        Shading the nParticle Mesh 537

        Emitting nParticles Using a Texture 539

        Surface Emission 539

        Using Wind 545

        Shading nParticles and Using Hardware Rendering to Create Flame Effects 549

        Shading nParticles to Simulate Flames 549

        Creating an nCache 551

        Using the Hardware Render Buffer 553

        Controlling nParticles with Fields 556

        Using Multiple Emitters 556

        Volume Axis Curve 560

        Working with Force Fields 566

        Painting Field Maps 569

        Using Dynamic Fields 572

        Rendering Particles with mental ray 576

        The Bottom Line 579

        Chapter 13 Dynamic Effects 581

        Creating nCloth Objects 581

        Making a Polygon Mesh Dynamic 582

        Applying nCloth Presets 585

        Making Surfaces Sticky 587

        Creating nConstraints 589

        Making nCloth Objects Expand Using Pressure 593

        Additional Techniques 595

        Creating an nCache 595

        Creating nCloth and nParticle Interactions 597

        Creating an nParticle Goal 598

        Controlling Collision Events 601

        Bursting an Object Open Using Tearable nConstraints 603

        Crumbling Tower 604

        Soft Body Dynamics 606

        Creating Flying Debris Using nParticle Instancing 607

        Adding nParticles to the Scene 607

        Sending the Debris Flying Using a Field 610

        Creating a More Convincing Explosion by Adjusting nParticle Mass 612

        Instancing Geometry 613

        Animating Instances Using nParticle Expressions 615

        Randomizing Instance Index 615

        Connecting Instance Size to nParticle Mass 620

        Controlling the Rotation of nParticles 624

        Bullet Physics 626

        The Bottom Line 629

        Chapter 14 Hair and Clothing 631

        Understanding XGen 631

        Creating an XGen Description 632

        XGen Library 637

        Rendering an XGen Description 638

        Animating Using Dynamic Curves 642

        Using Dynamic Curves with IK Splines 642

        Creating an IK Spline Handle from the Dynamic Curve 647

        Using Forces 648

        Adding Hair to a Character 649

        Applying Hair to a Surface 649

        Determining Hair Shape 653

        Styling Hair 656

        Start and Rest Positions 656

        Painting Follicle Attributes 658

        Modifying Curves 660

        Curling, Noise, Sub Clumping, and Braids 660

        Rendering Hair 661

        Creating Clothing for Characters 662

        Modeling Clothes for nCloth 662

        Using Constraints 664

        Connecting Buttons to the Shirt 670

        Applying Forces 671

        Painting nCloth Properties 671

        The Bottom Line 675

        Chapter 15 Maya Fluids 677

        Using Fluid Containers 677

        Using 2D Containers 678

        Adding an Emitter 679

        Using Fields with Fluids 683

        Using 3D Containers 686

        Fluid Interactions 687

        Emitting Fluids from a Surface 687

        Making Flames 690

        Igniting the Fuel 693

        Filling Objects 694

        Rendering Fluid Containers 700

        Creating Fluids and nParticle Interactions 702

        Emitting Fluids from nParticles 702

        Creating Flaming Trails 706

        Creating Water Effects 708

        Bifrost Liquid Simulation 708

        Shading Bifrost Liquids 714

        Guiding Liquid 717

        Creating an Ocean 720

        The Bottom Line 722

        Chapter 16 Scene Management and Virtual Filmmaking 725

        Organizing Complex Node Structures with Assets 725

        Creating an Asset 726

        Publishing Asset Attributes 730

        Using the Asset Editor 731

        Viewing Assets in the Node Editor 733

        File References 733

        Referencing a File 734

        Bounding-Box Representations 736

        Determining the Image Size and Film Speed of the Camera 737

        Setting the Size and Resolution of the Image 738

        Setting the Film Speed 740

        Creating and Animating Cameras 740

        Creating a Camera 741

        Setting Camera Attributes 744

        Limiting the Range of Renderable Objects with Clipping Planes 747

        Composing the Shot Using the Film-Back Settings 750

        Creating a Camera-Shake Effect 752

        Using an Expression to Control Alpha Offset 755

        Creating Custom Camera Rigs 758

        Swivel Camera Rig 758

        Swivel Camera Rig Asset 760

        Applying Depth of Field and Motion Blur 764

        Rendering Using Depth of Field 764

        Creating a Rack Focus Rig 767

        Adding Motion Blur to an Animation 771

        Using Orthographic and Stereo Cameras 774

        Orthographic Cameras 774

        Stereo Cameras 775

        Using the Camera Sequencer 778

        The Bottom Line 782

        Appendixes

        Appendix A The Bottom Line 783

        Chapter 1: Working in Autodesk Maya 783

        Chapter 2: Introduction to Animation 784

        Chapter 3: Hard-Surface Modeling 785

        Chapter 4: Organic Modeling 786

        Chapter 5: Rigging and Muscle Systems 787

        Chapter 6: Animation Techniques 788

        Chapter 7: Lighting with mental ray 789

        Chapter 8: mental ray Shading Techniques 790

        Chapter 9: Texture Mapping 791

        Chapter 10: Paint Effects 792

        Chapter 11: Rendering for Compositing 794

        Chapter 12: Introducing nParticles 795

        Chapter 13: Dynamic Effects 796

        Chapter 14: Hair and Clothing 797

        Chapter 15: Maya Fluids 798

        Chapter 16: Scene Management and Virtual Filmmaking 799

        Appendix B Autodesk Maya 2016 Certification 803

        Index 807

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