Lynda.com Maya 2011 Essential Training

Author: George Maestri
Duration (hr:min): 09:08
Released on: 6/1/2010
Exercise files: Yes
Software works on: Mac and Windows

In Maya 2011 Essential Training, George Maestri demonstrates the tools and feature set in Maya, as well as the skills necessary to model, texture, animate, and render projects with this deep and robust piece of 3D animation software from Autodesk. This course takes an in-depth tour of Maya's interface, including navigating and manipulating objects in 3D and customizing the workspace. The course also covers object creation and modeling basics, shading and texturing, surface mapping techniques, character rigging, and lastly, rendering and final output. Exercise files accompany the course.

Topics include:

• Getting familiar with the Maya interface
• Organizing scenes
• Creating hierarchies
• NURBs modeling for solid objects
• Adding color to models
• Applying bitmap textures
• Working with mental ray materials
• Polygonal modeling for characters and organic objects
• Deforming with the Skin tool
• Setting up lights and cameras
• Creating realistic effects such as depth of field
• Working with the Timeline
• Creating animation cycles
• Batch rendering
• Rendering with the mental ray engine

Content:

Introduction - 03:50

    Welcome - 1:34 - 12.8 MB
    Using the exercise files - 0:26 - 0.5 MB
    A note on screen resolution - 1:50 - 2.6 MB

1. Getting Started in Maya 2011 - 01:00:30

    Overview of the Maya interface - 7:42 - 19.7 MB
    Working with files and Maya projects - 2:27 - 3.7 MB
    Navigating viewports - 5:56 - 9.8 MB
    Reviewing the Viewport menus - 6:28 - 11.5 MB
    Configuring safe frames and grids - 3:21 - 5.9 MB
    Selecting objects - 4:33 - 5.1 MB
    Using the Move tool - 3:48 - 5.0 MB
    Rotating and scaling - 4:31 - 9.8 MB
    Manipulating pivots - 3:59 - 7.7 MB
    Understanding the Channel Box - 5:36 - 7.2 MB
    Working with the Attribute Editor - 2:28 - 2.9 MB
    Using the Hotbox - 2:59 - 3.8 MB
    Working with marking menus - 3:06 - 3.9 MB
    Customizing the interface - 3:36 - 5.5 MB

2. Polygonal Modeling Techniques - 59:25

    Creating polygonal objects - 6:28 - 9.7 MB
    Working with polygonal components - 4:42 - 8.1 MB
    Selecting polygonal components - 5:44 - 12.4 MB
    Working with Soft Select - 7:03 - 14.5 MB
    Using the Extrude tool - 6:47 - 13.1 MB
    Keeping faces together - 2:42 - 9.2 MB
    Extruding along curves - 3:27 - 5.8 MB
    Using the Polygon Bevel tool - 4:14 - 9.3 MB
    Smooth and subdivision surfaces - 7:06 - 16.6 MB
    Blocking out a character body - 11:12 - 23.8 MB

3. Refining Polygonal Models - 36:06

    Working with edge loops - 3:27 - 5.9 MB
    Inserting and offsetting edge loops - 3:38 - 5.0 MB
    Symmetrical modeling techniques - 5:53 - 11.9 MB
    Combining objects - 3:50 - 6.4 MB
    Using the Polygon Bridge tool - 2:07 - 4.9 MB
    Connecting components and splitting polygons - 2:48 - 4.6 MB
    Poking and wedging faces - 2:49 - 5.6 MB
    Working with polygon booleans - 3:17 - 6.4 MB
    Modeling with nonlinear deformers - 4:54 - 8.5 MB
    Modeling with lattices - 3:23 - 8.7 MB

4. NURBS Modeling Techniques - 01:18:40

    Introducing NURBS modeling - 5:03 - 11.0 MB
    NURBS primitives - 5:54 - 8.6 MB
    Using the NURBS curve tools - 5:07 - 7.2 MB
    Creating Bézier curves - 1:59 - 2.3 MB
    Creating text - 3:51 - 6.9 MB
    Manipulating NURBS curves - 4:13 - 7.4 MB
    Refining NURBS curves - 4:16 - 6.1 MB
    Offsetting NURBS curves - 2:31 - 5.6 MB
    Editing NURBS surfaces - 7:03 - 11.7 MB
    Refining NURBS surfaces - 7:22 - 12.5 MB
    Using NURBS Revolve - 7:31 - 15.8 MB
    Using NURBS Loft - 4:11 - 10.4 MB
    Using NURBS Extrude - 6:00 - 11.8 MB
    Using NURBS Planar - 4:47 - 8.7 MB
    Stitching NURBS surfaces - 8:52 - 20.7 MB

5. Refining NURBS Models - 35:53

    Extracting NURBS curves from surfaces - 5:57 - 8.9 MB
    Creating curves on a surface - 3:53 - 6.0 MB
    Projecting curves on surfaces - 7:02 - 15.9 MB
    Trimming NURBS surfaces - 3:42 - 7.4 MB
    Using the NURBS Fillet tool - 5:31 - 39.2 MB
    Sculpting NURBS and polygonal surfaces - 5:52 - 11.3 MB
    Converting NURBS to polygons - 3:56 - 5.3 MB

6. Organizing Maya Scenes - 33:22

    Working with the Outliner - 4:58 - 7.1 MB
    Grouping objects - 4:02 - 5.5 MB
    Creating hierarchies - 4:17 - 7.7 MB
    Duplicating objects - 4:51 - 13.5 MB
    Understanding the Hypergraph - 3:32 - 4.7 MB
    Working with Hypergraph connections - 2:31 - 3.6 MB
    Hiding and showing objects - 2:12 - 2.7 MB
    Creating layers - 4:02 - 5.8 MB
    Working with selection masks - 2:57 - 5.0 MB

7. Creating Materials - 40:18

    Overview of renderers - 3:24 - 4.1 MB
    Understand the basics of materials - 6:15 - 6.8 MB
    Creating and applying maps - 5:13 - 6.2 MB
    Using bitmaps as texture - 2:59 - 3.5 MB
    Working with the Hypershade window - 5:12 - 7.0 MB
    Working with mental ray materials - 6:57 - 10.5 MB
    Using displacement and bump mapping - 3:14 - 4.7 MB
    Using the Ramp Shader - 2:36 - 3.7 MB
    Using the 3D Paint tool - 4:28 - 5.5 MB

8. Applying Textures - 30:14

    Texture-mapping NURBS surfaces - 5:46 - 8.8 MB
    Projecting textures onto surfaces - 4:00 - 6.6 MB
    Texture-mapping polygonal surfaces - 7:00 - 16.4 MB
    Applying UV mapping - 8:11 - 18.1 MB
    Using the UVW Editor - 5:17 - 9.3 MB

9. Basic Deformations and Rigging - 41:16

    Creating joints - 10:02 - 15.8 MB
    Deforming a mesh using the Skin tool - 5:02 - 9.3 MB
    Creating IK handles - 6:48 - 11.2 MB
    Creating blend shapes - 5:39 - 10.2 MB
    Rigging nonlinear deformers - 2:36 - 3.7 MB
    Finalizing the character - 4:45 - 8.5 MB
    Rigging the character to the scooter - 6:24 - 15.4 MB

10. Animating in Maya - 01:05:46

    Working with the Timeline - 4:16 - 8.9 MB
    Creating and adjusting keys (keyframes) - 5:04 - 6.6 MB
    Editing keys - 3:13 - 7.1 MB
    Modifying keys in the Graph Editor - 5:47 - 10.3 MB
    Modifying keys in the Dope Sheet - 2:51 - 4.3 MB
    Creating breakdown keys - 2:28 - 3.3 MB
    Animating objects along paths - 5:54 - 9.3 MB
    Animation playback using Playblast - 3:10 - 10.3 MB
    Animating with constraints - 6:16 - 9.6 MB
    Creating animation cycles - 8:25 - 34.1 MB
    Using set-driven keys - 6:13 - 8.1 MB
    Adding sound to animations - 2:24 - 7.4 MB
    Finishing the animation - 9:45 - 49.1 MB

11. Rendering in Maya - 01:02:19

    Lights and lighting types in Maya - 7:29 - 9.4 MB
    Adding depth-map shadows - 4:13 - 5.4 MB
    Using Raytrace shadows - 3:28 - 4.4 MB
    Understanding the basics of cameras - 7:14 - 17.5 MB
    Adding depth of field - 6:31 - 7.4 MB
    Adding Bokeh using mental ray - 4:33 - 5.1 MB
    Using motion blur in Maya Software Renderer - 4:10 - 5.1 MB
    Using motion blur in mental ray - 3:05 - 5.6 MB
    Raytracing reflections and refractions - 4:41 - 6.1 MB
    Interactive rendering with IPR - 3:33 - 5.0 MB
    Lighting a scene - 8:29 - 13.3 MB
    Batch rendering - 4:53 - 6.7 MB

Conclusion - 00:25

    Goodbye - 0:25 - 0.3 MB