Introduction. Chapter 1 Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D 1

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2 Contents Introduction xiii Chapter 1 Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D 1 Embrace the Art 2 Computer Graphics 2 The Stages of Production 4 The CG Production Workflow 8 Core Concepts 12 Basic Film Concepts 24 Summary 30 Chapter 2 The Maya 2008 Interface 31 Navigating in Maya 32 A Screen Roadmap 32 Panels and Frequently Used Windows 45 Maya Object Structure 66 Summary 69 Chapter 3 Your First Maya Animation 71 Project Overview: The Solar System 72 The Preproduction Process: Planning 72 Creating a Project 73 The Production Process: Creating and Animating the Objects 74 Using the Outliner 92 Summary 95 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Chapter 4 Modeling with Polygons 97 Planning Your Model 98 Polygon Basics 105 Poly Editing Tools 107

3 Putting the Tools to Use: Making a Simple Hand 111 Creating Areas of Detail on a Poly Mesh 117 Modeling Complex Objects: The Classic Steam Locomotive 126 Suggestions for Modeling Polygons 152 Summary 152 Chapter 5 Modeling with NURBS 155 Ways to Make NURBS 156 NURBS Modeling: Creating the Red Rocket 167 Editing NURBS Surfaces 215 Using NURBS Surfacing to Create Polygons 218 Converting NURBS to Polygons 219 Patch Modeling: A Locomotive Detail 220 Using Artisan to Sculpt NURBS 234 Summary 236 Chapter 6 Further Modeling Topics: Deformers and Subdivision Surfaces 237 Modeling with Simple Deformers 238 The Lattice Deformer 244 Animating Through a Lattice 248 Subdivision Surfaces 252 Creating a Starfish 252 Building a Teakettle 257 Summary 266 Chapter 7 Maya Shading and Texturing 267 Maya Shading 268 Shader Types 268 Shader Attributes 272 Texturing the Axe 276 Textures and Surfaces 286 Texturing the Red Rocket 296

4 UVs, Polygons, and Images: Color My Pear 308 Summary 312 Chapter 8 Introduction to Animation 313 Keyframe Animation Bouncing a Ball 314 Throwing an Axe 323 Replacing an Object 341 Animating Flying Text 343 Rigging the Locomotive, Part One 348 Animating a Catapult 351 Summary 357 Chapter 9 Further Animation Practices 359 Skeletons and Kinematics 360 Skeletons: The Hand 373 Inverse Kinematics 388 Basic Relationships: Constraints 392 Basic Relationships: Set Driven Keys 398 Application: Rigging the Locomotive 400 Summary 409 Chapter 10 Maya Lighting 411 Basic Lighting Concepts 412 Maya Lights 416 Light Linking 423 Adding Shadows 424 Soft Shadow Maps with mental ray 428 mental ray Lighting 430 Global Illumination with mental ray 432 Lighting Effects 437 Lighting the Red Rocket 442 Further Practice 445 Tips for Using and Animating Lights 446 Summary 448

5 Chapter 11 Maya Rendering 449 The Rendering Setup 450 Previewing Your Render: The Render View Window 459 Reflections and Refractions 462 Using Cameras 464 Motion Blur 468 Batch Rendering 469 Rendering the Wine Bottle 470 mental ray for Maya 474 Render Layers 478 Ambient Occlusion 488 Final Gather 495 Rendering the Red Rocket 498 Summary 516 Chapter 12 Maya Dynamics 517 An Overview of Dynamics 518 Rigid and Soft Dynamic Bodies 518 Animating with Dynamics: The Pool Table 522 Emitting Particles 532 Particle Dynamics 533 Animating a Particle Effect: Locomotive Steam 540 Introduction to Paint Effects 548 Summary 552 Where Do You Go from Here? 552 Appendix About the Companion CD 565 Glossary 559 Index 565

6 Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D This book is intended to introduce you to the workings of 3D animation (called computer graphics, or CG) with one of the most popular programs on the market, Autodesk s Maya. It will introduce you to a lot of the features and capabilities with the hope of energizing you to further study. The best way to study for almost anything is to practice. Prepare to go through exercises in this book, but also try to think of exercises and projects that can take you further in the learning process. A book or class or video can take you only so far; the rest is up to you. Imagination and exploration will serve you well. Throughout this book you ll learn how to work with Maya tools and techniques. This chapter will prepare you for the hands-on study that follows by introducing the most important CG concepts and the roles they will play in your Maya work. The most important concept when you are learning how to work with Maya is learning how you work as an artist. If you have a basic understanding of the methodology and terms of computer art and CG, you can skip this chapter and jump right into working with Maya. Topics in this chapter include: Embrace the Art Computer Graphics The Stages of Production The CG Production Workflow COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Core Concepts Basic Film Concepts CHAPTER 1

7 2 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Embrace the Art Art, in many instances, requires transcendence of its medium; it speaks of its own accord. Learning to look past what you re working with and seeing what you re working for is key to learning CG art. So don t view this as learning a software package but as learning a way of working. As you begin learning 3D with Maya, you acquire a new language, a new form of communication. Keep in mind that the techniques you acquire should remain only a means to the end of expression. In short, relax and enjoy yourself. Computer tools are based on logic and numbers; your exploration of Maya, however, need not be limited to such a logical path. Your exploration is about learning what you can do and not what the software can do. Don t make this a lesson in how to make a software program work; make it about how you work with the software. CG studios hiring professional 3D artists look primarily for a strong artistic sense, whether in a traditional portfolio or a CG reel. It is paramount, then, to fortify the artist in yourself and practice traditional art such as life drawing, photography, painting, or sculpture as you learn CG, beginning with the core principles introduced in this first chapter. Keep in mind that the computer you ll be using for 3D work is nothing more than a tool. You run it; it does not run you. 3D is quickly becoming a part of the daily visual lexicon. With the availability of cheap and fast computers, everyone can create their own CG projects. An increasing number of artists, no matter what medium they typically use, are adding the language of CG to their skill set. So before you start learning a particular CG tool Maya make sure you have a grasp of the fundamental issues underlying CG. It s important. Computer Graphics CG is the abbreviation for computer graphics imagery, also known as CGI. CG literally refers to any picture or series of pictures that is generated with the aid of a computer. However, the industry convention is to use the terms CG and CGI to refer to 3D graphics and not to images created using 2D image or paint programs such as Photoshop. Most 2D graphics software is bitmap based, and all 3D software is vector based. Bitmap software creates an image as a mosaic of pixels, filled in one at a time. Vector software creates an image as a series of mathematical instructions from one calculated or graphed point to another. This much more powerful method for creating graphics is behind all the impressive CG images you ve seen and the ones you ll soon create with Maya. You ll learn more about vectors and bitmaps in the section Computer Graphics Concepts later in this chapter. If you re familiar with 2D graphics software such as Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Flash, you already know something about vectors. What Maya and other 3D graphics

8 computer graphics 3 tools add are calculations of depth. Instead of being drawn on a flat plane, objects are defined in three-dimensional space. This makes the artist s job fairly cerebral and very different than it is with 2D art; in 3D there is more of a dialogue between the left and right sides of the brain. When working in 3D, you get a better sense of working with and manipulating objects, as opposed to working with the lines, shapes, and colors used to create 2D images. A Preview of the 3D Process The process of creating in 3D requires that you either model or arrange pre-built objects in a scene, give them color and light, and render them through a virtual camera to make an image. In essence, you create a scene that tells the computer what objects are where, what colors and textures they have, what lighting there is, and what camera to use. It s a lot like directing a live-action production, but without all the actor tantrums over bottled water. A large and growing community on the Web can provide you with free and reasonably priced models for your scenes. By giving you access to models for little or no cost, sites such as and can cut out a lot of the time required to create a CG scene. This gives you the chance to skip the modeling process, if that isn t your thing. Instead of a canvas on which to paint or copy and paste images, you have a 3D space an open area in which you define your objects, set their colors and textures, and position lights as if you were setting up for a real photo shoot. CG is actually remarkably analogous to the art and practice of photography and filmmaking. Photographers lay out a scene by placing the subjects to form the frame. They light the area for a specific mood and account for the film stock and lens they use and for the colors of the scene. They choose the camera, film, and lenses according to their desired result. They snap a picture, develop the negative, and print it to paper. Through this process, a photo is born. Once you build your scene in 3D using models, lights, and a camera, the computer renders the scene, converting it to a 2D image. Through setup and rendering, CGI is born and with a little luck, a CG artist is also born. Rendering is the process of calculating lights and shadows, the placement of textures and colors on models, the movement of animated objects, and so on to give you a sequence of 2D pictures that effectively shoot your virtual scene. Instead of an envelope of 4 6 glossy prints, you get a sequence of 2D computer images (or a movie file like a QuickTime or AVI [Audio Video Interleave] file) that sit on your hard drive waiting to be seen, and invariably commented on, by your know-it-all friends.

9 4 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D That, in a nutshell, is the CG process. It requires planning and patience, because CG follows conventions that are very different than those for painting programs and image editors. Its workflow is entirely based on building, arrangement, and relationships. But it is an easy workflow to pick up and eventually master, and it can be learned by anyone with the desire and the patience to give it a try. You can already see CG as a bigger part of the everyday computing environment, as shown by the popularity of image editors and digital-video editing software. The more familiar you are with CG, whether with Autodesk Maya or another package, the greater your part will be in the computing future. The day will soon be on us when we can custom-make our own environments for our 3D Windows desktops. Animation Although Maya can be used to produce remarkably lifelike 3D still images, most Maya artists also work with a fourth dimension: time. Most CG art is animated; short films, cartoons, etc. Animation is change over time. In other words, animation involves understanding the simulation of something changing over a period of time, whether it is its position or size as it moves or grows, or even its color or shape. All animation, from paper flipbooks to film to Maya, is based on the principle that when we see a series of rapidly changing images, we perceive the changing of the image as continuous motion. If you have a chance to pause and step through an animated film frame by frame on your DVD player or DVR, you can begin to see how animation comes together. In creating CG animation yourself, you have to create scene files with objects that exhibit some sort of change, whether through movement, color shift, growth, or other behavior. But just as with flipbooks and film animation, the change you are animating occurs between static images, called frames, a term carried over from film. You define the object s animation using a timeline measured in these single frames. You ll learn more in the section Basic Animation Concepts later in this chapter. The Stages of Production The CG animation industry has inherited from the film industry a workflow (also called a pipeline) that consists of three broad stages: preproduction, production, and postproduction. In film, preproduction is the process in which the script and storyboards are written, costumes and sets are designed and built, actors are cast and rehearsed, a crew is hired, and the equipment is rented and set up. In the production phase, scenes are taped or filmed in the most efficient order. Postproduction (often simply called post) describes everything that happens afterward: The scenes are edited into a story; a musical score, sound effects, and additional dialogue are added; special visual effects may also be added.

10 the stages of production 5 (In a film that has special effects or animation, the actual CG creation is usually completed in postproduction but may start in the preproduction phases of the film or project itself.) Although the work performed at each stage is radically different, this is a useful framework for understanding the process of creating CG as well. Preproduction Preproduction for a CG animation means gathering reference materials, motion tests, layout drawings, model sketches, and such together to make the actual CG production as straightforward as possible. Because the CG artist is responsible for defining his or her 3D scenes from the ground up, it s essential to have a succinct plan of attack for a well-organized production. The more time spent planning and organizing for CG, the better. Whether you are working on a small job or a complex film, entering into production without a good plan of attack is not only going to cause you trouble, but it will stunt the growth of your project. In the real world, preproduction is part of every CG animation project. For the tutorial projects in this book, the sketches and other files supplied on the accompanying CD are your preproduction. Even for these tutorials, however, you should try to gather as much information as you can about the objects you ll create, going beyond what is presented to you. Having different perspectives on a subject is key to understanding it. Disappointing movies often are the product of terribly flawed preproduction stages; likewise, a poorly thought-out CG production will invariably end in headaches and your wasted time. The Script To tell a story, CG or not, you should put it in words. A story doesn t need to contain dialogue for it to benefit from a script. Even abstract animations benefit from a highly detailed explanation of timings and colors laid out in a script. The script serves as the initial blueprint for the animation, a place where you lay out the all-important intent. The Storyboard A storyboard is a further definition of the script. Even a rudimentary storyboard with stick figures on notebook paper will be useful to a production. You break the script into scenes, and then you break those scenes into shots. Then you sketch out each shot in a panel of a storyboard. The panels are laid out in order according to the script to give a visual and linear explanation of the story. Storyboards are useful for planning camera angles (framing a shot), position of characters, lighting, mood, and so on. The Conceptual Art Conceptuals are the design elements that you might need for the CG production. Typically, characters are drawn into character sheets in three different neutral poses: from the

11 6 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D front, from the side, and from an angle called a 3 4 view. You can also create color art for the various sets, props, and characters to better visualize the colors, textures, and lighting that will be needed. Props and sets are identified from the script and boards, and then sketched out into model sheets. The better you visualize the conceptual art, the easier it will be to model, texture, and light everything in CG. Production Production begins when you start creating models from the boards, model sheets, and concept art. You model the characters, the sets, and the props, and you assign textures (colors, patterns). The animators take the models and animate everything according to the boards and script. The sequences are rendered in low quality for dailies and checked for accuracy and content. A CG production phase can involve a variety of steps. The specific steps are defined by the needs of the production. Most of the CG techniques you ll learn in this book are part of the production phase. We ll peer into 3D workflow in the next section, but to make a long story short, 3D scenes are created, lit, and animated in the production phase. Postproduction Once all the scenes have been set up with props and characters and everything is animated, postproduction can begin. Postproduction for a CG project is similar to postproduction for a film. This is where all of a CG film s elements are brought together and assembled into final form. Rendering All CG scenes need to be rendered into their final image or movie files. Rendering is the process by which the computer calculates how everything in the scene should look and displays it. As you ll learn throughout this book, the decisions you make in creating the objects in a scene can make a big difference in how the rest of the process goes. Rendering makes great processing demands on your computer, usually requiring the full attention of your PC, and it can take a good amount of time. You can render one scene while another scene is in production, but ordering a computer that is rendering to multitask is not advisable unless you re using a dual-processor machine with plenty of memory. When everything is rendered properly, the final images are sorted and the assembly of the CG project begins. Rendering is discussed more fully in Chapter 11, Maya Rendering. We ll take a quick look at three more postproduction activities: compositing, editing, and adding sound. These are advanced topics, beyond the scope of Introducing Maya; however, a multitude of books on these topics are available for further study.

12 the stages of production 7 Compositing Quite often, CG is rendered in different layers and segments and needs to be put back together. In a particular scene, for example, multiple characters interact. Each character is rendered separately from the others and from the backgrounds. They are then put together in compositing, the process of bringing together scene elements that were created separately, to form the final scene. Maya makes this process easier with Render Layers, which you will experience in Chapter 11. Compositing programs such as Shake and After Effects not only allow you to compose CG elements together, they also give you some additional control over color, timing, and a host of other additions and alterations you can make to the scene. Compositing can greatly affect the look of a CG project; professionals consider it an integral part of CG creation. Many students try to generate their final images all in a single render from their scene in one fell swoop, but you don t need to do that. Realizing the component nature of CG is important. You can use components to your advantage by rendering items separately and compositing them together in the finishing stage. This gives you a lot of control in finishing the images to your satisfaction without always having to go back, change the scene, and re-render it all over again. Editing The rendered and composited CG footage is collected and edited together to conform to the script and boards. Some scenes are cut or are moved around to heighten the story. This is essentially the same process as in film editing, with one big difference: the amount of footage. To make sure they have adequate coverage for all their scenes and to leave extra room for creativity in the editing, live-action filmmakers shoot much more footage than is needed for a film. The editor and the director sift through all the scenes and arrange them to assemble the film in a way that works best with what they have shot. A typical film uses a small fraction of all film or video that is shot. Because creating CG is, on average, more time-consuming and expensive than shooting live action, scenes and shots are often tightly arranged in preproduction boards so not much bandwidth is wasted. The entire production is edited with great care beforehand, and the scenes are built and animated to match the story, almost down to the frame. Consequently, the physical editing process consists mostly of assembling the scenes into the sequence of the story. This is also why a good preproduction process is important. When you plan out what you want to get, you re much more likely to get it.

13 8 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Sound Sound design is important to CG because viewers like to associate visuals with audio. A basic soundtrack can add a significant punch to a simple animation by helping provide realism, mood, narrative, and so on, adding a greater impact to the CG. Sound effects such as footsteps are added to match the action on the screen; this type of sound is also known in film as Foley sound. Music is scored and added to match the film. Quite often, the dialogue or musical score inspires a character s actions or body language. Again, this is much the same procedure as in film, with one exception. In the event that a CG project requires dialogue, the dialogue must be recorded and edited before CG production can begin. Dialogue is a part of the preproduction phase as well as a component of postproduction. This is because animators need to hear the dialogue being spoken so they can coordinate the lip movements of the characters speaking, a process known as lip-sync. How It All Works Together The process behind making a South Park episode is a perfect pipeline example. Although the show appears to be animated using paper cutouts, as was the original Christmas short, the actual production work is now done using Maya. In preproduction on a typical episode, the writers hammer out the script, and the voice talent records all the voices before the art department creates the visuals for the show. The script is storyboarded, and copies are distributed to all the animators and layout artists. At the beginning of the production phase, each scene is set up with the proper backgrounds and characters in Maya and then handed off for lip-synch, the first step in the animation of the scene. The voices are digitized into computer files for lip-synch animators who animate the mouths of the characters. The lip-synched animation is then passed to character animators who use the storyboards and the soundtrack to animate the characters in the Maya scene. The animation is then rendered to start the post, edited together following the boards, and sent back to the sound department for any sound effects needed to round out the scene. The episode is assembled and then sent off on tape for broadcast. The CG Production Workflow Because of the nature of CG and how scenes must be built, a specific workflow works best. Modeling almost always begins the process, which then can lead into texturing and then animation (or animation and then texturing). Lighting should follow, with rendering pulling up the rear, as it must. (Of course, the process isn t completely linear; you ll often go back and forth adjusting models, lights, and textures throughout the process.) Chapters 4

14 the cg production workflow 9 through 12 follow this overall sequence, presenting the major Maya operations in the same order you ll use in real-world CG projects. Modeling Modeling, the topic of Chapters 4 through 6, is usually the first step in creating CG, and one that garners a lot of coverage in publications and captures the interest of most budding CG artists. You most often start a CG scene by creating the objects you need to occupy your space. It can end up taking the majority of the time in your process. This is why purchasing or downloading models from the Internet can often cut down the amount of time you spend on your project. That, of course, assumes you re not a fan of modeling and prefer to spend your time animating or texturing and lighting. There are many modeling techniques, and each could be the subject of its own series of books. The choice of which to use usually depends on the modeler s taste and preferred workflow. The choices are among Polygon modeling (Chapter 4, Modeling with Polygons ), NURBS modeling (Chapter 5, Modeling with NURBS ), and a third method that combines elements of the first two, subdivision surface modeling (Chapter 6, Further Modeling Topics: Deformers and Subdivision Surfaces ). Having a good idea of your whole story via a storyboard helps a great deal when you are figuring out how to proceed with the modeling. Knowing how an object is used in a scene gives you its criteria for modeling. You never want to spend more time on a model than needed. Creating a highly detailed model for a far-away shot will waste your time and expand rendering times. If you need to see a park bench in a wide shot from far away, the model doesn t need abundant detail or complicated surfacing. You can usually create any required details for it by just adding textures. However, if that park bench is featured prominently in a close-up, it needs as much detail as possible because viewers will see more of the bench. You ll learn more about this aspect of modeling in Chapter 4. The more you use models in scenes, the better eye you will develop for exactly how much detail to give them. When you are starting out, however, it s a good idea to lavish as much attention on detail as you can; this will teach you perhaps 70 percent of what you can learn of modeling, which in turn will benefit your overall speed and technique. As you gain more experience, you ll be able to discern exactly how much detail to add to a scene and not go overboard. Character Modeling Character modeling usually involves organic forms such as animals, humans, aliens, and such. Practically anything that is animated and portrays a character in a scene can be referred to as a character model. You need to create these with animation techniques in mind, as well as accuracy of form.

15 10 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Some organic characters (critters and people, as opposed to robots with mechanical parts and hard edges, for example) are built with patches of surfaces stitched together or as a single object that is stretched and pulled into shape. Character models need to look seamless because most character animation requires the model to deform in some way to bend and warp at certain areas such as the joints. A character modeler needs to keep the future of the character in mind to allow for particular character animation methods that will be used. Always try to build your characters with the proper amount of detail appropriate to the scene. Quite frequently, you will create several models for a character to account for different uses of that character and to keep the scene efficient and workable. You might create one character with fine facial detail for the close-up speaking scenes and another with hardly any details for walk cycles in distant shots. Listen to your mother: put only as much as you need on your plate. Architectural and Environment Modeling Architectural and environmental modeling includes architectural previsualization for the design of buildings as well as the generation of backgrounds for sets and environments. Typically, it involves modeling buildings or interiors as well as mountains or anything that is required for the scenery, such as benches, chairs, lampposts, and so on. You should not create incredibly detailed environments, especially environments that use a lot of geometry, if they are not featured in a shot. The greater the amount of geometry, the slower your computer will run and the longer rendering will take. You can create a good deal of the environment using clever textures on simple geometry. Detailed maps on bare surfaces are used frequently for game environments. The rule of thumb for all kinds of CG is use whatever works. Because your computer stores everything in the scene as vector math, the term geometry refers to all the surfaces and models in a scene. Props Modeling Props modeling covers almost everything else needed in the scene. In theater and film terms, a prop is an object used by a character in the action; anything relegated to the scenery or background is a scenic. For example, a prop can be a purse a character is carrying, a leash on an animated dog, or a car a character is driving. If the car or purse were just sitting in the background, it would be considered a scenic. Texturing Once the models are complete, it s a good idea to begin texturing and shading, the process of applying colors and textures to an object to make it renderable. When you create an

16 the cg production workflow 11 object in Maya, for example, a simple gray default shader is automatically assigned to it that will let you see the object when you light and render the scene. Because the textures may look different after animating and lighting the scene, it s wise to leave the final adjustments for later. Just as a painter will pencil in a sketch before adding details, you don t need to make all the shading adjustments right away; you can return to any part of your scene in Maya and adjust it to fine-tune the picture. You ll learn more about texturing and shading in Chapter 7, Maya Shading and Texturing. Animation Although modeling can take the biggest part of a CG artist s time, you can really make or break your scene with its animation. We all have an innate sense of how things are supposed to move. On a visceral level if not an academic one we understand how physics applies to objects and how people and animals move around. Because of this, viewers tend to be much more critical of CG s motion than of anything else. Put bluntly, you know when something doesn t look right, and so will people watching your animation. To animate something properly, you might need quite a lot of setup beyond just modeling. Depending on the kind of animating you ll be doing, you might need to set up the models for however you ll be animating them. For example, for character animation you will need to create and attach an armature, or skeleton, to manipulate to make the character move, like a puppet, and do your bidding. Taking the models you ve spent hours detailing and reworking and giving them life is thrilling, and can make any detailed modeling and setup routine well worth the effort. Chapter 8, Introduction to Animation, and Chapter 9, Further Animation Practices, cover animation techniques in Maya. Lighting CG is fundamentally all about light. Manipulating how light is created and reflected is what you re doing with CG. Without light we would not see anything, so it makes sense that simulating light is the most influential step in CG. Lighting can drastically alter the look of your scene; it greatly affects the believability of your models and textures and creates and heightens mood. During the lighting step, you set up virtual lights in your scene to illuminate your objects and action. Although you can set up some initial lights during the texturing of the scene, the serious lighting should be the last thing you do, aside from changes and tweaks. The type and number of lights you use in a scene greatly affect not just the look of your scene, but also the amount of time the scene takes to render. Lighting becomes a careful dance between pragmatics and results. It is perhaps the subtlest part of CG to master.

17 12 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Once you gain more experience with lighting, you ll notice that it affects every part of your CG creation. Before long, you ll start modeling differently modeling with the final lighting of the scene in mind. Texturing will change when you keep lighting techniques in mind. Even your animation and staging will change a bit to take better advantage of efficient, powerful lighting. As you ll learn in Chapter 10, Maya Lighting, virtual lights in Maya are similar to lights used in the real world, from a single point of light such as a bulb to directed beams such as spotlights. Rendering At this stage, your computer takes your scene and makes all the computations it needs to create raster images for your movie. Rendering time depends on how much geometry is used in the scene, as well as on the number of lights, the size of your textures, and the quality and size of your output. The more efficient your scene, the better the render times will be. A lot of students ask how long they should expect their renders to take or how long is too long for a frame to render. It s a subjective question with no real answer. Your frames will take as long as they have to take for them to look the way you want. Of course, if you have tight time or budgetary constraints, you need simple scenes to keep the render resources and times to a minimum. In production, you re always out of time, so having the most efficient pipeline possible will be your savior. Eventually your producer or boss will tire of hearing, But I m still rendering. That said, it s important to understand how a scene is put together before you learn to efficiently put a scene together. While you re learning, use as many lights and as much geometry as you think you need for your scenes. The more experience you pick up, the more efficient your eye will become. Core Concepts 3D animation draws from many disciplines. While learning Maya, you ll work with concepts derived not only from computer graphics but also from design, film and cinematography, and traditional animation. Here s a summary of the most important of those concepts as they apply to Maya. Computer Graphics Concepts Knowing a bit about the general terminology and methodology of computer graphics will help you understand how Maya works. Let s begin with the crucial distinction between raster (bitmapped) and vector graphics and how this distinction affects you as a Maya user.

18 core concepts 13 Raster Images Raster images (synonymous with bitmapped images) make up the world of computer images today. These images are displayed through the arrangements of colored pixels on screen or dots on a print to display an image. Everything you create in Maya will eventually be seen as a raster image, even though you create it using vectors. Raster image programs, such as Photoshop, let you adjust existing settings such as color, size, and position for all or part of an image. They let you paint onto a scanned picture or a virtual canvas to adjust or create the pixels yourself. These programs essentially affect pixels directly, giving you the tools to change pixels to form images. For instance, you can use a scanned photo in Photoshop to paint the side of your house red to see what it might look like before you run down to the local paint store. Recall from the beginning of this chapter that a raster or bitmap image is a mosaic of pixels, each pixel corresponding to a mosaic tile. The resolution fineness of detail of an image is defined by the number of pixels per inch (or other unit of measure) in the horizontal and vertical directions. Because they are based on a grid of a fixed size, raster images do not scale up well. The closer you get to a raster image, or the larger a raster image is scaled, the bigger the pixels become, making the image look blocky, or pixelated. To make large raster images, you need to begin with a higher resolution. The higher the resolution, the larger the file size will be. Figure 1.1 shows what happens when you blow up a raster image. In light of this limitation, you might wonder why raster images are used. The answer lies in how these images are generated. Most common raster displays are television or computer screens. In fact, the term raster originally referred to the display area of a television or computer monitor. To form an image, the electronics in these devices essentially paint it as a grid of red, green, and blue pixels on a glowing screen. Every image generated by a computer, therefore, must either begin as a raster image or be rasterized as part of rendering for display. Figure 1.1 A raster image at its original size (left) and blown up two to three times (right)

19 14 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Vector Images Figure 1.2 A vector image at its original size (left) and blown up to 200 percent (right) Vector images are created in a wholly different way. Vector images are created using mathematical algorithms and geometric functions. Instead of defining the color of each and every pixel in a grid of a raster image, a vector image uses coordinates and geometric formulas to plot points that define areas, volumes, and shapes. Popular vector-based image applications include Illustrator and Flash, as well as practically all computer-aided design (CAD) programs such as AutoCAD or SolidWorks. These programs let you define shapes and volumes and add color and texture to them through their toolsets. They store the results in files containing coordinates and equations of points in space and the color values that have been assigned to them. This vector information is then converted into raster images (called rasterization) through rendering so you can view the final image or animation. When scaled, vector graphics do not suffer from the same limitations as raster images. As you can see in Figure 1.2, vectors can be scaled with no loss of quality; they will never pixelate. Motion in vector programs is stored not by a long sequence of image files, but through changes in positions of the geometry and in the math that defines the shapes and volumes. When a Flash cartoon is played on a website, for example, the information downloaded and fed into your computer is in vector form. It contains the position, size, and shape of all the characters and backgrounds of the animation. Your computer then renders this information on the fly, in real time, into a raster display that you can enjoy on your screen. In Maya, however, you work with vectors that are displayed as wireframes. When you finish your scene, Maya renders the image, converting the vector information into a sequence of raster images. When a vector file is edited, its geometric information is altered through the tools of the vector program. This allows for easy manipulation and handling of changes and is perfect for environments in which collaboration and efficiency in changes are a necessity. Only when the editing is finished will the vector file be rendered into a new sequence of raster images by the computer.

20 core concepts 15 Image Output When you re done with your animation, you ll want as many people as possible to see it; to make that happen, you have to render it into a file sequence or a movie file. The file can be saved in any number of ways, depending on how you intend it to be viewed. COLOR DEPTH An image file stores the color of each pixel as three values, representing red, green, and blue. Image type depends on how much storage is allotted to each pixel (the color depth). These are the color depths common to image files in CG production: Grayscale The image is black and white with varying degrees of gray in between, typically 256. Grayscale images are good for rendering out black-and-white subjects; no extraneous color information is stored in the image file. 16-Bit Color Display or High Color 5-Bit Image File Each color channel (red, green, blue) gets 5 bits of space to store its value, resulting in an image that can display a maximum of 32,768 colors. Each color channel has a limited range of shades but still gives a nice color image. You might notice the gradation in the different shades of each color that can result in color banding in the image. These images are rarely, if ever used in normal production outside of web-based projects. 8-Bit Image File Referred to as 24-bit color display or True Color in desktop settings for the Windows OS, each color channel is given 8 bits for a range of 256 shades of each red, green, and blue channel for a total of 16 million colors in the image. This color depth gives the best color quality for an image and is widely used in most animation applications. It is said that the human eye cannot see quite as many shades of color as there are in a True Color image. Most of your renders from Maya will probably be as 8-bit image files, especially since most monitors are only capable of 8-bit color reproduction in playback. 16-Bit Image File Used in television and film work using such file types as TIFF16, a 16-bit image file holds 16 bits of information for each color channel, resulting in an impressive number of color levels and ranges. Each file can exceed several megabytes even at low resolutions. These files are primarily used in professional productions. 32-Bit Image File This is where the big boys play. Used primarily for film work, 32-bit images such as in OpenEXR format files give you an incredible amount of range in each of the color channels. This gives you the ability to adjust a wide range of tones and hues in your rendered output for the fullest in detail. They are pretty much standard for film work because outputting CG to film can require high levels of color and brightness range in the image.

21 16 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D High Dynamic Range Imagery (HDRI) HDRI images are created by combining several digital photos into one image file. For example, photos are taken of a subject with different levels of light exposure using different f-stops during photography. This way you have a series of images that range from dark (with minimal exposure) to normal (with proper exposure) to blown out light (with overexposure). These different exposures are then compiled into a single HDR file format (.hdr) that represents a wider range of light and dark than a typical photo. These files are traditionally used as lighting setups, especially for scenes in which CG is integrated with a live action background. COLOR CHANNELS As mentioned, each image file holds the color information in channels. All color images have red, green, and blue color channels that, when viewed together, give a color image. Each channel is a measurement of how much red, green, or blue there is in areas of the image. A fourth channel, called the alpha channel, is used as a transparency channel. This channel, also know as the matte channel, defines which portions of the image are transparent or opaque. Not all image files have alpha channels. You can read more about alpha channels in Chapter 7. FILE FORMATS In addition to image types, several image file formats are available today. The most common is probably JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), which is widely used on the Internet. The main difference between file formats is how the image is stored. Some formats compress the file to reduce file size. However, the greater the compression, the poorer the image s color will be. The popular formats to render into from Maya are TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), Maya IFF (Maya Image File Format), and Targa. These file formats maintain a good 8-bit image file, are either uncompressed or hardly compressed (lossless compression), and are frequently used for broadcast or film work. These formats also have an alpha channel, giving you better control when you later composite images together. To see an animation rendered in a file sequence of TIFFs, for example, you must play them back using a frame player such as Fcheck or compile them into a movie file. Ultimately, your final image format depends on the next step in your project. For example, if you plan to composite your CG, you ll need to output a format that can be imported by your compositing or editing program. TIFF files are perhaps the best format to use as they are widely compatible, store uncompressed color, and have an alpha channel. MOVIE FILES Animations can also be output to movie files such as AVI or QuickTime. These usually large files are self-contained and hold all the images necessary for the animation that they

22 core concepts 17 play back as frames. Like image files, movie files can be compressed to keep their sizes to a minimum, but they suffer from quality loss as well. Maya can render directly to an uncompressed AVI movie format, saving you the seeming hassle of having to render out a large sequence of files as TIFFs. Although rendering directly to an AVI movie file might seem like a good idea, it usually isn t. It is best to render a sequence of files that can easily be compiled into a movie file later using a program such as After Effects, Premiere, or even QuickTime Pro. The reason is simple: nothing is perfect, especially rendering on your computer. Your render may crash or your machine may freeze. In such an event, you need to start your AVI render from the beginning, whereas with TIFFs you can pick up right after the last rendered frame. With a sequence, you also have the option of reordering the frames or easily adjusting a few individual frames properties, such as hue or saturation, without affecting the entire movie file. Rendering frames is just the better way to go. Color Color is how we perceive the differences in the wavelengths of light. The wide range of colors that we see (the visible spectrum) result when any of three primary colors of light red, green, and blue are mixed together. You can mix color in two ways: subtractive and additive. These color definitions are most often displayed in color wheels, which place primary colors equally spaced around a ring and place the resultant colors when primaries are mixed in between the appropriate primaries. Knowing more about color will help you understand how your CG s color scheme will work and help you to design your shots with greater authority. (See the reading list at the end of this chapter for some books that expound on color theory and color s impact on composition.) SUBTRACTIVE AND ADDITIVE COLOR Subtractive color mixing is used when the image will be seen with an external light source. It s based on the way reflected light creates color. Light rays bounce off colored surfaces and are tinted by the different pigments on the surface. These pigments absorb and reflect only certain frequencies of the light hitting them, in essence subtracting certain colors from the light before it gets to your eyes. Pile up enough different colors of paint and you get black; all the color is absorbed by the pigment and only black is reflected. When subtractive color mixing is used in painting, the traditional color wheel s primary colors are red, yellow and blue for paints. These three pigments can be mixed together to form any other color pigment and is the basis for the color wheel most people are exposed to in art education in primary school. In the world of print production, however, a CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and black) color wheel is used. Cyan, yellow, and magenta ink colors are the primary colors used to mix all the other ink colors for print work.

23 18 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Projected light, however, is mixed as additive color. Each light s frequency adds upon another s to form color. The additive primary colors are red, green, and blue. These three colors, when mixed in certain ratios, form the entire range of color. When all are equally mixed together, they form a white light. A computer monitor uses only additive color, mixing each color with amounts of red, green, and blue (RGB). Output for print is converted to a CMYK color model. Warm colors are those in the magenta to red to yellow range, and cool colors are those in the green to cyan to blue range of the additive color wheel. Warm colors seem to advance from the frame, and cool colors seem to recede into the frame. HOW A COMPUTER DEFINES COLOR Computers represent all information, including color, as sets of numeric values made up of binary 0s and 1s (bits). In an 8-bit color file, each pixel is represented by three 8-bit values corresponding to the red, green, and blue channels of the image. An 8-bit binary number ranges from 0 to 255, so for each primary color you have 256 possible levels. With three channels you have (16.7 million) possible combinations of each primary color mixed to form the final color. Color value can also be set on the hue, saturation, and value (HSV) channels. Again, each channel holds a value from 0 to 255 (in an 8-bit image file) that defines the final color. The hue value defines the actual tint (from red to green to violet) of the color. The saturation defines how much of that tint is present in the color. The higher the saturation value, the deeper the color will be. Finally, value defines the brightness of the color, from black to white. The higher the value, the brighter the color will be. HSV and RGB give you different methods to control color, allowing you to use the method you prefer. All the colors available in Maya, from textures to lights, are defined as either RGB or HSV values for the best flexibility. You can switch from HSV to RGB definition in Maya at any time. CMYK COLOR A CMYK color wheel is used for print work, and this is referred to as the four-color process. Color inkjet printers produce color printouts by mixing the appropriate levels of these inks onto the paper. All output from a computer, which is RGB based, to a printer goes through a CMYK conversion as it s printed. For professional print work, specially calibrated monitors are used to better preview the CMYK color of an RGB image before it is printed. Fortunately, only the print professionals need to worry about this conversion process because most of it is handled by our graphics software to a fairly accurate degree.

24 core concepts 19 VIEWING COLOR The broadcast standard for North America is called NTSC. One joke in the industry is that the acronym means Never The Same Color, referring to the fact that the color you see on one TV screen will be different from what you see on another one. The same holds true for computer monitors, especially flat panel displays. All displays are calibrated differently, and what you see on one screen may not be exactly what you see on another screen. If it s important to have consistent color on different screens, say on your home and school computers, you can use traditional color bars downloaded from the Internet or your own custom-made color chart to adjust the settings of the monitors you work with so they match more closely. Resolution, Aspect Ratio, Frame Rate Resolution denotes the size of an image by the number of horizontal and vertical pixels, usually expressed as # # (for example, ). The higher the resolution, the finer the image detail will be. You will adjust your final render size to suit the final medium for which you are creating the animation. Table 1.1 lists some standard resolutions. NAME SIZE NOTES VGA (Video Graphics Array) Formerly the standard computing resolution and still a popular television resolution for tape output. NTSC D1 (National Television System Committee) The standard resolution for broadcast television in North America. NTSC DV Close to the NTSC D1 resolution, this is the typical resolution of digital video cameras. PAL (Phase Alternation Line) The standard broadcast resolution for most European countries. HDTV (High Definition TV) The emerging television standard, sometimes also referred to as 1080i. 1K Academy (1K refers to 1000 pixels across) Typically the lowest allowable resolution for film production at Academy ratio. Since film is an optical format (whereas TV is a raster format), there is no real set defined resolution for film. Suffice it to say, the higher the better. 2K Academy (2K refers to 2000 pixels across) Most studios output CG for film at this resolution, which gives the best size-toperformance ratio. 4K Academy (4K is 4000 pixels across) A high resolution for film, used for highly detailed shots. Any discussion of resolution must include the matter of aspect ratio. Aspect ratio is the ratio of the screen s width to its height. Aspect ratio standards are shown in Table 1.2. Table 1.1 Typical Video Resolutions

25 20 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Table 1.2 Aspect Ratio Standards NAME SIZE NOTES Academy Standard 1.33:1 or 4:3 The most common aspect ratio. The width is 1.33 times the length of the height. This is the NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) television aspect ratio as well as the aspect ratio of 16 mm films and some 35mm films, especially classics such as Gone with the Wind. Widescreen TV 1.78:1 or 16:9 With HD and widescreen TVs gaining popularity, the 16:9 standard is commonplace now. This aspect is used in HD programming and is also the aspect ratio of many widescreen computer monitors and laptops. This aspect is very close to how most films are displayed (1.85:1, as seen below) Widescreen Film (a.k.a. Academy Flat) 1.85:1 The most often used 35mm film aspect today. When it s displayed on a television, horizontal black bars appear above and below the picture so that the edges are not cropped off (an effect called letterboxing). Anamorphic Ratio 2.35:1 Using a lens called an anamorphic lens, the image captured to 35mm film is squeezed. When played back with a projector with an anamorphic lens, the image is projected with a width at 2.35 times its height. On a standard TV, the letterboxing would be more severe to avoid cropping the sides. How many frames are played back per second determines the frame rate of the animation. This is denoted as fps, or frames per second. The following shows the three standard frame rates for media: NTSC: 30fps PAL: 25fps Film: 24fps Knowing your output medium is important when beginning an animation project. Although not crucial, it can affect how you design your framing, create your movements, determine how to render, and so on. You can change the frame rate and render resolution at any time in Maya, but it s always better to know as best you can what the final resolution and fps will be before you begin. Playing back a 24fps animation at 30fps will yield a slower-moving animation and will either necessitate the repetition of some frames to fill in the gaps or end the animation early. Conversely, playing a 30fps animation at 24fps will create a faster-moving animation that will either skip some frames or end later than it should. 3D Coordinate Space and Axes Three-dimensional space is the virtual area in which you create your models and execute your animation. It is based on the Cartesian coordinate system, a geometric map of sorts

26 core concepts 21 developed by René Descartes. Knowing where you are at all times is essential with a 3D program. You can do so if you understand the toolset you re working with and the 3D space in which you re working. Space is defined in three axes X, Y, and Z representing width, height, and depth. The three axes form a numeric grid in which a particular point is defined by its coordinates set forth as (#,#,#) corresponding to (X,Y,Z). At the zero point of these axes is the origin. This is at (0,0,0) and is the intersection of all three axes. The 3D space defined by these three axes is called the World axis, in which the XYZ-axes are a fixed reference. The axis in World Space is always fixed and is represented in Maya by the XYZ Axis icon in the lower-left corner of the Perspective windows. Because objects can be oriented in all sorts of directions within the World axis, it s necessary for each object to have its own width, height, and depth axis independent of the World axis. This is called the Local axis. The Local axis is the XYZ coordinate space that is attached to every object in Maya. When that object rotates or moves, its Local axis rotates and moves with it. This is necessary to make animating an object easier as it moves and orients about in the World axis. You ll get a hands-on introduction to Maya s Cartesian coordinate space in the tutorial in Chapter 3, Your First Maya Animation, where you ll re-create the solar system with the sun placed at the origin, the planets orbiting the World axis and rotating on their own Local Axes, and moons orbiting the planets and also rotating (see Figure 1.3). Figure 1.3 The sun at the origin, Earth and other planets orbiting the World axis while rotating on their own axes, and the moon orbiting Earth

27 22 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Basic Design Concepts Composition is all about how you lay out your scene and design your colors. Creating a dynamic frame that not only catches the eye but also informs and intrigues is itself an art form. Some background in basic design is definitely helpful, and you ll want to look at some design books as you further your education in 3D. Understanding the fundamentals of layout and design makes for better-looking scenes and easier setup. The concepts presented here will get you started. Design theory may not seem specifically pertinent to CG right now, but recognizing that there is a logical system behind every pretty picture will help you progress, both as an artist and as an animator. Form, Space, and Composition Space is your canvas or frame. Because ultimately your canvas will be a rendered image, your design space becomes your image frame. Whether that frame falls into a tiny web window or a huge IMAX screen, the basics of design always apply: how you arrange your forms and divide your space says a lot. In the design lexicon, form means anything that you can see; it has some sort of shape, color, or texture that distinguishes it from its frame. Any object you model or animate becomes a form in your frame when you render the scene. How these objects lie in the frame defines your composition. The space behind and between what is rendered out is the ground, or background plane. Objects become positive space, and the background becomes negative space. To viewers, positive space tends to proceed forward from the frame, while negative space recedes. Playing with the position of positive and negative space greatly affects the dynamics of your frame. Add to that the element of motion and you have a terrific chance to play with your canvas. Design a static frame in which the objects are all centered and evenly spaced, and your viewer will wonder why he or she is looking at your composition. Arrange the composition so that your subjects occupy more interesting areas of the frame, in which they play with negative space and the eye is drawn all over the frame, and you have a dynamic composition. This principle applies to still images as well as to animation. In the tutorial in Chapter 10, you ll use light and shadow to turn a still life of fruit into a dynamic and interestingly composed frame. Balance and Symmetry Balance in a frame suggests an even amount of positive space from one side of the frame to the other. A frame that is heavier on one side can create a more dynamic composition.

28 core concepts 23 Symmetrical objects in a frame are mirrored from one side to another and create a certain static balance in the frame. An asymmetrical composition, therefore, denotes movement in the composition. A popular technique used by painters, photographers, and cinematographers is called framing in thirds. In this technique, the frame is divided into a grid of thirds vertically and horizontally. Interesting parts of the frame or focal points of the subjects are placed at strategic locations in the grid. Placing your subject in the lower third makes it seem small or insignificant. Placing it in the upper third makes the viewer look up to it, magnifying its perceived scale or importance. Figure 1.4 illustrates the difference between a static, symmetric frame and a frame based on thirds. Figure 1.4 A purely symmetrical frame looks static, but framing in thirds helps create a sense of motion. Contrast Contrast in design describes how much your foreground subject pops from the background. As you can see in Figure 1.5, when you create an area in your frame that contains little variation in color and light, the image will seem flat and uneventful. Using dark shadows and light highlights increases the perceived depth in the image and helps pop out the subject from the background. Animating contrast can help increase or decrease the depth of your frame. Figure 1.5 With low contrast, the subject seems to disappear into the background. If you add shadows and highlights, the subject will pop out.

29 24 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D As you ll see in Chapter 10, light plays an important role in creating dynamic contrasts within your frame. Color Your use of color also plays a big part in creating impact in your frame. As stated above, warm colors tend to advance toward you, and cooler colors seem to recede into the frame. Placing a warm color on a subject on a cool background creates a nice color contrast to help the dynamics of your frame. Colors opposite each other on the color wheel are complementary colors and usually clash when put together. Using complementary colors can create a wide variation of contrast in your scene. Basic Film Concepts In addition to the design concepts used in framing a shot, you ll want to understand some fundamental filmmaking concepts. Planning a Production Understanding the paradigm filmmakers use for their productions will make it easier to plan, create, and manage your own shorts. Most narrative films are broken into acts, which comprise sequences made up of scenes, which in turn are made up of shots. CG productions concerning even the simplest topics should follow this pattern. By using a similar layout in the scripting and storyboarding of your own short, you will find the entire production process will become easier and the effect of your film will be stronger. A narrative film is a film that tells a story of a hero called a protagonist and his or her struggle against an antagonist. Narrative films are typically divided into three acts. The first act establishes the main characters and the conflict or struggle that will define the story. The second act covers most of the action of the story as the hero attempts to overcome this conflict. The third act concludes the film by resolving the action in the story and tying up all the loose ends. Acts can be deconstructed further into sequences, which are groups of sequential scenes that unite around a particular dramatic or narrative point. A scene is a part of a film that takes place in a specific place or time with specific characters to present that part of the story. Films are broken into scenes for organizational purposes by their locations (that is, by where or when they take place). Don t confuse the filmmaking concept of a scene with the word scene in CG terms, which refers to the elements in the 3D file that make up the CG.

30 basic film concepts 25 Scenes are then broken into shots, which correspond to a particular camera angle or framing. Shots break up the monotony of a scene by giving different views of the scene and its characters. Shots are separated by cuts between each shot. Shots are defined by angle of view, which is the point of view (POV) of the camera. Shots change as soon as the camera s view is changed. Lighting Although CG lighting techniques can vary wildly from real life, the desired results are often the same. The more you understand how real lights affect your subjects in photography, the better you will be at CG lighting. Without lights, you can t capture anything on film. How you light your scene affects the contrast of the frame as well as the color balance and your overall design impact. If the lights in your scene are too flat or too even they will weaken your composition and abate your scene s impact. Most lighting solutions are based on the three-point system. This method places a key light in front of the scene, which is the primary illumination and casts the shadows in the scene. The key light is typically placed behind the camera and off to one side to create a highlight on one side of the object for contrast s sake. The rest of the scene is given a fill light. The fill acts to illuminate the rest of the scene but is typically not as bright as the key light. The fill also helps soften harsh shadows from the key light. To pop the subject out from the background, a back light is used to illuminate the silhouette of the subject. This is also known as a rim light because it creates a slight halo or rim around the subject in the scene. It s much fainter that the key or fill lights. You ll learn more about Maya lighting techniques in Chapter 10. Basic Animation Concepts As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, animation is the representation of change over time. This concept is the basis for an amazing art that has been practiced in one way or another for some time. Although this section cannot cover all of them, here are a few key terms you will come across numerous times on your journey into CG animation. Frames, Keyframes, In-Betweens Each drawing of an animation, or in the case of CG, a single rendered image, is called a frame. The term frame also refers to a unit of time in animation whose exact chronological length depends on how fast the animation will eventually play back (frame rate). For example, at film rate (24fps), a single frame will last 1 24 of a second. At NTSC video rate (30fps), that same frame will last 1 30 of a second.

31 26 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D Keyframes are frames at which the animator creates a pose for a character (or whatever is being animated). In CG terms, a keyframe is a frame in which a pose, a position, or some other such value has been saved in time. Animation is created when an object travels or changes from one keyframe to another. You will see firsthand how creating poses for animation works in Chapter 9, when you create the poses for a simple walking human figure. In CG, a keyframe can be set on almost any aspect of an object its color, position, size, and so on. Maya then interpolates the in-between frames between the keyframes set by the animator. In reality, you can set several keyframes on any one frame in CG animation. Figure 1.6 illustrates a keyframe sequence in Maya. Weight Weight is an implied facet of design and animation. The weight of your subject in the frame is a function of how it is colored, its contrast, shape, and location in the frame, and the negative space around it. In animation, the idea of weight takes on a more important role. How you show an object s weight in motion greatly affects its believability. As you ll see in the axe tutorial in Chapter 8, Introduction to Animation, creating proper motion to reflect the object s weight goes a long way toward creating believable animation. Weight in animation is actually a perception of mass. An object s movement, how it reacts in motion, and how it reacts to other objects all need to convey the feeling of weight. Otherwise, the animation will look bogus, or as they say, cartoonish. Weight can be created with a variety of techniques developed by traditional animators over the years. Each technique distorts the shape of the character in some way to make it look as if it is moving. Although it may seem strange to distort an object s dimensions, doing so makes the character s motion more realistic. Chapter 8 will touch more on creating weight in animation. Here s a quick preview. SQUASH AND STRETCH This technique makes a character responds to gravity, movement, and inertia by literally squashing down and stretching up when it moves. For example, a cartoon character will squeeze down when it is about to jump up, stretch out a bit while it is flying in the air, and squash back down when it lands to make the character look as if it is reacting to gravity. EASE-IN AND EASE-OUT Objects never really suddenly stop. Everything comes to rest in its own time, slowing before coming to a complete stop in most cases. This is referred to as ease-out. Just as objects don t suddenly stop, they don t immediately start moving either. Most things need to speed up a bit before reaching full speed. This is referred to as ease-in. The Bouncing Ball tutorial in Chapter 8 illustrates ease-in and ease-out.

32 basic film concepts 27 Keyframe at frame 1 Figure 1.6 Keyframing. In the first frame of this sequence, a keyframe is set on the position, rotation, and scale of the cone. On frame 30, the same properties are again keyframed. Maya calculates all the movement in between. Frame 5 Frame 10 Frame 15 Frame 20 Frame 25 Keyframe at frame 30

33 28 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D FOLLOW-THROUGH AND ANTICIPATION Sometimes exaggerating the weight of an object is necessary in animation, especially in cartoons. You can exaggerate a character s weight, for instance, by using follow through and anticipation. You should create a little bit of movement in your character or object before it moves. Anticipation is a technique in which a character or object winds up before it moves, like a spring that coils in a bit before it bounces. Likewise, objects ending an action typically have a follow-through. Think about the movement of gymnasts. When they land, they need to bend a bit at the knees and waist to stabilize their landing. Likewise, a cape on a jumping character will continue to move a bit even after the character lands and stops moving. The Axe tutorial in Chapter 8 will give you a chance to implement these two concepts. Physics In Chapter 12, Maya Dynamics, you ll see that one of Maya s most powerful features is its ability to simulate the dynamics of moving objects. To use that capability effectively, you need a general awareness of the properties of physics how objects behave in the physical world. Newton s Laws of Motion There are three basic laws of motion. Sir Isaac Newton set forth these three laws, summarized here. Everyone in animation needs to understand the first two laws because they play a large part in how animations should look. An object in motion will remain in motion, and an object at rest will remain at rest unless an external force acts upon the object. This is called inertia, and understanding it is critical to good animation. You ll find more on this in Chapters 8 and 9. The more massive an object is, the more force is needed to accelerate or decelerate its motion. This law deals with an object s momentum. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. When you press on a brick wall, for example, the wall exerts an equal amount of force on your hand. That way your hand doesn t smash through the wall. Momentum In particular, it s important to understand what momentum is all about. When an object is in motion, it has momentum. The amount of momentum is calculated by multiplying the mass of the object by its velocity. The heavier something is, or the faster it is moving, the more momentum it has and the bigger the bruise it will leave if it hits you.

34 basic film concepts 29 That s why a tiny bullet can cause such a great impact on a piece of wood, for example. Its sheer speed greatly increases its momentum. Likewise, a slow-moving garbage truck can bash your car, relying on its sheer mass for its tremendous momentum. When one moving object meets another object moving or not momentum is transferred between them. So when something hits an object, that object is moved if there is sufficient momentum transferred to it. For more on this notion, see the Axe-Throwing exercise in Chapter 8. SUGGESTED READING The more you know about all the arts that make up CG, the more confident you ll feel among your peers. To get started, check out the following excellent resources. Art and Design These books provide valuable insights into the mechanics and art of design. The more you understand design theory, the stronger your art will be. Bowers, John. Introduction to Two-Dimensional Design: Understanding Form and Function. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Itten, Johannes. Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus and Later. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ocvirk, Otto G., et al. Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice. New York: McGraw-Hill, Wong, Wucius. Principles of Form and Design. New York: John Wiley & Sons, CG CG has an interesting history and is evolving at breakneck speeds. Acquiring a solid knowledge of this history and evolution is as important as keeping up with current trends. Kerlow, Isaac Victor. The Art of 3D: Computer Animation and Imaging. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Kundert-Gibbs, John, Derakhshani, Dariush, et al. Mastering Maya 8.5. San Francisco: Sybex, Kuperberg, Marcia. Guide to Computer Animation. Burlington, MA: Focal Press, Masson, Terrence. CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, Periodicals Computer Graphics World (free subscription for those who qualify) cgw.pennnet.com Cinefex continues

35 30 chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D continued HDRI3D 3D World Websites Film Block, Bruce. The Visual Story: Seeing the Structure of Film, TV, and New Media. Burlington, MA: Focal Press, Must-Read Myers, Dale K. Computer Animation: Expert Advice on Breaking into the Business. Milford, MI: Oak Cliff Press, Summary In this chapter, you learned the basic process of working in CG, called a workflow or pipeline, and how it relates to the process of working on a typical live film production. In addition, you were introduced to the core concepts of CG creation and the fundamentals of digital images. Some important ideas in design as well as traditional animation concepts were also covered. Now that you have a foundation in CG and 3D terminology and core concepts, you are ready to tackle the software itself. Maya is a capable, intricate program. The more you understand how you work artistically, the better use you will make of this exceptional tool. There is a lot to think about before putting objects into a scene and rendering them out. With practice and some design tinkering, though, all this will become intuitive. As you move forward in your animation education, stay diligent, be patient, and never pass up a chance to learn something new. Above all else, have fun with it.

36 Index Note to the Reader: Throughout this index boldfaced page numbers indicate primary discussions of a topic. Italicized page numbers indicate illustrations. Academy Flat aspect ratio, 20 Academy Standard aspect ratio, 20 Accuracy setting, 497, 498 Active attribute, 520, 525 active rigid bodies animating, , creating, , 519, 521 acts in narrative films, 24 Add Attribute window, 400, 400, 542, 543 Add Attributes For Current Render Type option, 538 Add Divisions tool, 118, 118, 144 additive color, aim constraints, , 396 Aim Vector setting, 395 alien hands fingers, , lattices for, , Alpha Channel (Mask) option, 454 alpha channels, 16, , 459, 460 Alpha Contrast setting, 475 Ambient Color attribute, 272 Ambient lights, 418, 418 ambient occlusion red rocket model, , rendering pass, , Ambient Shade settings, 418, 418 Anamorphic Ratio aspect ratio, 20 angles camera shutter, 469 Spot lights, 420, 420 animation, 4, 71, 313 axe throwing. See throwing axe basic concepts, 25 28, 27 bouncing ball. See bouncing ball catapult deformers for, , winch in, , flying text, , through lattices, , lights, , 447 particle effects, , A pool table. See pool table animation relationships in constraints, , set driven keys, , replacing objects in, , 343 rigging. See rigging rigid bodies, , skeletons. See skeletons solar system. See solar system animation summary, 357, in work flow, 11 Animation menu set, 65 Animation Preferences window, 32, 320 Anisotropic Shader, 270 ankle joints, , 360, , antagonists, 24 anti-aliasing in Maya Software rendering method, 456 in mental ray rendering, , for shaders, 276 anticipation in animation, 30 in axe throwing, , 331 Arc and Cone End Radius attribute, 422 Arc Angle option, 113 architectural modeling, 10 Area lights, 421, 421 areas in vector images, 14 art embracing, 2 suggested reading, 29 Artisan module, , aspect ratio, 20, 455, 467, 472 assembling scenes, 7 Assign Material to Selection option, 85, 277, 545 Assign New Material option, 282 Attach to Motion Path option, 339, 345 attaching NURBS surfaces, 215, 216 skeleton geometry, , , 378 attributes and Attribute Editor, 32, 39 cameras, , creating, COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

37 566 auto keyframe feature boiler engine emitters, , image planes, 171, 171 keyframes for, 84 lifespan, 537 lighting, , mental ray lighting, metal shaders, 278 Paint Effects, particles, , , , 543 Ramp shader, 271, 271 raytraced shadows, 427 rendering, , 538, , rigid bodies, 522, shaders, , shadow maps, 426, 426 spheres, 54 56, texture nodes, 291, 291 windows for, 44 wood material, , 283, 285 wood texture, , 280 Auto Keyframe feature, 32 axe throwing, , 332 bouncing ball, 315 planets, 92 Auto Load option, 474 Automatically Fit Bevel To Object option, 110 AVI movie format, axe model deformers for, , edges, 324, 325 handles, , , 324, 324 head, , metal spike, , textures, 276 throwing. See throwing axe axes, 20 21, 21 axles red rocket model, 201, 201 steam locomotive, , back lights, 25, , 415 back wheels connections, , rigging, , background lights, 415 baking history, 382 simulations, , texture projections, 287 balance, B balls bouncing. See bouncing ball pool table animation, , relationship with cones, 398, 398 banding, color, 15 Batch Render Frame dialog box, 469, 469 batch rendering process, , 469 with render layers, 487, 487 wine bottle, bend deformers axe modeling, , catapult animation, , Bevel Plus surfaces, 162 bevel surfaces, 162, 163 Bevel tool, 110, 110, 162 Bezier curves, , 101 Bezier splines, Bind Skin option, 381 binding skeletons, , 379, 381 rigid binds, , smooth binds, , bitmapped images, 13, 13 bitmapped textures, 286 Blinn shaders, 270 in projections, 289 red rocket model, 298, 298 Blinn surfaces, 270 block man attaching elements to, , Forward Kinematics, , 362 leg rigging, , skeletons, , walk cycle Forward Kinematics, , Inverse Kinematics, , blocking, 315 blowing grass and flowers, , blue color, blur, motion, Blur by Frame attribute, 468 Blur Length attribute, 468 bodies, red rocket model, , , , boiler engine, , caps end, , front, , topside, 142, 142 chimneys, , details, , finishing, , undercarriage, ,

38 bolts color chooser window 567 bolts, boiler cap, , 131 bones creating, 364 in skeleton hierarchy, , 360 bottle rendering, , bounce in mental ray, 458 Bounciness attribute, 522, bouncing ball animating, creating, , 314 Graph Editor for, , playing back, 320 rigid bodies for, , 519 squash and stretch in, 322, timing for, , boundary surfaces, , 164 Bowling Lane scene, 528 box modeling, 105 Break Connection option, 295 Break Tangents icon, 335 brightness in HSV channels, 18 Brush Profile attribute, 551 Brush Width attribute, 551 Bulge texture, 292 Bump Maps, 268, 273 buttons mouse, 33 red rocket model Control panel, 201, By Frame attribute, cabin in steam locomotive, , caching particles, cages, polygon, 254 Camera, Aim, and Up cameras, 464 Camera and Aim cameras, 464 cameras, , 465 attributes, , creating, 464 motion blur, red rocket model rendering, , in rendering, , 454 types, wine bottle rendering, , caps in steam locomotive end, , front, , topside, 142, 142 Cartesian coordinate system, Casts Shadows option, 428, C catapult animation deformers for, , winch in, , Caustic Photons attribute, 432 caustics, , 458 CCIR 601/Quantel NTSC resolution, 455 center of balance, 325, 325 Center of Mass attribute, 528 Center Pivot option, 149 Center zone, hotbox, 64, 64 CGI (Computer Graphics Industry), 2 chains, IK, 393, 393 Channel Box, 32, 39, 41 42, 42, 55, 446 channels in rendering, , 454 character modeling, 9 10 Character Set menu, 32, 43 Checker texture, 292 child nodes, 67 68, 68, 95 chimneys for steam locomotive, , Choose a Folder dialog box, 74 Chord Height Ratio option, 218 Circle option, 161, 161 circles, NURBS, , clipping in global illumination, 434 clipping planes, 466 Closest Distance option, Closest Joint option, 380 Closest On Hierarchy option, 380 Closest Point option, 380 Cloth texture, 292 Cloud particle type, , , clusters in binding, 378 CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) color space, 18 collisions, , 522, , 533 color, 17 additive and subtractive, CMYK, 18 defined, 18 in design, 24 joints, 386 for layers, 42 in ramp textures, 271 shaders, 83 volumetric lighting, 437 Color attribute lighting, 417 shaders, 272 Color Balance attributes, 291 color banding, 15 color channels, 16 Color Chooser window, 83, 83, 441

39 568 color depth curves color depth, Color Joints option, 380 Color Range attribute, 422 color wheels, 17 Color1 and Color2 attributes, 551 Combine tool, , combining NURBS techniques, Command line, 43, 43, 62 Common tab for rendering, 451 complementary colors, 24 complex objects. See steam locomotive Component Mode icon, 36 compositing Ambient Occlusion results, , in postproduction, 7 composition in design, 22 computer graphics (CG), 2 3, 12 3D coordinate space and axes, 20 21, 21 color, image output, raster images, 13, 13 resolution, aspect ratio, and frame rate, suggested reading, 29 vector images, 14, 14 Computer Graphics Industry (CGI), 2 conceptuals, 5 6 Cone Angle setting shadow maps, 428 spot lights, 420 cones creating, 289, 289 relationship with balls, 398, 398 Connection Editor, 62 63, 63, , 403 connections attribute, 62 63, 63 caps to cylinder, 226 input and output, 38 NURBS curves, 155 wheel control, , 403 Constant attribute, 537 constraints, animation, , construction history, 38 contrast, 23 24, 23 Contrast Threshold settings, Control panel, red rocket model, , 192, 201, control vertices (CVs) attaching to skeletons, 378 in NURBS, , , 173, profile curves, snapping to, 37 Controls attribute, 466 converting NURBS to polygons, , 220 polygons to subdivision surfaces, , , subdivision surfaces to polygons, , 265 cool colors, 18 coordinates 3D, 20 21, 21 UV, , copying polygon faces, 124 core concepts, 12 animation, 25 28, 27 computer graphics. See computer graphics (CG) design, film, Cosine Power attribute, 275 Coverage setting, 291 cowcatcher, , 137 Create Active Rigid Body option, 519, 525 Create/Bins panel, Create Emitter option, 534, 540 Create Flexor option, 383 Create Lattice option, , 248 Create menu, 35 Create Motion Trail option, 337 Create Particle Disk Cache option, 540 Create Passive Rigid Body option, 519, 525 Create PSD Network option, 294 Create Ramp option, 543 Create Render Node window, 546 creation nodes, 66 cubes for axe, subdividing, 144 for targets, 326 current frame, 42 current time indicator, 42 Curvature Tolerance setting, 501 curvature with bend deformers, 239, , Curve Degree setting, 139 curves for axe throwing, , for flying text, , in Graph Editor, , , , NURBS. See NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B- Splines) modeling and surfaces in pool table animation, , projecting, 215 on surfaces, ,

40 customizing shelf dynamics menu set 569 customizing shelf, 40 Cut Faces tool, 124, 124 cuts in shots, 24 CV Curve tool, 102, 139, , 207, 339 CVs (control vertices) attaching to skeletons, 378 in NURBS, , , 173, profile curves, snapping to, 37 Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK) color space, 18 cylinders for axe, bend deformers for, , for boiler engine, , handlebars, 196, 196 for pump, , for targets, Cylindrical Mapping option, 310 DAG nodes, 66 dailies, 452 Damping attribute, 522 decals, , Decay Rate attribute Point lights, 419, 419 Spot lights, 419 decays, bounce, 320, 320 Default Color attribute, 291 deformers, axe model, , bend, , catapult animation, , flame, , 242 history for, 243 lattices. See lattices wave, 396 Delete Unused Notes option, 284, 287 denormalizing views, 331 Density attribute, 437 depth color, in space, 21 Depth Channel (Z Depth) setting, 454 Depth Map shadows, 425 Descartes, Rene, 21 design concepts, 22 balance and symmetry, 22 23, 23 color, 24 contrast, 23 24, 23 D form, space, and composition, 22 suggested reading, 29 Detach Skin option, 382 detaching NURBS surfaces, 178, 216, 216 skeletons, 382 details boiler engine, , characters, 10 environment, 10 in models, 98, 98 poly meshes, , 118 teakettle model, 265 Device Aspect Ratio attribute, 455 Dice scene, 528 Diffuse attribute, 273 diffuse lighting, 417, 417 diffusion, 269 Direction attributes, 541 Directional emitters, 534, 535, 540 Directional lights, 418, 419 Disable Implicit Control option, 529 disconnecting textures, 295 disk space for projects, Display Alpha Channel option, 459, 460 Display Film Gate attribute, 468, 472 Display Level options, 255 Display menu, 35 Display Options for cameras, 467, 472 Display Real Size option, 459, 460 Display Resolution attribute, 468 Display RGB Channels option, 459, 460 dome light, 495, 495 donuts red rocket model body, , for rings, drive mechanism, steam locomotive, 151, 151 Dropoff setting, 420 Dropoff Rate setting, 381 Duplicate Face tool, 124 Duplicate Special option, 128 Dynamic Friction setting, 522 Dynamic Relationships window, , 521 dynamics and dynamics engine, 517 baking out simulations, , overview, 518 particles. See particles and particle dynamics pool table. See pool table animation rigid bodies, , 519, 521 summary, 552 Dynamics menu set, 65

41 570 earth fins Earth animating, 89 90, 90 grouping with moon, 91 ease-in, 28, 318, 318 ease-out, 28, 317, 317 East zone, hotbox, 64, 64 Edge Split tool, 128, 128 edges axe, 324, 325 polygon, 99, 100 Edit menu, 34 Edit Ramp option, 543 Edit Rigid Skin option, 383 editing, 7 NURBS surfaces, 215 rigid binds, , smooth binds, , surfaces, , 211 vector programs, 14 effects lighting lens flare, , shader glows, , volumetric lighting, , 438 Paint Effects, 517 attributes, working with, , for texture nodes, 291 Effects attributes, bit image files, 15 Emit Diffuse option, 417 Emit Photons attribute, Emit Specular option, 417 emitters, attributes, , emitting process, , Enable Default Light option, 496 end caps, , End Frame attribute, 452 End Sweep attribute, 495 engines, rendering, Maya Hardware, , 457 Maya Software, , 457 Maya Vector, , mental ray for Maya, 458 engines, steam locomotive. See boiler engine Env Chrome texture, Envelope attribute, 354 Environment section for cameras, 468 environment textures, 295 environmental modeling, 10 Erase option, 235 E exaggerating object weight, 30 Exponent attribute, 432, 434.ext format, 451 extensions, filename, 451 Extract tool, 125 Extrude option, extruded faces polygons, , 108 subdivision surfaces, extruded surfaces, , 159 extrusion tools, , 108 faces extruded polygons, , 108 subdivision surfaces, polygon, 99, 100, 109, 109 Far Clip Plane attribute, 466 FCheck frame viewer, , 474 feedback history command, 43 Script Editor, 62 FG (Final Gather) process, , red rocket model, , fields of blowing grass and flowers, , fields with dynamic bodies, 518 file formats, 16 File menu, 34 file name prefix setting, 451 file nodes for textures, filenames, 451 fill light, 25, Fill Options option, 459 Film Back attribute, 467 film concepts, 24 lighting, 25 production planning, suggested reading, 30 film gate, 472 Film Gate attribute, 467 Filter Size setting, 476 filtering for mental ray rendering, 476 Final Gather (FG) process, , red rocket model, , Final Gather Rays setting, fingers creating, , lattices for, , fins, rocket, , , , F

42 fit resolution gate attribute handlebars 571 Fit Resolution Gate attribute, 467 FK (Forward Kinematics), 361, 361 for block man, , 362 walk cycle, , flame deformers, , 242 flexors, , floating menus, 35 Flow Path Object option, 346 flowers and grass, , fluid dynamics, 518 flying text, , Focal Length attribute, 466, 467 Fog Intensity setting, 437 Fog Spread setting, 437, 438 Foley sound, 8 Follow feature, 339 follow-through animation, 30 axe throwing, , form in design, 22 Forward Kinematics (FK), 361, 361 for block man, , 362 walk cycle, , fps (frames per second), 20 Fractal texture, 292 Fractional Tolerance option NURBS from polygons, 220 polygons from NURBS surfaces, 218 Frame All option, 50 Frame/Animation Ext attribute, frame numbers displaying, in filenames, 451 Frame Padding attribute, 453, 453 frame ranges in rendering, , 453 frame rate, 20 Frame Selection option, 50 Frame setting, 291 frames, 4, 25 26, 27 frames per second (fps), 20 framing, 24 framing in thirds, 23, 23 Freeform Layout option, 363, 363 freezing transformations, 221, , 315, 337 friction of rigid bodies, 522 Front Axis setting, 345 front caps, , front wheel covers, , 212 Game of Marbles scene, 528 General tab in Multilister, 58 G General Tessellation Method option, 218 geometry, 10 attaching, , , 378 constraints, , 397 Get Brush option, 548 ghosting, 341 Global Illum Photons attribute, 432, 436 Global Illumination (GI) with Ambient Occlusion, 489 lighting with, , with mental ray, 458, 476 Glow Color attribute, 439 Glow Intensity attribute lens flare, 439 shaders, 274, 441 Glow Radial Noise attribute lens flare, , 439 shader glows, 441 Glow Type attribute, 439 glowing effect, , Go to Bind Pose option, gradients, , 292, 292, 543 Graph Editor, 60 61, 60 for animation curves, , for axe throwing, , for bouncing ball, , for walk cycle, , graphics. See computer graphics (CG) grass and flowers, , grass brush, 548 gravity in animation, 28, 525 in dynamics, grayscale channel, 454 grayscale images, 15 green color, 18 grid display, 48 grid snaps, 78 Grid texture, 292 gross animation, 315 grouping Earth and moon, 91 Mercury, 88 89, 88 objects, 56 57, 57, Growth attribute, 551 hair, 518 Hair Tube shader, 269 Halo Type attribute, 439 handlebars importing, 200 red rocket model, , H

43 572 handles indirect lighting handles axe creating, , head on, 324, 324 tangents, 335, 335 teakettle, , 259, 262, 262 hands, , 374 block man, 362 fingers, , joints for, , 375 lattices for, , polygons for, , rigging, , set driven keys for, , hardware particles, 537 HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imagery), 16 HDTV (High Definition TV) resolution, 19 heads, axe, , height in aspect ratio, 20 image planes, 171 in resolution, 454 in space, 21 Height Ratio attribute, 80 Height setting in rendering setup, 454 Help line, 44 Help menu, 35 hierarchies objects, 67 68, 68 Outliner, 92 94, 92, 94 skeletons, , 360 hierarchy mode description, 36 for Earth and moon, 91 High Bound attribute, 240, 240, 354 High Color images, 15 High Definition TV (HDTV) resolution, 19 High Dynamic Range Imagery (HDRI), 16 Highlight Size attribute, 275 highlights, lighting for, 412 hip joints, , 360 history baking, 382 for deformers, 243 NURBS surfaces, , 166 hot keys, Graph Editor, 330 hotbox, 63 65, HSV (hue, saturation, and value) channels, 18 HSV Color Noise attributes, 292 hubcaps, , Hue/Sat/Value Rand attribute, 551 hulls CVs, 100 handlebars, , humpback name style, 76 Hypergraph, 57, 57 freeform layout, 363, 363 object hierarchy, 68, 68 Hypershade and Hypershade window, 59 60, 59, 268 vs. Multilister, 278 for shaders, , 277 for solar system animation, 82 85, 82, 85 IFF (Image File Format) format, 16, 452, 454 IK (Inverse Kinematics), 361, 388 rigging legs, , walk cycle, , IK Handle Size option, 390 IK handles, 361, 362 IK solvers, 361 IK Spline Handle tool, 393 Illuminates by Default option, 417 illumination. See lighting image channels, , 454 Image File Format (IFF) format, 16, 452, 454 image mattes, 275, 453 image planes cameras, 468 red rocket model, , images importing as textures, 293, 293 output, 15 color, 17 color channels, 16 color depth, formats, 16, movie files, in rendering, , 453, 460 in textures, , Images folder, 73 importing handlebars, 200 image files as textures, 293, 293 image planes, , 169, 468 Impulse Position attribute, 527 in-between frames, 26 Incandescence attributes Paint Effects, 551 shaders, 272 Incremental Save feature, 79 indirect lighting, 431, 434, 434 I

44 infinity of curves knee joints 573 infinity of curves, 318 Information Readout, 460, 460 inherited nodes, 95 Initial Spin attribute, 527 Initial Velocity attribute, 527 input connections, 38 Insert Edge Loop tool, 119, 119, 128, 146, 260, 261 Insert Keys tool, 340 inserting isoparms, 190, 190, 192, 192, 217, 217 Intensity attribute, 417 intents, 5 Interactive Photorealistic Renderer (IPR), 281, 461, 461 interface, 31 Attribute Editor, 54 56, Connection Editor, 62 63, 63 Graph Editor, 60 61, 60 hotbox, 63 65, Hypergraph, 57, 57 Hypershade, 59 60, 59 manipulators, 51 54, marking menus, 64 menu sets, 65 Multilister, 58 59, 58 navigating, 32 objects, 66 68, 68 Outliner, 56 57, 57 perspective/orthographic windows, 45 50, 45, 49 screen components. See screen components Script Editor, 61 62, 62 summary, 69 interpenetration, 250, 525 interpolation for ramp texture, 284, 292 in timing, 321 Interpolation setting, 284, 292 Inverse Kinematics (IK), 361, 388 rigging legs, , walk cycle, , IPR (Interactive Photorealistic Renderer), 281, 461, 461 isoparms for end caps, , inserting, 190, 190, 192, 192, 217, 217 in lofting, , 165 NURBS surfaces, 101, 101, 215 red rocket model, 175 selecting, , 173, , 177, 217 spans, 104 Jitter setting, 476 joint clusters, 378 J Joint Photographic Experts Groups (JPEG) format, 16, 452 Joint tool, 364 joints attaching, , in binding, , 379, 381 bones between, 364 for hands, , 375 keyframes for, 368 moving, , 376 rotating, 361, 362 for skeletons, , JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format, 16, 452 Keep Faces Together option, 147, , 259 Keep Image option, Keep Unbaked Keys option, 529 kettle model base polygon model, , converting polygons to subdivision surfaces, , converting subdivision surfaces to polygons, , 265 details for, 265 key lights, 25, 414, Key Selected option, 446 keyboard shortcuts capital letters with, 50 for viewing, 47 keyframes, 26, 27, 41 for attributes, 84 for axe throwing, , in bouncing ball animation. See bouncing ball for joints, 368 in pool table animation, 530 for rigid bodies, 526 setting, 84 for timing, 321 for walk cycle, , keys, moving, , 320 kinematics, 360 FK, 361 for block man, , 362 walk cycle, , IK, 361, 388 rigging legs, , walk cycle, , knee joints rigging, 390 skeletons, , 360 K

45 574 knuckles low-count poly models knuckles creating, flexors for, , Lambert shaders diffusion with, 269 for solar system animation, 82 Lattice Point option, 193 lattices, , 194, 244 animation through, , for binds, 383 for fingers, , for flying text, , for hands, , for subdivision surfaces, 260, 260 summary, 266 laws of motion, 28 Layer Editor, 32, 39, 41 42, 42 Layered shader, , , 283 layers creating, 42 render, , batch rendering for, 487, 487 shadow passes for, , testing, , learning to see, 412 legs moving. See kinematics rigging, , lemon, rendering, , batch rendering for, 487, 487 shadow passes for, , testing, , Length Min/Max attribute, 551 lens flare, , lids, teakettle, , 262, 262 Life Transparency attribute, 546 lifespan, particles, 537, 537 Lifespan attribute, 545, 545 Lifespan Mode attribute, 542 Lifespan Random attribute, 537, 545 lifespanpp Only attribute, 537 Light Fog attribute, 437 light glow effect, , Light Shape attribute, 422 lighted mode, 50 lightfog node, 437 lighting, 9, 411 animating, , 447 L attributes, , concepts, 412 effects lens flare, , shader glows, , volumetric lighting, , 438 in film, 25 in Final Gather, 496 learning to see for, 412 light types, , linking, 423, mental ray, 430, 430 attributes, caustics, global illumination, , need for, , 413 practical, 416 practice for, red rocket model, , in shading, 269 shadows, 412, , summary, 448 three-point, 25, , in work flow, lining up red rocket model, , linking light, 423, lip-synch, 8 Live Forever attribute, 537 living room Ambient Occlusion rendering, , global illumination, , rendering settings, , Loaded option for mental ray rendering, 474 loading images, 460 Local Axis axe throwing, 329 rotating, 21 Local Translate attribute, 112, 114 locking cameras, 473 locomotive. See steam locomotive lofted surfaces, connecting, , 165 lofting method for connecting caps to cylinder, 226 for NURBS, , for shapes, 209, logos flying, , red rocket model, , Look at Selection option, 50 Low Bound attribute, 240, 354 low-count poly models, 99

46 macintosh keys music 575 Macintosh keys, 46 main menu bar, Make The Selected Object Live option, 206, 208 manipulators, 51 54, for lights, 447, 447 pivot point, 90, 90 for projections, 290, 290 maps Bump, 268, 273 reflection, shadow, , UV mapping, 288 marking menus, 63 64, 63 masks, selection, 36 mass in animation, 28 of rigid bodies, 522 Mass attribute, 522 matchmoving process, 168 material nodes, 268, 277 materials for shaders, 277 for solar system animation, 85 Matte Opacity Mode and slider, 274 mattes, 275, 453 Max Distance attribute, 542, 546 Max Influences setting, 381 Max Sample setting, 475 Maya Embedded Language (MEL), 43, 61 62, 62 Maya Hardware rendering method, , 457 Maya Image File Format (IFF) format, 16, 452, 454 Maya Software rendering method, , 457 Maya Vector tab, 459, 459 MEL (Maya Embedded Language), 43, 61 62, 62 memory caching of particles, 539 mental ray rendering, 458 attributes, 275 Final Gather, , lighting, 430, 430 attributes, caustics, global illumination, , red rocket model, 501, 501 ambient occlusion, , final gather, , raytracing, 502, rim light trick, , tweaking, , settings, , shadow maps, , menus, M hot box for, 63 64, 64 menu sets, 65 Mercury creating, 77 78, 78 grouping, 88 89, 88 rotation of, Merge tool, , metal axe head, , metal spike, , Min and Max Distance setting for emitters, 536, 536 Min Distance attribute, 542 Min Sample setting, 475 Mirror U setting, 291 Mirror V setting, 291 models, 9 10 complex objects. See steam locomotive with NURBS. See NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) modeling and surfaces planning, 98 99, 98 with polygons. See polygons Modify menu, 34 momentum in axe throwing, 336 description, moons creating, 81, 81 Earth, 89 92, 90 motion animation. See animation laws of, 28 simulating. See dynamics and dynamics engine in vector programs, 14 motion blur, motion studies, motion trails, , , 345, 345 Mountain texture, 292 mouse controls, 33 Move Pivot tool, 376 Move tool, 51, 208, 208 for hands, 376 working with, 51 52, 51 movie files, moving joints, , 376 keys, , 320 objects, 51 52, 51 rigid bodies, multi-pixel filtering, 476 Multilister, 58 59, 58, 278 multiple versions, saving, 79 music, 8

47 576 names orthographic windows names layers, 42 nodes, 83 objects, 39, 56, 73, 76 narrative films, 24 National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) resolutions, 19, 455 navigating, 32 Near Clip Plane attribute, 466 negative space, 22 nested object hierarchy, 67 New Project window, 73, New Scene option, 36, 75 Newton, Isaac, 28 nodes inherited, 95 objects, renaming, 83 shader, 268 textures, , Noise attribute, 292 Noise Frequency attribute, 292 Noise texture, 292 Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines. See NURBS (Non- Uniform Rational B-Splines) modeling and surfaces normal constraints, , 398 Normalize option, 310 normalized skin weights, 387 normalizing views, 331, 331 North zone, hotbox, 64, 64 nose section, , , , NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) resolutions, 19, 455 null node, 95 Number of Samples setting, 458, Number U setting, 162 Number V setting, 162 NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) modeling and surfaces, , , 155 Artisan module for, , attaching, 215, 216 for axes. See axe model bevel, 162, 163 boundary, , 164 circles, , combining techniques for, cones, 289, 289 converting to polygons, , 220 creating, 156 curve projections on, 215 cylinders, 196, 196 N detaching, 178, 216, 216 editing, 215 for end caps, , extruded, , 159 history, , 166 isoparms, 101, 101, 215, 217 lofting method, , objects, 48, 49 patch modeling, , planar, , for polygons, pump, , revolved, , 157 spheres creating, 290, 290 lattices for, , red rocket model, , stitching and tangency, , summary, 236 tessellation, , tools for, 40 trimming and untrimming, 215 Object Mode icon, 36 objects, 66 grouping, 56 57, 57, names, 73, 76 nodes for, parents and children, 67 68, 68 replacing, , 343 occlusion, ambient red rocket model, , rendering pass, , Offset Edge Loop tool, , 120 Offset values aim constraints, 395 orient constraints, 394 Omni emitters, 534, 534 opacity in Artisan, 235 matte, 274 Open Image option, 460 Open Render Settings window, 459, 460 Open Scene icon, 36 OpticalFX node, 439 option boxes, 34 organic characters, 10 orient constraints, , 395 origins, 21 orthographic windows, 45 50, 45, 49 O

48 out color attribute polygons 577 Out Color attribute, 490 Outliner, 56 objects in, 56 57, 57, 68, 68 for solar system animation, 92 94, 92, 94 output connections, 38 overlighting, 412, 413 Overscan setting, padding frames, 453, 453 Paint Effects, 517 attributes, working with, , Paint Effects to Polygons option, 551 Paint Skin Weights tool, painting skin weights, , PAL (Phase Alternation Line) resolution, 19 panel layouts, 45, panels, 32 parametric modeling, 80 parent constraints, 398 parent nodes, 67 68, 68, 93, 95 Particle Render Type menu, 538, 538 particles and particle dynamics, 518, 533 animating, , attributes, , , , 543 caching, emitting, , , , Partition Set option, 380 passive rigid bodies, , 519, 521 patch modeling, 206, 220 patches, NURBS, 100, 155, , paths in axe throwing animation on, , 339 of motion, , pears, creating, , pelvis Inverse Kinematics for, for root, 364 Penumbra attribute, 422 Penumbra Angle attribute shader glows, 440 shadow maps, 428 spot lights, 420, 420 Per Particle (Array) attributes, , 538 perception of mass, 28 periodicals, perspective view, 45 50, 45, 49, 464 Phase Alternation Line (PAL) resolution, 19 Phong E shaders, 270 Phong E surfaces, 270 P Phong shading, 269, 269 Photon Color attribute, 432 Photon Intensity attribute, 432 Photoshop files, , 294 physics in motion simulation, 518 overview, pipelines, 4 piping in steam locomotive, 143, 143 pivots and pivot points block man, 362 center of balance as, 86 Earth and moon, 90, 90 joints, 360, 361 Mercury, 88, 88 in rigging, Pixel Aspect Ratio attribute, 455 pixelated raster images, 13 Place2dTexture nodes, 291, 291 planar surfaces, , planets Earth, 89 90, 90 grouping, 88 89, 88, 91 Mercury, 77 78, 78 Pluto, rotation, Saturn, 79 80, 80 Venus, 89 planning models, 98 99, 98 production, solar system animation, 72 Play Every Frame option, 520, 534 playing back axe throwing animation, bouncing ball, 320 wine bottle rendering, Pluto, 93 94, 94 pocket holes for pool table, 523, 523 point constraints, , Point lights, , 419 point of view (POV) in films, 24 Poke Face tool, 109, 109, 116, 116 pole vector constraints, 398 Poly_Hand project, , poly meshes, details on, , 118 polygon proxies, 254 Polygon tool, , 106 polygons, 97 basics, 105, 106 for complex objects. See steam locomotive components, , 100

49 578 polygons menu set ramp textures converting NURBS to, , 220 to subdivision surfaces, , , , subdivision surfaces to, , 265 for hand, , NURBS surfaces for, poly meshes, , 118 subdivision surfaces, suggestions, 153 summary, 153 textures for, , tools for Add Divisions, 118, 118 Bevel, 110, 110 Combine and Merge, , Cut Faces, 124, 124 Duplicate Face, 124 Extract, 125 extrusion, , 108 Insert Edge Loop, 119, 119 Offset Edge Loop, , 120 Poke Face, 109, 109 Polygon, , 106 Sculpt Geometry, 125, 125 Smooth, 125 Split Polygon, , 119 Wedge Face, 109, 109 Polygons menu set, 65 pool table animation, 522 baking out, , curves, , momentum, 336 rigid bodies, , table and balls, , pose animation, 368 positive space, 22 post processes, Paint Effects for, 551 postproduction stage, 6 8 POV (point of view) in films, 24 practical lighting, 416 precision in animation, 324 prefixes, filename, 451 preproduction stage, 5 6, previewing rendering, , 460 previsualization, 10 primary colors, 17 Primary Visibility option, 497 primitives shape nodes for, 66 working with, , 104 procedural textures, 286 procedures, MEL, 61 production stages, 4 5 combining, 8 planning, postproduction, 6 8 preproduction, 5 6 production, 6 steam locomotive, 127, 127 profile curves creating, , revolved surfaces, , project folders, 73 projections baking, 287 on surfaces curves, 215 textures, , 290 projects creating, 73 75, saving, proportions in animation, 324 Props modeling, 10 protagonists, 24 proxy objects, 341 PSD file node, , 294 pull brushes, 235 pumps, steam locomotive creating, , 151 NURBS, , pump arm rigging, , push brushes, 234 quality in Maya Software rendering method, , 457 of particles, 545 Quality setting, 545 Queue setting, 87 QuickTime movie format, Radial Frequency attribute, 439 radiosity, 458 Radius attribute particles, , 542 spheres, 56, 67 torus, 80 radiuspp attribute, 539, , 547 Ramp shader, 271, 271 ramp textures, 271 color transitions, 292, 292 particles, Q R

50 random noise pattern rendering 579 random noise patterns, 292 random particle speed, 536, 542 Random Range attribute, 537 Range Slider, 32, 42 43, 43 ranges, frame, , 453 raster images, 13, 13 rasterization, 14 Rate attribute emitters, 535 particles, 545, 547 Raytrace Options attributes, 274 raytracing, 425, 425 in Maya Software rendering method, red rocket model, 502, for reflections, , 462 with shaders, 274 for shadows, , Receive Shadows option, 428 red, green, blue (RGB) color wheel, 18 red color, red rocket model, 167 axles, 201, 201 back wheel connection, , body, , , , conclusion, 214, 216 Control panel, , 192, 201, handlebars, , image planes for, , lighting, , lining up, , nose section, , , , rendering, , 499 ambient occlusion, , final gather, , mental ray, , NURBS tessellation, , raytracing, 502, rim light trick, , tweaking, , wrapup, 515 seat, , side view, , starting, 167 texturing, 296, 296 decals, , shader assignment, , thrusters, , wheel covers, , wheel wells, , wheels, , wings, , , , Redo Previous Render option, 459, 460 Refine Selected option, 256 Reflected Color attribute, 275, 278, 279 Reflected Color map option, 462 reflection maps, , 462 reflections, 269 in rendering, , , 462 with shaders, 275, 278, 279 Reflections attribute, 462, 462 Reflectivity attribute, 275, 462 Reflectivity slider, 278 refractions in rendering, 456, 463, 463 refractive index, 463, 463 relationship editors for light linking Light Linking window, 521 Relationship Editor, 423, relationships in animation constraints, , set driven keys, , relative sizes in animation, 324 Remove Image option, renaming nodes, 83 objects, 56 Render Globals window, 450 render node display area, Render Region option, 459, 460 Render Settings window, 450 batch rendering, 469 mental ray lighting, 430 reflections, 462 tabs in, 451 vector rendering, 459, 459 wine bottle, 469, Render View window, 454, , 460 rendering, 3, 6, 449 Ambient Occlusion, , attributes, , 538, , batch, , 469, cameras in. See cameras controls for, 38 engine selection, Maya Hardware, , 457 Maya Software, , 457 Maya Vector rendering method, , mental ray for Maya, 458 filenames for, 451 final gathering, , frame ranges in, , 453 image channels in, , 454 image formats for, IPR, 461, 461

51 580 rendering menu set scale mental ray rendering lighting, 417, 417 mental ray for Maya, , motion blur, previewing, , 460 red rocket model, , 499 ambient occlusion, , final gather, , mental ray for Maya, , NURBS tessellation, , raytracing, 502, rim light trick, , tweaking, , wrapup, 515 reflections, , 462 refractions, 462, 463 render layers, , batch rendering for, 487, 487 shadow passes for, , testing, , resolution, saving and loading images, 460 setup, , 450 summary, 516 wine bottle, , in work flow, 12 Rendering menu set, 65 Repeat UV setting, 291 replacing objects, , 343 resolution, raster images, 13 in rendering, , 472 subdivision surfaces, 254 Resolution setting shader glows, 440 shadow map shadows, 426, 426, 428 volumetric lighting, 437 revolved surfaces, , 157, , RGB (red, green, blue) color wheel, 18 RGB Channel (Color) option, 454 rigging skeletons hands, , legs, , steam locomotive, 401, 402 back wheel, , finishing, , 409 pump arm, , scene setup, , selection handles for, 350, 350 wheel arms, , wheel control, , 403 rigid binds, 378, 379 creating, , 381 editing, , rigid bodies, 518 active and passive, , 519, 521 animating, , attributes, 522, moving, for pool table animation, , rim light, 25 purpose, 415 red rocket model, , rings for Saturn, 79 80, 80 roofs in steam locomotive, , 145 root joints, , 360 Rotate Frame setting, 291 Rotate tool, rotating and Rotate attributes animation curves, axe throwing, , baking out simulations, 529 constraints, joints, 361, 362 keyframe, 316, , lens flare, 439 Local Axis, 21 particles, 536 planets, set driven keys, 399 wheel control, Rotation attributes, , 439 Roughness attribute, 275 roundness for bevels, 110 S Divisions attribute, 245, 260 Sample By setting, 530 Sample Lock setting, 476 Samples setting, Sampling setting, saturation in HSV channels, 18 Saturn, 79 80, 80 Save Scene icon, 36 saving images, 460 multiple versions, 79 projects, Scale channels, 76 Scale keyframe, 316 scale manipulator, 76 Scale mental ray rendering, 498 S

52 scale tool size 581 Scale tool, scaling and Scale attributes bouncing ball, 316, 322 constraints, 395, 395 particles, 536 raster images, 13 spheres, 55, 67 sun, 76 vector graphics, 14, 14 Scene File Icons, 36 scenes, 24 assembling, 7 saving, 79 Scenes folder, 73 scenics, 10 screen components, 32, 33 Channel Box/Layer Editor, 41 42, 43 Command line, 43, 43 main menu bar, shelf, 40, 40 Status line, 35 40, 35 Time Slider and Range Slider, 42 43, 43 Tool Box, 41, 41 Script Editor, 43, 61 62, 62 scripts, 5, 43, 61 scroll wheel, 46 scrubbing Timeline, 42, 87 Sculpt Geometry tool, 125, 125 Sculpt Surfaces tool, 234, SDKs (set driven keys), 398 creating, , 399 for hands, , seat for red rocket model, , secondary motion animation, 334 axe throwing, , 337 sections for primitives, 104 segments for bevels, 110 Select a Renderer option, 459 Select Camera option, 464 Selected Color attribute, 284 Selected Joints option, 380 selecting isoparms, 217 selection handles for axe, 328 in rigging, 350, 350 selection masks, 36 selection modes, Separate option, 124 Separate Extracted Faces option, 125 separator bar, 57 sequences in acts, 24 Set Active Key option, 526 set driven keys (SDKs), 398 creating, , 399 for hands, , Set Key Options dialog box, 84, 84 Set Passive Key option, 525 setup for animation, 11 SGI (Silicon Graphics Image) files, 452 shaded mode, 48 50, 49 shader glows, , shading and shaders, 10, attributes for, , axe metal spike, , axe wooden handle, , Paint Effects, 551 red rocket model, , solar system animation, 82 85, types, Shading attribute, 551 shadow maps, , shadow passes for render layers, , shadows, 424, 424 creating, , lighting for, 412 per object, 428 shadow map, 426 Shake and After Effects program, 7 shape nodes, 66 shapes lofting, 209, primitives, 66, , 104 in vector images, 14 shelf, 32, 40, 40 shortcuts, keyboard capital letters with, 50 for viewing, 47 shots, 24 Show Frame Numbers option, 337 Show Manipulator tool, 447, 447 Shutter Angle attribute, 469 sibling nodes, 95 side view, red rocket model, , Silicon Graphics Image (SGI) files, 452 Simple Tessellation settings, 500, 500 Simplify Method setting, 531 simulations baking out, , motion, 518 single-node cameras, bit image files, 15 size in animation, 324 windows, 47

53 582 skeletons steam locomotive skeletons, 360 attaching geometry to, , , 378 binding, , 379, 381 rigid binds, , smooth binds, , creating, , detaching, 382 Forward Kinematics for, , 362 hands for. See hands hierarchical system, , 360 Inverse Kinematics for, , walk cycle for Forward Kinematics, , Inverse Kinematics, , skin weights, painting, , skinning, 378 smooth binds, 378, 379 creating, , 381 editing, , Smooth option, 235 Smooth tool, 105, 125 snaps, 37 38, 78 soft bodies, 518 Soft Modification tool, Softness setting, 428 software particles, 538 solar system animation, 71 creating, 86 92, 88, 90 moons, 81, 81 Outliner for, 92 94, 92, 94 overview, 72 planets, 77 78, 78 planning, project for, 73 75, Saturn rings, 79 80, 80 saving, shaders for, 82 85, summary, 95 sun, 75 77, 78 sound design, 8 sound effects, 8 South zone, hotbox, 64, 64 space 3D coordinate, 20 21, 21 in design, 22 spans and spanning curves, 155 primitives, 104 red rocket model body, 174, 175 surfaces, 101, 164, 165 Sparse Curve Bake option, Special Manipulator tool, 290, 290 Specular Color attribute, 275 specular highlight, 269 specular lighting, 417, 417 Speed attribute, 535, 542 Speed Random attribute, 536, 542 spheres attributes, 54 56, creating, 290, 290 lattices for, , in solar system animation. See solar system animation transform nodes for, 67 spike, axe, , Spin Impulse attribute, 528 spline IK chains, 393, 393 Split Polygon tool, 114, , 119, spokes, wheel, 147, 148 Spot lights, , 420 spout, teakettle, , 264 Spread attribute lens flare, 439 particles, 541, 541 squash in animation, 28 in bouncing ball, 322, standard resolutions, 20 Star Points attribute, 439 starfish model, , Start Frame attribute, 452 Static Friction setting, 522 status line, 32, 35 40, 35 steam, animating, , steam locomotive, 126 animating, , axles, , boiler caps end, , front, , topside, 142, 142 boiler engine. See boiler engine cabin, , chimneys, , cowcatcher, , 137 drive mechanism, 151, 151 piping and tanks, 143, 143 production process, 127, 127 pumps creating, , 151 NURBS, , pump arm rigging, , rigging. See rigging stitching and tangency, 220, ,

54 still life throwing axe 583 undercarriage, , wheels, , still life, rendering, , batch rendering for, 487, 487 shadow passes for, , testing, , stitching, 220, , storyboards, 5, 9 stretch in animation, 28 in bouncing ball, 322, stripes for decals, , strokes, Paint Effects, 548 subdividing cubes, 144 subdivision surfaces, , 105, 252 converting to polygons, , 265 polygons to, , , , summary, 266 teakettle base polygon model, , Subdivisions Height setting, 239, 240 subtractive color, suggested reading, sun, 75 77, 78 Surface Shading attribute, 538 surfaces curves on, , editing, , 211 NURBS. See NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B- Splines) modeling and surfaces projections for, , 290 revolved, , 157, , subdivision. See subdivision surfaces texture nodes for, , UV mapping, 288 Surfaces menu set, 65 symmetrical objects, 22 23, 23 T Divisions attribute, 245, 260 table, creating, , Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) files, 16 for rendering, 452 for textures, 311, 311 tangency constraints, 398 handles for, 317, 317 in patch modeling, , tangent handles, 335, 335 tanks in steam locomotive, 143, 143 tapers, handlebar, 197, 197 T Targa format, 16, 452 targets for axe throwing, , teakettle model base polygon model, , converting polygons to subdivision surfaces, , converting subdivision surfaces to polygons, , 265 details for, 265 tessellation boiler, 140 NURBS surface, red rocket model, , text, flying, , texture shaded mode, 49 texturing and textures, D, 295 for axe, 276 metal head, , metal spike, , wooden handle, , 280 importing image files as, 293, 293 in lighting, 11 mapping, 268 nodes, , projections for, , 290 red rocket model, 296, 296 decals, , shader assignment, , summary, 312 types of, 286 UV coordinates, polygons, and images in, , UV mapping, 288 in work flow, three-button mouse, 33 three-node cameras, three-point lighting, 25, , D artists, 2 3D objects and space, 20 21, 21 animation, 4 blur process, 468 creation process, 3 4 polygons for. See polygons textures, 295 3dplacement node, 287 Threshold attribute, 538 throwing axe, 323 animation curves, , anticipation, , 331 follow-through, , keyframes for, , motion trails, ,

55 584 thrusters vertices path animation, , 339 playing back, preproduction process, 323 replacing axe, 341 scene setup, , secondary motion, , 337 summary, 341 targets, , thrusters, red rocket model, , thumbs, 114, 114 TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files, 16 for rendering, 452 for textures, 311, 311 TIFF16 files, 16 time indicator, 42 Time Range setting, 531 Time Slider, 32, 42 43, 43 Time Snap icon, 331 Time Tolerance setting, 531 Timeline scrubbing, 42, 87 timing for bouncing ball, , tint in HSV channels, 18 toe joints, 360, 360 Tool Box, 32, 41, 41 Tool Options window, 39 torus red rocket model body, , for rings, train. See steam locomotive transferring animation, , 343 transform nodes, transformations, freezing, 221, , 315, 337 Translate Frame setting, 291 Translate keyframes axe throwing, , 336 bouncing ball, 316 translations and Translate attributes axe throwing, baking out simulations, 529 bouncing ball, 315, 317 IK walk cycle, 391 particles, 536 point constraints, 393 set driven keys, 399 spheres, 55 56, 67 Translucence attribute, 274 Translucence Focus attribute, 274 Transparency attributes Paint Effects, 551 particles, 546 shaders, 272 wood texture, 284 Triangulate option, 107 Trim option, 344 trimmed surfaces, 160, 160, 215 troubleshooting, 329 True Color images, 15 true reflections, 456 Tube Shading attribute, 551 Tube Width1 and Width2 attribute, 551 Tubes per Step attribute, 551 tweaking red rocket model, , two-node cameras, D blur process, 468 2D texture placement, 291, bit color images, 15 Type menu for lighting, 417 Type setting ramp gradients, 292 text, 344 U Divisions attribute, 245, 260 U Wave attribute, 292 undercarriage, boiler engine, , underlighting, 412, 413 Universal Manipulator tool, 52 untrimming NURBS surfaces, 215 Up Axis setting, 345 Up Vector setting, 395 Use Background shader, 269 Use Depth Map Shadows option, 425 Use Mental Ray Shadow Map Overrides option, 428 Use Particle Disk Cache option, 540 Use Ray Trace Shadows option, 427 UV coordinates, , UV mapping, 288 UV Snapshot option, 310 UV Texture Editor, 310 UVSnapShot layer, 294 V Wave attribute, 292 Value Tolerance setting, 531 vector images, 14, 14 vector math, 10 vector rendering, , Venus, 89 versions, saving, 79 vertices attaching to skeletons, 378 in NURBS, , polygon, 99, 100 snapping to, 37 for subdivision surfaces, 256 U V

56 vga (video graphics array) resolution zones 585 VGA (Video Graphics Array) resolution, 19 View Compass, 46 views keyboard shortcuts for, 47 normalizing and denormalizing, 331, 331 Visor window, 548, 549 volume, emitter, 535, 535 Volume Light Dir attribute, 422 Volume lights, 422, 422 volumes in vector images, 14 volumetric lighting, , 438 walk cycles Forward Kinematics, , Inverse Kinematics, , warm colors, 18, 24 Water texture, 292 wave deformers, 396 websites, suggested, 30 Wedge Face tool, 109, 109, 113, 113, 135 wedges for undercarriage, 135 weight in animation, 26 28, 327 in axe throwing, 333 weights, painting, , weld plates, 132 West zone, hotbox, 64, 64 wheel arms creating, 149, 149 rigging, , wheels red rocket model, , connections, , covers, , wells, , steam locomotive back, , creating, , rigging, , , , 403 Whiteness attribute, 275 Widescreen aspect ratio, 20 W width aspect ratio, 20 image planes, 171 resolution, 454 space, 21 winch for catapult, , Window menu, 35 wine bottle rendering, , wings, , , , wireframe mode, Wireframe On Shaded option, 135 wireframes for undercarriage, 135 in vector programs, 14 wood material, , 283, 285 Wood texture, 280 wooden axe handles, , work area, Hypershade, work flow, 8 9 animation, 11 lighting, modeling, 9 10 rendering, 12 texturing, workspace, 32 World Axis, 21, 21 World Space, 21 Wrap U option, 291 Wrap V option, 291 XYZ coordinate space, 21 Y-Axis Rotation setting, 92 Y Translation keyframes, 316 zones, hotbox, 64, 64 X Y Z

57