Maya Visual Effects The Innovator's Guide


Book Description

Create innovative CG solutions with Maya and this creative guide Professional Maya artists have to think on their feet. It's nothing for them to receive just vague sketches or incomplete ideas of what the studio wants and have to come up with something brilliant. If you're an intermediate to advanced Maya user, Maya Visual Effects: The Innovator's Guide, Second Edition is what you need to meet the challenge. Professional Maya artist Eric Keller offers inspired solutions and hands-on projects, as well as numerous practical shortcuts and deadlines, so you learn to produce innovative CG assets from scratch, using Maya, on a deadline. Shows intermediate to advanced Maya users new solutions, workarounds, and shortcuts for creating Maya visual effects on deadline Gives readers plenty of hands-on projects, so they come up with solutions that they can add to their Maya toolsets Offers workable ideas that can be applied, no matter which version of Maya software is being used Presents projects in an engaging style, with pages of full-color imagery to illustrate concepts Create amazing effects with the creative insights and fresh advice in this new edition of Maya Visual Effects: The Innovator's Guide.




Maya Visual Effects


Book Description

Create positively dazzling effects with the unique insights and practical advice in this innovative guide from a working professional Maya artist. Need to create plasmatic energy by lunch? Animate a field of sprouting daisies before tomorrow’s meeting? Fashion a force field by Friday? With Maya’s flexible toolset and the unique tutorials in this book, you’ll learn how to solve real-world problems, improvise, and finish your professional assignments on time and with flair.




Mastering Autodesk Maya 2012


Book Description

The exclusive, official guide to the very latest version of Maya Get extensive, hands-on, intermediate to advanced coverage of Autodesk Maya 2012, the top-selling 3D software on the market. If you already know Maya basics, this authoritative book takes you to the next level. From modeling, texturing, animation, and visual effects to high-level techniques for film, television, games, and more, this book provides professional-level Maya instruction. With pages of scenarios and examples from some of the leading professionals in the industry, author Todd Palamar will help you master the entire CG production pipeline. Provides professional-level instruction on Maya, the industry-leading 3D animation and effects software used in popular films, games, and commercials Covers the very latest Maya 2012 tools and features, including the new fluid simulation tools Showcases the techniques of professionals through numerous examples, demonstrating how to set up and manage 3D animation and visual effects pipelines Includes challenging tutorials and real-world scenarios from some of the leading professionals in the industry If you're looking for an in-depth, professional Maya resource to turn to again and again, this is the book you need.




Creating Visual Effects in Maya


Book Description

Produce mind-blowing visual effects with Autodesk Maya. Gain the practical skills and knowledge you need to recreate phenomena critical to visual effects work, including fire, water, smoke, explosions, and destruction, as well as their integration with real-world film and video. In Creating Visual Effects in Maya, Maya master Lee Lanier has combined the latest studio techniques with multi-chapter, hands-on projects and professionally-vetted workflows to bolster your CG toolkit. Engaging, full-color tutorials cover: Creating foliage, fire, and smoke with Paint Effects Growing Maya Fur and nHair on clothing, characters, and sets Replicating water, smoke, sparks, swarms, bubbles, and debris with nParticles and nCloth Controlling scenes and simulations with expressions and MEL, Python, and PyMEL scripting Adding dust, fog, smoke, rippling water, and fireballs with Fluid Effects containers Creating damage with Effects presets, deformers, and animated textures Matchmoving and motion tracking with Maya and MatchMover Creating complex destruction by combining rigid bodies, nParticles, nCloth, and Fluid Effects Setting up, rendering, and compositing mental ray render passes with Autodesk Composite, Adobe After Effects, and The Foundry Nuke The companion website (www.focalpress.com/cw/lanier) features a treasure trove of Maya, MatchMover, After Effects, and Nuke project files, image sequences, texture bitmaps, and MEL, Python, and PyMEL scripts, allowing you to immediately apply the techniques taught in the book.




Introducing Autodesk Maya 2012


Book Description

A practical, step-by-step guide to Maya 2012 This book is the ideal primer to getting started with Maya, the premier 3D animation and effects software used in movies, visual effects, games, cartoons, short films, and commercials. You'll learn the Maya interface and the basics of modeling, texturing, animating, and visual effects. Professional visual effects artist and instructor Dariush Derakhshani explains the nuances of the complex software, while creative tutorials offer realistic, professional challenges for those new to 3D. You'll be up and running in no time with the world's most popular professional 3D software application. Provides a thorough, step-by-step introduction to Maya 2012 Explains the core concepts of CG and working in 3D Covers modeling, rigging, HDRI lighting, mental ray rendering, and more Concepts are reinforced with tutorials that offer realistic challenges and clear explanations Color insert provides real-world examples from talented beginning Maya users Build your Maya and animation skills from the ground up with this practical, thorough guide.




Autodesk Maya 2013 Essentials


Book Description

"Autodesk official training guide"--Cover.




Introducing Maya 2011


Book Description

A practical, step-by-step guide to Maya 2011 Four previous editions can’t be wrong: this book is the perfect introduction to 3D and Maya. Learn to build and animate your own digital models and scenes with step-by-step instruction and fun and practical examples, while you draw inspiration from the striking examples included from talented Maya users. You’ll create a simple animation of the planets in the solar system, learn to model a human hand and a decorative box—among other projects—and master all essential tools. Provides a thorough, step-by-step introduction to Maya 2011 Explains the core concepts of CG and working in 3D Covers modeling, rigging, HDRI lighting, mental ray rendering, and more Provides project files on CD and walks you through the creation of several projects; the CD also includes images, movies, and scene files Includes a color insert with pages of striking examples from talented Maya beginners Build your Maya and animation skills from the ground up with this practical, thorough guide. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. For Instructors: Teaching supplements are available for this title.




After Effects Expressions


Book Description

Put the power of Expressions to work in your animations with controls and efficiencies impossible to achieve with traditional keyframing techniques. No programming skills are required. Foundation concepts and skills orient the new designer and serve as a handy reference to the experienced one. Basics of creating expressions, variables, commands, and expression helpers precede the leap into javascript and math essentials for more advanced expressions that include randomness, physical simularions and 3D. Full color illustrations display the scripts and the resulting effects, pickwhip techniques, and sequential animations. Downloadable companion files include Quicktime movies of the demo animations, and AE project files that permit you to examine the Expressions. Extensive notes are provided to aid you in implementing the extensive library of Expressions available for your use on Adobe LiveDocs.




Autodesk Maya 2014 Essentials


Book Description

The premiere book on getting started with Maya 2014 Whether you're just beginning, or migrating from another 3D application, this step-by-step guide is what you need to get a good working knowledge of Autodesk Maya 2014. Beautifully illustrated with full-color examples and screenshots, Autodesk Maya 2014 Essentials explains the basics of Maya as well as modeling, texturing, animating, setting a scene, and creating visual effects. You'll absorb important concepts and techniques, and learn how to confidently use Maya tools the way professionals do. Each chapter includes fun and challenging hands-on projects, which you can do as you go using the downloadable files from the book's website. They include starting and ending files, so you can compare your results to how professionals do the projects. This information-packed Autodesk Official Press book also helps you prepare for the Autodesk Maya 2014 certification exams. Helps beginners and those migrating from other 3D animation and effects programs get up and running on Autodesk Maya 2014 Features step-by-step tutorials, hands-on exercises with downloadable files, and four-color examples and screenshots Covers modeling, texturing, animating, visual effects, lighting, compositing, setting a scene, and more Written by an Autodesk Authorized Author and is an Autodesk Official Press Autodesk Maya is the industry-leading 3D animation and effects software used in movies, games, cartoons, short films, commercials, and other animation Get firsthand experience with Maya 2014, as well as an initial start on preparing for the Autodesk Maya 2014 Certified Professional exam, with Autodesk Maya 2014 Essentials.




The Misfit Economy


Book Description

A book that argues that lessons in creativity, innovation, salesmanship, and entrepreneurship can come from surprising places: pirates, bootleggers, counterfeiters, hustlers, and others living and working on the margins of business and society. Who are the greatest innovators in the world? You're probably thinking Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford. The usual suspects. This book isn't about them. It's about people you've never heard of. It's about people who are just as innovative, entrepreneurial, and visionary as the Jobses, Edisons, and Fords of the world. They’re in the crowded streets of Shenzhen, the prisons of Somalia, the flooded coastal towns of Thailand. They are pirates, computer hackers, pranksters, and former gang leaders. Across the globe, diverse innovators operating in the black, grey, and informal economies are developing solutions to a myriad of challenges. Far from being "deviant entrepreneurs" that pose threats to our social and economic stability, these innovators display remarkable ingenuity, pioneering original methods and practices that we can learn from and apply to move formal markets. This book investigates the stories of underground innovation that make up the Misfit Economy. It examines the teeming genius of the underground. It asks: Who are these unknown visionaries? How do they work? How do they organize themselves? How do they catalyze innovation? And ultimately, how can you take these lessons into your own world?