Miles' Maya

Final Critique

2011-05-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

RED ALERT!!! FINAL TIME IS CHANGED!!!
Thursday, June 9, 3:30.

Oops--Miles is going to watch his one and only darling son graduate from 5th grade . . . at 1:30, so we'll use the 3:30 final time instead. Charge!

Show your final 3D film-give us a rough-cut (playblast is okay) put together in QuickTime, FinalCut, Premiere, IMovie, MacPaint, EtchASketch, or Wooly Willy. Audio is optional. Your final and all of your previous work should be up on YouTube and embedded in your site. Miles will then be able to have a cocktail and peruse your work at his leisure. . . And that is important.
Hooray.

Animation student editing his final project in Wooly Willy.

Arms. . . Fingers. . . Faces. . . Your life just got more complicated

2011-04-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

Here are some full biped rigs to play with! Click the images to download!

Man, it's LowMan.

Ho Ho, it's pjlHogan.

Who will win? Pick a fave. Pit them against each other. Have them team up on poor Lt. Dan. Go crazy.

Also, if you're into exploring the unknown, head over to Creative Crash and check out their rig offerings!

Lt. Dan Walk Cycle

2011-04-14T13:51:00.001-07:00

Here's some stuff I threw together on planning a basic two-step walk. Click on the pictures for larger images

We'll take a look at these on Tuesday, April 26

Lt. Dan Rig

2011-04-12T12:06:00.001-07:00

Behold, your next rig. This time we've got legs and feet. . . and an optional tail. This time, we're doing walk and run cycles. Oh yes. Click here to download the rig.
Lt. Dan and the bouncing ball rig were designed and built by Matt Ornstein! Props to him, I say!

Here's a 5 minute Miles video introducing the Lt. Dan rig:

Here's the link to the youtube page, if the embed video is lame.

Let's spend today (Tuesday, April 12) putting Lt. Dan through some basic jumps. We'll start in on walks and runs on Thursday, April 14.

Animation Project 01: Bouncing Ball 1

2011-03-31T11:00:00.002-07:00

Project 1
Create two short animation loops using a polygon sphere.
Create a couple of short animations (5-6 seconds) using the Ball Rig.
Loop 1 will be a ball bouncing.

New concepts: Timing and spacing

New tech: Graph Editor

Loop 2 a ball bouncing with squash and stretch.

New concepts: Hold keys and keying attributes separately

Ball Story by Swanky SOU Alum Steve Hammond

Your next bit of business is to create some 5-6 second animations using the ball rig. Click here to download the rig.

This animations must demonstrate

1. Squash and stretch.

2. Hold keys.

3. Anticipation.

4. Clear staging of action and narrative.

5. Realistic weight.

6. Smooth, natural motion arcs.

Be sure to check out Steve Hammond's Ball Story (above). It's a nice example of all of these things in action using the very same ball rig. Before you start animating, you must do a storyboard breakdown of the animation which includes all of the key poses and rough timings.

Here are the demo videos demonstrating storyboarding, holds, and animating a simple jump with the ball rig.

Below is the finished jump (after more timing adjustments than I covered in the videos).

Maya Timeline Reference

2011-03-29T11:57:00.001-07:00

How to kick those keys around in the Timeline!

Turn Auto Keying on and off. Click the little key icon to the right of the timeline. Red is on, black is off.

Move a Single Key. Shift + Left Click on a key. Let go. Click and drag on the inner set of arrows to move it to its new location. When you're done, click somewhere else in the timeline to cancel out of the move/scale mode.

Move a Range of Keys. Shift + Left-click-drag a range of frames. They will turn red! Move the inner arrows to move that entire range of keys in the timeline.

Scale a Range of Keys. Shift + Left-click-drag a range of frames, as above. Yes, they will turn red! Move the outer arrows to the left to make the animation faster and move them to the right to make the animation slower. This is a very nifty way to quickly modify the timing of your animation. If you don't see the outer arrows, use the Range Slider to increase your playback range until you do! After you've adjusted your timing, if you're working on a cycle, use the handy Range Slider to adjust your playback range to fit your new timing.

Copy a Key. Right Click on a key and choose Copy from the fly-out menu.

Paste a Key. After copying a key, right click the frame into which you'd like to paste your copied keyframe. Choose Paste > Paste from the fly-out menu. Beware not to just click paste and let go. There are two pastes you have to choose. It's Maya, remember.

Change Playback Range. Enter new numbers in the inner set of boxes 'neath the timeline.

Change overall animation length. Enter new numbers in the outer set of boxes 'neath the timeline.

Delete a Key. Right-click on a key and choose Delete from the fly-out menu.

Set a Key for All Keyable Attributes. Hit "S".

Key a Particular Attribute. Shift + W (move), Shift + E (rotate), Shift + R (scale).

Setting Up Maya Animation Preferences

2011-03-29T11:55:00.001-07:00

Final Project

2011-03-01T15:45:00.001-08:00

Final Critique is Thursday, March 10 at 3:30 in ye olde Digital Studio MA 110.

Project 3: Texture

2011-01-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

Project 3: Continue creating your city shot by UV mapping and adding materials to your models.

In addition to the videos I've posted below,
Here is a really good short web tutorial intro to UV mapping in Maya.
Here is a zipped .pdf I put together on UV mapping a box in Maya.

DEMO VIDEOS
UV Mapping 101. This set of videos takes you through the fundamentals of UV mapping.

UV Mapping 102. This set of videos takes you through the steps of creating a custom building texture in Photoshop, setting up image planes as templates for your model, and editing an object's UVs to match the texture map in Maya.

REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Find three images with textures that appeal to you. Describe the textures and how they work. How do they contribute to the overall mood and feel of the image. If it's a 3D image, where do you think the textures came from?

Project 2: Sub-object modeling & UV mapping

2011-01-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

Take one of your scenes and work on it using modeling, uv mapping, and lighting. Objects closest to the camera will probably need the most modeling. Try to take a modular approach to modeling where you can. A single pillar can be duplicated several times to create an arcade, or girders can be duplicated to create a bridge or building. UV mapping can be a good cheap way to create visual interest with shoddy models. Lighting can create visual interest and an illusion of depth. Lighting can help focus attention on built up areas of the shot and de-emphasize the undercooked zones. Post jpgs of your work in progress. Final render due Tuesday, January 18.

Sub-Object Modeling Videos

REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Pick 3 landscape/cityscape images and analyze how they create the illusion of scale and depth. Touch on the following
1. General composition
2. Foreground, mid-ground, background relationships.
3. Scale contrast
4. Use of value contrast (differences between light and dark)
5. Color (intensity, palette, warm/cool colors)
6. Placement of details
7. Do the images make use of a repoussoir (framing) device?

Project 1: Blockville

2011-01-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

PROJECT 1: BLOCKVILLE
Rock out with your blocks out!

1. Find 10 images that use scale contrast and composition to help create a sense of size and distance. Post them to your blog with the title, "Project 1: Reference Material." Make sure you credit the artist for his/her work and provide a title, date, and a link back to the site that provided the work.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927).

How's about some Piranesi? From the Carceri (Prisons) c. 1745-50.

These have been a big influence on just about everybody designing big, fantastical scenes with gigantic architectural scale.

2. Choose 3 of the images and recreate them using only blocks and basic geometric primitives. Make sure you create a separate camera to maintain your shot composition. Render them out as 1000 pixel wide jpgs. Post them to your blog by Tuesday, January 11.

BLOG
You are required to keep a blog for this course and post all of your lab projects there. If you're new to bloggin', I recommend blogger.com as it's free and easy to use. If you find a service that works better for you, however, by all means, go for it. Yes, you may use a blog you have started before this class, just make sure you label your posts clearly so I don't get cranky. Once you have your blog set up, post your name and your blog's URL as a comment to this post. You must do this today, January 4. Check the comments section of this post for an example of how to do this.

PHOTO
Take a photo of your self and post it in the "about me" section of your blog by Tuesday, January 11.

READING
Each week, you'll have a reading or two and will write a reflective essay related to your project. You'll post your writing assignment to your blog along with your studio work. Your written reflection is 25% of your project grade and must be posted before class on Tuesday, January 11.
Here are your readings for the first week:
Reflective Essay Writing Tips For College Students
Interview with Joe Sanabria, Lead Artist, Fallout: New Vegas

Additional resources you may wish to consult:
cgsociety.org
conceptart.org

REFLECTIVE ESSAY:
Reflect on the process of doing your research and creating your scene. In two or three clear, precise paragraphs, try to answer at least three of the following questions: Did the interview give you any ideas on how to approach your project? Did you start with a plan and stick to it, or were there some unexpected discoveries along the way? Which do you think is your best final image? How did you decide a scene was 'finished'? Did you return to your work to edit it? Did you have some ideas of images you wanted to work with or did you just dive into the internet and start looking? Did you learn anything from this project that will become a part of your regular creative process? What kind of emotional responses were you trying to evoke in your imagery?

GRADING
I'll be using the following rubric to assess the project. 5 categories, maximum of 5 points per category. Click the image for a larger view or click here for the .docx file.

DEMO MATERIALS:
Here is a 10 minute video to get you started with Blockville!

How To Render:

3D Animation Final Project Due Date

2010-05-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

Oh the wonders we'll behold at the 2010 3D Animation Final!

The final critique for Art 354 3D Animation is:

Thursday, June 3 from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.

Rigz!

2010-05-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some full biped rigs to play with! Click the images to download!

Man, it's LowMan.

Ho Ho, it's pjlHogan.

Who will win? Pick a fave. Pit them against each other. Have them battle Lt. Dan. Go crazy.

Also, if you're into exploring the unknown, head over to Creative Crash and check out their rig offerings!

Gratuitous Fun - Custom Icons

2010-04-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

The redoubtable Sian Phillips makes an excellent addition to any Maya interface!

Click here to download Miles' idiotic collection of Maya shelf icons! Includes Francisco Pulpo, Chia Pet, Sian Phillips, General Duke, Robert Conrad, Reed Richards, and more! You can use these in conjunction with Dan's cool script editor trick and/or waste hours of valuable time making your own!

Here's how to make your own Maya shelf icons.

1. Create a 32 x 32 pixel image in Photoshop
2. Save it.
3. On the mac, you'll have to convert it to .xpm format via some converter program. I use Graphic Converter. Windows users can just save .bmp files. Lucky them.
4. You can add custom commands to the shelf by Ctrl+Option+Shift selecting something from the menu - even an options box! Or, do the Script Editor trick!
5. In Maya, go to that shelf editor arrow thingy and open the Shelf Editor. Like this:

Note this is also where you can create a custom shelf, save shelves, etc.
6. In the shelf editor, select the icon you want to change, choose "Change Image," select a .xpm file and you're done! Much easier than actually doing something constructive, like animating or modeling!

Here's that frame chart too, if you're so inclined. Right click and save target as.

Lt. Dan Walk Cycle Basics

2010-04-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Here's some stuff I threw together on planning a basic two-step walk. Click on the pictures for larger images

Lt. Dan is coming for you.

2010-04-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Behold, your next rig. This time we've got legs and feet. . . and an optional tail. This time, we're doing walk and run cycles. Oh yes. Click here to download the rig.
Lt. Dan and the bouncing ball rig were designed and built by Matt Ornstein! Props to him, I say!

Here's a 5 minute Miles video introducing the Lt. Dan rig:

Here's the link to the youtube page, if the embed video is lame.

Let's spend today (Tuesday, April 20) putting Lt. Dan through some basic jumps. We'll start in on walks and runs on Thursday, April 22.

Daniel Smith, people

2010-04-08T16:33:00.000-07:00

concept design by Daniel Smith

Thanks to Dan for laying down some Maya majesty on us! Here's the link to his site. Dig it.

Storyboarding & Animating the Ball Rig

2010-04-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the demo videos demonstrating storyboarding, holds, and animating a simple jump with the ball rig. Below is the finished jump (after more timing adjustments than I covered in the videos).

Assignment 2: Ball Rig & Blogs

2010-04-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Ball Story by Swanky SOU Alum Steve Hammond

Your next bit of business is to create a 10-15 second animation using the ball rig. Click here to download the rig.

This animation must demonstrate

1. Squash and stretch.

2. Hold keys.

3. Anticipation.

4. Clear staging of action and narrative.

5. Realistic weight.

6. Smooth, natural motion arcs.

Due Dates

1. Blog and storyboard breakdown are due by Thursday, April 8. Post your storyboard breakdown on your blog. Post your blog URL along with your full name as a comment to this post.

2. Embed a playblast of your animation on your blog (via YouTube or another video service) by Tuesday, April 13.

Video: Squash n' Stretch Ball

2010-04-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

Here's the video on how to add squash and stretch to the bouncing ball.

Bouncing Ball Videos

2010-04-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to the Maya graph editor videos!
By Tuesday, April 6 you should have a bouncing ball and a bouncing ball with squash and stretch.

Quick Reference for Editing Keyframes in the Maya Timeline

2010-03-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

How to kick those keys around in the Timeline!

Turn Auto Keying on and off. Click the little key icon to the right of the timeline. Red is on, black is off.

Copy a Key. Right Click on a key and choose Copy from the fly-out menu.

Change Playback Range. Enter new numbers in the inner set of boxes 'neath the timeline.

Video: How To Set Up Your Maya Animation Preferences

2010-03-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a video on how to set up your Maya prefs and do some basic timeline navigation.

Art 354 3D Animation Final Critique Date

2010-03-30T14:35:00.001-07:00

Our final critique for Art 354 3D Animation is:
Thursday, June 3 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.

Maya to ZBrush references

2010-03-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

Olle Rydberg has a nice tutorial/overview of the Maya-ZBrush workflow here. He gives a concise breakdown of the base mesh, mapping, and rendering phases with a very useful description of the various render passes. Interestin'! BTW, SSS = SubSurface Scattering!
Below are a few pictures from a model I started recently. I made the base mesh in Maya, and then kicked it around for about 30 minutes in ZBrush.

I recommend Scott Spencer's, ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy, which gave me the basic approach for sculpting this base mesh.

Cody McDowell, Ladies and Gentlemen

2010-02-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

model by Cody McDowell

Thanks to Cody for the intro to Maya character modeling talk! Check his site as there's lots o' great stuff there.
goreface.blogspot.com

Creating A Character Template

2010-02-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

1. Do some loose, fun drawings of your character to get to know him/her. Don't worry about "good drawings" here. Focus on the main proportions and lines of action.

2. In Photoshop, draw matching front and side views. Use guides to help you align the features. I still try to stay as loose as possible at this stage, and gradually tighten up the concept. I ended up putting the side view arm on a separate layer and making it transparent so I could see the full figure. I kept a copy of the opaque arm, so I could see that part clearly in Maya as well.

3. Save out separate front and side view files to use as templates. Make sure they are the same height in pixels.

4. Load them as per the How To Set Up An Image Plane Template post. Make sure you match the front and side cameras with your front and side images.

5. Adjust the "Center" settings in the Image Plane Attributes if you want to move the image planes off of world zero. This way, the image planes won't interfere with your view of the geometry.

Let There Be Light

2010-02-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

A fantastically useful plug in that generates a lighting dome for you.
1. The plug in is in the Groups Disk > Art > minada > Art 353
2. Follow the instructions in the plug in folder.
3. Hey, your stuff looks a lot better now!

How To Set Up An Image Plane Template In Maya

2010-02-09T16:03:00.001-08:00

0. Put your image in your project's sourceimages folder.
1. In the front viewport menu, choose View > Image Plane > Import Image.
2. Choose your image. If your project is correctly set up, it should jump to the right directory.
3. You can scale the image plane by setting the Width and Height attributes in the Attribute Editor under Placement Extras.
4. To adjust the location of the image plane (up and down, side to side) change the Center attributes in the Attribute Editor under Placement Extras.
5. Create a new layer in the Layers palette, then select Window > Outliner, hit the "+" next to the front camera, select "front shape." Now right-click the new layer in the layer palette and choose "add selected objects." Now you can turn your image planes on and off.
6. To add another image plane for the side and/or top views, repeat the above steps in a different viewport menu.
7. If you've selected something else, and need to get the Image Plane attributes back, just select View > Image Plane > Image Plane Attributes > Image Plane 1 from the front viewport.

Some Maya Light and Fog Tutorials

2010-02-05T23:49:00.000-08:00

Check out these useful tutorials. You probably won't be sorry.
Remember to post any good tutorials you find on your site so you can hip your classmates to the magic.
Fog, underwater-style. Dolphin-icious.

Fog on da street.

Studio-style lighting set-up.

How to get some Fearful Symmetry goin'

2010-02-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

Voila. Demo video on how to set up a symmetrical instance for modeling in Maya.

Also, remember these handy shortcuts!

snap to grid = hold down x
snap to point = hold down v

Fix Yer Clipping Planes

2010-01-28T13:54:00.000-08:00

A 2 minute video on how to adjust your camera's clipping plane.
Whoo-hoo.

More Piranesi

2010-01-27T16:17:00.000-08:00

Because it makes me happy.

Delete Maya Construction History!

2010-01-26T15:28:00.000-08:00

1. Select the object you want to free from its history.
2. Edit > Delete by Type > History
3. It's good to note that you also have a delete "Non-Deformer History" option. For some parts of the modeling process (especially rigging!) deleting your full history will cause catastrophic failure. Just keep this in the back of your mind.

Concept Designs for Left 4 Dead 2, Youtube Vids by Daarken

2010-01-25T13:14:00.001-08:00

Randy Lundeen, Environment Design, Left 4 Dead 2

Here's a link to an interview with a character and environment designer on Left 4 Dead 2. Dig it. CG Society's a useful site. Check it out.

Daarken, Liche King Design

Also, here's a link to Daarken's Warhammer character design demo that Cody McD shared on Wednesday. Loved it. Live it. It's just part 1 of several -so check 'em all out!

Project 2 - Electric Boogaloo er, I Mean, Create a SET!!!

2010-01-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

Image from Alex Munn's El Pueblo

For your second project, you'll be researching, designing, modeling, texturing, and lighting an environment. It could be a game level, an animation set, or something you might use as part of a painting or composite photograph. Madness. Mayhem. Here's what you'll do.

Phase 1: Pre-Production Junction

1. Write a description about your place. Where is it? What year? What does it look like, smell like? What are the colors there? What emotions does the place invoke? Let your imagination run wild. Wild, I tell you.

2. Do lots and lots of visual research on your place. Architecture, flora, fauna. Mood. Look for images of interesting lighting schemes that fit your vision. And always, always. . . textures. Blog this stuff, baby. Taking your own photos is very helpful too.

3. Draw and/or collage. Lay out some concepts that will help you build your world. Blog 'em.

4. We'll take a look at all this goodness on Thursday, January 28. Git bizy.

Phase 2: Make the Magic Happen
1. Block out your set. Before you do any fancy modeling, or at least as you're doing your fancy modeling, lay out a primitive block version of your set using the techniques you learned in Project 1.

2. Model and texture specific pieces. When you finish a specific model you can swap it with its stand-in block. This way, you'll be working from the general to the specific with an eye towards your entire scene.

3. We'll cover lighting, camera, and texturing as we go. starting with UV mapping this Thursday.

4. Due date for all of this funny business is Tuesday, February 16.

Make sure you check out your hero artists to inspire you to new heights of lunacy. Blog about 'em.

Here are a few more images from Alex Munn's El Pueblo. Go to his site and bask in the brilliance.

Maya Component Editing - Extrude, and Add Edge Loop

2010-01-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

Here are 2 new videos on Component Editing. Come on with your come-on's.

Introduction to UV Mapping - Part 2 Terminology

2010-01-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

A point in space is defined by the set of coordinates x,y,z.
x is left to right horizontal, y is up to down vertical, and z is foreground to background depth.
In Maya, x is red, y is green and z is blue.
Anytime we are talking about XYZ space, we are referring to 3D space.

A point in 3D or XYZ space

"UV" mapping refers to a separate, related set of coordinates where
U is left to right horizontal and V is up to down vertical.
Whenever we talk about "UV's" and UV space we are always talking about flat, 2D space.

Look Ma, no blue! The humdrum 2D world of UV space as seen in the UV editor

NerdNote: You'll also hear UV space referred to as UVW space. Yes, there is a "W" coordinate equivalent to 3D "Z". For our introductory purposes, however, we should consider W as an unholy abomination against nature not to be spoken of in polite society.

Introduction to UV Mapping - Part 1

2010-01-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

UV Mapping 101: Dang, Leatherface flattened out all that skin. Wrapping it around his head now requires unsightly seams!

How do you wrap a 2D image around a 3D object? It's a bit of a conundrum, and there's no perfect or easy way to do it (see Leatherface, above). It's more art than science, more ballet than ballistics, more Texas Chainsaw Massacre than . . . well, you get the picture. I've always been freaked out by the fact that there's no perfect way to translate the earth's surface to a 2D plane. Cartographers have been at it for ages. You either get distortion (Mercator's giant Greenland issue) or several discontinuous surfaces. In any event, you ALWAYS get a seam(s).

Aieee! Fair North America split in twain!!! The "orange slices" required to unwrap the globe using an "interrupted sinusoidal" projection.

Fools! Greenland will destroy you all!!! - The polar aggrandizement of the Mercator projection.

So. . . covering 3D surfaces with 2D imagery is an imperfect business fraught with peril, but that's the fun of it. Take lots of deep breaths and romantic walks in the park, and you'll be fine.

Undoable Camera Movement

2010-01-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

If you keep accidentaly moving your camera in the viewport and screwing up your shot, I recommend the "undoable movement" option. Go to View > Cameras > Undoable Movement in the panel of each camera you want to make "undoable." Now, when you hit good ol' "command-z" your pans and dollys will un-do!

Assignment 1 - Blockville and Demo Videos

2010-01-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

Block out! Create a city made only of blocks and other primitives.
1. Find some source material and post it to your blog! Hey, like this. Here's some Harry Potter crud, and a few concepts by "Hipper" I found at conceptart.org.

2. Focus on scale contrast and composition to help create a sense of size and distance. To help you along, consider some Frenchy-style "repoussoir." Dig this brilliant shot from Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927).

And you've always got to git wit' Piranesi whose Carceri (Prisons) done in 1745-50 have been a big influence on just about everybody designing big, fantastical bidnit.

Post your daily progress as you go and we'll have a final critique on Tuesday, January 19.

UPDATE VIDEOS:
1. Here is a 10 minute video to get you started with Blockville!

Maya Interface Handouts

2010-01-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

We're all looking for a handout. Click the images to see them in their printable high-res glory.

Winter Warriors

2010-01-05T15:09:00.001-08:00

Here's a link to the course syllabus. You are required to maintain a blog for this course. Once you establish your URL, post it as a comment to this post.
Each week you will be posting to your blog.
1. Images from an interesting site or artist that you're looking at.
2. Some of your own work. Photos, writing, doodles, sketches, anything.
3. Post samples of whatever you've been working on in this class.

Someone Should Go Work Here

2009-06-08T15:38:00.001-07:00

Check out the job listings for Bethesda. Makers of Fallout 3 n' Oblivion. Hone thy skills.

Trisha and Casey Animation!

2009-06-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Trisha Johansen and Casey Pyke's computer animated short, Alley Dog premiers this Wednesday night, June 3, at 7:00 p.m. in the Meese Auditorium of the SOU Arts Building. Be there.

FINAL CRIT

2009-05-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

3D-Style!
Tuesday, June 9 3:30!
Exclamation!

Nice UV Editor and Maya Tutorials

2009-05-10T13:45:00.001-07:00

Sweetly succulent-looking UV Mapping Program! This looks tear-jerkingly better than traditional UV mapping techniques.

Headus' UVLayout

Check out the demo videos here

Also, really good-looking Maya tutorials from Digital Tutors--as recommended by your friendly TA, Lucas Schmidt! I would highly recommend these for anyone who wants to get serious about this 3D thing. These would be great to do over the summer.

Lt. Dan is here

2009-04-30T14:53:00.001-07:00

If you have issues with your rig, go ahead and re-download here.

Lt Dan -- Setting Up A Character Set--

2009-04-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

A character set sets keys for all objects and attributes assigned to the character set whenever you set a key for any one of those objects or attributes. Sometimes that's great, other times it's not so great. Character sets can be turned on and off accordingly. For the initial pass through my first Lt. Dan animation, a character set will allow me to not have to worry about manually setting position and rotation keys for the plant foot. That is good.

Here's how to make a Character Set.

1. Select the objects you want to be in the character set. I'm going to choose the outer "Ring of Saturn" (ball_CTRL) and the two foot control boxes. Use the shift key to select multiple objects.

2. Click and hold the black arrow next to the pink box that says "No Character Set" at the bottom right of the screen. Choose "Character Set Editor. . ." from the pop-up. The pic below is from an earlier version o' Maya, so, deal with it.

3. The "Relationship Editor" opens. From the Relationship Editor menu choose Edit > Create Character Set > Lil' Options Box.

4. From the options dialog, give your set a name and choose the attributes you want to be keyed by the set. I choose All Keyable Except: Scale, Visibility, and Dynamic.

5. Your new Character Set appears in the left hand part of the Relationship Editor.

6. You can add and delete attributes for the character set using the Edit menu in the Relationship Editor. MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE THE CHARACTER SET SELECTED IF YOU WISH TO EDIT IT! It's easy to miss that. If you do miss it, you will be driven crazy. I recommend adding the Roll attribute from each of the feet. Select the feet, go back to the character set editor and click Edit>Add Objects To Character Set. Highlight any attributes you don't want and click Edit > Remove Highlighted Attributes.

7. Now select the new character set from the black arrow at the bottom right of the screen (where you first opened the relationship editor). The name of your character set should now be showing in the little pink box next to the arrow. Whenever you want to turn it off, select "None" from the black arrow flyout menu.

8. Save this file under a new name so you don't have to go through these same steps every time you work on this character. Name it "LDanCharSet." Set this file to read-only so you can always start an animation with a fresh copy of your rig.

9. I'll say it once and I'll say it again. . . once you start animating a shot, save MULTIPLE VERSIONS of the shot as it develops. i.e. "LtDanWalk01", "LtDanWalk02" etc. Any time you've accomplished any "work" save a version. These rigs will occasionally freak out and self-destruct. Undo will not help you. Your only recourse is to go back to an early version of your animation. If you don't have an earlier version, you're screwed.

Sqaush Stretch Ball Demo

2009-04-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Click here to download the demo movie of the squash and stretch ball.
And here's the maya file, if you desire.

Live These Tutorials

2009-04-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Two excellent tutorials on spline editing from Spline Doctors!
Part 1. This is a demo of how various effects can be achieved through spline editing.
Part 2. This has good stuff on what NOT to do in the spline editor--as well as an advanced character animation demo.

Ashland Independent Film Festival starts THURSDAY!

2009-04-01T10:32:00.001-07:00

Ashland Independent Film Festival student tickets are only $6 per screening--so GO. A unique opportunity to see things you likely won't see anywhere else. April 2-6. This is perfect material for you to write about in your blogs. Anyone even vaguely interested in film/video should go and check this out.

Give Me Your Blogs, People

2009-03-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

Post your name and your URL as a comment on this post.
Merci,
Mille

Interpretive Dance via the Maya Timeline

2009-03-31T11:56:00.001-07:00

1. Turn Auto Keying on and off. Click the little key icon to the right of the timeline. Red is on, black is off.

2. Move a Key. Shift + Left Click on a key. Let go. Click and drag on the inner set of arrows to move it to its new location. When you're done, click somewhere else in the timeline to cancel out of the move/scale mode. Be careful not to click the outer set of arrows. Those will scale yer keys. That's bad (for now).

3. Copy a Key. Right Click on a key and choose Copy from the fly-out menu.

4. Paste a Key. After copying a key, right click the frame into which you'd like to paste your copied keyframe. Choose Paste > Paste from the fly-out menu. Beware not to just click paste and let go. There are two pastes you have to choose. It's Maya, remember.

5. Change Playback Range. Enter new numbers in the inner set of boxes 'neath the timeline.

6. Change overall animation length. Enter new numbers in the outer set of boxes 'neath the timeline.

Getting Set Up in Maya

2009-03-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

Maya's got a funny way of showing that it loves you. Here are the steps you need to take to get it to behave correctly. You should only have to do this once. (Until you have to trash your pref's, then you'll be doing it again. Ah ha ha ha. Ha. ha. ugh.)

1. Set default frame rate and initial animation length. From the menu bar, choose File > New Scene > Options Box. Set to NTSC 30 fps. You'd think this would be under preferences, and it is! It just doesn't act as a default there. Good lord.

2. Create a new Scene. Hit the New button at the bottom of the Options dialogue.

3. Set playback to Real Time (30 fps). Under Maya > Preferences > Settings > Timeline > Playback. Also, go ahead and set Looping to continuous.

4. Set Default in and out tangents to Linear. This is under Maya > Preferences > Settings > Animation. Go ahead and check the Weighted Tangents box here as well. Ha ha, notice there are two categories of "Animation" in the preferences panel. Make sure you're on the right one. Brilliant.

5. Create a new project. File > Project > New.

6. Set up the new project. In the New Project dialogue that pops up do the following:
a) Enter a Name for your project.
b) Hit the "Browse" button next to location and choose a place on your account that makes sense to you. Pay attention when you are doing this; if you don't know where your project is, y'all's in trouble. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CREATE A NEW FOLDER. Maya will automatically put everything into a new folder with your project name on it.
c) Hit the Use Defaults button at the bottom of the dialogue box.
d) Hit the Accept button at the bottom of the dialogue box
e) If you want to switch between projects later, go to File > Project > Set

Final Frontier

2009-03-10T13:49:00.001-07:00

Le 3D final critique will be Tuesday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m. in Le Lab Digital. C'est magnifique.

Nifty Bit of Bloggery

2009-02-12T14:05:00.001-08:00

Here's a cool Blogue from Graham Annable (that's his "Kodiak Mary" image above). He's a story artist, animator, and "comic fellow" who works for Laika up in Portland and recently worked on Coraline. Most importantly, he's a hockey teammate of SOU's own Jill Bruhn. Some very nice stuff; this guy's good. Check it out and get inspired.

Quick Maya Material Reference

2009-02-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a good reference for the Hypershade. It gives short, clear descriptions of shader types and attributes in 3 handy pages.

Here are some guidelines when working with materials:
1. If you're using texture files, start off with a Blinn.
2. Most materials will involve Color, Bump, and Diffuse maps.
3. Play around with the basic "shininess" of your material. With a Blinn, that means working the Eccentricity and Specular Roll Off sliders.
4. The exceptions to these rules come with funky surfaces like glass and shiny metals.
5. The skydome uses a Surface Shader. A Surface Shader allows you to have a material that functions independently of the lights you set up in Maya. A surface shader will always show the values and colors of your texture map regardless of how it is lit.
6. The Layered shader can be a groovy way to get more advanced material effects down the road. It lets you combine different materials into a new material.

Quick Maya Lighting Reference

2009-02-05T13:00:00.001-08:00

Types of lights in Maya

1. Ambient Lights = Bad (or last ditch cheat)

2. Directional Lights = Infinite in size and casts light in one direction. Often used to simulate the sun. Can cast shadows.

3. Point Lights = Omni-directional light source emanating from a single point. Can be used for light bulbs, the sun in a planetary system, a fire. Can cast shadows and be attenuated.

4. Area Lights = Similar to Directional Light but with a limited size. Can cast shadows and be attenuated. Can be used for skylights and large light fixtures. Akin to a "soft box" in movie lighting. "Relatively expensive" in terms of render time.

5. Spotlights = Most common and versatile of the lights. Your work horse. To move the aim point separately from the light, hit "T" for the "manipulator" tool.

Maya Lighting Tutorials

2009-02-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

HDR vs LDR as seen in Far Cry

Links to some interesting Maya lighting tutorials. Pick a few, work through 'em and apply your hard-won knowledge to your own work.

Ambient Occlusion Mapping
http://4sidedpolygon.com/blog/2008/04/24/maya-ambient-ocllusion-with-mental-ray-tutorial/
http://www.game-artist.net/forums/vbarticles.php?do=article&articleid=17
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=7&t=505350&highlight=displacement
(3DS MAX) http://en.9jcg.com/comm_pages/blog_content-art-34.htm

HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging)
Wikipedia entry on HDRI (with Far Cry example)
http://www.dbki.de/tutorials/eng/hdr_lighting/index.htm
http://en.9jcg.com/comm_pages/blog_content-art-10.htm
http://tuuhia.freehostia.com/hdri_tutorials.htm

Natural Lighting
http://www.3dtutorialzone.com/Creating-Natural-Light

Global Illumination
http://tuuhia.freehostia.com/gi_tutorial.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_illumination

How To Set Up A Sky Dome

2009-01-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to a concise tutorial on how to set up a sky dome from DezFX. Merci.
Key points:
1. Using a surface shader so you don't have to light your dome.
2. He uses a nurbs sphere, but a poly sphere is okay too. ("isoparm" in his step 3 is just the center line of the sphere for those of you NURBS newbs.)
3. You'll need a 2D sky image to use as a texture map. Hmmm. Google + "Sky Texture" FTW.
Higher res textures will give you more flexibility. Photoshop is your friend for getting the proper color and feel for your sky.
4. Here's an example of the technique in action by that bad-ass Alex Munn. Check out Alex's site. His stuff is splendid and gives such a clear example of how design, composition, modeling, textures, and lighting come together to create an environment.

How To Set Up An Image Plane Template In Maya

2009-01-29T10:13:00.001-08:00

UV Mapping Thursday

2009-01-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

Not a catchy name, but here we are. Here is a .pdf file on UV mapping in Maya for you to cut your teeth on. It's Dio-intensive, so watch out.

Environment Design

2009-01-20T10:54:00.000-08:00

Self-portrait as Tourgot, Level 56 Undead Rogue

1. We'll critique your block cities and writing and look at your source research.
2. Check out this job offer at Blizzard for a 3D environment artist and we'll discuss it.
3. We'll discuss lighting design and camera composition.
4. We'll introduce ourselves to the material editor.
5. A bit of architectural modeling

Thursday
1. UV editor and creating materials in Photoshop.
2. More on lighting including environments and skies.

Assignment 2 - More Blox

2009-01-15T13:00:00.000-08:00

1. Write a description of your block set to accompany your images. What is it? Where is it? Who are the inhabitants? What's the story behind it, etc.

2. In a new post, describe a new place that you will build. Describe the feeling it invokes, the colors, its history, what you see in the scene, time of day, lighting, etc.

3. In a new post, start posting images that will help you in building this place. Post at least 10 images by Tuesday.

4. Start blocking in the set using the almighty block method.

We'll look at your results on Tuesday, January 20

Mac Thang: Grab

2009-01-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

To do screen caps on a Mac, use Grab.
Under Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Grab
Hint: put Grab in your dock.

Maya Thang: Heads Up Display

2009-01-13T14:19:00.003-08:00

Obnoxious Maya Tip Of The Day 3: HEADS UP!
Turn your Heads Up Display (HUD!) on and off by using Display > Heads Up Display > Poly Count. Keep an eye on those hidden points and faces.

Maya Thang: Duplicate

2009-01-13T14:19:00.001-08:00

Maya Thang 2: DUPLICATE
The command-D shortcut is awfully handy. Just make sure that you check your Duplicate options before you start doing it! The Duplicate options are where you'll set up your mirror instance when we get into organic modeling.

Maya Thang: Keep Faces Together

2009-01-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Maya Thang: KEEP FACES TOGETHER
To turn this extrude option on and off, go to Polygons > Tool Options > Keep Faces Together

Assignment 1: BlockTown

2009-01-13T13:51:00.000-08:00

Block out! Create a city made only of blocks and other primitives. You can extrude if you must, but keep the detail simple. This exercise is more about layout and composition than about modeling details.

Post some screen caps and a render of your city by Thursday, January 15. The goal of this assignment is to make something that "looks cool," as we say in the academic community.

3D Bloggin' Homework

2009-01-08T16:01:00.001-08:00

1. Post a render or two.

2. Track down some nice examples of clean wire meshes. Post 'em! Here's an example of a really elegant mesh by John Doublestein. Check out his excellent work at John Doublestein.com. He has a very nice technical director portfolio as well. Go to his site and click through to his flatbook.

3. Find a polygon modeling tutorial or two. Post.

4. Download the Maya PLE and practice all the stuff we worked on this week
5. Add your classmates' blogs to your blog in a sidebar gadget.

CG Society

2009-01-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

Check out the forums at CGSociety. This is a good place to stay up on the latest developments in the 3D universe. The Maya forum may also come in handy for you. It has for me.

Welcome Evil-doers

2009-01-06T14:09:00.001-08:00

Let's post our Blogues here, people. Get to it.

L'assignment

2008-05-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Using Lt. Dan, create a short shot. DO NOT USE MORE THAN 150 FRAMES.

1) Write a description of the shot. Remember to include relevant info on character, motivation, circumstances, back-story, etc.

2) Break the shot down on paper. Give us the main keys and your rough timings.

3) Go get 'em. Due on Thursday, May 22 at the beginning o' class.

Read this, folks

2008-05-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Good article on ILM VizFX Supervisor, Ben Snow. Check it out. It's always good to get a sense of how people made it into their cool jobs. Might as well be you. . . Also, good for seeing how many jobs in the biz involve a range of skills and a brain hungry to solve problems.

Lt. Dan Walk Cycle II - Character Set

2008-05-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Lt. Dan Walk Cycle I - Set-up

2008-05-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a way to create a walk cycle with Lt. Dan.

1. Set frames per second to 30 FPS.
Maya > Preferences > Settings > Working Units > Time

2. Set auto key for character sets.
Maya > Preferences > Settings > Animation > Auto Key > On Character Sets > Key All Attributes

3. Set default In Tangents to Linear.
Maya > Preferences > Settings > Animation > Tangents > Default In Tangent

4. Set default Out Tangents to Linear or Stepped.
Maya > Preferences > Settings > Animation > Tangents > Default In Tangent
Stepped tangents hold each key pose with no interpolation. Linear tangents give linear interpolation. Some folk like the stepped approach because it lets you focus on the poses without worrying about interpolation. In most cases, I go with the linear approach because it lets me work in a more straight-ahead style without having to worry about going back to "un-step" the tangents later. Experiment with both.

Tuesday, April 29 Everybody's Happy Nowadays

2008-04-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Alreet, we'll take a look at the ball-rig animations and get acquainted with a very cool rig--Lt. Dan. We'll use Lt. Dan to do a walk and a run. If your walk and run are looking good, feel free to use him to do something else. You could combine him with the ball rig or somethin'. Anyhow, we'll look at it all next Tuesday.
Speaking of next Tuesday, high priest Casey Pyke will introduce us to animating a full-body biped rig. Heck, he'll even show us some of the cool quadraped animating he's doing with Trisha Johansen's cyborg-dog rig. Ah, the majesty.

Thursday, April 24--good stuff going on

2008-04-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

There's a lecture by very cool visiting artist Roger Shimomura at 4:00 in the Meese Auditorium. Hit it. A show including his work opens at the Schneider Museum tonight.

Be sure to check out Jen Harlow's blog as she's going through the same animation convulsions as you are, though she's in her second year of Maya madness. She has a good bit on different approaches to blocking in 3D animation.

There's a free night of cool silent films over in the Meese Auditorium this weekend. Great stuff for animators--Check 'em out!

Weight. We all like weight. . . and breakdown sheets

2008-04-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

1. "How can you tell if someone knows how to animate?"

"WEIGHT."

2. Realistic weight = good.

3. Floaty polygons = bad.

4. Holds = good too.

You can click on the image at left to get a high res gif of our crude breakdown sheet. Print 'em and weep.

Keep your meat ice-cold

2008-04-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

There we went. I'm going to be adding the Special Projects (Art 450) sites to the student work as well. Yeeargh.

Thursday, April 17--Blogs, Ball Rig

2008-04-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Blog time.
1. Get your blogs set up.
2. Get your Google docs account set up.
3. How to render out a .mov file.
4. How to upload and link to your blog.
5. Post your urls as comments to this post.

Intro to the ball rig.
Moving holds
Big Changes
Ease in and out (easing, Eazy-E)
Weight
Aniticipation
Timing
Spacing
ONE THING AT A TIME

The assignment:
Create 2 animations with the following themes:
1. A ball and a wall
2. A ball and a ball
Post .movs and your breakdowns to your blog.
Due Thursday, April 24
200 frames MAXIMUM for each!!!!!! 100 frames is fine.

Call for Blogs, Sites, etc.

2008-04-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, I've added a classmates link page to this here blog. If you have a site/blog/whatever with your work on it--send it to me, and I'll post it. Better yet, post your link here as a comment!

Tuesday, April 15 Class Part 2: Jumping Ball and Intro to Hold Keys

2008-04-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

It's time to take our first stab at character animation--we're going to make the ball live. We'll start off by making the ball perform a basic jump.

As we'll see from our breakdown, this animation calls for three holds. Holds are important in creating believable, life-like character animation. Holds let the audience absorb one thing and get ready for the next. A hold acts as a visual comma or period, separating and ordering actions. Knowing where and when to add holds will help your animation become more deliberate and coherent. In Maya, we'll refer to a hold key as a keyframe that contains the same scale, position, and/or rotation info as the previous key. For today, we'll want to connect our holds with linear tangents. Let's get started on the ball.

1. Draw your breakdown. Here's my breakdown showing the main keys and rough timings:

1 Rest pose HOLD to 10
10 Hold Key
13 Squash. HOLD to 24
24 Hold Key
25 Stretch
30 Apex
35 Stretch to contact
36 Contact squash
37 Rest pose HOLD to 50 (copy from frame 1--copying frames can mess with tangents!)
50 Hold Key

2. Look at the breakdown and determine what kind of keys you're going to have to set in Maya. For this particular animation, we'll need move and scale keys, but we're not going to be using rotation at all.

3. Figure out which keys will need move, which will need scale, and which will need both. For this animation we'll set scale and position keys for each frame as we block in the animation. In the 3-bounce animation we saw that without proper hold keys, a scale change on frame 10 would carry throughout the entire animation. Not good. It was fixable, but it threw off our work flow and raised the stress levels. With more complicated rigs, not setting hold keys can throw off your animation to the point of ruin.

4. With breakdown in hand, enter Maya's lair. Set up a floor, ball, and camera.

5. Block in your animation, setting position (Shift + W) and scale (Shift + R) keys for each pose. We're not doing anything technically new for this assignment, so review the 3 Bounce tutorial from last week if you forget any of the procedures. Remember to save your work and scrub the timeline early and often.

Tuesday, April 15 Class Part 1: Overview

2008-04-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

Here's what we'll cover at the beginning of class:

1) How to manually adjust animation spacing by adding keys.
2) How to animate a basic ball jump and an introduction to holds and anticipation.

I'll be meeting with the 450 students again during the 2nd half of class, so we'll critique the 3 bounce and ball jump animations on Thursday. We'll also get you rocking your first rig, and talk easing and moving holds.

The 3 Bounce Ball Part 6: Stretch and Rotation

2008-04-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

1. Add a key position key frame on the frame after the squash frame.

2. On the key you just added, reset the x, y, and z scale to 1 in the channel box. Now use scale to stretch the ball on this frame. Remember to keep the mass of the ball constant.

3. Rotate the stretched ball so that it follows the motion arc.

4. Add a rotation key at the apex continuing the rotation you established in the stretch frame.

5. Add a rotation key on frame 1.

Whew, have a cigarette.

The 3 Bounce Ball Part 5: Squash

2008-04-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

1. First add a scale key (Shift + R) to the first hit key. This will prevent the ball from squashing before it hits the first contact.

2. In the timeline, copy the first hit key and paste it into the next frame. Here's how! In the timeline, Right-click the first key, choose Copy. Right-click the next frame, and choose Paste > Paste.

3. Using scale (R key), squash the ball on the squash frame. BE SURE TO CHECK THE SQUASH IN SEVERAL WINDOWS otherwise, you're going to screw up the ball's volume. Bad. Scrub the hit and squash several times to make sure your ball isn't shrinking or expanding on the squash. Scrub it in several windows. Helpful hint: Holding down control and moving the scale manipulator on one axis will freeze scale on that axis and scale along the other 2 axes.

4. Now you need to tell the ball where to return to it's original scale. I'll be boring, and choose the apex fame after the first contact. I move to that key in the timeline, open up the channel box, and set each of the x,y, and z scale inputs to 1. Make sure, you're in the SCALE boxes, and not the rotation or transform boxes. Easy to mix those up. Playback your animation and save it using .0X suffix.

The 3 Bounce Ball Part 4: Spacing and Motion Arcs

2008-04-10T11:24:00.001-07:00

Time to adjust the SPACING and motion arcs. We'll do this in the Graph Editor.

1. Window > Animation > Graph Editor.

2. Make sure the ball is selected and that the move tool (W) is active. If the ball's not selected, the graph editor will be blank. If the move tool isn't active, nothing will work right in the Graph Editor. Hit those lovely yellow and blue zoom buttons so you can actually see what you're working on.

3. Notice how the curve is spikey and sharp. That's what linear tangents do for you. Let's bend 'em. Select the curve. This selects all of the points and tangents on the curve. Right click the curve and select Tangents > Spline.

4. Maya makes you go through some colorful steps in order to edit your curve the way you want to.
Break the tangents
Weight the tangents
Free the tangent weights (and your mind will follow).Let's add squash and stretch. To do this, we'll be adding scale keys.

The 3 Bounce Ball Part 3: Adjust the Timing

2008-04-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Once you've got your keys in the right physical position, it's time to adjust their position in time. This is arguably the most important step in the animation process. If the timing is right, it will make up for a lot of cruddy spacing, and posing; if the timing is wrong, ain't no amount of fancy fiddling gonna make it look right.

1. Play back the animation and check if the bounces feel too slow or too fast. They don't bounce naturally, but don't worry about that. Focus on the hits and the apexes. Are they on the proper beat--are they happening at the right pace? Think like a dancer or a conductor. It needs to feel right.

2. If the bounces and hits are happening too slowly, move the keys closer together. If they're too fast, move them farther apart. To move keys in the timeline, shift + click on a key, then grab the inner arrows to move the key.

3. Congratulations, you've just roughed in the timing. Save your work with the 0X suffix, text the mistress, and hit the town.

Further caveat. If you don't get the timing right now, this animation is doomed to failure. Get it right early, because it's increasingly difficult to make major timing adjustments with each bit of complexity you add to your animation. Get your timing down before you open up the graph editor.

The 3 Bounce Ball Part 2: Block-in

2008-04-09T14:41:00.001-07:00

1. Now it's time to block in your main keys. Move the ball where you want to begin the animation and set a position key (shift + W) on frame 1. I turn on auto keying at this point, but that's my personal preference. If you don't turn it on, make sure you're setting keys manually where necessary.

2. Look at your breakdown sheet to figure out where to set your next key. Move the timeslider to that frame. Move the ball. Set a position key. (Shift + W). Repeat until you've blocked in all of your hits and apexes. Don't set squash and stretch keys yet. Save your work with the 0X suffix.

3. After setting your rough position keys, check that your keys are positioned in correct relation to each other. Your apex keys should be in the middle of your hit keys. If they're not, the ball will not bounce evenly and realistically. To check the position you can use ghosting.

4. To ghost the ball, first make sure you've set Maya to use the Animation menu-set. If you don't, "Animation" will not appear in the menu bar. Now, with the ball selected, choose Animation > Ghost Selected > Options Box from the menu bar. If you select custom frames in the Ghost options, you can set a higher number of ghosts. I chose 20 so I can get a good view of how the keys and apexes relate to each other.

5. Use the ghosts to examine the ball motion checking that the hits and apexes are where you want them to be. If they're uneven and screwed up, fix them by moving to a keyframe and repositioning the ball. Scrub the timeline back and forth to update the ghosts. You should have sharp, angled Pong-like bounces with perfectly even spacing. That's the linear tangent in action. Robotsville, Daddy-o.

The 3 Bounce Ball Part 1: Set up Your Scene and Camera

2008-04-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Summary of the steps for making our 3 bounce animation.

0. Make your ball and floor. Set your default tangent preferences to linear.

1. Create a camera (Create > Cameras > Camera ).

2. From your perspective viewport menu, choose Panels > Perspective > Camera1. This changes the perspective view so that it shows you what the camera sees. If you want to switch back to your working perspective view, go to this same spot and choose "perspective" instead of Camera1.

3. Adjust the camera so that it frames your scene. Move, scale, and rotate it as necessary. Scale doesn't affect the camera lens or position, but it does make it easier to see the camera object in the viewports. You can also adjust the camera in the camera viewport, the channel box, and the attribute editor.

Tuesday Maya Magic

2008-04-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Here's the agenda for Tuesday's class.
1. How to set up and adjust a camera.
2. How to render a preview (playblast).
3. More fun with the graph editor.
4. How to "ghost" or onionskin an animation.
5. Introduce the Dopesheet.

Okay, okay, we didn't get to the dopesheet or playblastin'. We'll do that on Thursday as well as look at the syllabus (better late than never).

Have your 3 bounce animations ready to show to the class on Thursday. Our next assignment will be the sentient jumping ball.

Busting Moves and/or Rhymez in the Maya Timeline

2008-04-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

1. Turn Auto Keying on and off. Click the little key icon to the right of the timeline. Red is on, black is off.

3. Copy a Key. Right Click on a key and choose Copy from the fly-out menu.

5. Change Playback Range. Enter new numbers in the inner set of boxes 'neath the timeline.

6. Change overall animation length. Enter new numbers in the outer set of boxes 'neath the timeline.

Getting set up to animate in Maya

2008-04-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

1. Set default frame rate and initial animation length. From the menu bar, choose File > New > Options Box. Set to NTSC 30 fps. You'd think this would be under preferences, and it is! It just doesn't act as a default there. Good lord.

2. Open a new file.

3. Set playback to Real Time (30 fps). Under Maya > Preferences > Settings > Timeline > Playback. Also, go ahead and set Looping to continuous.