Pick a piece of music to animate to, and cut it into a 15-30 second sound clip (wav files work great).
Use the modeling and shading techniques to build your world, and use maya's animation tools to animate it. The focus on this project is using music to choreograph movement. You can use any shapes you like, complex models are not required. Lights, cameras, shaders and deformers can all be animated as well, and can add tremendous life to a scene.
When your animation is finished, you will render out the sequence and merge it with sound in aftereffects, final cut pro, or other video editing software.
What: A quicktime or comparable movie file containing a rendered, animated music video.
When: Monday, November 16th
Check out some of the examples of the fall 2008 class below:
Other inspiration:
Autechre video
Synthetic Aspirations
Animusic
Claire De Lune
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Project two - still life - due 10/14
Project two - still life
This assignment is designed to acquaint students with Maya's sculpting, deformation and shading tools. Students will learn how to build, modify and reshape objects into representative surfaces; how to assign shaders to those surfaces; and how to use Maya's dependency graph to make non-linear changes to their work. Students will use these tools and concepts to create a still life of various organic and inorganic objects of their choosing.
What: One rendered still image at full 1024 resolution, one maya scene file, and all used textures.
When: Due 10/14, at the beginning of class - 4 weeks
Project 2 - fall 08 - gallery
How:
Interface/Pipeline:
This assignment is designed to acquaint students with Maya's sculpting, deformation and shading tools. Students will learn how to build, modify and reshape objects into representative surfaces; how to assign shaders to those surfaces; and how to use Maya's dependency graph to make non-linear changes to their work. Students will use these tools and concepts to create a still life of various organic and inorganic objects of their choosing.
What: One rendered still image at full 1024 resolution, one maya scene file, and all used textures.
When: Due 10/14, at the beginning of class - 4 weeks
Project 2 - fall 08 - gallery
How:
- Decide what objects you want to fill your scene, and how you will arrange them. Try to find both organic and inorganic objects. Look for reference images!
- Create your objects using the different sculpting techniques we will go over.
- Shade and texture your objects using shading networks and source images.
- Setup your camera and lights to find the best composition and mood.
- Focus on composition, staging, depth and mood. Use the geometry to shape the scene and the lights to color it. Use the camera to frame it in an interesting way that supports your idea.
Interface/Pipeline:
- nodes and inter-nodal dependencies
- hypergraph
- understanding construction history
- polys, nurbs and subdivision surfaces – pros/cons
- creating and editing organic and non-organic models
- managing a workable level of detail
- sculpting on a component level
- using curve-based modeling tools
- understanding smoothing and creasing
- using the paint tool to sculpt surfaces
- using lattices and non-linear deformers for broad level shape changes
- understanding the qualities of different surface shaders
- creating and applying shading networks
- editing shading networks in the hypershade
- procedural vs. authored textures
- texture creation and placement
- using the 3d paint tool
- advanced lighting - raytracing, reflections, translucency, fog
Monday, August 31, 2009
Welcome!
Welcome to DT-116-1: Introduction 3d Modeling, Texturing, and Animation using Maya.
My name is Greg Lemon, and I will be your instructor for this class. Please feel free to email me with any questions you have related to the course.
greg.lemon@gmail.com
This class is an intensive, hands on study of Maya, an extremely powerful 3d visualization tool. The goal of this class is simple: leave on the last day of class with the ability and confidence necessary to create your own 3d projects of whatever complexity you choose.
The class is very much about what you make of it. If you put in little effort, you can expect little in return. If you put in a lot, you will find the creative uses for Maya to be virtually unlimited, and you will be inspired by your rapidly increasing abilities. If you truly dive in, and allow Maya to teach you, you will develop a proficiency with it that will amaze you, and you will open your artistic career to a wider variety of opportunities.
We will be exploring a largely unfamiliar world, filled with unfamiliar terms, relationships and procedures. Please take notes, make sketches, make recordings, or whatever it takes to help you remember what we go over in class.
Below are a series if link to various resources, including the syllabus and first assignment, project one, which is due Wednesday, September 14th.
Syllabus
Project One
Maya Basics
cgtalk maya forum
My name is Greg Lemon, and I will be your instructor for this class. Please feel free to email me with any questions you have related to the course.
greg.lemon@gmail.com
This class is an intensive, hands on study of Maya, an extremely powerful 3d visualization tool. The goal of this class is simple: leave on the last day of class with the ability and confidence necessary to create your own 3d projects of whatever complexity you choose.
The class is very much about what you make of it. If you put in little effort, you can expect little in return. If you put in a lot, you will find the creative uses for Maya to be virtually unlimited, and you will be inspired by your rapidly increasing abilities. If you truly dive in, and allow Maya to teach you, you will develop a proficiency with it that will amaze you, and you will open your artistic career to a wider variety of opportunities.
We will be exploring a largely unfamiliar world, filled with unfamiliar terms, relationships and procedures. Please take notes, make sketches, make recordings, or whatever it takes to help you remember what we go over in class.
Below are a series if link to various resources, including the syllabus and first assignment, project one, which is due Wednesday, September 14th.
Syllabus
Project One
Maya Basics
cgtalk maya forum
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Project 3 - music video
Pick a piece of music to animate to, and cut it into a 15-30 second sound clip (wav files work great).
Use the modeling and shading techniques to build your world, and use maya's animation tools to animate it. The focus on this project is using music to choreograph movement. You can use any shapes you like, complex models are not required. Lights, cameras, shaders and deformers can all be animated as well, and can add tremendous life to a scene.
When your animation is finished, you will render out the sequence and merge it with sound in aftereffects, final cut pro, or other video editing software.
What: A quicktime or comparable movie file containing a rendered, animated music video.
When: Wednesday, April 8th
Check out some of the examples of the fall 2008 class below:
Other inspiration:
Autechre video
Synthetic Aspirations
Animusic
Claire De Lune
Use the modeling and shading techniques to build your world, and use maya's animation tools to animate it. The focus on this project is using music to choreograph movement. You can use any shapes you like, complex models are not required. Lights, cameras, shaders and deformers can all be animated as well, and can add tremendous life to a scene.
When your animation is finished, you will render out the sequence and merge it with sound in aftereffects, final cut pro, or other video editing software.
What: A quicktime or comparable movie file containing a rendered, animated music video.
When: Wednesday, April 8th
Check out some of the examples of the fall 2008 class below:
Other inspiration:
Autechre video
Synthetic Aspirations
Animusic
Claire De Lune
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Waltz with Bashir
We're going to go see "Waltz with Bashir" on Friday, the 13th at 7:30 pm at the Embarcadero Cinema. Come see it with us!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Project one - fall 09 gallery
Thanks for the great work, everyone. I think the first project was a huge success, as there were some truly outstanding efforts from everyone in the class. Click the image above to see the results of your work in the project one gallery!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Project two - still life - fall 08 gallery
Click on the image above to have a look at some of the excellent work examples from the fall 08 project two assignment. Artwork by Elliot Shields.
Project two - still life - fall 09
Project two - still life
This assignment is designed to acquaint students with Maya's sculpting, deformation and shading tools. Students will learn how to build, modify and reshape objects into representative surfaces; how to assign shaders to those surfaces; and how to use Maya's dependency graph to make non-linear changes to their work. Students will use these tools and concepts to create a still life of various organic and inorganic objects of their choosing.
What: One rendered still image at full 1024 resolution, one maya scene file, and all used textures.
When: Due 10/14, at the beginning of class - 4 weeks
Project 2 - fall 08 - gallery
How:
Interface/Pipeline:
This assignment is designed to acquaint students with Maya's sculpting, deformation and shading tools. Students will learn how to build, modify and reshape objects into representative surfaces; how to assign shaders to those surfaces; and how to use Maya's dependency graph to make non-linear changes to their work. Students will use these tools and concepts to create a still life of various organic and inorganic objects of their choosing.
What: One rendered still image at full 1024 resolution, one maya scene file, and all used textures.
When: Due 10/14, at the beginning of class - 4 weeks
Project 2 - fall 08 - gallery
How:
- Decide what objects you want to fill your scene, and how you will arrange them. Try to find both organic and inorganic objects. Look for reference images!
- Create your objects using the different sculpting techniques we will go over.
- Shade and texture your objects using shading networks and source images.
- Setup your camera and lights to find the best composition and mood.
- Focus on composition, staging, depth and mood. Use the geometry to shape the scene and the lights to color it. Use the camera to frame it in an interesting way that supports your idea.
Interface/Pipeline:
- nodes and inter-nodal dependencies
- hypergraph
- understanding construction history
- polys, nurbs and subdivision surfaces – pros/cons
- creating and editing organic and non-organic models
- managing a workable level of detail
- sculpting on a component level
- using curve-based modeling tools
- understanding smoothing and creasing
- using the paint tool to sculpt surfaces
- using lattices and non-linear deformers for broad level shape changes
- understanding the qualities of different surface shaders
- creating and applying shading networks
- editing shading networks in the hypershade
- procedural vs. authored textures
- texture creation and placement
- using the 3d paint tool
- advanced lighting - raytracing, reflections, translucency, fog
Monday, February 2, 2009
fluency
Fluency means the ability to write or speak a language with ease. Just as that allows us to communicate easily, being fluent in the basics of Maya will allow you to create with less difficulty, which will build your confidence in the software - thus leading you to more advanced techniques earlier- thus making you a better Maya artist in less time. In other words, the basics are critical to your accelerated comprehension of advanced techniques - make sure you master them!
By this time in the course, you should be able to do the following with a good degree of familiarity. Remember - all of the skills we will develop in class will be grounded on these techniques, so it's important to be fluent with them as early as possible.
Opening and saving files
Navigating the interface
Orbiting, moving and zooming in different views
Creating polygon primitives
Selecting, deselecting and deleting node(s)
Transformations - Moving, Rotating, and Scaling
undo'ing and redo'ing
Creating lights
Adjusting light color and intensity
Light linking and shadows
using the attribute editor and channel box to edit various attributes
rendering and setting basic render attributes.
You first assignment is due at the beginning of class this Wednesday, Feb. 4. Use the time you have left to put the finishing polish on your work, and make sure you have a solid grasp of the above skills. Best of luck!
By this time in the course, you should be able to do the following with a good degree of familiarity. Remember - all of the skills we will develop in class will be grounded on these techniques, so it's important to be fluent with them as early as possible.
Opening and saving files
Navigating the interface
Orbiting, moving and zooming in different views
Creating polygon primitives
Selecting, deselecting and deleting node(s)
Transformations - Moving, Rotating, and Scaling
undo'ing and redo'ing
Creating lights
Adjusting light color and intensity
Light linking and shadows
using the attribute editor and channel box to edit various attributes
rendering and setting basic render attributes.
You first assignment is due at the beginning of class this Wednesday, Feb. 4. Use the time you have left to put the finishing polish on your work, and make sure you have a solid grasp of the above skills. Best of luck!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Syllabus
DT-116-1: Introduction 3d Modeling, Texturing, and Animation using Maya
Instructor: Greg Lemon (greg.lemon at gmail.com)
Prerequisite: none
3 Units
This is a 3d digital skills course designed to teach the fundamental aspects of modeling, shading, and animation through a series of creative projects in Autodesk: Maya. Students will explore Maya's dynamic, node-based architecture, developing the technical skills and conceptual understanding needed to create a wide range of 3d digital artwork.
Projects and grade percentages:
Project 1 - Space, shapes and light – 10 %
Project 2 - Still life – 25 %
Project 3 - Music video - 25 %
Project 4 - Final project – 40 %
Attendance Policy:
Please try not to miss any classes. During class, there is a variety of information going around about the subject at hand, including lectures, demonstrations and discussions. Please help contribute to the class dynamic by being present and on-time as much as possible. Excessive absences will show up in the quality of your work.
A -
work demonstrates both creative and technical excellence in all regards. Most critiques are subjective and based more on artistic opinion rather than legitimate concerns of quality; effort is quite visible.
B-
work is free from jarring, unintentional artifacts and clearly demonstrates sufficient command of both the medium and creative ability.
C-
work shows decent effort and focus, and displays effort that balances apparent technical and creative errors/artifacts.
D-
work lacks effort, displays numerous poor creative and technical choices.
F-
work is not turned in.
Learning outcomes:
This class will provide students with the technical skills needed to produce high-quality digital, three dimensional artwork, while maintaining an overarching focus on creativity, exploration and experimentation through a visual context.
Learning Aids:
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