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!

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!

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:

• 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.

Key concepts:

Interface/Pipeline:

• nodes and inter-nodal dependencies
• hypergraph
• understanding construction history

Modeling:

• 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

Rendering:

• 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
  

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!

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.

Grading standards:

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:

DT-116 image gallery

The Art of Maya

Learning Autodesk Maya 2008

cgtalk.com