Maya 2008 Character Modeling & Animation: Principles and Practices

CONTENTS......Page 7
INTRODUCTION......Page 14
CHAPTER 1 THE ANIMATION PRODUCTION PROCESS......Page 16
Preproduction......Page 17
Postproduction......Page 18
Story Concept and Development......Page 19
Character Design and Character Sketches......Page 20
Cinematography......Page 24
Lighting......Page 34
Storyboarding......Page 36
The Animatic......Page 37
Sound Design......Page 38
Motion Studies......Page 40
Creating a Long Shot......Page 41
Creating a Medium Shot......Page 43
Creating a Close-Up Shot......Page 44
Creating the Key Light......Page 46
Creating the Back Light......Page 48
1. Character and Story Development......Page 49
2. Cinematography and Lighting Design......Page 52
CHAPTER 2 FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER ANIMATION......Page 54
Timing......Page 55
Newton’s Laws: The Physics of Bodies in Motion......Page 56
Basics of Keyframe Animation......Page 57
The Graph Editor......Page 59
Tutorial 2.1: Light and Heavy Bouncing Ball Animation......Page 64
Animating the Translation of the Light Ball......Page 65
Animating the Rotation of the Light Ball......Page 68
Animating the Heavy Ball......Page 69
Animating the Translation of the Heavy Ball......Page 70
Object Relationships......Page 71
Understanding Parenting......Page 73
Tutorial 2.2: Refining Keyframe Animation......Page 74
Squash and Stretch......Page 75
Light Ball with Squash and Stretch......Page 78
Rendering the Animation......Page 81
2. Newton’s Laws......Page 83
CHAPTER 3 MODELING AND TEXTURING A SIMPLE CHARACTER......Page 84
Modeling Using Polygons......Page 85
Exercise: Polygonal Modeling Starting from a Plane......Page 87
Exercise: Modeling Starting from a Polygon Primitive......Page 90
Exercise: Using Profile Curves for Polygonal Modeling......Page 93
Smoothing Polygons......Page 95
Working with Symmetry......Page 97
Using Image Planes to Bring in Reference Sketches or Imagery......Page 98
Block Modeling the Object or Character......Page 99
Keeping All Polygons Quads......Page 100
Lattice Deformer......Page 101
Sculpt Geometry Tool......Page 102
Understanding Construction History......Page 103
Polygon UV Coordinates and Texture Mapping......Page 105
Projecting Texture Coordinates......Page 107
Modeling the Sack......Page 116
Tutorial 3.2: UV Texturing the Sack......Page 129
2. Model a Piece of Furniture......Page 142
CHAPTER 4 RIGGING AND ANIMATING A SIMPLE CHARACTER......Page 144
Shot Storyboard......Page 145
Rigging Design......Page 146
Creating a Skeleton......Page 147
Adding Kinematics......Page 148
Bind Skin......Page 155
Understanding Constraints......Page 162
Creating the Spine......Page 166
Creating the Arms......Page 168
Creating the Legs......Page 170
Parenting the Arms and Legs to the Torso......Page 172
Creating the Rib Cage......Page 173
Creating the IK Handles for the Legs......Page 176
Creating the IK Handles for the Arms......Page 177
Creating the IK Spline Handle for the Spine......Page 178
Creating Cluster Handles......Page 181
Creating a Constraint for the Cluster Handles......Page 184
Creating a Pole Vector Constraint for the Arms......Page 185
Creating the Leg and Arm Controls......Page 186
Constraining the Controls to the Legs......Page 187
Constraining the Controls to the Arms......Page 189
Organizing the Rigging Nodes in the Hypergraph......Page 190
Hiding Objects......Page 192
Tutorial 4.2: Skinning the Sack......Page 193
Tutorial 4.3: Animating the Sack......Page 194
Creating the Sack's First Pose......Page 195
Creating the Sack's Third Pose......Page 196
2. Draw the Sack Lifting and Throwing......Page 198
CHAPTER 5 NURBS MODELING AND PATH ANIMATION WITH DYNAMICS......Page 200
NURBS Terminology......Page 201
NURBS Curve Tools......Page 202
Attach Curves......Page 206
Understanding the Birail Tool......Page 213
Understanding the Boundary Tool......Page 215
Motion Path Animation......Page 218
Setting Motion Path Markers......Page 220
Hair Curves as Deformers......Page 221
Tutorial 5.1: Fish Modeling......Page 223
Creating the Fish Body......Page 224
Detaching a Surface......Page 229
Shaping the Fish's Head......Page 231
Creating the Spine......Page 254
Creating the Joints for the Fins......Page 255
Creating the Motion Path Curve......Page 258
Stopping the Fish from Flipping......Page 262
3. Create a Fish Environment......Page 268
CHAPTER 6 MODELING A BIPED CHARACTER......Page 270
Human Anatomy for Modelers......Page 271
Body Proportions......Page 272
Tools and Methods......Page 274
The Merge Tool......Page 275
The Append to Polygon Tool......Page 276
The Bridge Tool......Page 278
Tutorial 6.1: Modeling the Simple Guy Character......Page 281
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Set Up......Page 285
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Creating the Head......Page 287
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Creating the Body......Page 300
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Creating the Leg......Page 308
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Creating the Foot......Page 312
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Creating the Arm......Page 315
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Creating the Hand......Page 320
Modeling the Simple Guy Character: Combining the Head with the Body......Page 330
Create and Model a Character......Page 335
CHAPTER 7 RIGGING A BIPED CHARACTER......Page 336
Joint Placement......Page 337
Driven Keys......Page 341
The Connection Editor......Page 345
Tutorial 7.1: Creating a Biped Skeleton......Page 347
Lower Body......Page 348
Creating and Rigging the Spine......Page 356
The Upper Body......Page 359
Creating and Rigging an Advanced Spine......Page 371
Stretchiness......Page 372
Twist Interpolation......Page 373
Summary......Page 374
Biped Model......Page 375
CHAPTER 8 THE ART AND SCIENCE OF ANIMATION......Page 376
Muybridge's Observations of Motion......Page 377
The Process of Walking......Page 378
Hip and Shoulder Rotation......Page 379
Arm Movement......Page 380
Animating the Legs at the Right Contact Position......Page 382
Animating the Legs at the Passing Position......Page 384
Setting Driven Keys for the Ball Rotation......Page 386
Animating the Left and Right Ball Rotation......Page 387
Animating the Hips and Shoulders......Page 392
Animating the Hips Up and Down......Page 393
Animating the Arms......Page 394
Animating the Head......Page 398
Adding Emotion and Character to Your Walk Cycles......Page 399
The Jump......Page 400
Character Exerting Mostly Horizontal Force......Page 401
Character Exerting Vertical Force: Lifting a Heavy Object......Page 402
Walk Cycles......Page 403
CHAPTER 9 FACIAL EXPRESSION......Page 406
The Anatomy of the Face (Physiognomy)......Page 407
Universal Human Emotions and Their Physical Expression......Page 408
Happiness......Page 410
Sadness......Page 411
Anger......Page 412
Surprise......Page 413
Fear......Page 414
Other Aspects of Head and Facial Animation......Page 415
Technical Approaches to Facial Animation......Page 417
Creating Blend Shapes......Page 418
Setting Driven Keys for the Eyebrows......Page 420
Overall Workflows for Facial Animation......Page 423
Expressions......Page 424
APPENDIX A: MAYA BOOT CAMP: CREATING YOUR FIRST MAYA SCENE......Page 426
An Overview of the Maya Interface......Page 427
Working Modes......Page 428
Working Units......Page 429
Creating a NURBS Primitive......Page 430
Moving an Object......Page 432
Rotating an Object......Page 433
Creating a Polygon Primitive......Page 434
Framing a Scene......Page 435
Creating Materials and Choosing Color......Page 436
Lighting a Scene......Page 438
Moving and Rotating a Light......Page 439
Rendering a Test Frame......Page 440
Snapping Tool......Page 441
Summary......Page 442
APPENDIX B: SAMPLE SYLLABI......Page 444
A......Page 450
B......Page 451
C......Page 452
F......Page 453
H......Page 454
J......Page 455
L......Page 456
N......Page 457
P......Page 458
R......Page 459
S......Page 460
T......Page 461
U......Page 463
Z......Page 464