3D Maya PDF
3D Maya PDF
3D Maya PDF
Figure 3. Click here to view larger image. Step 3 Right-click on the Curve and select Vertex mode.
Step 5 Make sure Surfeces menu-set is selected (F4 is shortcut for Surface menu -set). While the curve is still selected, go to Surfaces > Revolve.
Figure 6. Click here to view larger image. Step 6 You will get the geometry for the main body like below.
Step 7 Again using EP Curve tool, draw the shape for right-wing.
Step 8 Choose Edit Curves > Open/Close Curves to close the curve.
Figure 9. Click here to view larger image. Step 9 Click Surfaces > Planar.
Figure 12. Click here to view larger image. Step 12 Right-click on the wing curve. Go to vertex mode and move vertices to reshape the wing as you want.
Step 14 For rotating (Flapping) purpose of the wings we should place the Pivot at appropriate place so that it can rotate around the proper center. So, Select the wing surface and press INSERT to Pivot editing mode and move the Pivot as shown below
Figure 15. Click here to view larger image. Step 15 Press INSERT again to exit the Pivot editing mode. We do not need the profile curves for body and wing anymore. So its a good idea to delete the History at this stage. Click Delete by Type > History
Step 16 To get the left wing, select the right wing and choose Edit menu and click the Option box icon for Duplicate Special command.
Step 17 In the Duplicate Special Option box, set the Scale = -1 and click Duplicate Special.
Figure 18. Click here to view larger image. Step 18 Move the wing to the left so it is placed in the appropriate place.
Step 19 For making antenna, choose again the EP Curve tool and draw a curve as shown below.
Step 20 Click on Circle icon to have a Circle in the center of the view.
Figure 21. Click here to view larger image. Step 21 Move the circle up as show below. Then SHIFT+Click the antenna curve.
Step 23 You will get a extruded shape for the antenna geometry. But its not in the proper place and also we do not want to have so thick antenna.
Figure 24. Click here to view larger image. Step 24 Press CTRL+A to open the Attribute Editor > extrude1 tab.
Step 25 In the Extrude History group, select Component Pivot as Use Component Pivot type. Check Fixed Path option. Make sure other option Use Profile Normal is also checked.
Step 26 Now, select the circle again and under Attribute Editor > makeNurbCircle1, set the radius = 0.1 or even lower value.
Figure 27. Click here to view larger image. Step 27 Again under extrude1 tab, set the Scale = 0.0 in the Extrude History parameters group.
Step 29 While the antenna geometry is selected, apply Edit > Duplicate Special to get the left antenna as well.
Figure 30. Click here to view larger image. Step 30 We do not need the curves now. So, choose Window > Outliner.
Step 31 In the Outliner, Select all the curves by CTRL+Select method and press DELETE.
Figure 33. Click here to view larger image. Step 33 Select the middle main body and change the name of it to main body in the channel box.
Step 35 Click Animation Preference button at the bottom-right corner of Maya Window and choose Playback end at 100 and Animation end at 100. Click Save.
Figure 36. Click here to view larger image. Step 36 We will now make the hierarchy for the body as we want all wings and antennas to be driven with the main body. For this, select the right wing and then SHIFT+Select the main body. Press P to make the main body as parent of the right-wing. Repeat the same for other three parts as well.
Step 37 Now, select the main body and rotate it 90 degree around Z axis.
Step 38 Select the left wing and choose Modify > Freeze Transformations. It will not lock the transformations, but it will neutralize the present transforms value to Zero so that we can rotate or move it starting from 0 (zero). Do the same for right wing as well.
Figure 39. Click here to view larger image. Step 39 Go to Frame no.1 if you are already not there. Select both the wings and in the channel box, Drag+Select all three Rotate parameters name.
Step 41 Select the right wing. Click Auto Keyframe Toggle button. It will turn red to indicate that auto-keyframing active. Go to frame no. 5.
Figure 42. Click here to view larger image. Step 42 Rotate the wing -45 degree around Y axis. Now a keyframe is automatically set at frame no.5 for the right wing.
Step 43 While you are still at frame no. 5, select the left wing. Rotate it 45 degree around Y axis.
Step 44 Go to frame no. 10 and set the Y rotations back at 0 for both the wings.
Figure 45. Click here to view larger image. Step 45 Go to frame no. 15. This time, rotate the right wing 45 degree and left wing -45 degree around Y axis.
Step 46 Go to frame no. 20 and set the Y rotation for both the wings back at 0 degree.
Step 47 We have got a single-loop animation from 0 20 frames for both the wings. We will make this animation to be repeated all the way of the animation using Graph Editor. Select the right wing. Choose Window > Animation Editors > Graph Editor.
Figure 48. Click here to view larger image. Step 48 You will see a sine wave against Rotate Y in the Graph Editor window.
Step 50 To get the infinity graph visible apply View > Infinity.
Figure 51. Click here to view larger image. Step 51 Then zoom-out by ALT+Right-mouse Drag in the graph window to see the. You will see the infinite sine wave of looped animation for the right wing.
Step 52 Repeat the last 5 steps for the left wing as well.
Step 53 To drive the butterfly on a path create an EP Curve in the Top View like below or as you want.
Figure 54. Click here to view larger image. Step 54 Select the butterflys main body and SHIFT+Select the new path curve. Choose Animation menu-set (F2 is the short-cut).
Step 55 Choose Animate > Motions Paths > Attach to Motion Path.
Step 56 Go to Perspective view and play the animation. The butterfly is moving through the path, but orientation is wrong.
Figure 57. Click here to view larger image. Step 57 To correct this problem, we have to edit Motion Path Attributes. Open the Attributes Editor and under motionPath1 tab, set the Front Axis = Y and Up Axis = X in the Motion Path Attributes group.
Step 58 Zoom-in and Play the animation. Your butterfly should now move over the path while flapping its wings. Thats all of the animation.
Hi, and welcome back, I hope you liked the tutorial that I created on basic materials. This time I am going to show you how to create an basic and simple animation in Maya. The topic would be create a burning rope and the final result would be as shown below.
Step One In this tutorial, we will make an animation of simple burning rope. Lets start with making a profile for the rope. Click EP Curve
creation icon.
Step Two Then in the Side viewport, draw a curve line as shown below or as your wish.
Step Three Choose Rendering menu-set from the Menu-set drop down list located at the top-left corner of the Maya window.
Figure 3. Click here to view larger image. Step Four Select the curve we have just drawn (if it is not selected). Then choose Window > General Editors > Visor.
Step Five Under the Paint Effects (tab), in the left category-list, choose Fibers category. Then choose the paint effect wickerTubeProc.mel.
Step Six Make sure, the curve is still selected in the view. Choose Paint Effects > Curve Utilities > Attach Brush to Curves.
Figure 6. Click here to view larger image. Step Seven The rope-like fiber paint effect is now prolonged through the curve. Thus it got the fiber rope shape.
Step Eight Click Render Current Frame icon. You will see a pretty nice rope image rendered.
Figure 9. Click here to view larger image. Step Ten Open the Attribute Editor for strokeShape1. Make sure, you are at the Frame No. 1 of the animation. Expand (if necessary) the End Bounds groups under the attributes for strokeShape1. Default Min Clip should have been set to 0.0. Leave this at this value and right-click on Min Clip and then choose Set Key.
Step Eleven Go to Frame No. 100. Set the Min Clip value = 1. Then again right-click and choose Set Key.
Step Twelve Play the animation and notice any frame (for example frame no. 29).
Figure 12. Click here to view larger image. Step Thirteen Render the view at Frame No. 1. See the result.
Step Fourteen Render Frame No. 99 and see the result. You will see that the rope is going to be exhausted at the end of the animation. This is what we want exactly for the rope. But where is that fire which is burning this rope? Lets make that fire.
Step Fifteen When more than one object is in the view at the same place it is a bit difficult to select the desired object in viewport directly. So instead, we will select the object from objects Outliner. Choose Window > Outliner.
Figure 15. Click here to view larger image. Step Sixteen In the Outliner window, you will see 3 items are listed other than the default items and Stroke1 is highlighted as this was the last selected object.
Step Seventeen We want to drive the fire on the same path curve that we drawn at the very beginning. So, select Curve1 in the Outliner. It will be selected in the view as well.
Step Eighteen Open the Visor window again (or restore it if you minimized it) and choose glows category this time. Then select sunRise.mel.
Figure 18. Click here to view larger image. Step Nineteen While curve1 is still selected, choose Paint Effects > Curve Utilities > Attach Brush to Curves.
Step Twenty The paint effect will be placed at the bottom of the curve.
Step Twenty One Render Frame No. 1 and see the result. The orientation of the fire is not right. It should face upward.
Figure 21. Click here to view larger image. Step Twenty Two To correct this, go to attributes for sunRise1 and then expand Tubes group.
Step Twenty Three Under Tubes > Creation > Width Scale, choose Along Path as Tube Direction.
Step Twenty Four Choose Path Follow = -0.5 under Tubes > Forces.
Figure 24. Click here to view larger image. Step Twenty Five Render Frame No. 1. Now the fire direction is what we want.
Step Twenty Six While you are at Frame No. 1, go to the attributes for strokeShape2. While Min Clip is set to 0.00 by default under End Bounds set the key for Min Clip.
Step Twenty Seven Go to Frame No. 100. Set Min Clip = 1 and then set the key.
Figure 27. Click here to view larger image. Step Twenty Eight Render Frame No. 50. See the result.
Step Twenty Nine Render Frame No. 99. See the result.
Step Thirty Render Frame no. 100. Nothing is in the view. The destructive fire has eaten up the entire rope. Hooray! Your animation is done.
Figure 30. Click here to view larger image. Step Thirty One Lets render an entire animation. Choose Window > Rendering Editor > Render Settings.
Step Thirty Two In the Render Settings dialogue box, leave Maya Software Renderer as the render engine. We need not use other renderer for this animation. Proceed to Common tab > Image File Output group. We should change all the three parameters here to get this small animation movie.
Change the File name prefix to Burning_Rope and choose AVI (avi) as the Image format. The middle parameter (Frame/Animation ext) will be automatically changed to name.ext(Multi Frame).
Figure 33. Click here to view larger image. Step Thirty Four AVI (Audio Visual Interface ) is a common format for PC Screen movie. Lets change it compression type i.e. Codec.
Step Thirty Five My favorite codec is Microsoft Windows Media Video as it maintains the balance between quality and file-size (at least I think it appropriate for my own PC so far). May be, you can choose this for now.
Step Thirty Six Just below the Compression button, set the End Frame = 100.
Figure 36. Click here to view larger image. Step Thirty Seven Then adjust the output size as per your requirement.
Step Thirty Eight Now lets see what happens if we render the current frame after setting the Enable Default Light to OFF mode (i.e. Unchecked) in the Re nder Options group.
Step Thirty Nine The fire is still there. But there is no rope. We have not placed any light in the scene. But for the rendering of some visor paint effect items such as the fiber wickerTubeProc1.mel (which we used as the rope), lighting is necessary. So the default lighting was a must for rendering this fiber paint effect.
Figure 39. Click here to view larger image. Step Forty Set the Enable Default Light back to ON and render the current frame (No.1). This time its OK.
Step Forty One If you want to get a better quality output, go to Maya Software tab and choose Production Quality from the Quality drop-down list under Anti-Aliasing group. Close the Render Settings dialogue box.
Figure 42. Click here to view larger image. Step Forty Three Maya is rendering the AVI movie. The codec I have chosen (Microsoft Windows Media Video) need not take much time to render out the movie.
Step Forty Four After rendering is finished, you can see the output AVI location though we could set the output location if we did set the project at the beginning (or while working with the animation) from File menu.
Step Forty Five Go to the output location and play the animation. May be, we could set the animation range to a longer period so that the animation could be more smooth. However, this is just a practice. In your own real projects, you will render the animation sequence in TGA/TIF or such good quality format and then import them to a composition program (such as After Effects etc.) and get the final output from there.
Introduction
This tutorial is intended to show you how to make a Coca-Cola bottle using Maya. Although, you may think making a bottle is trivial, it is easy to overlook some of the tiny details that make your final image more desirable to look at. I will also try to give you some tips, which can help with your workflow when you are modeling in Maya.Alright, we start off by trying to find as many references as we can to make our life easier during the modeling process. Here are some of the images I found on the Internet simply search for "Coca-Cola Bottle in Google and you should find tons of good references (Fig.01).
Fig. 01 In this tutorial we are going to make the "Coca-Cola Classic since it has some complex details. We divide the model into three major parts (Top - Middle Bottom). This way it is easier for us to deal with each part and also decide what technique to use next (Fig.02).
Fig. 02
Step 1
First we need to set up our "Image Plane for the side view in Maya (Fig.03).
Fig. 03 Make sure that the image plane's Center X is a negative value so it won't block your model (Fig.04).
Fig. 04
Fig. 05 Next select Surfaces > Revolve and leave it set to the default options. Now, we have a base shape to work with (Fig.06).
Fig. 06 Since this shape is a NURBS surface, we need to convert it to a Polygon mesh. So go to Modify > Convert > "NURBS to Polygons Options. Set the options to the following and then hit Apply:
U type: Per span # iso params Number U: 1 V Type: Per span # of iso params Number V: 3 The reason we want the U, V to be set (1, 3) is because we don't want our poly shape to lose much of its detail while still as a Low Poly. If you compare the poly version to the original NURBS surface, you can clearly see that we have lost some of the curvature, but don't worry as we can apply a mesh smooth on it later (Fig.07). Also, we no longer need the NURBS surface, so simply just delete it.
Fig. 07 Now under Edit Mesh select "Insert Edge Loop Tool and add some new edges around areas as you see in the following image. Then, use Select >Select Edge Loop Tool to select the new edges we just made and simply hit "R and scale them towards the inside a bit. The reason we added these edges is to give more
depth to those areas, as you can see from the reference image (Fig.08).
Fig. 08 Tip: While the middle object is selected, press3 on your keyboard to see the poly in smooth preview. Press "1 to go back to normal mode. Please note that this feature is only available for Maya 2008 and higher (Fig.09).
Fig. 09 Select half of the object and delete it, then "Duplicate the other half as an instance (Fig.10).
Fig. 10 Next, move the vertices according to following image. Try your best to match the vertices as close as possible to the reference image (Fig.11).
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Radius: 2.72 Height: 2.484 Subdivision Axis: 20 Subdivision Height: 1 Subdivision Caps: 1
Select the lower vertices and scale them towards the outside a bit, then delete the lower cap. Select the lower border and extrude it towards the inside. Use the following image as a guide (Fig.15).
Fig. 15 Make a "poly Pipe and position it under the cap. At this point, you're almost done with the cap (Fig.16).
Fig. 16 Now, make a triangular tread and align it with a cap door. You can use Vertex snap tools by holding "V to make sure the tread is aligned properly. Make sure the pivot is exactly in the center of cap. Press "E to switch to rotate mode then "Duplicate it to make 20 treads (Fig.17).
Fig. 17
Subdivision Height: 8
Make sure the sphere radius is close to the radius of middle part; don't worry if they don't match exactly inch by inch together because we will merge them together later. Also, you notice that the number of subdivisions differs for each part. Again, don't worry about that as later we will add and delete some edges to the middle part to match it with the bottom part (Fig.18).
Fig. 18 Use Select >Select Edge Loop Tool to add a new edge to the sphere where the middle part ends, so we can delete the upper half of the sphere (Fig.19).
Fig. 19 Select all vertices at the bottom of sphere and scale them on the "Y axis until they are lined up. While they are still selected move them up on the "Y axis to line up with its upper edge. See the following image and use it as your guide (Fig.20).
Fig. 20 Here is what you should have so far. Press "3 to see the object in smooth preview (Fig.21).
Fig. 21 Next, add new edge loops at the end of the bottom part. Assign a red color material to those polys that we don't need to work with. This way, you can focus on other parts and won't get confused later when we extrude the polys between them (Fig.22).
Fig. 22 Now, try to extrude the polygons at the center to something similar to following image (Fig.23).
Fig. 23 Next, we select the polys between those polys we already colored and extrude them two times towards the inside. I have selected the edges where the second extrude should occur for your guide (Fig.24).
Fig. 24 Here is what we have so far. I also assigned a nice default Blinn shader to it so we no longer see the red areas (Fig.25).
Fig. 25
Now it is time to connect the middle part to the bottom and merge them together. As we saw earlier in this tutorial, the number of subdivisions differed for both the middle and bottom parts. To fix this problem, we add some new edge loops to the middle part to match the edges of bottom and then we simply delete all the old edges that don't match (Fig.26 & Fig.27).
Fig. 26
Fig. 27 Once you are done, merge all the vertices together and extrude the middle towards the inside where the middle and bottom part are connected. Call the new object "Bottle (Fig.28).
Fig. 28
Fig. 29
Fig. 30
Step 8: UV Mapping
To setup the UVs I used "UV Layout 2. Select "Coca_Bottle in the scene and export it as an obj. Load the obj file in "UV Layout 2 and layout the UVs as
follows (Fig.31). I am not going to cover how to use UV layout in this tutorial, but if you are not familiar with it you can easily learn it by following the tutorials that's on their website. Here is the link:http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=97
Fig. 31 Once you are done with the UVs, export the model back into Maya. UV mapping the cap's treads can be easily done in Maya using simple planar maps. We apply a planar map to one tread and then we transfer its UV information to the rest of the 19 treads. This way all the UVs pile up exactly on top of each other (Fig.32).
Fig. 32
Transfer UV maps
To transfer one object's UV map to another object, select the object that has the proper UV layout and then the second object with no proper UV layout and go to Mesh > Transfer Attribute Options. In this case, set the options as following (Fig.33). Do this step for the rest of the 19 treads. Once you are done, all the UVs should pile perfectly up on top of each other. Merge all the treads to one object. Call the
Fig. 33
Fig. 34
Fig. 35 While the "UV Reference layer is selected, change its style from "Normal to "Multiply so that you can see the layers underneath. Make a new layer under the "UV Reference and call it "Bump (Fig.36).
Fig. 36 Now, we need to gather some images together to draw the Coca-Cola logo, and small dots on our bottle. To make the small dots under the logo, I used the following texture (Fig.37).
Fig. 37 The rest of the small dots can be simply made by using the "Ellipse Tool in Photoshop and duplicating them using "Alt+Drag (Fig.38).
Fig. 38 Here is a Coca-Cola logo that I found on Google, which is a nice high resolution image with transparency. Simply, convert the color to white with a black background (Fig.39 & Fig.40).
Fig. 39
Fig. 40 Now that we have all the images we need, you can start aligning them on the UV we exported from Maya. Here is what I came up with (Fig.41).
Fig. 41 Save the final image in tga format and name it "CocaCola_Bump.tga.
Fig. 42
Fig. 43
Fig. 44 Apply the Blinn shader to our Coca-Cola bottle. Make sure "Smooth shade all, "Textured, "High quality are all checked, so we can see what our bump map looks like in the viewport. You should get something similar to this (Fig.45).
Fig. 45
Fig. 46
Fig. 47
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and the information in it was useful for you. Also keep in mind that the technique that I describe here can be applied in a similar way to any 3D packages out there. Please feel free to email me at in case you have any questions or problems regarding this tutorial.