Maya Animation & compositing

EBook Description: Long time fxphd professor Matt Leonard dives into production with his new course covering work he did for Red Dwarf: Back to Earth. Leonard is our leadMaya professor, but he is also an adept compositor who uses tools such as Nuke and Fusion. For this course, hell be walking through the entire productionprocess of his work on the show from pre production to on set to the final composite. Hell cover all the angles of delivering great animation and a realisticcomposite in this hard core hands on course.More details to come about the course once the mini series airs in the UK the weekend of April 11th.

From the Lead Animator of Matrix Reloaded, the Learning 3D Character Animation with Jeff Lew series is one of the few real character animation classes on DVD. There are so many how to videos on the market showing you how to setup a character or model a character in a specific 3D software package, but very few training videos showing you actually how to animate a character in 3D. This 3 part DVD series will teach you strong fundamentals necessary for creating great character animation in any 3D animation software package.

Body Mechanics and Animation in Maya - Pulling Objects

Easily learn proper body mechanics for creating believable animations with over 5 hours of project-based training developed specifically for character animation and body mechanics. Perfect for intermediate artists.

3-D Human Modeling and Animation, Second Edition

All the tools and know-how to create digital characters that can move, express emotions, and talk
3-D Human Modeling and Animation demonstrates how you can use your artistic skills in figure drawing, painting, and sculpture to create animated human figures using the latest computer technology. This easy-to-follow book guides you through all the necessary steps to create and animate digital humans. Students and professional 3-D artists will find this book to be an invaluable resource.
This Second Edition combines detailed, practical information about creating and animating 3-D human models. More than 400 images, interactive files, and exciting animations included on the CD-ROM detail the modeling and animation processes for both male and female figures. Chapter objectives and exercises are tied to the CD-ROM, which also provides color example images, sample models, modeling templates, textures, lesson plans, and relevant animation movies that allow you to start modeling and animating right away!
Newly revised and updated, 3-D Human Modeling and Animation, Second Edition is a powerful tool all digital artists need at their fingertips. Using the latest computer technology, this nuts-and-bolts reference provides expert methods and techniques for applying the skills used in traditional figure drawing, painting, and sculpture to create and animate human figures in the digital realm. Comprehensivewith groundwork material as well as the latest advances to help experienced artists take their work to the next levelthis highly visual book uses more than 400 images to describe the modeling and animation process for both male and female figures. An accompanying CD-ROM allows users to start modeling immediately and includes framework files and textures for application to human figures. Complete with a new problem-solving chapter, this is the perfect volume for the dedicated animator.
Peter Ratner (Penn Laird, VA) is the founder of the James Madison Universitys Computer Graphics Department. His multimedia work has been exhibited in more than eighty shows, including Siggraph and MacWorld.

Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation

Learn how to animate emotion in your characters and add drama to your animation. Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation deals specifically with body language, facial expressions, emotional reactions, and other methods of giving characters emotion. It also deals with adding emotion and drama to a scene or setting. A majority of animation books cover emotion as a side element. Character emotion is a major element that plays a vital role in the believability of the character. Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation offers comprehensive coverage of the techniques that can help you create believable emotion in your characters.

Gnomon Character Animation Acting and Lip Sync

This is Chris’s third lecture in a series on character animation using Maya. In this lecture, Chris delves ever deeper into the world of acting and its most important aspect: the character’s internal thought process. Chris covers the fundamental principles of lip sync and dialogue, from keying the audio track and breaking it down to phrasing and inflection.

Building on earlier themes, including dynamic posing, contrast of shape and emotion, line of action and use of negative space, Chris shows you the step-by-step process of bringing a scene to the level of full 3D theatrical animation.

Collection of 3D Animation

Introductionto Maya Lighting and Rendering Advanced Lighting Advanced ShadingPoly Modeling Nuke for 3D Pixars Render Man Certified CoursewareTexturing with MayaWe are CG
As a successful andrespected CG academy, Escape Studios is a proving ground for a newgeneration of computer graphics stars breaking into film, TV, games andcommercials.
Escape Studios is not like other schools. We dontpractice theoretical exercises. We skip the history lessons and focus onresults. Our courses teach you one discipline, in depth over a shorttime period. Through intensive hands on practical workshops, designedwith a single goal in mind we give our students the skills, experienceand confidence (not to mention the demo reel) to help them succeed inthe world of computer graphics.
To succeed, youll need talent,personal and financial commitment, an imagination, hard work ethic andbelief. If youve got what it takes, Escape Studios gives you theknowledge and tools to prove it. This is where it all begins.
Our Philosophy
Aftergraduating with a degree and MA in Fine Art from the Chelsea Art Schoolin London, Dominic Davenport pursued a career in VFX working forleading studios such as Glassworks, Double Negative and Me Company.
Throughhis own experience, Dominic realized the challenges young artists facedto obtain the technical skills required to work in this industry. Theprofessional standard computer graphics training he was seeking justdidnt exist. Dominic decided to make a change with his new project,Escape Studios.
His vision for Escape Studios was to fill the gapbetween what other schools were teaching students and what the industryrequired from graduates. While our vision is now much broader, our mainfocus remains to ready computer graphics artists for careers inindustry. Dominic pioneers the company to this day with his creativespirit, defining everything we do.
Escape Studios continues totrain young artists with the philosophy to represent, advocate andfacilitate uncompromising excellence in all aspects of computergraphics.
Introduction to Maya
Maya Fundamentals
Curve Modeling
Procedural Texturing
Texturing
Lighting and Rendering
Total file size 3.01 GB
Project files included
Polygonal Modeling & Skinning
Efficient Modeling
Organic Modeling
Hard Surface Polygonal Modeling Part 1
Hard Surface Polygonal Modeling Part 2
Non Organic UV Mapping
Organic UV Mapping
Skinning
Total file size 4.07 GB
Project files included
Lighting and Rendering
Lighting and Shadows
Ray Tracing and Depth of Field
Final Gather and Image Based Lighting
Render Layers and Compositing
Photon Mapping and Caustics
Total file size 2.11 GB
Project files included
Advanced Lighting with Maya & Mental Ray
Lighting Theory
The Art of Lighting
Gobos and Cookies
Daylight
Night and Artificial Lighting
Image Based Lighting
Photographic Lighting
Total file size 8.90 GB
Project files included
Advanced Shading with Maya & Mental Ray
Shading Theory
Shading Networks with File Textures
Utility Nodes
Mental Ray Shaders
Total file size 8.86 GB
Project files does not included
Nuke for 3D Artists
Images and Workflows
Nuke Basics
Working with Nodes in Nuke
Nuke Viewer and Proxies
Lambertian Shader Model
Compositing a Character in Nuke
Nuke Features
Maya Render Layers
Creating Render Layers
Camera Projections
Total file size 5.69 GB
Project Files included
Pixars Render Man Certified Courseware
General Control Center
Introduction to Tract New Slim Features
ReRendering & ReLighting
Volumetrics in RMS Vector DisplacementsPer Face (Ptex) TexturesMaya Fluid Support
Stereo Rendering
Texturing with Maya
Texturing with Maya
Texture Mapping
Photoshop Basics
Tiling and Layering Textures
Block Texturing a Non Organic Object
Texture Distressing
Total file size 4.14 GB
Project files included

Animation Layers in Maya

Learn a powerful workflow to the new animation layering feature set in Maya 2009. Gain more flexibility and learn nondestructive techniques that can be used to create and edit any animation. Contains 2 hours of project-based training.Popular highlights include:
Overview of Animation Layers
Animating on Layers
Practical Layering Workflows
Importing and Exporting Animation Layers
Working with Layer Modes
Merging Layers
Baking Layers
Using Expressions with Layers
Controlling a Layer's Weight
Filtering Layered Keyframes
Understanding Animation Layer Hierarchies
Examining the Animation Layer Node
Utilizing Animation Layers as Takes
Adjusting the Animation Layer Editor's Layout
Packaging Layers into Containers
Working with Layers and Trax Edit Ghosting Animation Layers
Template F-curves of Layered Animation
Animation Layer States
Using Constraints with Layers
Parenting layers
Using the Animation Layer Toolbar and Pane
Copying Layers
Extracting Animation into New Layers
Adding and Removing Objects and Attributes in Layers

Character Animation Acting and Lip Sync

This is Chris’s third lecture in a series on character animation using Maya. In this lecture, Chris delves ever deeper into the world of acting and its most important aspect: the character’s internal thought process. Chris covers the fundamental principles of lip sync and dialogue, from keying the audio track and breaking it down to phrasing and inflection.

Building on earlier themes, including dynamic posing, contrast of shape and emotion, line of action and use of negative space, Chris shows you the step-by-step process of bringing a scene to the level of full 3D theatrical animation.

Exploring Animation in Maya 2011 Climbing A Wall

In this collection of lessons we will learn about a wide variety of animation techniques that are designed to improve your animation skill-set.

In this course we will build an animation of a character climbing over a wall from scratch, using techniques that can be implemented in any animation. Step by step, we'll create this climb while covering various techniques like: how to block in your extremes so that finalizing the animation becomes a faster process, strengthening poses to get a more entertaining outcome, and we'll also learn how to work smarter by utilizing Animation Layers to tweak pre-existing animation non-destructively, so that by the end of this course, you'll have the knowledgebase you need to create animations quickly and proficiently.

1. Introduction and Project Overview
2. Blocking in the First Extreme of the Climb
3. Blocking in the Second Extreme of the Animation
4. Posing the Action of the Character Scaling the Wall
5. Posing the Character Getting Ready to Leap Over the Wall
6. Animating the Character\'s Descent
7. Wrapping up the Extremes
8. Blocking in an In-between
9. Refining the Upper Body
10. Tweaking the Right Leg
11. Correcting the Left Leg
12. Finishing up the Left Leg / Fixing the Right Arm
13. Wrapping up Corrections on the Left Arm
14. Starting to Finalize the Animation
15. Completing the Animation

Timing for Animation

Written by two internationally acclaimed animators, this classic text teaches you all you need to know about the art of timing and its importance in the animated film. This reissue includes a new foreword by John Lasseter, executive vice president of Pixar Animation Studios and director of �Toy Story�, �Toy Story 2′, �A Bug�s Life� and �Monsters Inc.� He sets the wealth of information in this classic text in context with today�s world of computer animation, showing how this is a must-have text if you want to succeed as a traditional drawn, or computer animator.

Learn all the tips and tricks of the trade from the professionals. How should the drawings be arranged in relation to each other? How many are needed? How much space should be left between one group of drawings and the next? How long should each drawing, or group of drawings, remain on the screen to give the maximum dramatic effect? The art of timing is vital.

Highly illustrated throughout, points made in the text are demonstrated with the help of numerous superb drawn examples. �Timing for Animation� not only offers invaluable help to those who are learning the basis of animation techniques, but is also of great interest to anyone currently working in the field and is a vital source of reference for every animation studio.

John Halas, known as the �father of animation� and formerly of Halas and Batchelor Animation unit, produced over 2000 animations, including the legendary �Animal Farm� and the award winning �Dilemma�. He was also the founder and president of the ASIFA and former Chairman of the British Federation of Film Societies.

Harold Whitaker is a professional animator and teacher. Many of his former students are now among some of the most outstanding animation artists of today.

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