Autodesk 3ds Maya Concepts

 

Reference tutorial guide: Maya

 

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1572-Introduction-to-Maya-2015

 

Reference tutorial guide: 3ds

 

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1578-Introduction-to-3ds-Max-2015

 

Maya modelling

 

Maya is the premier application for creating compelling 3D digital content, including models, animation, visual effects, games, and simulations.

The work you do in Maya generally falls into these categories:

Creating models. Polygons, NURBS, and subdivision surfaces are different object types with different ways of modeling. Each has its own strengths, and different artists prefer working with different types.

Polygons let you model a surface by building up and reshaping a number of simple surface facets.

NURBS let you easily create smooth, curving surfaces with high-level control.

Subdivision surfaces let you edit surfaces at a high level with minimum overhead data, while still letting you work with subsections of the surface as if they were made from polygons.

Character rigging. Most animations involve “characters,” articulated models such as a person, an animal, robot, or anything else that moves by articulation. Maya lets you define internal skeletons for characters and bind skin to them to create realistic movement with deformation.

Animation. Just about everything you can think of in Maya is keyable or able to be animated.

Dynamics, fluids, and other simulated effects. Maya includes a comprehensive suite of tools for simulating real world effects such as fire, explosions, fluids, hair and fur, the physics of colliding objects, and more.

Painting and paint effects. Maya includes an incredible system for using a graphics tablet (or the mouse) to paint 2D canvases, paint directly on 3D models, paint to create geometry, scriptable paint, and virtually limitless other possibilities.

Lighting, Shading, and Rendering. When you want to render a still image or movie of your scene or animation, you can create them using your choice of renderers.

 

3ds Animation Concepts and Methods

 

With 3ds Max, you can create 3D computer animation for a variety of applications. You can animate characters and vehicles for computer games and produce special effects for film and broadcast. Additional applications include medical illustration and forensic presentation in the courtroom. Whatever reasons you have for producing animation, you'll find 3ds Max a capable environment for achieving your goals.

The basic method for creating animation in 3ds Max is quite simple. First you turn on the Auto Key button, then you move the time slider, and last you transform an object to change its position, rotation, or scale over time.

You can employ animation throughout 3ds Max. You can animate the position, rotation, and scale of an object, and almost any parameter setting that affects an object's shape and surface. You can link objects for hierarchical animation, using both forward and inverse kinematics, and you can edit your animation in Track View.

This section covers the basics of creating animation. It briefly compares computer animation with classic hand-drawn animation, and then describes the creation of keyframed animation.

 

Topics in this section

 

Animation Concepts
Animation is based on a principle of human sight called persistence of vision. If you view a series of related still images in quick succession, you perceive them as continuous motion. Each individual image is referred to as a frame, and the illusion of motion comes from the fact that your visual system retains each frame for a short time after you see it.

Using Auto Key Mode
To start creating animation, first turn on the Auto Key button, use the time slider to go to a particular frame, and then change something in your scene. You can animate the position, rotation, and scale of an object, and almost all other settings and parameters.

Using Set Key Mode
The Set Key animation method is for the professional character animator who wants be able to try out poses and then commit those poses to keyframes intentionally. Animators can also use it to set keys on specific tracks of objects.

Spinner Arrows: Animation Options
When you use a spinner to animate a parameter, a few right-click options help manage the animation.

Spinner Right-Click Menu
To open the spinner right-click menu, right-click the editable field of an animatable parameter. This menu provides options for cutting, copying, and pasting values, wires, and animation tracks between various object parameters. It also allows you to show the parameter in Track View or in the Parameter Wiring dialog.

Viewing and Copying Transform Keys
The viewports display white brackets around objects that have transform keys at the current time. These key brackets only appear in viewports using the wireframe shading method.

Controlling Time
You create animation by changing your scene over time. You can exercise great control over time, including: how time is measured and displayed; the length of the active time segment (the part of the animation in which you’re currently working); and how much time is covered by each rendered frame of your animation.

Setting Time Segments
The active time segment specifies a block of working time. You might think of it as a window in time that you use to focus on a specific part of your animation.

Moving Through Time
You can move to any time in your active time segment by using either the time slideror the Current Frame field in the time controls area. You can also move through time using the playback control buttons.

Choosing a Frame Rate and Playback Speed
The frame rate of an animation is expressed in frames per second (FPS). This is the number of frames 3ds Max displays and renders for every second of real time. Because3ds Max stores your animation keys using real time using an internal precision of 1/4800 of a second, you can change the frame rate for your animation at any time without affecting your animation timing.