Maya Workshops: Photogrammetry

  Today's workshop was in the use of photogrammetry in order to mix computer-generated models with photographs. This technique can be used to create realistic-looking objects using photo-projection. This scene however is only a static image and the camera can't be moved to explore the scene. But it can be used to move objects though a static frame.

  I think this technique is good for showing how the setup of lighting and shadows can make something convincingly real.

Maya Tutorials: Coding with MEL

  On Wednesday I was introduced to the Maya Embedded Language (MEL) script editor. While I had some previous experience with MEL scripting though controlling visual effects, this feels like a full dive into the world of programming.

  I've been hesitant with coding in the past but in the case of MEL I get some enjoyment out of it. I might have to practice a little to get more confident but I am liking the possibilities that come from it. Maya is open to Python scripting, something that I've every now and again considered the possibility of learning.

Maya Tutorials: Soft Body Workshops

  Today's Maya workshop was all about soft bodies. Geometry that can be deformed though motion and influence from other objects. It is a useful tool to give objects that feeling of looseness like clothing, sand, snow or loose skin.

  It was the first time in a while I have been scripting, but I am more comfortable with the process than I was when I started last year.

Maya Tutorials: Dynamic Animation

  This week and last week there were classes in using dynamic rigging, which provides a more organic flow to moving objects like tails and cloth. After working with it, I have felt this kind of work would be very useful when reworking Colo Colo.or future projects that involve a more flowing body.

Maya Tutorials: Squash, stretch, IKs and FKs

  These tutorials I found useful, especially the IK-FK switching tutorial as the possibility exists that the creature I am designing will have front limbs that switch from using them for hands to using them for feet. Even if this might not be the case, I found both tutorials useful in terms of how to set up a model to do something specific using certain parameters.

Maya Workshop: Posing and Deforming

  Over the summer Autodesk unveiled a new set of tools with Maya 2017 and Arnold. While I will not be getting to grips with Arnold this year, I will get to try out Extension Pack 2's new tools. One I like particularly is the pose editor. Inspired by research I did wonder how I could include things like muscle twitching in my final animation. This updated posing tool I believe will give me the fidelity to create more lifelike muscle movements without needing hundreds of models for the deformations...

  As well as these deforming tools, another tutorial tied squash and stretch to programming nodes, which makes squash and stretch animation much easier to portray.

Autodesk: Year 2 Term 2 Stocktake

Dynamics

• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-tutorials-particle-effects.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-workshop-omni-emitters.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-tutorials-further-dynamics-tests.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-tutorials-emitter-types.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-workshop-more-particles.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-workshop-instanced-dynamics.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/maya-tutorials-butterfly-goal-weights.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/maya-tutorials-sprites-and-conditional.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/maya-tutorials-streamline-render-and.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maya-tutorials-mental-ray-lighting.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maya-tutorials-last-of-lighting-effects.html

Pipeline Two

• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-tutorials-modelling-and-uving-low.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-tutorials-pipeline-2-high-poly.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/pipeline-two-normal-maps-and-diffusion.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maya-tutorials-completing-model-pipeline.html

Mudbox

• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/first-experience-with-mudbox.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-workshops-mudbox-pepper.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-modeling-techniques.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-images.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshops-creature-design.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-character-preparation.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-final-character-design.html

Maya Tutorials: Completing the Model Pipeline

Spent time this afternoon finishing part three of Pipeline 2, which completes the primary model-making part of the game assets pipeline.

Maya Tutorials: Last of the Lighting Effects

  Continuing to make progress with the Maya tutorials that have been set. The last few relating to Mental Ray proxies, diffuse maps and motion blur.

  With the motion blur tutorial, I came to realise what might have been slightly off about Colo Colo as it ran (when it was actually in motion I had suspicions it didn't feel completely natural). So I was intrigued to discover the power a little motion blur could have on giving something a natural movement. I might look into motion blur in Premiere Pro and After Effects, however I have also considered making a mini-project out of refining the creature's model, which opens up the possibility of using Mental Ray's motion blur system without needing to essentially re-render images I already have. The displacement map tutorial has also given me inspiration to return to working in Mudbox to finish a model I had come a fair way on.

Maya Tutorials: Mental Ray Lighting Techniques Part 1

  These past couple of days I have been prioritising on getting Maya tutorials out of the way. And after a good few hours I am almost done with the Mental Ray lighting tutorials, which have helped me familiarise myself with final gather as well as techniques like portal lights, skydones. and compositing strategies to clean up images and make them look a bit less computer-generated.

  I particularly liked how this image came out using just a skydome, a pair of portal lights and the final gather feature to illuminate a bump-mapped pair of blinn surfaces..

Maya Tutorials: Streamline Render and Final Gather v1

  Next on the tutorial list is techniques using Mental Ray. Which along with talking about final gather (which involves bouncing light off surfaces), also demonstrates using a Mental Ray shader to produce glow within renders. This glow effect, by the looks of things, is a lot more solid than the glow effects from using a normal surface-shader, which calculates a glow as a post-effect. The mai ndifference with the mental ray shader is it acts as a light source, with enough intensity it projects itself onto other surfaces as seen below.

  The other primarytechnique was using legacy systems to shave time off renders. However it seems that over the Easter break (I started this tutorial jsut before), the file generated what might possibly be a bug that produces rather grainy ray-tracing shadows, so while the shadows are less intense, the depth map render provides cleaner shadows while the ray-trace feels somewhat gritty. Other attempts at using ray-tracing, on other files, turns out much smoother however.

Depth map render

Ray-trace render

Maya Tutorials: Sprites and Conditional Goals

  Another set of videos that I meant ot upload a little while ago. These are some of the last of the legacy particle tutorials that I needed to construct. This is an attempt to use this week to see if I can catch up with some of the things I needed to do to get back on track. It's taking its time but I am gradually getting there.

  The conditional goals tutorial was relatively smooth to do although initially I had some trouble as while for a time the animation worked, it didn't correspond to the locator and particles would gather at the base after dropping off. That was until I realised my scripting error regarding connecting the particles' freedom to drop to the position of the locator, as I missed out the inclusion of a y vector i none of the parameters - a simple fix and everything is good and a charming reminded that all it takes is one small typing error to make a piece of software act crazy.

Maya Tutorials: Butterfly Goal Weights

  A long-overdue workshop video that I needed to publish. Things got quite busy in the past couple of weeks of the last term and only recently have I managed to find time to render this out.

The thing that got me most while working on this was that the goal weight had to be fine tuned. Too little and only a few would be drawn, and they would scatter like leaves in the wind. Too much weight and they'd lose their initial scatter. In particular I found myself tweaking around final weights of 0.10 to 0.15