Autodesk Maya 3D Course

Autodesk Maya 3D Course

Autodesk Maya Essentials Course Outline

Overview of Maya

• Understanding the Maya interface
• Setting up files and Maya projects
• Configuring viewports
• Customizing the interface
• Navigating the Maya workspace
• Using the hotbox and marking menus
• Selecting objects
• Using the Move tool
• Rotating and scaling objects
• Working with pivots
• Understanding the Channel Box
• The Attribute Editor

Maya Scenes

• Organizing Maya Scenes
• Working with the Outliner
• Dealing with hierarchies
• Object groups
• Exploring Hypergraph
• Hiding and showing objects
• Working with layers
• Working with selection masks

Working with Polygons

• Creating Polygonal Models
• Differences between NURBS and polys
• Selecting polygonal components
• Using Soft Select and reflection
• Sculpting with the Sculpt tool
• The Combine and Separate commands
• Working with subdivision surfaces

Working with Meshes

• Working with edge loops
• Using Edge Flow for smooth geometry
• Reorienting geometry using Spin Edge
• Drawing detail with the Connect tool
• Mirroring geometry
• Modeling with nonlinear deformers
• Modeling with lattices

NURBS-based Modelling

• An Introduction to NURBS modeling and editing
• Using NURBS primitives
• The NURBS curve tools
• Using NURBS Revolve

Cleaning up NURBS

• Refining NURBS Models
• Extracting NURBS curves from surfaces
• Open/ Close curves and surfaces
• Creating curves on a surface
• Projecting curves on surfaces
• Trimming NURBS surfaces
• Using fillets to connect surfaces
• Converting NURBS to polygons

Using Materials

• Creating Materials
• Overview of Maya renderers
• The basics of materials
• Creating and applying maps
• Using bitmaps as texture
• Working with the Hypershade window
• Using the Ramp material
• Displacement and bump maps
• Mental ray materials

Using Textures

• Applying Textures
• Texture mapping
• Projecting textures on surfaces
• Applying multiple materials
• UV mapping
• The UV Texture Editor

Rendering your Scene

• Render Settings
• Lights and lighting types
• Rendering shadows
• Camera basics
• Depth of field
• Motion Blur
• Reflections and refractions
• Matching lights and shadows to images
• Batch rendering

Animating in Maya

• The animation interface
• Set Key
• The Graph Editor
• The Dope Sheet
• Animating objects along spline paths
• Ghosting animation
• Animation playback using Playblast
• Creating animation cycles