Introduction to Maya - Rendering in Arnold
This course will look at the fundamentals of rendering in Arnold. We'll go through the different light types available, cameras, shaders, Arnold's render settings and finally how to split an image into render passes (AOV's), before we then reassemble it i
# 1 23-12-2010 , 12:32 PM
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An ask....

Hey All

as this site is steered toward the more lesser experienced maya user, can I please ask you to please read any new thread properly and what forum category it is placed under on the site.

for example a member has asked in the newbie section how he can create a jubilating crowd for an animation. the first reply was to use Massive. Seriously!??

the member requiring the help obviously has no idea how to to such a thing in Maya let alone Massive.
I have tried to lessen the blow by suggesting to use cards with animated footage on, this is probably as simple as can be.

so anyway my point is, please can we keep and make it as easy as for members in the newbie section as possible before mentioning the hardcore software that could scar them for life before they have even attempted doing stuff from a more fundemental level.

ta very much

Jay

# 2 23-12-2010 , 03:14 PM
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Agreed. Also it's quite easy to tell based on questions asked what kind of experience people have so I think it would be nice if we tried to point out to people when they might be attempting to do a bit much in a nice way, and steer them in a direction towards what is actually realistic. Again we all know that someone who just opened Maya won't be able to make an animated short in three weeks, and attempting to do so would most likely scar you for life as well as you're destined to fail in 99,9 percent of cases.

Cheers,
Nilla

# 3 23-12-2010 , 03:33 PM
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He can always do it the way they did in starwars and use a bazillion q-tips painted various shades of pink supported through a screen and then they recorded footage while sweeping a brush underneath to make the q-tips undulate like a crowd. user added image

As I recall they used the same technique in the movie Ben Hur and that is where ILM got the idea.

Just some ancient tech fun facts.

BTW I do not even know what Massive is Jay but it sounds scary Jay!


"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
# 4 23-12-2010 , 04:11 PM
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Well that and the last time i looked a full commercial licence for Massive cost around 18 thousand USD so...

Point well made I think if someone is still trying to master the basics not much use in pointing them in the direction of an even more complex bit of kit.

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From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"
# 5 23-12-2010 , 04:31 PM
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Q-tips! Boxes and Boxes of Q-tips!


"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
# 6 23-12-2010 , 05:27 PM
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Well that and the last time i looked a full commercial licence for Massive cost around 18 thousand USD so...

Point well made I think if someone is still trying to master the basics not much use in pointing them in the direction of an even more complex bit of kit.

Dave user added image

So in essence, go steal an 18,000 dollar piece of software and fail miserablyuser added image

# 7 23-12-2010 , 07:36 PM
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to be fair, i mentioned it without looking at the forum in which it was posted. In a round about way it was me saying "why do it in maya?"
anyway... although i agree with every thing that has been said in this thread, i find it unnecessary. I think if anything, the advice given on the site is always pitched at the right level or below for most every question asked.

# 8 23-12-2010 , 07:42 PM
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Buts thats where an understanding of the site helps.

Im just trying to point out a certain way of helping people and not confusing them. No fingers pointed mate, as Ive seen it happen a fair bit here, and so after the last response I finally felt the need to say something...anyway onwards....

CTBram: massive is a crowd simulation software, its the best out there really. It was created by a guy at Weta I believe by the name of Stephen Regelus (I think thats right) anyway it was used heavily on Lord of the Rings movies for the giant battle sequences. It has motion capture data nodes already built in that you can apply to any bipedal or quadraped and it will use it but you can apply your own. It will also accept very hi res models for super close up work to the camera - again the Lordy movies are a good example. They even stand up well now considering those were a few years ago now.

J

have a link: https://www.massivesoftware.com/industries/

# 9 23-12-2010 , 07:51 PM
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Buts thats where an understanding of the site helps.

how you use it is obviously different to how i or other people use it. That doesn't mean there is a lack of understanding of the site.


edit: ...wouldn't this be better in the "Board Questions & Suggestions" forum, rather than the members lounge? sorry, i've just noticed what forum this thread is posted in after thinking about what was mentioned before.


Last edited by honestdom; 23-12-2010 at 08:13 PM.
# 10 23-12-2010 , 07:52 PM
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cool but you get my point which is the main thing

...meanwhile back to the q-tips

# 11 23-12-2010 , 08:08 PM
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yeah i get your point, but i still don't see the point in this thread.

user added image

# 12 23-12-2010 , 08:23 PM
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yeah i get your point, but i still don't see the point in this thread.

user added image

There you go one point for ya user added image
user added image

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From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"
# 13 23-12-2010 , 08:24 PM
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to be fair, i mentioned it without looking at the forum in which it was posted. In a round about way it was me saying "why do it in maya?"
anyway... although i agree with every thing that has been said in this thread, i find it unnecessary. I think if anything, the advice given on the site is always pitched at the right level or below for most every question asked.

I don't think it was meant as a personal attack on you in any way, it was just pulled out of the hat. And my line was merely a joke because I'm on a lot of other forums which are nowhere as good as this one and I catch these really bizarre posts from time to time where people have stolen everything under the sky and are attempting to put together something pixar like while they don't even have enough knowledge to model a chair in Maya that looks gooduser added image

I think what Jay's saying is just that it's better to try and ground people sometimes as a lot of beginners have unrealistic expectations and no idea how much time goes into producing top notch work, both for newbies and people who's done this for years. I get annoyed for the same reason sometimes. This forum is nice because of the general tone set here and the fact that no question's too stupid to ask, I see people get completely slaughtered on other forums for the same questions and then laughed out of the place which is really nasty to do as we all struggle from time to time and no one picked up a copy of Maya and turned out stunning work from the start.

Also you provide some of the best answers on this forum and it's on topics like lighting and materials where it's really needed. And the way you initiated the open challenge with the jerry can was so nice so I think you're great. I think we all do, no offence meant hereuser added image

Nilla

# 14 24-12-2010 , 10:38 AM
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Wow David the photo looks sober?? LOL. 18 GRAND!! thats a Ducati...keep the software. As far as this place goes it is very friendly with the oddity thrown in now and then. I would have not been able to learn what I have from ALL of you guys..the reason I came here was because I had visited and watched other forums on the net...and the tone of a lot of those was not good...well people I wouldnt think twice about smacking in the mouth because of their overinflated ego's. At the end of the day we all start at zero....some started before and have great experience..the diff here is that 99.9% of people here leave their ego's at the gate, which is what makes this place so damn good.

I admit I have been around here a bit and post in the wrong place at times...and I try not to give advice if I think I dont know....but in general this place runs smoothly and efficiently. One thing I will say and Im still guilty of it sometimes...its hard for a noob to convey the question which is sometimes not what is intended. So for idiots like me...it can also be daunting just to ask..LOL. I too have high aspirations...its like when you get you drivers license for the first time...you think you are/can be Schumaker...well we arent and to be pinned back in a nice way actually is productive. As you have pointed out...some other forums rip you to shreds and you do get upset...here you dont and I hope it stays that way.

cheers bullet


bullet1968

"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

Last edited by bullet1968; 24-12-2010 at 10:44 AM.
# 15 24-12-2010 , 02:57 PM
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short story long :)

Pre-Simplymaya I felt like a kid repeating the first grade over and over user added image I was trying to nut it out all alone for along time. I had VERY high expectations, I was expecting to Animate before I could model, render out a char firing a Kamehameha before I had done ANY dynamics or Rendering. I didnt comprehend for ages just how much work and experience was going to be required to model and texture and rig my two chars before I could Animate them doing fight choreography. (The thing I REALLY REALLY want to do)

When I was introduced to Maya I was told how to create a sphere, then half hour later we were manipulating it's bouncing motion in the graph editor, told what buttons to push to break free weighted tangents..... The next day I was given access to a fully rigged char and had a play.... "This 3D thing is EASY" I would have been heard to say....

Needless to say I never learnt much.. after I crashed and burned horribly I did nothing with 3D for two years . This site and its members have been better teachers than the 'proffessionals' I paid. Many noobs here appear to be trying to teach themselves, with help/guidance/prodding from others.

This threads 'point' was keeping the level of replies to the level of the forum its in?? Hell no! match them to the question asked I say. Miss_Nova has also brought up posting in the right forum recently, I am a little confused. When you are a TOTAL noob you're probably going to ask questions about Modelling first up. Then you'll have issues with texturing... I think noobs SHOULD ask these questions in the Beginner/Newbie forum- Not the dedicated forums. What Newb questions are there that don't fit elsewhere?

I didnt have a clue how to make a Jubilating crowd, and still don't really.. But I appreciated the answer of "Massive" Whether or not I am capable of Using/Affording massive- I'd never heard of it and now I have, I looked it up, read about it, watched video examples of times it's been used. Thank You.

Izea asked three questions in like 4 posts in three different forums- How do you make a 3D Film? how do I make a stadium full of thousands of jubilating people? and how do I model a set of teeth? I posted nothing as I couldnt phrase my advice diplomatically enough...No-one gets shot down in flames here, everyone says thats whats so great. But -Incredibly complex questions WILL be asked by us beginners, often in the beginners forum as thats the level we think we're at.

The correct answer is the correct answer even if its over my head, no? Some of you can read a question and realise I need to take a step back (take several other steps first) Speaking for myself-- give it to me straight. Give me the answer to the question I asked, in whatever forum I (perhaps mistakenly) post it. If I dont know maya enough to understand the answer I might wake up to something. But the answer will be in the forums for others later or me when I get to the right level.


Learn from others mistakes, it takes too long to make them all yourself.
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