Digital humans the art of the digital double
Ever wanted to know how digital doubles are created in the movie industry? This course will give you an insight into how it's done.
# 1 26-01-2007 , 05:06 PM
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Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1

just finshed a book, i have many questions....

hello all, i brought "maya at a glance" a book which tells you everything may a can do. sadly that all it does do most of the time.....you can do this....you can do this......and ofcourse you can also do this.....etc.

sadly more then half the time it doesnt tell you exactly how, nor are the few tutorials any good.

the book is called maya at a glance, and thats all it is, "a glance" i am left wanting ALOT more.

what im asking is for maya users to breifly scan the below list and perhaps anwsers some questions or point m to a tutorial give me some advice or whatever you like as long as there are no "your mother is so fat" jokes.
i dont expect all the anwsers i will be looking for help via google.

if you feel like giving someone a hand today, please let that person be me.

heres the list (the way i describe them may be confussing to you, im basing my descriptions on the titles within the book) :

i wish to test myself and expand my learning with these, through tutorials and what not.
-nurb curves(loft,revolve, planar,extrude)
-projecting curves on a surface
-creating trims
-joining vertices, faces
-subdivisions
-layered shaders
-texturing
-(placing textures)make a small texture on a object (like a tattoo on a person, or a magnet on a fridge)
-bump maps
-photoshop intergration.
-lighting/rendering tutorials
-camera follow (set path, and aim)
-blur
-caustics
- deformers(bend, flare...etc.) they dont work for me
-soft modification
-wire tool
-jiggle deformers
-blaned shapes (eg- make a face with a number of emotitions whcih i can control)
-rigging tutorials.
- inverse kinematics tutorials
-particles
- change particle colors and opacity easier, then creating new attributes and editiing them
- particle collision.
-particle gravity and froce (gravity, vortex, air field, turbulence)
- in the book theres a tutorial on making collision of a bowling bowl and some pins....sadly its a rubbish tutorial.
-dynamic constraints(nail,pin,hinge,spring,barrier)
-soft body dynamics ( theres a screen shot representing a belly wobble as a man walks along, seems intresting and useful)
- another exaple in the book is a flag waving using soft bodies, and goals. what are goals?
-finally in the particle section it creates a rocket exhaust, but i cant do it, any other similar tutorials out there.
-MEL tutorials.


i dont understand these atall or these are general questions, please explain the uses and perhaps provide tutorials on them.
-paint skin weights?? what the hell do they do
- how to change the default setttings of the animation lenght. its currently set at 24 frames for its default.
-when i did some global illulation, jagged lines appeared on the render, whcih was highly odd, and it wasnt because the obejects werent smooth it was a issue with a render. did i change some seetings?
-make a back ground in various ways (i know you can create a large sphere and texture, but what are all the ways to do it?)
-lets say i got this picture https://www.racingmix.com/men/white.jpg . but i wanted to get rid of the surrounding white, so it would be a 3d plane the shape of this person.....how would i do that?
-MEL script.....apart from perhaps generating many objects for a scene....is there any point in a beginner like me learning it right now?


finally, i would like to thank you for at least taking a look, and i hope you can select a few things you know, or can be bothered to anwser and help me out. i would agian like to point out that i will persoanlly be searching or these questions, i am not expection forum memebers to do all the leg work for me.
i would be happy to anwser any questions if you are confussed by some of the questions and requests i am proposing.

thank you for your time.

# 2 26-01-2007 , 07:39 PM
Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 29
Take a deep breath and relax, there is alot to learn but determination and patience is very important, believe me.

i have the same book to and its not very helpful i admit but it does come in handy every now and then when you start learning a bit more, wait and see.

anyway, here is some stuff that will help

1) buy the dvds from the simply maya website or download them. this is how i got started and they are brilliant, just follow what the guy on screen is doing, this is how i got started. the techniques you learn can be put towards any other projects you do afterwards.

2) heres some websites to take a look at.

www.alias.com
www.tutorialized.com
www.cgarena.com
www.digitaltutors.com (dvd buying website)
www.thegnomonworkshop.com (dvd buying website)
www.techtutorials.info
www.pixel2life.com
www.learning-maya.com
www.3dtotal.com
www.infintee-designs.com

these are some of the best ive found with bucket loads for you to browse through.
my personal opinion would be the dvds on this website to start with.
good luck, hope this helps.

# 3 26-01-2007 , 08:09 PM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Manchester Uk
Posts: 6,300
What I would do to start with is look in the maya help files (Hit F1) it has tutorials, glossary of terms and descriptions of everything that you need.

That would be the best way to go.

If you get the freetutorials form here they should get you going althought they wont cover everything you've asked (as thats pretty much everything)

as I said the help files cant be underestimated as its one of the best you'll ever see.

Hope this helps


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 4 27-01-2007 , 03:55 AM
mirek03's Avatar
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,752
and for us..? your location user added image no just joking! take it easy, go slow, trust the book in your hand, its worth two in the bushuser added image user added image user added image user added image user added image


take it easy and life will be easy
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