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I just started using Maya, I'm on day 3 and have been following video tutorials and modeling some basic stuff to get a feel for the tools. One thing I'm wondering is if you've deleted a polygon's face, how do you delete the edge? Maya says it can't delete border edges, so do I have to just leave the edge there? Doesn't that screw with how the model looks when it gets smoothed (by pressing 3)? I'm a total noob at this, so I appreciate the help.
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May 18, 2012 04:48
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I've been using Maya for about a month, for approx 5 hours a day on weekdays. So far I've created a bunch of stuff, most of it mediocre. Here's the best stuff so far:   The face is what I'm working on right now, creating it from reference images and trying to adhere to proper topology. I still don't know much about UV maps or creating textures so the car is just done with surfaces. I hear Mudbox has a PTEX painting system so that sounds very interesting. What do people use to create good UVs in Maya? I hear it's a real hassle.
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Jun 24, 2012 03:42
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Awesome stuff. What are the rigs like for characters and creatures in DS games? Do they make a lot of controls for the animators to work with or just rely on moving joints around manually since it's so low-resolution?
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Sep 3, 2012 06:57
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Apparently it was DD's CEO John Textor that was the main cause of the Florida branch's failure, at least according to Cartoon Brew, who has been keeping updates on his mismanagement for a while now. Sucks that VFX is such a volatile industry. It's needed everywhere in the film business, but I guess it's unstable because they're not unionized and need to keep very competitive? Is animation really more stable? That's the field I want to get into, and I know it involves long hours, but it'd be heartening to hear that it's a bit more predictable.
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Sep 10, 2012 06:23
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Looks like DD is completely dead, the whole thing, as opposed to just the Florida studio. http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/11/technology/digital-domain-bankrupt/index.html?source=cnn_bin Really sucks for all their employees. 
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Sep 12, 2012 01:50
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Of course DD was the company trying to get animation students to pay to work on their films, so I can't say I'm heartbroken to hear of their demise.
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Sep 12, 2012 03:51
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So this might seem like a stupid question, but here goes: I'm making a short film in Maya. I have the scene in one file and the rigged character in another. How do I get the rigged character into the scene? Do I just copy and paste? The seems a little risky, because sometimes copying something from another file messes around with the order of things in the Outliner. Is there some other way to import a rigged character into a scene? Thanks in advance! Edit- Also, how many polygons is too many for a scene in Maya? I'm looking at possibly around a million all together. Is that too much?
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Sep 14, 2012 05:43
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Thanks a bunch for the help guys! 
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Sep 15, 2012 19:35
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Holy balls, that procedural environment thing looks amazing. Goddamn. On a different note, does anyone have tips for how to skin a wrist in Maya so that the deformations look correct when the hand rotates up and down? Should I place some influence objects there to stop it from doing that? Or make a set-driven key? Or resort to blendshapes? Right now when I bend the wrist closer to 90 degrees up or down the volume implodes and looks awful.
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Sep 23, 2012 06:13
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concerned mom posted:I downloaded Maya today to learn the basics as I only know Max and thought it would broaden my skill-set. Here's the tutorials I first used to get a basic grasp on Maya: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF3E8C00791AEC3F8 And here's another set of tutorials from a Danish guy that are pretty useful. His rigging tutorial is hard to follow though cause he makes a few mistakes. http://www.youtube.com/user/PolyFacecom/videos?view=0
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Sep 23, 2012 17:08
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Most of the really amazing stuff I see sculpted is done with ZBrush. They've also got much more presence on the web than Mudbox work. I've used both, and Zbrush definitely has Mudbox beat for features, and produces better normal maps. Also the plugins like UV Master are amazing. I'd also be interested in seeing that "book creation" with Houdini thing. I use Maya and might have to do something like that one day, so it'd be helpful to know how.
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Oct 6, 2012 06:13
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So for a short film I'm working on in Maya I have a character who is going to pick up a mask and wear it around. Should I put a joint in the mask and then attach it to the rest of the rig once the character puts the mask on? Or should I do something else? Is it possible to key joints so at one point something is attached to a rig and at another point it's not?
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Oct 15, 2012 20:53
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Digital Tutors has a pretty good looking tutorial for this kind of stuff. http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/training.php?pid=523
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Oct 28, 2012 19:29
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Sup guys, ran into a bit of a snag with something I'm working on and could use input: I modeled a character with bad elbow topology because apparently I followed a kind of lovely tutorial, and now he's rigged and animated and weird things are happening with the elbow. Can I change the topology on the model and keep the rigging and animation intact? Or did I really screw myself over. I'm using Maya, btw. Here's one of the lovely things happening with the elbow: 
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Nov 6, 2012 19:32
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Got another question for any people practiced with Maya and mental ray: I'm trying to use physical sun and sky with an image background, but when I create a sphere to put the background on it blocks all the light from the sun and sky and makes everything dark. I tried just using normal lights but I can't really get the effect I'm looking for and physical sun/sky looks like a way to get to a good starting point quickly that I can then tweak.
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Dec 9, 2012 06:46
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That film the guys at Portsmouth are working on is interesting. I like some of the stuff, including the character designs and the lighting. The facial mo-cap is freaking me out though, I'm getting the zombie Zemekis movie vibe. Are the bodies done with keyframe animation or motion capture? It seems there's noise in the motion that could be smoothed out. But it's cool that you can take captured motion and apply it to rigged characters and tweak it.
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Dec 30, 2012 07:15
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When you use the "Clean Mesh" tool just tell it to highlight the parts of the mesh where there are problems, and not try to fix it on its own. That way you can see what's actually going wrong and fix it. Make sure you have "backface culling" turned on so you can see if the geometry is doubling on the other side of the mesh for some reason.
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Feb 6, 2013 02:20
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cubicle gangster posted:I'm at dbox. Do you guys need an intern for the summer? I'm itching to get some experience in a studio environment and if you need qualified people who will work hard I'm down. What programs do you use? I'm most familiar with Maya.
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Mar 5, 2013 04:05
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I'm wondering if any of you guys know of a good way to render toon lines in Maya, rendering with mental ray. Paint FX don't work there, and the offset mesh option looks weird. I've tried using contours, but those also tend to do a bad job. Tips on specific settings for the contours that produce good results, or knowhow of another way to get that look in mental ray would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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Apr 30, 2013 23:04
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mutata posted:So the hacky method I've used and seen used elsewhere is to duplicate the geometry, move the vertices along their normals so you create a shell around your model, inverti the face normals, and apply a black material to this new shell geometry. This might work depending on how much control you want. If this doesn't make sense, ill do a guide tomorrow. That sounds promising. Does that work for an animated character though? If that doesn't work I might just use contours and increase the sampling to ridiculous levels, and change the settings on a shot-by-shot basis. Currently I'm also running into rigging problems with shoulders though I'm trying to figure how more complex pose-space-deformers work so I can fix things.
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May 2, 2013 06:15
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Is this for a static design or an animation or film? I've got experience with the latter. With the former I'd try maybe writing down your ideas instead of just drawing them. Or do both. I don't know if design has the equivalent of an animatic, but those are really useful in film projects.
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May 5, 2013 04:21
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That bit about project management is awesome! Post-it notes detailing each task, what an awesome idea. I gotta buy some with my discount while I still work at an office store.
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May 10, 2013 02:09
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Geared Hub posted:Hmm can't help you there, everything I've done is fake fake fake to make it look right, that's movie magic Is it specifically bad just in California or is there a major downturn for VFX everywhere in North America? Sorry to hear about the tough times. VFX has had a rough year.
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May 15, 2013 06:26
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The concept isn't very good (muddy colors, bad lighting, unevenly applied texture) but it does get across an idea, which is of a very narrow, dirty alley in a city on the verge of collapse. It looks dank and stinky and dangerous, especially because of the radioactive panel on that door. Maybe that green stuff on the street is radioactive waste. Meanwhile, the final render, though I actually don't think it looks that bad (though compositing more passes of occlusion and normals would help) doesn't get across the idea of the concept. It just looks like a normal alley in a city, suffering from a little urban decay. So I would try to work on really capturing the idea of the concept when you model, texture, and light, figuring out what mood you should go for. That mood will then carry over to parts of the scene that you can't see in the concept, because you'll have that idea in your mind as you work.
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May 20, 2013 15:55
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Are there any CG forums out there that give really good critiques? I'm gonna be in an animation program next year and while I'm hoping the critiques I get there will be helpful, I want to get my work critiqued online at the same time so I'm sure I'm actually improving.
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May 23, 2013 00:33
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Yeah Mudbox is really simple especially if you have experience with Maya. The newest version has retopology tools though which is cool, and makes it more useful. ZBrush is the industry standard though. Here's an overview of how Zbrush was used in the production of Wreck It Ralph: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?178524-Wreck-it-ralph!!!
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Jun 17, 2013 02:07
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Cromunist posted:I tried doing that, but it was still taking forever (as opposed to jesus loving christ god drat this is taking forever, which was before I tried that). Unless I'm doing something else that's bad and unnecessary and causing slowdown, which is completely possible, I have accepted that I'll have to figure out how to queue renders and just leave it alone for a while or something. Are you using the linear workflow for lighting? That can help make your lighting better and make color correction in after effects easier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf5kDcehYXA&list=FL-xFdY0-lnQVModpGJ20yhg Also creating a physical sun/sky can save a lot of time depending on the place you're trying to render (better for exterior shots obviously). For a scene I was doing I played around with area and directional lights for a while, but physical sun/sky resulted in a much better looking render. Once it had been adjusted a bit. Ccs fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Jun 24, 2013 |
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Jun 24, 2013 01:18
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tango alpha delta posted:Mudbox sculpt. No reference. I'm completely self taught, so if anyone can tell me what to improve, it would be appreciated. It's a little creepy that his eye area has the same texture on it as his skin. But I'm guessing you'd fix that when finishing it. The eyes should be a little bigger, the mouth should probably be up a little bit. The mouth right now just looks like a crease in the skin, because you need to have the sides of the lips touching. Lips are difficult because they fold out from the edges so that they point forward a bit, where on the edges they fold back in. So you need to "roll" the surface out to create that effect.
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Jun 30, 2013 23:50
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For lips in mudbox just use the default sculpt brush to lay down material, then use the grab tool and the pinch tool to movie things to the proper place. Also use the freeze brush or masking so you can work on the top and bottom separately. Here's an example using Zbrush. The basics are the same: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VdA6LP3CG4 Ccs fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Jul 8, 2013 |
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Jul 8, 2013 01:55
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Trintintin posted:How do those BOF things work? I've never actually been to one. Is it just like a bunch of dudes hanging out shooting the poo poo or is it like more specialized talks. Also for those interested, Framestore (like Pixar) is doing applications on their website for Siggraph interviews. Sign up for one here: http://tinyurl.com/n5wlxgf Cool, I saw this advertised on CGMeetUp. Looks quite professional, though the ground textures are bothering me a bit because they're too regular. I'll have to watch the whole thing when I get a better internet connection! I finished a short film myself recently, trying to make CG with an anime vibe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAvo3nG07pY Honestly I don't think Maya can do that very well, at least not with its default shaders. The only place I've seen it done that actually captures the spirit of anime is in the film 009: ReCyborg. But it was an interesting project to work on. Wish I had experimented with a bit more dynamic action scenes though, but that's mostly a result of my storyboarding needing practice.
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Jul 28, 2013 15:23
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I have a question for people in the industry. The school I go to, which is well regarded for animation, is changing their character animation program around next year to focus on training TDs. They say it's because that's the way the industry is going, and TDs are more in demand than animators. I'm wondering if this is true or if they're just facing too much competition from places like Animation Mentor and don't want to admit it.
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Sep 6, 2013 05:25
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Hmm okay. What kind of things do you need to know to be a TD? I'm guessing python is a must, and rigging knowledge. Is Houdini also needed?
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Sep 8, 2013 03:53
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So question, this animator has been going on rants about how the Frozen designs are bad. Sure, I buy that, and it's all a matter of opinion anyway. But then they said this: http://typette.tumblr.com/post/63657239682/so-people-wanted-my-input-on-the-matter-i-dontquote:"When the other Snow Queen that’s coming out, and movies like Sintel and Blue Sky’s Epic have more progressive and modern modeling techniques… Frozen doesn’t. The massive eyes and the really horrible mouth/nose topology made my eyes bleed just a little eentsy bit" So...what are they talking about? I've done face rigging and it seems to me that Disney and Pixar use very cutting edge techniques. This person seems to be mistaking artistic choices for lapses in technical know-how. What are these rigging workflow differences between Disney and Blue Sky? Also I'm wondering what the topology differences are. Are they referring to using displacement maps instead of modeling something in, or what?
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Oct 12, 2013 01:42
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They should stop trying to talk like a TD if they don't know what they're talking about.
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Oct 12, 2013 06:53
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"Oh no they have nasal labial folds! BAD TOPOLOGY. SO 90s!" Geez. When I did facial rigging we specifically put joints on that part of the model so we could create those creases when the characters smiled, so it looks more natural. It creates an easily readable expression that's good for cartoony animation. Sure, you can reduce that if you're doing something in the "Epic" style where the characters are on the more realistic side of things (tending into the uncanny valley a bit) but even they have some of that because it's an anatomical feature, and to argue that it's bad topology and weighting, as opposed to a stylistic choice... Urg.
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Oct 13, 2013 04:32
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More views of the head would be cool, I can't get a good sense of it's shape in 3D. I'm guessing some talons will go on the feet. If you're looking for reference or inspiration at all someone did this really cool model: http://konartist3d.deviantart.com/art/Vultureman-Redesign-WIP2-152641214
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Oct 14, 2013 00:47
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There's no way to recover files on a crashed SSD? I found this website but you probably already looked for ways to fix the problem. http://www.easeus.com/data-recovery/other-recovery-software/SSD-drive-recovery.htm Anyway sucks you couldn't recover your work. That's some really cool detail, I love the inlaid gold pieces.
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Oct 30, 2013 00:09
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Squash and stretch stuff is usually pretty fun. You could show how to set up a set driven key with a squash deformer so that the character can get pretty crazy shapes. Also linking nodes to create stretchy arms and legs, and how spline IKs can be great for moving tails and tentacles. And the new heatmap skinning feature in Maya does a pretty awesome job, so you can show how much easier skinning has gotten. But yeah, rigging is kinda painful and confusing. I know I tend to zone out when being lectured on it. It's only when I go back and rewatch the videos and do the exercise step by step on my own time that I can really understand and appreciate what's being done. Then after a few times it sinks into the brain.
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Nov 12, 2013 06:26
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Hmm I think Bill's nose is actually a bit shorter than in your sculpt. And if you move the nose up the mouth should probably be moved up too. Also I'm getting a weird sense of his jawline, looks a little too long.
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Nov 19, 2013 05:19
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I'm looking forward to when Autodesk gets rid of gibmal lock for good in Maya, like they did in Motion Builder. Also this is pretty major, Houdini's engine can now be integrated into Maya. http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/sidefx-released-houdini-engine-for-autodesk-maya-and-unity/ Ccs fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Nov 21, 2013 |
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Nov 21, 2013 01:18
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