In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself Maya® in 24 Hours will help you master Autodesk Maya 2014 and use it to create outstanding 3D graphics and animations. Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll master powerful Maya 2014 tools for modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, lighting, rendering, and more. Every lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success!   Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Maya tasks. Quizzes and exercises test your knowledge of key Maya 2014 tools at the end of each hour. Notes present interesting information related to the discussion. Tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks.   Learn how to… Get comfortable with Autodesk Maya 2014's complex interface Quickly access the Maya 2014 tools you need for any task Efficiently manage your assets and files Model with polygonal geometry and NURBS curves/surfaces Unfold UVs and apply textures Create node networks in the hypershade Model highly realistic characters Utilize relationships and make nodes work together Rig your objects and characters for animation Add animated movement to your scenes Create and adjust cameras Build diverse shapes with BlendShapes Animate using dynamics and simulations Script and automate common tasks Improve realism with particles, hair/cloth effects, and more Correctly light your scenes Render your final imagery Work effectively with film Manage your projects and scene workflows more efficiently On the DVD: The accompanying DVD contains how-to videos for dozens of key Maya 2014 tasks, extensive sample art and models, and additional bonus content.

Table of Contents:
HOUR 1: Introduction to Autodesk Maya and This Book     1 Our Goal     1 What Is Autodesk Maya?     2 Our Approach     3 How We Use Screenshots     4 Supplementing Your 3D Training     6 Setting a Pace for Learning Maya     8 Summary     8 Q&A     9 Workshop     9   HOUR 2: Menus and Navigating the Maya UI     11 The Maya Interface     11 Starting from the Default Maya Interface     12  The Top Area     13  The Center Area     18  The Left Area     19  The Right Area     21  The Bottom Area     23 Axes, Planes, Coordinates     24 The Outliner     24 Summary     26 Q&A     26 Workshop     27   HOUR 3: File Types and Managing Assets     29 3D File Types     30  Maya Scene Files     30  Maya Binary     30  Maya ASCII     30 Other 3D File Types     31  OBJ     32  FBX     32  ANIM     33  ATOM     33 2D File Types     33  Texture File Types     34 Miscellaneous Formats     37 Maya Projects     37  Set Project     37  Creating a Project     38 Summary     39 Q&A     39 Workshop     40   HOUR 4: Modeling with Polygonal Geometry     43 Objects in Maya     44 Creating Polygons     44  Polygons     46 Summary     57 Q&A     58 Workshop     58   HOUR 5: Modeling NURBS Curves and Surfaces     61 What Are NURBS?     62  Curve Components     62  Surface Components     63 Modeling with NURBS     65  Creating a Simple Surface     66 More Uses for Curves     74  Animation Controllers     74  Path Animation     74 Summary     77 Q&A     78 Workshop     78   HOUR 6: Unfolding UVs and Applying Textures     81 What Are UVs?     82  More Complicated Models     83 Texturing in Maya     88  Applying Our Texture     90  Standard Material Options     91  Standard Materials     93 Customizing Our Blinn     94 Summary     97 Q&A     97 Workshop     98   HOUR 7: Creating Node Networks in the Hypershade     101 Navigating the Hypershade     101  The Panels     102 Creating a Simple Network     108 Summary     116 Q&A     116 Workshop     117   HOUR 8: Character Modeling     119 Character Model Basics     120  Working From Designs     120  Using Symmetry In Modeling     125 Starting a Model     128  Edge Loops     129 Continue Refining Your Model     133  Multi-Edged Intersections: Poles     134  Adding the Arms     135  Inside the Mouth     138  Armpits and Shoulders     138  Hands     139  Eyelids     140  Elbows and Knees     140 Smoothing     142  Smoothing Reduces Detail     142  Deciding on Smoothing     142 Crease Edges     143 Combining Geometry     143  UVs Review     145 Summary     148 Q&A     148 Workshop     148   HOUR 9: Relationships and Making Nodes Work Together     151 Viewing Relationships     152 Creating Connections     154  The Connection Editor     154  Connecting New Attributes     159 Other Relationships     162  Expressions     162  Driven Keys     163  The Relationship Editor     164 Choosing the Right Relationship     165 Summary     167 Q&A     167 Workshop     168   HOUR 10: Basic Rigging: Preparing Objects for Animation     171 What Is a Rig?     172 Why We Rig     172 Preparing Your Mesh     173 Simple Hierarchy     176  The Geo Group     178 Adding Controls     178 Adding Functionality     180  Creating the Bend     181 Summary     183 Q&A     183 Workshop     184   HOUR 11: Character Rigging: Articulating Characters     187 Joints     188 Forward Kinematics Versus Inverse Kinematics     189 Starting a Rig     190  Placing Joints     191  Mirroring Joints     194  Finishing the Joint Chain     194 Jaw Joint     196  Joint Orientation     196 Adding IK to the Arms     197 Adding Controls     199 Connecting Controls     203  Connecting the IK Hand Controls     204 Other Controls     204  BlendShape Control     205  Eye Target     205 Final Cleanup     206 Summary     208 Q&A     208 Workshop     209   HOUR 12: Skinning: Attaching Geometry to a Rig     211 The Skin Nodes     211 Rigid Bind     212  Flexors     214  Deform vs. Transform     215 Smooth Bind     216 Skinning Sam     216 Painting Weights     217  Painting     217  Prune Small Weights     220  Locking Weights     221 Adding More Deformation     222 Summary     225 Q&A     225 Workshop     226   HOUR 13: Animation: Adding Movement to Your Scene     227 The Principles of Animation     228  Squash and Stretch     228  Anticipation     228  Staging     228  Straight-Ahead Action and Pose to Pose     228  Follow Through and Overlapping Action     229  Slow In and Slow Out     229  Arcs     229  Secondary Action     229  Timing     229  Exaggeration     230  Solid Drawing     230  Appeal     230 Time in Maya     230 The Timeline     231 The Range Slider     232 What Is a Keyframe?     232 Creating Keyframes     233 Using AutoKey to Set Keys     235 Manipulating the Timeline     236 Copying and Pasting Keys     237 The Graph Editor and Editing Keys     239  Working with the Graph Editor     240  Interpolation and Tangents     241  Buffer Curves     244 The Dope Sheet     246 Editing Motion with the Trax Editor     248 Constraints and Animating     250  Constraint Versus Parent     250 Using Other Animation Tools     252  Creating Dynamic Relationships with Expressions     253  Creating Animation on a Path     254  Driven Keys     256 An Animated Scene     257 Summary     258 Q&A     258 Workshop     259   HOUR 14: Creating and Adjusting Cameras     261 Creating Cameras     262 Common Camera Attributes     265  Camera Attributes     265  Depth of Field     268  Output Settings     269  Environment     269  Special Effects     270  Display Options     270  2D Pan/Zoom     271  Movement Options     271  Orthographic Views     272 The Different Camera Types     272  Camera     272  Camera and Aim     272  Camera, Aim, and Up     272  Stereo Camera and Multi-Stereo Rig     272 Animating Cameras     272  Keyframing     273 Summary     276 Q&A     276 Workshop     277   HOUR 15: Making Diverse Shapes with BlendShapes     279 BlendShape Node     280 Applying a BlendShape     281 Creating BlendShapes     284  Sculpting Geometry     285  Adding a BlendShape     289  Making Controllers     290 Corrective BlendShapes     291 Other Uses for BlendShapes     293 Summary     294 Q&A     294 Workshop     295   HOUR 16: Animating Using Dynamics and Simulations     297 What Are Dynamics?     298  What are nDynamics?     298  Physics in Action     298  What Does Simulating Mean?     299 Getting Started with Rigid Bodies     299  Creating the Scene     300 Getting Dynamic     302  Let the Apple Fall from the Tree     302 Simulating the Apple Falling     307 The Rigid Body Solver     310  Creating a Cache     310 Summary     311 Q&A     311 Workshop     312   HOUR 17: Scripting and Automating Common Tasks     315 MEL Scripting Basics     316 Writing Scripts in the Script Editor     317 Learning MEL from Maya in Action     320 Getting Help on Commands     322 Creating a Universe with MEL     325  Creating a Universe with MEL: Intermediate     329 Making Use of the Shelves     335 Summary     337 Q&A     337 Workshop     337   HOUR 18: Using Particles to Create Effects     339 What Are Particles?     340  What Is an Emitter?     340  Particles or nParticles?     340 Getting Started with nParticles     341  Editing the Attributes of an Emitter     345  Making More Adjustments     349  Copying Attributes by Using Presets     352 Creating a Cache     354 Summary     355 Q&A     355 Workshop     356   HOUR 19: Lighting Your Scene Correctly     359 Lighting Basics     360  Observing Light and Shadows     360 Creating Lights and Shadows     361  Maya Light Types     362  Casting Shadows     366  Positioning Lights     367 Common Light Attributes     370  Spot Light Attributes     372 Getting Started with Three-Point Lighting     374  Creating the Key Light     374  Creating the Fill Light     377  Creating the Back Light     378 Summary     380 Q&A     381 Workshop     381   HOUR 20: Applying Hair and Cloth for Realism     383 Applying Fur and Hair     384  Loading Fur     384  Applying Fur     384  Modifying Fur Attributes     385  Applying Hair     386 Follicles and Curves     388 Creating Dynamic Hair and Fur     389  nHair and Dynamics     390  Fur and Dynamics     390 nCloth and nDynamics     391 Attaching nCloth to Other Objects     392 Characters and Clothes     393 Animating with Hair and nCloth     394 Summary     397 Q&A     397 Workshop     398   HOUR 21: Rendering Final Imagery     399 Render Basics     400  Render Buttons     401  Rendering Single Images     402  Render View     402  Rendering Regions     405  Comparing Saved Images     406  Fine-tuning with IPR     407 Render Settings     409  Common Settings     410  Quality Presets     413 Rendering Animations with Batch Render     415  Check Render Settings for Batch Rendering     415  To Batch Render     417  Viewing in FCheck     418 Summary     419 Q&A     419 Workshop     419   HOUR 22: Working with Film     421 Importing a Film Plate     421 Using a 3D Tracked Camera     424 Setting Up the Scene     424 Scene Scale     426 Masks     429 More Camera Settings     430  Clip Planes     430  Film Back and Film Gate     431 Common Render Settings     431 Aspect Ratios and Resolution     431 Color     432 Summary     433 Q&A     433 Workshop     434   HOUR 23: Correct Project Management and Scene Workflow     435 The Maya Project Structure     436 Naming Conventions     437 Directory Structure Issues     438 Referencing Pipeline     439 Relative and Absolute Paths     441 Good Project Workflows     441 Pull or Push Workflows     442 Project X Workflow Case Study     443 Summary     445 Q&A     445 Workshop     446   HOUR 24: Ideal Settings, Preferences, and Hotkeys     447 Settings and Preferences Basics     448  User Preferences     449  Saving and Deleting Preferences     455 Hotkeys     456  Hotbox and Marking Menus     456  Common Hotkeys     458 Summary     467 Q&A     467 Workshop     467   Index     469