Maya Tutorials and Assets
Image Sequence to Quicktime
Converting Anims to .MOV files with After Effects
When rendering animations from Maya, Max or any other 3D application, it is common practice to render them out as image sequences (image.001.tga, image.002.tga, etc.). These sequences, however, can...
Creating Tileable Textures
Using Photoshop to Eliminate Seams
When texturing objects in a 3D application, it is often necessary to use a texture that can be tiled. This means that when the image repeats there is no visible seam. For example, when mapping an i...
Bullets, Dust Hits and Debris
Multi-Chapter Tutorial
When objects impact the ground, such as bullets or footsteps, one often expects to see an effect such as a puff of dust (dust hit) or a burst of debris. This four part tutorial demonstrates how to...
Light Linking in Heavy Scenes
How to Quickly Manage Light/Object Connections
Successfull lighting requires the simulation of reflected light. While Global Illumination is a possible approach to automate the process, this can be expensive in terms of render time. The direct ...
Outdoor Lighting
Multi-Chapter Tutorial
This tutorial provides a detailed demonstration of how to approach outdoor lighting for any time of day. We begin by discussing the nature of outdoor light, the sun, the sky, shadows and the use of...
Pixie Dust using Sprites
Multi-Chapter Tutorial
Pixie dust... magical powder that emanates from the land of faery and those that inhabit it. Associated with Disney films, Pixie Dust also manages to find itself in movie theatre promos, bumpers, c...
Creating/Rendering Sparks
Emitters, Fields, Collision Events, Software Rendering
Sparks are a fairly common, yet simple, effect that can be effectively created using Maya dynamics. This tutorial demonstrates sparks from a collision, as well as from a pulsing (expression driven)...
Sprite Rendering Fundamentals
Using the Sprite Render Type and Managing PP Attributes
Sprite rendering of particles is an incredibly efficient and powerful method for designing an almost unlimited variety of effects. When particles are set to Sprites, an image or sequence (with tran...
Turntable Animations
Chapter One: 3-pt Lighting and 2-node Camera Motion
The most common way to present a model, to a client, supervisor or on a demo-reel, is to create a turntable animation. This tutorial demonstrates a simple, yet effective, solution for creating dyna...
Turntable Animations
Chapter Two: Rendering from the Command Line
The most common way to present a model, to a client, supervisor or on a demo-reel, is to create a turntable animation. This tutorial demonstrates a simple, yet effective, solution for creating dyna...
