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List of contents
How to Cheat In Maya
Topics Outline
Section 1: Character Animation in Maya
Essential Maya Concepts in Character Animation
Setting up Projects
Panel Layouts
Navigation
Camera Setup
Parenting
Constraints
Grouping
Using Scripts
Animating
Posing Characters Effectively
Properly posing the spine
IK vs. FK and blending between them
Keyframing techniques
Character Sets
Using the timeline
Gimbal lock and how to minimize it
The Graph Editor
Tools
Spline Curves and how they really work
Tangents
Good spline technique
Editing splines
Applying animation principles
Timing and Spacing
Ease In/Out
Anticipation
Overlapping Action
Squash and Stretch
Tracking Arcs
Dope Sheet
Tools
Using in blocking
Making big changes in the middle of an animation
Pose to Pose Blocking
Having enough breakdowns
The dreaded moment of going to spline
Layered Animation
Creating a cycle
Starting with the root
Calculating an in-place cycle to translate correctly in world space
More Animation Techniques
Creating settle
Moving holds
Polishing
Hitting walls
Facial animation and lip sync
Section 2: Adding to your animation
Modeling Props for Your Characters
Polygon Modeling Concepts
Primitives
Box Modeling
Creating models that deform well
Rigging Props and Scenery
Deciding on the functionality needed
Creating joint skeletons
Skinning
Painting Weights
IK
Deformers
Advanced Constraints
Blend Shapes
Creating controls for your props
Using wrap deformers to create the look of clothing
Creating hair that can be easily animated
Shading
Hypergraph Essentials
Material Types
Material Attributes
Applying file textures
3d Paint Tool
Paint Effects
Foolproof Lighting Solutions
Flat shaded with shadows
Final Gather Technique
Physical Sun and Sky
Rendering
Setting up render passes for compositing
Batch Rendering
Command line rendering
Summary
A guide to Maya 2010. It features character animation techniques and the secrets of professional animators. It provides the tips and tools to help you create high quality animation. It contains gold-mine coverage, including animation techniques, using Maya's tools with the 12 animation principles, working with constraints.
