
Click the download 'Resources' to access the project files of this course.
Create a tilable planet surface in Maya using a procedural fractal texture with a ramp and color gain, ensuring seamless tiling across repeated tiles.
Download motion capture from Máximo and export textures, rig, and the model into Maya. Adjust arm space, prevent calf intersections, and set 24 fps for a clean looping walk.
Import the mocap into Maya, scale the environment to match the character, and zero the animation by offsetting keyframes in the Graph Editor to prepare for looping.
Fix skeleton animation to create a clean looping walk, adjusting ground contacts and leg timing in Maya using the graph editor and Z-axis keyframes, with beginners skipping HBK rigs.
Learn to set up an HBK mocap rig in Maya by extracting the bind pose from the skeleton and building a control rig for accurate hip and foot motion.
Learn to work with the HBK/HIK rig in Maya using mocap data, animation layers, and baking to skeleton to non-destructively adjust limb motion for looping animation.
Learn to build a looping landscape that matches the character’s travel distance, using ten cycles and frame calculations in Maya, with graph editor, Z translate, and post infinity with offset.
Scale the environment in Maya and link the texture to former strength to the floor's scale using a custom attribute and an expression.
Learn to repeat the environment in Maya using instance duplicates that retain the original control. Offset each copy by world distance and adjust camera clipping for a seamless looping scene.
Place and align a render camera in Maya, adjust panels and clipping planes, and keyframe a linear, looping path that matches the landscape.
Create a sky with a fractal texture, place a planet and gemstone, and refine composition, camera setup, and looping animations to avoid parallax pops.
Learn to light and shade a Maya scene using Arnold's physical sky and skydome, adjust sky color and sun intensity, and tune render artifacts with subdivision and shadow settings.
Apply Arnold standard surface shaders to all models, add bump maps and fractal sky textures, and tune emission; color the astronaut with a hue-saturation node for flexible styling.
Add animation layers to an existing looping walk, creating an additive layer that adds a flashlight look and arm motion without altering the original cycle.
Attach a wrist-mounted spotlight to the right forearm, animate its intensity and penumbra for a natural beam. Then render with Arnold and apply atmosphere density for subtle light beams.
Explore how render times depend on hardware and settings, tune camera and light samples and resolution for efficient rendering, and compare Arnold and Redshift for potential speed gains.
Explore Arnold render settings in Maya, including bloom, denoise, and batch rendering, to optimize a sequence in 720p. Learn to adjust thresholds, exposure, sky and light intensity for targeted effects.
Export a movie from an image sequence by importing frames into After Effects, setting 24 fps, and rendering to QuickTime with chosen codecs for Maya looping animation.
Set up the project in Maya and create a subdivided sphere, then apply a 3D volume noise texture to the normals via texture to form a looping blob.
Animate the nerve circle through time, apply an Arnold standard surface blood shader, add a Skydome light with a backdrop image, and enable Catmull-Clark subdivision for smoother rendering.
Enhance subsurface scattering by adding spotlights, adjusting intensity and radius, in Maya with Arnold render; refine color, roughness, and reflectivity for a more liquid, dimensional look.
Create a render cam in Autodesk Maya, attach it to a locator on a motion path, and produce a looping camera animation with subtle hand-held motion.
Learn to create text in Maya, separate letters into individual meshes, apply a texture deformer driven by a motion path, and adjust geometry and shading for rendering and after effects.
Tune lights to avoid specular highlights, enable depth of field, and raise render samples to reduce noise for cleaner Maya final renders and easier compositing.
Want to create an Instagram-worthy 3D animation loop? Or just want to increase your 3D skillset with a unique project?
This course is for you.
This course was geared more towards someone who has opened Maya before, like one of my previous students. But if you're an ambitious person and never tried 3D, I believe it's still possible to follow along step-by-step and achieve the same result I demonstrate in class.
Our project will be to use motion capture animation and some simple procedural modeling techniques to make a loopable planet surface and astronaut walking animation. We are going to add our own custom animation on top of the mocap as well with two options for beginner and advanced users. There are many unique techniques in the course that is sure to help your future(istic) projects!
In this course you will learn how to:
Procedurally model a loopable environment
Import and work with mocap animation
Precisely calculate how to loop your animation and environment
Create an "HIK" rig on top of your mocap
Use simple expressions to solve common problems
Fix and add animation on top of your mocap with animation layers
Reduce render time as much as possible
Use Arnold to light, shade, and render your scene
I'm excited to share this unique course where you are sure to learn something new and have a cool animation to share by the end of the course. I look forward to seeing how you make this animation your own.