Toolkits Block 1

3D

Tool Kit 1: Modelling and Texturing

Week 1: Modelling Fundamentals

  1. A working overview of Maya’s tools and the 3d space and a test scene will be provided.
  2. Have a go at 3D modelling some different types of forms using Extrude and vertex, face, edge manipulation, and editing.
  3. Create a model of a complexity that you choose

Animation Tests:

Modeling Boot Camp:

Making Shapes:

Task: Model a household object or a toy

Globe: inspired by a globe I saw in a vintage shop

Week 2: Modeling and Texturing

  1. Continue with modelling hard surface objects
  2. Look at key principles of shaders, materials, and texturing, testing these out by building various shapes and applying materials to them.
  3. UV map different objects, UV mapping and layout with cut and sew and the UV Editor
  4. Modelling a cartoon-style asset 

UV mapping: UV cut & sew

Texturing:

Modelling a cartoon asset:

Modelling a cartoon asset: Create a model like the one shown in the PDF, but find your own references and textures online. You should use cartoon-style textures rather than photographic ones.

Week 3: Extended modelling and street scene layout

What will be covered today:

  1. We will work through some exercises to model a street corner.
  2. You can choose to make your own street corner model, research a location, you may apply a time period theme

Modelling from life – layout a street corner (this project will go into the final workshop)

Brief: Choose a street corner to model, and select one on Google Maps. Or choose a time period to model from. Collect reference images.

You can make it realistic or stylised. But it should be similar to the exercise in the PDF.  

Screenshot of street corner I chose:

Toolkit 2: 3d Lighting and Rendering

Digital Lighting, Rendering, and Cinematography:

In this toolkit, participants will learn about different types of computer-generated lighting in Autodesk Maya. Several exercises will guide students through the terminology and technology of lighting for 3d objects and environments, this will include lighting sculptural objects such as busts, set lighting, lighting with High-Dynamic-Range-Images (HDRI), and scenario lighting such as night and day settings.

3d Rendering workflows will also be addressed, looking at the Arnold renders and how they interact with materials, lights, and cameras. Render passes will be demonstrated, such as inclusion and reflection, and students will undertake a render of a complete scene producing two distinct lighting results.


Week 1: Cameras, Resolution & Lighting

This Toolkit aims to teach you the fundamentals of lighting, cameras, rendering, and cinematography using Autodesk Maya

What will be covered today:

  1. How cameras, lights (of different kinds), and Render setups work inside Maya
  2. A presentation on lighting scenarios
  3. Working with the Arnold Renderer and Arnold lights
  4. Arnold studio – virtual portrait lighting
1) Cameras, lights (of different kinds), and Render setups
  • Camera types and settings/frames
  • Resolution and Rendering
  • Image Planes
  • lights and shadows

Experiments:

  • Outcome: Light the room in an atmospheric way
2) Using Arnold lights
  • Area lights
  • Mesh lights
  • Skydomes with HDRIs

Outcome: Try out the different lights available in Arnold, and produce a draft render of each example.

3) Real-world and representational lighting types 

Outcome: Familiarise yourself with different lighting situations

4) Photographic Studio setup
  • Using Area Lights and panels to create reflections
  • Ramps and colour variation
  • Look Dev with materials and lights 

Outcome: Produce several tests (renders) of different lighting “looks”

Week 2 – Portrait Lighting, Turntables, Material Look Dev

What will be covered today:

  1. Portrait light setup
  2. Turntables
  3. Look dev with procedural materials
1) Portrait lighting 
  • Replicating studio lighting
  • Lighting heads or busts
  • Using advanced Arnold lights settings

Outcome: Render 3 x lighting scenarios at 1240 x 1754 pixels

2) Turntables – How to use a turntable to show off your models

Outcome: A short turntable animation

3) Procedural Material Look Development
  • Working without textures
  • Exploring the Hypershade
  • Using HDR lightmaps

Outcome: Produce several tests (renders) of different material “looks”.

Week 3 – Exterior and Interior lighting setups. God Rays. Render Passes, and using AOVs. Lighting Challenge.

1. Physical Sky Setup

This lighting setup is useful for outdoors (particularly bright sunny days). Have a look at the example
reference images on bright days, investigate how the shadows fall and look at how the contrast
behaves between light and dark areas in the scene.

City Scene
Using the Physical Sun and Sky to light exteriors. Construct a similar setup, try the physical sky lighting system

Shadow Study: Create a Manhattan Sunset
Once you have got used to using the physical sky light, try it with this Manhattan model. See if you can create a shadow study to animate the Sun – from dawn to dusk, how would you do it? Can you render a sequence of your shadow study?

Outcome: Create a Sunset Shadow study rendered sequence

2. Lighting an interior space with god rays

Try lighting this scene with a directional light and a physical sky scene background. Use an aiAtmosphereVolume in the Rendering Environment Atmosphere node to help generate dusty rays of light in the room.

Additional lighting challenge: have a go at lighting this scene with two different lighting scenarios. 

  • Suggestions: Day and Night, Sunset and Moonlight, Interior lights and exterior
  • Please render one image for each scenario and share it at the end of the class
  • Light the scene and adjust the sampling 
  • Learn to use Render layers
  • Setup AOV render elements
  • Split the EXR file 
  • Create the comp from different render layers
  • Set the layer blending modes
  • How to create Cryptomattes
  • Using Cryptomattes to adjust the look of the scene

Outcome: Create two versions in post, one beauty render and one stylised.

Toolkit 3: Dynamics and Simulation in Maya

In this set of workshops, it is time to smash things up using the dynamics and simulation systems available in 3D software. Students will be encouraged to create both realistic-looking simulations (by studying and mimicking real-world behaviour) and abstracted setups exploring the behaviour of colliding objects in virtual time and space. You will use the tools of forces and gravity to achieve these results.

Working with cause and effect, testing setups, and dialling in properties such as mass, speed, or other forces (for example windspeed) combined keyframe intervention to create varied results. Fracturing geometry will be a theme of this toolkit which may appeal to Games Art and VFX students with an eye for creating spectacular sequences such as collapsing buildings. Students of Animation arts could examine the creative potential of 3D destruction and the ability to manipulate virtual gravity.

Week 1 – Cause and Effects Animation with BULLET in Maya

What will be covered:
  • Types of output – cause and effect animation and film
  • Setting up simple Dynamics
  • Setting up BULLET dynamics
  • Working through different scenarios
  • Create a swinging chain simulation
  • Fracture and rigid sets with Bullet
  • Difference between Kinematic and Dynamic
  • Try an obstacle course setup

Week 2: nCloth, nParticles and Simulating cloth and with Particle Systems

What will be covered:
  • Simulated cloth and how to set it up in 3D
  • Working through the different cloth and particle sim scenarios, including:
  • Simple nCloth Setup
  • Cloth for modelling
  • Cloth with forces (wind and gravity)
  • Cloth interaction with particles
  • nCloth with a character rig 
  • Tearing cloth and cloth constraints

Week 3 – nParticles and Containers in Maya

What will be covered today:
  • Creating nParticles 
  • Different types of particle setups (pouring, colliding, instancing)
  • Rendering particles
  • Using liquid style meta particles 

Please work through the links and PDFs below:

Video guides to nParticles – different setups 

Containers – Creating smoke and fire effects

  • Setting up Maya Fluid Containers 
  • Working through 2D and 3D simulation setups
  • Smoke effects
  • Creating (burning) emitters on moving objects 
  • Starting with Bifrost

Toolkit 4:

Week 1 – Liquid Simulation, introduction to Bifrost in Maya

This toolkit looks at the simulation of particle systems. Liquids, smoke, and fire effect these elements and other states that can be digitally generated for  3d animation and VFX. During this workshop, we will look at how liquids behave and try to mimic this behaviour using the software. Likely outcomes will be the digital recreation of a physical event or scene.

Fluid Containers – Creating smoke and fire effects
  • Setting up Maya Fluid Containers 
  • Working through 2D and 3D simulation setups
  • Smoke effects
  • Creating (burning) emitters on moving objects 
  • Using Bifrost