During this session we went over the basics of Maya. Learning the environment, workspace, tools and how the program worked.
We learnt that Maya is essentially a programming language with a GUI. How it provides a tool set that allows for the realisation of visuals. The fact that it’s set up in this way can mean that it is very buggy and can often crash!
We learnt the basics of manipulating the environment, hotkeys, move tool, objesct manipulation. Extruding and how to create edgeloops.
We went over the channel box and its inputs. Crucial when creating topology as it defines how the object is first realised in the scene and can save a lot of work later on.
We went over how to apply shaders to objects and how Arnolds basic materials’ work, and how to apply them to objects.
The following image show the various ways in which something as simple as the globe can be mapped onto a 2D space. UV mapping is the reverse of this skill taking a 2D image and as best as possible getting onto a 3D object.
We went over some basic UV mapping. Which the process of laying a 2D image on 3D objects. An essential tool for modelling as it is the skill of laying 2D texture on 3D space. A fundamental skill in modelling.
Applied shaders and bump mapped a Buddha, with an HDRi. Which captures many samples of light to create realistic ray tracing light refraction which when interacting with a shader creates an incredibly realistic image, especially with the Arnold renderer.