See how a Course Works: Intro to Online Learning
Description
Our online Maya class is designed for anyone interested in learning the basics of this powerful 3D modeling program.
If you're looking to create amazing video game artwork, our Autodesk Maya class is for you!
Maya 3D modeling software combines an impressive assortment of modeling, animation, texturing, and rendering. tools that allow you to create stunning 3D content.
Many of today's leading video games are created using Maya..
This 6-lesson Maya class was developed by Maya expert Nathaniel Stein, who helps you unlock the power of this revolutionary program. Over the course of your studies, you'll develop a solid understanding of the Maya toolset, and learn how to create, edit, and refine polygon models, how to add realistic textures and how to apply UV maps. You'll also learn how to create basic animations and export your artwork into a game engine. Class projects include working with primitives, complex inorganic models, character modeling, texturing, animation studies and, finally, how to export the scenes you've created.
If you've been looking for a Maya class to get into developing video game art or any other type of 3D project, this course is for you!
Enrolling in the Maya class is quick, easy and 100% secure so get started today by clicking on the registration button.
Outline
LESSON 1 Intro to Maya
Lesson One of the Maya class kicks off your course with an orientation to the elements of the Maya interface: the view window, tools, buttons, and timeline. You'll learn how to customize your view, zooming in and out, and to navigate between different artwork displays through key commands and shortcuts. You'll create and adjust primitives to create basic 3D models, and using the Transform tools to move, rotate, and scale them in three dimensions. To help you organize your artwork, you'll learn how to group and parent objects and pivot them. In the exercise, you'll practice working with primitives by modeling basic shapes and figures.
LESSON 2 Modeling in Maya
Lesson Two introduces you to ways of manipulating the shape of an object to begin creating realistic or complicated shapes. You'll learn how to select components and edit them, rotating, scaling, and transforming the elements in your model. Any face or edge can be deleted, extruded, poked, or cut to add details to your objects. When you get tired of that, you'll discover the delights of using Booleans to overlap objects to merge or extrude new shapes. The lesson wraps up with a section on how to duplicate or flip components and a focus on how to use object history to keep track of the complexity of your art. You'll apply this knowledge to a detailed inorganic model in the exercise.
LESSON 3 Poly Modeling II
Lesson Three focuses on how to turn your complex polygons into smooth, polished models. First you'll examine how Maya calculates the number of triangles in your models when it renders. You'll learn how to split polygons by creating new vertices and faces and draw new polygons freehand. To round off all this complexity, you'll study how to use normals to create gradients and bevels to smoothen edges. A final section will explore approaches for modeling a character and reducing the poly count on your creations. In the exercise, you'll create (what else?) a smooth but efficient character model.
LESSON 4 Texturing and UV Mapping
Lesson Four focuses on showing you how to add texture to your models, so you can control their color, shininess, transparency, and reflectivity. You'll learn how to set up a basic light rig including a directional light, spotlight, key light, and point light, and render it from different camera views. You'll explore how the different controls in the Hypershade Editor work and learn how to apply basic shaders. Then you'll examine how to add an image map and manipulate its attributes. In the exercise, one of your complex models will come alive with color, shading, and lighting.
LESSON 5 UV Mapping
UV mapping allows you to take a 2D texture image and place it properly on a 3D surface, and for game artists this technique is an absolute must. You'll learn how to create and apply UV maps of your models, cutting and sewing them, and folding and unfolding them. You'll walk through the UV mapping of simple and complex objects, and you'll work in Photoshop to produce texture images to apply to your maps. The lesson concludes with some rules of the road for working UV maps. In the exercise, you'll apply UVs and image maps to a detailed model.
LESSON 6 Animation and Workflow
Lesson Six unleashes Frankenstein's monster: animation, the art of bringing life to the unliving. You'll start by learning how animating in Maya works, creating, moving, and editing keyframes on a timeline. Then you'll move on to another key topic: What to do with all this great art and animation you've made in Maya. You'll explore workflow techniques, naming conventions, and file structures, and look rendering techniques so that you can provide clients previews of scenes. In the final two-part project, you'll work on a classic animation study, animating two bouncing balls with different properties, before producing an environment/scene, including animations, and exporting it from Maya with different views.
Additional Info
- Languages
- English
- Course Length
- 60.00 hours
- Duration of Access
Enrolled students have access to the class for six months. During this period, questions or assignments may be submitted at any time to the instructor. Each course lesson requires an average of 10 hours of study time.
- Instructor
Nat Stein is a modeling supervisor and CG artist at Anzovin Studio. He has worked on animation for games such as Sid Meier's Railroads and Halo 2, as well as a variety of TV shows and movies. Nathaniel attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he also taught courses in Animation and Modeling after his graduation. Nathaniel co-authored the book Visual Quickstart for Maya 7.0, and is currently working on a new book. Nathaniel received his BA in Computer Animation from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
- Prerequisites/Audience
This Maya class is designed for adult learners interested in building skills and portfolio for a design career. To take the course, students simply require a computer (PC or Mac), an Internet connection (56 Kbps modem or faster), and any required software. For courses with software requirements, computers must meet software manufacturers' system requirements.
- Requirements/Materials Included
To take this course you'll need Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop and basic experience in Photoshop, and a computer that meets the the Autodesk Maya system requirements. Three button mouse required for PC users, recommended for Mac users.
- Certification
3 CEU
Sessions College is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Certificate programs are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools.
