What you'll learn

In this series of tutorials, we'll learn how to turn a 2D image into a 3D scene using camera projection in Maya and NUKE. By using a reference photo inside Maya and using NUKE's powerful compositing tools and 3d environment, we'll be able to create realistic scenes quickly and easily. We'll begin the tutorial by learning about the theories behind camera projection what makes a good image to project. We'll then set-up our camera in Maya for match moving and look at a technique to get our camera in the correct position. We'll then model our buildings and animate a new camera. Then we'll export our Maya data and bring it in to NUKE's 3D toolset and set-up our projections. We'll finish the scene in NUKE by creating a sky dome and using it's 2d tools to create appealing effects. Finally, we'll use Maya's mental ray renderer to create realistic reflections and composite them on top of our NUKE projections to create our final composite. Software required: Maya 2011, NUKE 6.1 and up.