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Overview of Maya Ocean Locators and Wakes

by Chris Glick

In this Maya tutorial, we'll learn how to use the locator and wake features of Maya Oceans to make objects float on the surface, and create ripples in our ocean. Software required: Maya Unlimited.

What you'll learn

In this Maya tutorial we'll learn how to use the locator and wake features of Maya Oceans to make objects float on the surface, and create ripples in our ocean. Using advanced dynamic and boat locators we can define many attributes of our floating object to create realistic motion. We'll begin this tutorial by learning about the most basic locator, the Ocean Surface locator. We'll then branch into the more complicated locators that allow us to have dynamic motion including buoyancy, damping, and gravity. We'll finish the locator section with a lesson on the fun feature of Motorboats, which let us have a throttle and rudder on an object and make a realistic boat animation complete with pitching and rolling. We'll then learn the basics of using wakes to deform our surface as if something has just dropped into the water. We'll learn a few advanced techniques such as connecting a foam generator to our ocean as well as advanced color bleeding and foamy waves. Software required: Maya Unlimited.

About the author

Along with creating and recording training, he also used to manage the support team and work closely with the production development team at Digital-Tutors, now a Pluralsight company. He began his career working freelance and quickly realized that he wanted to find a company where he could use his talents to help people succeed in the CG industry. Chris has likely watched more Pluralsight creative training than anyone on the planet, and its evidenced by his Einstein-sized brain and encyclopedic... more

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