Photorealistic Shading and Rendering in Maya and modo
This tutorial discusses the production of two shots of a CGI photorealistic firefly that can be a part of a movie or a commercial. Software required: Maya 2012, modo 501, Fusion 6.2, TopoGun 1.06, ZBrush 4.
What you'll learn
This tutorial discusses the production of two shots of a CGI photorealistic firefly that can be a part of a movie or a commercial. While this series of tutorials is not a step-by-step guide, it does offer an in-depth look at the key aspects of production that go into creating realistic-looking shots, which would otherwise be difficult to shoot without the aid of computer graphics. These tutorials will cover everything from the concept sketches and visualization to modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, rendering, and final compositing of the photorealistic shots. While the tools used in this series of tutorials are primarily Maya and modo, the techniques discussed are easily applicable to other mainstream applications. Software required: Maya 2012, modo 501, Fusion 6.2, TopoGun 1.06, ZBrush 4.
Table of contents
- Overview of the Tools 6m
- The Importance of Concept and Reference 5m
- Evaluating the Environment for the First Shot 8m
- Modeling of the Elements for the Second Shot 8m
- Detailing the Bug 6m
- Shading and Texturing the Environment for the First Shot 19m
- Shading and Texturing the Environment for the Second Shot 10m
- Beginning the Shading and Texturing of the Bug 10m
- Continuing the Shading and Texturing of the Bug 10m
- Finishing the Shading and Texturing of the Bug 6m
- Starting to Look at the Rig for the Bug 11m
- Looking at the Expressions That Drive Connections 9m
- Using Expressions to Procedurally Animate the Bug 15m
- Exporting the Animation 9m
- Rendering out the Passes 9m
- Beginning the Compositing of the First Shot 13m
- Finishing the Compositing of the First Shot 14m
- Compositing the Second Shot 8m
About the author
Currently, Martin is focusing on 3D animation, most recently in a role of a Visual effects supervisor. He is a CGI generalist applying the state-of-the art digital techniques while building on his years of fine art experience. In his work, he usually blendx traditional analog techniques with the digital ones to fulfill the creative vision. What sets him apart, is that he doesn't specialize: He truly enjoys all the facets of a production and so he constantly keeps mastering them all: from creativ... more