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Mastering Displacement Maps in Maya

by Kyle Green

In Maya tutorial, we will learn how to take full advantage of the displacement rendering features of Maya, allowing us to render highly-detailed surfaces with little effort. Software required: Maya 2012.

What you'll learn

In Maya tutorial, we will learn how to take full advantage of the displacement rendering features of Maya, allowing us to render highly-detailed surfaces with little effort. Displacement maps are especially practical for users of ZBrush or Mudbox, who want to render their highly detailed creations in Maya with the utmost speed and efficiency. We will begin this tutorial by learning the basic steps of connecting your displacement maps and controlling the strength of your rendered displacement effects. From there, we will learn about Approximations, and the critically-important role they play in controlling the speed and quality of our rendered displacement effects. Along the way, we will help you identify and work through a number of common displacement-related issues that you may encounter when working on your own projects. Software required: Maya 2012.

About the author

Kyle was one of the first authors for Digital-Tutors, now a Pluralsight company. and has been a part of the team for over 10 years. Kyle began his career in computer graphics education as a college instructor and worked as a Digital-Tutors rendering tutor and curriculum manager since 2002. Kyle has contributed to many of the most popular projects and helped the Digital-Tutors team win awards throughout the company's history. Kyle has had the honor of having his art exhibited at the New York ... more

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