How to Cheat in Maya 2012: Tools and Techniques for Character Animation

by Eric Luhta

Overview

The Maya guide for animators, How to Cheat in Maya 2012 presents everything you need to know about character animation in Maya. Fully updated for the latest revision of Maya, this book provides you with complete, step-by-step walkthroughs of essential animation techniques to increase your efficiency and speed. This is an animator's workflow in book form, written by professional animators-not a software book with a few animation pointers thrown in.In addition to all the gold-mine coverage and interviews with expert animators from the previous edition, How to Cheat in Maya 2012 also features a new in-depth chapter on the principles of animation, updated information on camera settings and animation using Maya's new Camera Sequencer tool, the ins and outs of the brand new Editable Motion Trails tool, new techniques for working with characters in multi-shot animation tests and short films, a new cycles chapter covering actions like flying and walks, time-saving scripts, and advanced tricks with the new Graph Editor. The proven "How to Cheat" series gets you up to speed quickly, and in a way that's fun.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138400665
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/27/2017
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Eric Luhta is a professional animator whose recent credits include Bioshock 2, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, Horton Hears A Who!, and numerous television commercials. Eric has extensive experience with Autodesk's Maya, including teaching it, as an instructor for the Maya Training Program at AnimationMentor.com. He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and 3 computers.

Table of Contents

How to Cheat in Maya 2012 - Chapter 1 - Animation Principles in Maya Anticipation Overlap and Follow Through Squash and Stretch Staging (Cameras) Arcs Timing Ease In/Ease Out Chapter 2 - Splines All cheats revised for new interface Chapter 3 - Graph Editor All cheats revised for new interface Chapter 4 - Techniques smear frames bendy arms Possible material for tools added in Maya 20XX Chapter 5 - Constraints All cheats revised for new interface Chapter 6 - Gimbal Lock All cheats revised for new interface Chapter 7 - Cameras and Layout In-depth cheats on cameras and staging, applicable to multi-shot dialog tests and short films cheats for new Camera Sequence tool Chapter 8 - Blocking New project for the chapter, so all cheats will be revised Chapter 9 - Cycles Shorter examples of walk and run cycles with new character Older walk cycle material will be put on the website Tips for personality walks Chapter 10 - Polishing New chapter project, all cheats revised Chapter 11 - Facial Animation New chapter project, all cheats revised Mouth shapes Eye shapes Chapter 12 - Animation Layers New chapter project, all cheats revised Chapter 12 from the first book is retired to the website