How to Cheat in Maya 2017: Tools and Techniques for Character Animation

Description

This is not a book about Maya software with a few animation pointers thrown in here and there. This is a guide to Maya software written by professional animators. This book provides you with complete, set-by-step walkthroughs of essential animation techniques that increase your speed and efficiency while using Maya 2017 for character animation. From curves to constraints, this book covers all of the methods available in the latest version of Maya. Featuring gold-mine coverage this book teaches you new techniques for working with characters in animation tests and short films. Accompanied by a companion site, this is the one and only guide to get you up to speed.  Read more... Abstract: This is not a book about Maya software with a few animation pointers thrown in here and there. This is a guide to Maya software written by professional animators. This book provides you with complete, set-by-step walkthroughs of essential animation techniques that increase your speed and efficiency while using Maya 2017 for character animation. From curves to constraints, this book covers all of the methods available in the latest version of Maya. Featuring gold-mine coverage this book teaches you new techniques for working with characters in animation tests and short films. Accompanied by a companion site, this is the one and only guide to get you up to speed Content: Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents How to Cheat and Why Acknowledgments How to Use This Book 1: Animation Principles Squash and Stretch Anticipation Staging Straight Ahead/Pose to Pose Overlapping Action/Follow-through Slow In/Slow Out Arcs Secondary Action Timing Exaggeration Solid Drawing Appeal Interlude 2: Splines How Splines Work Splines and Spacing Tangent Types Spline Technique Spline Reference Interlude 3: Graph Editor Graph Editor Windup Visual Tools Working with Keys Value Operators Buffer Curves Speed Cheats 4: TechniquesAuto Key Timeline Techniques Cartoony Motion Trax Editor Copying Curves Editable Motion Trails IK and FK IK/FK Switching Character Sets Grease Pencil Tool Grease Pencil and Trails Interlude 5: Constraints Parenting Parent Constraints Constraining a Prop Constraint Weights Animating with Constraints Interlude 6: Rigging Cheats Rig Testing Sprucing it Up Rigging Props Interlude 7: Standing Out Adding BlendShapes Adding Clusters Wrap Deformer Adding Hair and Cloth Interlude 8: Workflow Planning/Reference Converting Cycles Stepped Keys Stepped PreviewMoving Holds When Splining Moving Holds with the Retime Tool Refining Arcs in Polish Final Texture Interview 9: Cycles Cycle Basics Stride Length Walk Cycle Flying Cycle Quad Cycles 10: Referencing Referencing Basics Offline Edits Saving Reference Edits Interlude 11: Facial Animation Planning and Prep Core Poses Lip Sync 1-Jaw Motion Lip Sync 2-Mouth Corners Lip Sync 3-Mouth Shapes Lip Sync 4-Tongue Blinks Blink and Brows Eye Darts Final Touches Interlude 12: Animation Layers How Animation Layers Work Animation Layer Basics Cheating a Cycle Layers for TextureInterlude Index