Arrange the nodes in the miniGun_v03.ma file in a hierarchical structure so the barrels of the guns can rotate on their Z axis, the guns can be aimed independently, and the guns rotate with the turret.

In the Outliner, MMB-drag the left_gunBarrels node onto the left_housing node. MMB-drag the left housing node onto left_mount, then MMB-drag left mount onto the turret node. Do the same for the right gunBarrels, housing, and mount nodes. Graph the node structure on the Hypergraph, and examine the network.

Create a new project named Test, but make sure the project has only the scene, source images, and data subfolders.

Use the Options box in the Create New Project command to make a new project named Test; leave all the fields blank except for scenes, source images, and data. Name the folders in these fields scenes, sourceImages, and data, respectively.

Create an asset from the nodes in the miniGun_v04.ma scene in the chapter1scenes folder. Make sure that only the Y rotation of the turret, the X rotation of the guns, and the Z rotation of the gun barrels are available to the animator.

Create a container that holds the turretAim curve and turret nodes (and their child nodes). Use the Asset Editor to publish the Rotate Y, Rotate X, and Barrel Spin attributes of the turretAim curve node to the container. Set the container to black box mode so the animator can't access any of the attributes of the contained nodes.

Create a file reference for the miniGun_v04.ma scene; create a proxy from the miniGun_loRes.ma scene.

Create a new scene and reference the miniGun_v04.ma file in the chapter1scenes directory. Use the Reference Editor to make a proxy from the miniGun_loRes.ma scene in the same folder on the DVD.

Set up an animation that will be rendered to be displayed on a high-definition progressive-scan television.

Open the Render settings and choose the HD 1080 preset under the Image Size presets on the Common tab. Progressive scan means the image will not be interlaced (rendered as alternating fields), so you can render at 24 frames per second. Open the Preferences/Settings window and set the Time setting under Settings to Film (24 FPS).

Create a camera setting where the film back shakes back and forth in the camera. Set up a system where the amount of shaking can be animated over time.

Enable the Shake Overscan attribute on a camera. Attach a fractal texture to the Shake Overscan attribute and edit its amplitude settings. Create an expression that sets the Alpha Offset to minus one-half of the Alpha Gain. Set keyframes on the Alpha Gain to animate the shaking of the Shake Overscan attribute over time.

Create a camera in the car chase scene that films from the point of view of chopperAnim3 but tracks the car as it moves along the road.

Create a two-node camera (Camera and Aim). Attach the camera to a NURBS curve using a motion path, and parent the curve to chopperAnim3. Parent the aim of the camera to the vehicleAnim group. Create an asset for the camera so that the position of the camera around the helicopter can be changed as well as the position of the aim node relative to the vehicleAnim group.

Create a camera asset with a built-in focus distance control.

Create the same camera and focus distance control as shown in this chapter. Select the camera, camera shape node, and distance controls, and place them within a container. Publish the Z Translation of the distToCam locator to the container. Publish the F Stop and Focus Region Scale attributes as well.

Create a 3D movie from the point of view of the driver in the chase scene.

Create a stereo camera rig, and parent it to the car in the chase scene. Use the center camera to position the rig above the car's cockpit.

Create image planes for side, front, and top views for use as a model guide.

Create reference drawings or use photographs taken from each view. Save the images to your local disk. Create image planes for the front, side, and top views, and apply the corresponding reference images to each image plane. Use the settings in each image plane's Attribute Editor to position the image planes in the scene. Use display layers for each plane so their visibility can be turned on and off easily.

What is the difference between a 1-degree (linear) surface, a 3-degree (cubic) surface, and a 5-degree surface?

The degree of the surface is determined by the number of CVs per span minus one, so a 1-degree surface has two CVs per span, a 3-degree surface has four CVs per span, and a 5-degree surface has six CVs per span. Linear and cubic surfaces are the ones used most frequently.

Create a NURBS model of a common object you own such as a cell phone, a computer monitor, or a particle accelerator.

Start with drawings or photographs of the object and place them on image planes. Use whichever techniques described in this chapter work best for you to create the object. Remember to combine tools and techniques and use the construction history to your advantage.

Examine a manufactured object closely, and pay attention to the seams and parting lines. Look at weather stripping on the windows of vehicles; look at the trim around tail lights and openings in the surface. Look at the panels on the underside of electronic products such as a cell phone. Try to imitate these in your models even if the object does not exist in the real world.

Use intersecting surfaces, curves projected or drawn on a surface, and the Trim tool to create parting lines and seams around panels. Use lofts and freeform fillets to bridge gaps between surfaces. Manipulate the hulls on the lofts and fillets to change the shape of the surfaces.

Test the tessellation settings on a row of NURBS columns. Compare render times and image quality using different tessellation settings.

Create a row of identical NURBS Greek columns using a revolve surface. Place a camera in the scene that looks down the row of columns. Compare render times and quality when you lower or raise the tessellation of surfaces far away and close to the camera. Use the Display Render Tessellation feature, the Attribute Editor, or the surfaces so that you can visualize the difference in tessellation.

Examine the polygon primitives in the Create

Create an example of each primitive shown in the menu. Adjust their settings in the INPUTS section of the Channel Box. Switch to vertex selection mode, and move the vertices of each primitive to create unique shapes.

Create a backpack for the space suit character.

Create a polygon cube and activate smooth mesh preview. Use the Insert Edge Loop tool, extrude faces, and crease edges to create a backpack that fits on the back of the space suit character.

Create a number of small-detail objects for the belt of the space suit character. Shape the details so that they conform to the belt.

Create a number of small objects suitable for detailing the belt. Line up the objects in the front view. Group the objects, and use a combination of lattices and bend deformers to shape the objects so they conform to the circular shape of the belt.

Combine two polygon spheres, and use the polygon-editing tools to join the faces of the spheres.

Create two polygon spheres. Combine the spheres (Mesh

Using the concept sketch as a guide, create the spiraling detail for the character's boots.

Draw some spiral curves, or reuse the curves created earlier in the chapter. Use the Bevel Plus tool to create geometry from the curves. Group the geometry together, and use deformers to make the geometry conform to the shape of the boot.

Add additional hoses and wires to the space suit character.

Make the torso object live, and draw curves directly on the surface. Select the curves, and choose Paint Effects

Convert the helmet object into polygons.

Select the NURBS objects and convert each to polygons. You will need to adjust the conversion options for many of the surfaces as you create them. Once you have converted all the objects, combine them into a single surface.

Create additional detail in the torso trim surface of the space suit character using Booleans.

Use cylinders, spheres, and cubes to cut holes and create details in the torso trim object. Experiment with combinations of the different Boolean operations.

Use Artisan to sculpt dents into a surface.

Create a polygon surface with fairly dense geometry. Choose Polygons

Take several photographs of yourself or a friend from the front and the side. Map these to image planes in a Maya scene, and create a polygon head using the photographs.

Using the image planes as a reference, start by building simple geometry around the mouth and eyes. Use the polygon tools to create the features, and then connect them together into a single mesh. Once you have the basic geometry created, sculpt the geometry of the head to match the photographs using the Move tool and the Artisan tool set.

Use the geometry created for the head to make a different character. Try turning the head into an older man.

Use the Artisan tool set, the Transform Component, and other tools to push and pull the vertices of the head until it resembles a different character.

Add wrinkles, seams, and other details to the glove model.

Convert the subdivision surface version of the glove into polygons, and insert edge loops to create lines around the perimeter of the glove. Convert the glove back into subdivision surfaces. Add creasing to the inserted edge loops, and use the Move tool in tweak mode to add detail to the model. Move up to higher subdivision levels to create finer detail.

Create a simple joint chain for a robot's arm. Use the joint chain to animate an arm made from simple polygon surfaces.

Create a joint chain using three joints—one for the upper arm, one for the forearm, and one for the wrist. Create two cylinders and a sphere. Parent each cylinder to the upper arm and forearm joints; parent the sphere to the wrist joint.

Create an Inverse Kinematic control for a simple arm.

Create a simple arm using three joints—one for the upper arm, one for the forearm, and one for the wrist. Rotate the forearm slightly so the Inverse Kinematic solver understands which direction the joint should rotate. Freeze transformations on the joints. Activate the IK Handle tool, click on the first joint (known as the root), and then click on the wrist joint. Move around the IK Handle to bend the joint.

Create a number of keyframes for the Translate channels of a simple object. Copy the keyframes to a different point in time for the object. Try copying the keyframes to the Scale channels. Try copying the keys to the Translate channels of another object.

After creating keys for the object, Shift-drag a selection on the timeline. Use the arrows in the selection box to move or scale the keys. Right-click on the keys and choose Copy. Move to a different point in time on the timeline and paste the keys. Copying, pasting, and duplicating keys to another object can be accomplished by selecting the channels in the Channel Box and using the options that appear when you right-click on the channels.

Create a looping animation for the mechanical bug model using as few keys as possible. The bug should leap up repeatedly and move forward with each leap.

Create keyframes on the bug's Translate Y and Translate Z channels. Set four keys on the Translate Y channel so the bug is stationary, then moves up along the Y axis, moves back down to zero, and then holds for a number of frames. In the Graph Editor, set the Post-Infinity option for the Translate Y channel to Cycle. Create a similar set of keyframes for the Translate Z channel on the same frames. Set the Post-Infinity option for Translate Z to Cycle With Offset.

Create a playblast of the mechBugLayers_v04.ma scene.

Open the mechBugLayers_v04.ma scene from the chapter5scenes directory on the DVD. Rewind the animation and create a playblast by choosing Windows

Create an alternate automated walk cycle for the mechanical bug so that when it walks sideways (along its Translate X), the legs automatically move in a crablike fashion.

Use the same techniques used to create the walk cycle described earlier in the chapter. Use the Translate X channel of the bodyCtrl curve to drive the Translate X and Translate Y channels of one of the legs. Use the Pre- and Post-Infinity options to cycle the leg animation. Copy the animation to the other legs, and then use the Graph Editor to offset the animation for each leg.

Create an expression to randomly rotate the bug's eyes up and down. Make the rotation faster based on the height of the bodyCtrl curve.

Create an expression on the Translate Y channel of the eyeAimLoc locator in the mechanicalBug rig. The expression should read as follows:

eyeAimLoc.translateY = (bodyCtrl.translateY*noise(time));

Make the bug walk along a motion path. See if you can automate a walk cycle based on the position along the path.

Draw a curve in a scene with the fully rigged mechanical bug. Attach the bodyCtrl curve to the curve using Animate

Create animation layers for the flying bug in the mechBug_v08.ma scene in the chapter5scenes directory on the DVD. Create two layers: one for the bodyCtrl curve and one for the legsCtrl curve. Use layers to make the animation of the wings start with small movements and then flap at full strength.

Open the mechBug_v08.ma scene. Select the bodyCtrl curve. In the animation layers create an empty layer. Select the BaseAnimation layer, select the bodyCtrl curve, and choose Layers

Create Blend Shape targets for the nancy character. Make an expression where the brows are up and the brows are down. Create a rig that animates each brow independently.

Create two duplicates of the neutral nancy character. Use the modeling tools to model raised eyebrows on one copy and lowered eyebrows on the other. Add these targets to the nancy model. Use the Paint Blend Shape tool to make four additional targets: leftBrowUp, leftBrowDown, rightBrowUp, and rightBrowDown. Add these new targets to the nancy model. Create a custom slider using the Curve tool. Connect the slider to the Blend Shape controls using driven keys.

Create a Blend Shape sequence of a mushroom growing.

Create a model of a mushroom. Create a duplicate of the model, and edit each duplicate to represent stages in the growth of the mushroom. Work backwards from the formed mushroom to the very beginning. Select the mushroom stage models in order of their growth stages, and apply them to the first stage of the mushroom group as a Blend Shape. Check the In-between setting in the Blend Shape Options.

Animate a cube of jelly squishing along a path.

Create a polygon cube with a lot of divisions. Apply a lattice deformer to the cube. Scale the lattice and the base node together so they encompass the path of the cube. Use the Move tool to select and move the lattice points. Animate the cube moving through the lattice.

Create an animated garden hose using clusters.

Create a NURBS curve. Create cluster deformers for each CV of the curve. Extrude a NURBS circle along the curve path. Keyframe the translation of the clusters as you move them in the scene.

Animate an eel swimming past the jellyfish we created in this chapter.

Model a simple eel using your favorite tools and techniques. Apply a sine deformer to the eel. Create an expression that animates the offset of the sine wave. Group the eel and the deformer, and animate the group moving past the jellyfish.

Add a jiggling motion to the belly of a character.

Create a rotund character. Animate the character moving. Add a jiggle deformer to the character. Use the Paint Jiggle Weights tool to mask the jiggle weights on the entire character except for the belly.

Create a slow-motion effect for an animation that uses a deformer.

Animate an object using deformers. Create a geometry cache. In the attributes for the geometry cache, increase the scale. Try animating the Scale attribute using keyframes.

Create a rig using three bones and a lattice around a simple piece of geometry such as a sphere. Use the bones to animate the lattice.

Create a polygon sphere and apply a lattice deformer to the sphere. Create three joints at the center of the lattice running along its vertical axis. Select the joints and the lattice, and use Smooth Binding to bind the lattice to the joints. Move the joints, and the lattice should update.

Create a joint hierarchy for a humanoid character. Label the joints and create names based on the labels. Orient the joints so the X axis points down the length of the joints.

Create a joint chain with the root of the chain at the character's pelvis. Create a leg and an arm on one side of the body. Use the Label feature to create labels for these joints; then use the Create Names From Labels feature to automatically name the joints after the labels. Orient the joints, and then mirror the legs and arms from one side to the other.

Create an Inverse Kinematic rig for a character's leg. Use a separate control to position the knee of the character.

Create an Inverse Kinematic Handle for a simple leg using the RP Solver. Create a locator and place it in front of the knee. Apply a Pole Vector constraint to the leg's IK Handle using the locator as a handle.

Paint weights on the hand model so that the padding of the thumb bulges when the thumb is rotated toward the palm of the hand.

Bind the joints created in the left arm example files to the arm geometry. Use the Paint Weights tool to paint the weights for each joint on the arm. Rotate the thumb joints so that the thumb points toward the palm of the hand. Carefully paint the weights on the inside of the hand so that they are distributed between the hand joints and the thumb joints.

Use Maya Muscle to create muscles for the forearm. Use the muscle system to reduce the amount of shrinking that occurs in the arm geometry when the forearm is rotated around its axis.

Use the Muscle Builder to make a surface that is attached to the wrist and elbow. Convert the surface into a muscle, and use the Squash and Stretch presets to deform the muscle so that it reduces the shrinking that occurs when the upper part of the forearm is twisted.

Create a tiling texture map using the Paint Effects canvas.

Choose a brush from the Visor, such as the downRedFeathers.mel brush from the feathers folder. On the canvas toolbar, enable the Horizontal and Vertical Wrap options. Paint feathers across the canvas; strokes that go off the top or sides will wrap around to the opposite side. Save the image in the Maya IFF format, and try applying it to an object in a 3D scene.

Create a small garden or jungle using Paint Effects brushes.

Model a simple landscape using a polygon or NURBS plane. Create some small hills and valleys in the surface. Make the object paintable, and then experiment using the Brush presets available in the Visor. The plants, plantsMesh, trees, treesMesh, flowers, and flowersMesh folders all have presets that work well in a garden or jungle setting.

Use the Leafy Vine stroke to add a series of vine strokes to a simple wall model. Change the Global Scale setting of all the strokes at the same time.

Create a wall model from a polygon cube. Make sure the wall model has UV texture coordinates properly applied. Make the wall paintable, and select the Leafy Vine stroke from the Plants folder of the Visor. Paint strokes directly on the wall to create a series of vines. Select all of the vine strokes, and choose Paint Effects

Design a brush to look like a laser beam.

Use one of the neonGlow brushes found in the glows folder in the Visor. Paint the brush in a 3D scene, paint as straight a line as possible, or attach the stroke to a straight curve using the options in the Paint Effects

Create a paintbrush that resembles the strokes used in Vincent Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night."

Choose the Blue Oil brush from the oils folder of the Visor. Paint a stroke in a scene. Increase the Brush Width, and activate Tubes. Increase the Tubes Per Step, and then see if you can fine-tune the brush to look like an Impressionist stroke. Use the Hue Rand, Sat Rand, Val Rand, and other Randomization options in the Shading and Tube Shading sections of the Brush attributes.

Create a mushroom tree using the Cortinarius Mushroom stroke found in the plantsMesh folder of the Visor.

Use the Cortinarius brush to paint some mushrooms in the scene. In the Growth section of the Brush attributes, activate Branches. Increase the Length Min and Length Max sliders in the Creation section of the Brush attributes to extend the height of the tree and the length of the branches. Adjust the settings in the Flowers section of the attributes to change the shape of the mushroom cap.

Add tendrils to a squashed sphere to create a simple jellyfish.

Use the slimeWeed brush in the grasses folder of the Visor. Paint on the bottom of the sphere. Adjust the look of the tendrils by modifying the Noise, Curl, Wiggle, and Gravity forces in the Behavior section of the Brush attributes.

Animate blood vessels growing across a surface. Animate the movement of blood within the vessels.

Use any of the Branching Tree presets as a starting point for the blood vessels. Use the Shading attributes to add a red color. Animate the growth of the vessels by activating Time Clip in the Flow Animation attributes. To animate the blood in the vessels, set the Texture type to Fractal for the color in the Texturing section and activate Texture Flow in the Flow Animation attributes.

Render an animated Paint Effects tree in mental ray.

Choose the Tree Sparse stroke from the Trees folder of the Visor. Draw the tree in the scene, and add animation using the Turbulence controls (choose Tree Wind turbulence). Convert the tree to polygons and render with mental ray.

Add glowing contour lines to a futuristic vehicle to imitate the look of a vector-style rendering in a computer display.

Add Paint Effects outlines to a vehicle. Select one of the neon brush strokes from the Glows folder of the Visor, and apply it to the toon lines (Toon

Compare mental ray depth map shadows to ray trace shadows. Render the crystalGlobe.ma scene using soft ray trace shadows.

Depth map shadows render faster and are softer than ray trace shadows. Ray trace shadows are more physically accurate. Create a light and aim it at the crystalGlobe. Enable Ray Trace Shadows and increase the Shadow Rays and the Light Radius settings.

Render the rotunda_v01.ma scene using Global Illumination.

Create a photon-emitting area light, and place it near the opening in the top of the structure. Set its Intensity to 0. Create a shadow-casting direct light, and place it outside the opening in the ceiling. Turn on Emit Photons for the area light, and enable Global Illumination in the Render Settings window. Increase Photon Intensity and the number of photons emitted as needed.

Create a fluorescent light bulb from geometry that can light a room.

Model a fluorescent light bulb from a polygon cylinder. Position it above objects in a scene. Apply a Lambert shader to the bulb, and set the incandescent channel to white. Enable Final Gathering in the Render Settings window, increase the Scale value, and render the scene. Adjust the settings to increase the quality of the render.

Render the car scene using the Uffizi Gallery probe HDR image available at www.debevec.org/Probes/.

Create an Image-Based Lighting node in the car scene using the settings in the Render Settings window. Download the Uffizi Gallery light probe image from www.debevec.org/Probes/. Apply the image to the IBL node in the scene (use Angular mapping). Experiment using Final Gathering, Global Illumination, and the IBL light shader. Use these in combination to create a high-quality render.

Render a short animation showing the car at different times of day.

Add the Physical Sun and Sky network to the car scene using the settings in the Render Settings window. Make sure Final Gathering is enabled. Keyframe the sunDirection light rotating on its X axis over 100 frames. Render a sequence of the animation.

Build a lamp model that realistically lights a scene using an area light.

Build a small lamp with a round bulb. Create an area light, and place it at the center of the bulb. In the area light's shape node settings, enable Use Shape in the mental ray settings, and set the shape Type to Sphere. Scale down the light to fit within the bulb. Enable Ray Trace Shadows and render the scene.

Render the rotunda_v01.ma scene using the Portal Light shader.

Open the rotunda_v01.ma scene and add a Physical Sun and Sky network using the settings in the Render Settings window. Create a mental ray area light, and place it near the opening in the ceiling. Make sure the Visible option is enabled. Add the Portal Light shader to the Light Shader and the Photon Emitter slots in the area light's Custom Shader section. Enable Final Gather and render the scene. Use the settings on the portal shader node to adjust the look of the lighting.

Render a beam of light coming from a flashlight model.

Model a simple flashlight. Parent a spotlight to the end of the flashlight. Create a polygon cube to surround the area around the flashlight, and attach the Transmat shader to the cube. In the Transmat shader's shading group node, attach a parti_volume shader to the Volume Material slot in the mental ray section. Enable Auto Volume in the Features section of the Render Settings. Attach a Physical Light shader to the spotlight, and render the scene. Adjust the settings on the parti_volume shader to improve the brightness and quality of the PM.

Create an ambient occlusion shader from a standard Maya shader.

Create a surface shader, connect an mib_amb_occlusion node to the Out Color channel of the surface shader. Use the Sampling, Spread, and Max Distance settings to tune the quality of the effect.

Create a standard Maya shader that is more reflective on parts of the shader that face away from the camera.

Connect a black and white ramp texture to the Reflectivity of a standard Maya shader such as Blinn or Phong. Create a Sampler Info node and connect the facingRation of the smaplerInfoNode to the V coordinates of the ramp texture using the Connection Editor. Apply the shader to a surface and render using mental ray.

Create the look of translucent plastic using a standard Maya Blinn shader.

Apply a Blinn shader to an object. Increase transparency and reflectivity. Enable Refractions in the Raytrace Options settings. In the mental ray section, increase the Mi Reflection and Mi Refractions settings. Render with mental ray.

Create a realistic CD surface using the mib shaders.

Attach a mib_illum_ward_deriv shader to the base shader slot of the mib_glossy_reflection node. Apply this material to the top of a disc. Use the settings on the mib_illum_ward_deriv shader to create anisotropic specular highlights.

Design a shader for a new and an old car finish.

Apply the mi_carpaint_phen_x shader to a model, and add lighting to the scene (using a Physical Sun and Sky network is a fast way to create realistic lighting). For the new car, make sure that the reflections have a Glossy setting of 1, and increase the strength of the flakes. For the older car, lower the Glossy setting on the reflections and the strength of the flakes; add a dirt layer to the shader.

Create a realistic polished-wood material.

Create a mia_material_x shader for an object in a scene that uses physical sky and sun lighting. Use the Glossy finish as a starting place to create the material. In the Color channel of the Diffuse settings, add the Wood 3D texture from the standard Maya 3D texture nodes. Add glossiness to the reflections and the highlight (remember that lower settings spread out the reflection, whereas higher settings create a more defined reflection).

Create a scene that uses physical light shaders on the lights. Apply MIA materials to the objects in the scene, and correct the exposure using tone mapping.

Add an mia_exposure_simple lens shader to the rendering cameras in the scene. Adjust the settings on the lens shader to correct for exposure problems.

Render the space suit helmet using contours.

Open one of the versions of the helmet scene in the chapter10scenes directory. Apply a material to the helmet geometry. Enable Contour Rendering in the material's shading group node and in the Features tab of the Render Settings window.

Map UV texture coordinates for a character's hand; then try a complete figure.

Start by using the UV map projection utilities to project coordinates onto the surfaces of the model. Then use the tools in the UV Texture Editor to stitch the coordinates together to create as few shells as possible. Apply a checker texture to the model so that you can spot areas where the texture is warped.

Paint a bump map for a character. Create high-resolution and low-resolution versions of the model, and try creating a normal map using the Transfer Maps tool. See if you can bake the bump map into the normal map.

To include a bump map in the normal map calculation, first apply the bump texture to the object's material and then activate the Include Materials option in the settings of the Transfer Maps tool.

Create some terrain using a procedural texture, such as the crater texture, as a displacement map for a plane. Try animating the depth of the map so that canyons form in the ground over time.

Start the animation with the Alpha Offset of the crater texture set to 1. Keyframe the Alpha Offset value over time so that after 60 frames or so, the Alpha Offset is at −2. Keep the Alpha Gain value at 1 throughout the animation.

Create a PSD network for a shader that includes layers for transparency, incandescence, and reflected color.

When you create the network, use the PSD Network dialog box to select Transparency, Incandescence, and Reflected Color from the left side of the dialog and move them to the right.

Change the look of the old man character by making his skin paler or tanner; see if you can get the backlight to make his ears glow from behind.

Increase the weighting for the back-scattering challenge, and reposition the back light so that it shines from directly behind the character. Adjust the weights on the other channels, and try changing the Color Gain and Color Offset sliders on each of the textures used in the network.

Create a texture for a tire that includes the text for the tire brand on the side of the tire.

Create a ramp texture for the tire, and use the ramp's color as a guide so you can see where the tread should go as well as which parts of the texture correspond to the sides of the tire. Convert the ramp into a file texture. In Photoshop, import the file texture, and create a tread pattern for the length of the center of the tire. Create text for the tire brand, and rotate it 90 degrees vertically. Use the texture as a displacement map for the tire.

Use render layers to set up alternate versions of the space helmet. Try applying contour rendering on one layer and Final Gathering on another.

Open the helmetComposite_v01.ma scene from the chapter12scenes directory on the DVD. Add a second render layer by copying the helmet layer. In the render settings for the helmet layer, create a Layer Override for the Enable Contours setting, and turn this on (remember to activate one of the Draw By Property Difference options). Create a Layer Override for the Final Gathering option in the Indirect Illumination tab, and turn Final Gathering off. Apply a Lambert texture to all the helmet surfaces while in the helmet layer, and activate Contours in the Lambert's shading group node attributes. The helmet2 layer should still have Final Gathering activated. Test render both layers, and see if contours render correctly on the helmet layer and if Final Gathering renders on the helmet2 layer.

Create an Ambient Occlusion pass for the minigun scene.

Open the minGunComposite_v01.ma scene. In the Passes tab of the Render Settings window, create an Ambient Occlusion pass. Move the AO (Ambient Occlusion) pass from the Scene Passes section to the Associated Passes section. In the Features tab, enable Ambient Occlusion. In the Indirect Lighting tab, set Ambient Occlusion Rays to 64. Render a test from the renderCam camera in the Render View window. Use the File menu in the Render View window to load the Ambient Occlusion pass (if the Load Render Pass option is not available, use the File menu to browse to the images directory of the current project; you'll find the pass in a folder called miniGun/AO).

Create a batch script to render five fictional scenes. Each scene uses layers with different render settings. Set the frame range for each scene to render frames 20 through 50. Each scene is named myScene1.ma through myScene5.ma.

Create a text file in plain-text format. Each line should be a command-line render script that looks like this:

Render -r file -s 20 -e 50 myScene1.ma

Save the text file as batchRender.bat (or .batch on a Mac) in the same directory as the scenes. On a Windows machine, you can double-click the .bat file. On a Mac, you need to use the Terminal to change the mode of the file into an executable (chmod 777). On the Mac, type ./batchRender.batch to start the render.

Diagnose both the sampling and the BSP depth of the helmetComposite_v04.ma scene.

Open the helmetComposite_v04.ma scene on the chapter12scenes directory on the DVD. In the Render Settings window, activate Diagnose Samples and perform a test render (turn off Final Gathering). The areas of light gray and white indicate the areas where most of the sampling occurs. Turn off Diagnose Sampling, and in the Acceleration options, set the Diagnose Bsp option to Depth. Set the sampling of the scene to −3 and perform a test render. The orange and red portions of the test render indicate areas where BSP voxels are approaching or have reached maximum depth.

Create a spiral shape using nParticles.

Create a polygon helix and fill it with nParticles. Make the surface transparent, and set Gravity to 0 in the Nucleus solver.

Make nParticles pop out of the top of an animated volume.

Create a polygon cube and remove the top. Animate the cube shrinking along the X or Z axis. Fill the cube with nParticles (make the nParticle style balls or water with an Incompressibility value of 1), and make the cube a collision surface.

Create a flowing stream of nParticles that ends in a waterfall.

Model a trough in a polygon plane that slopes downward and ends at a cliff. Create a volume emitter set to the water nParticle style. Set Incompressibility to 0.5.

Create your own name in nParticles.

Use a digital paint program to create a texture using your name (black letters on a white surface work best). Import the texture into Maya using a file texture node. Create a surface emitter using a plane. Attach the file node to the Texture Emission Rate attribute of the emitter, and check Emit From Dark.

Create the effect of bubbles pushed back and forth under water.

Create an emitter using the ball-style nParticles. Set Gravity Direction to 1 in the Y axis field so the nParticles are pulled upward. Set the Air Density above 20. Create an expression that randomizes the wind speed using the noise function, such as nucleus1.windSpeed=2*(noise(time));, and set the Wind Noise attribute to 5.

Render a small fire using the Hardware Render Buffer.

To create the soft look of the frames, use the Multi Pass Render options in the Hardware Render Buffer Attributes section. Enable Multi Pass Rendering, and set Render Passes to a high value such as 20.

Add a second nParticle object emitted from the base of the generator. Enable its force field so that it attracts some of the original energy nParticle.

Create a surface emitter from the base object in the generator. In the options, set Min Distance to 1 and Max Distance to 1.5; this ensures that the new particle is not trapped by the base surface (it is a collision object). Set Emission Rate to 10, and lower the Emission Rates on the other emitters so the scene plays back at a reasonable rate. Set the Point Force field to World Space. Set Magnitude to 10.

Create and render a snowglobe effect.

Create a sphere and fill it halfway with point-style nParticles. Make the sphere a collision surface. Paint a texture map so that the base of the sphere has a high Stickiness value. Add a Wind setting to the Nucleus tab with an Air Density of 25. Add a Vortex field and a Turbulence field to the nParticle snow. Create reflective and refractive shaders for the sphere (or use the mia shader with the thick glass preset), and render using mental ray.

Create the effect of a cube of gelatinous material rolling down the stairs.

Model a cube and some stairs. Position the cube above the stairs and convert it into an nCloth object. Apply the Putty preset and try blending Water Balloon, Solid Rubber, and other presets until you get a nice gelatinous motion. Try raising the stickiness on the material to counteract some of the bounciness.

Make a water balloon burst as it hits the ground.

Create a polygon balloon and convert it to an nCloth object. Place it above a floor object. Apply the Water Balloon preset to the nCloth. Fill the nCloth balloon with water nParticles. Add a tearable constraint to the nCloth balloon. Play the animation and adjust the settings until you get the effect you want.

Animate a wrecking ball destroying a wall of nCloth bricks.

Model a polygon ball and a simple polygon rope. Convert the ball and rope to nCloth objects. Apply the Concrete preset to the wrecking ball and the Chain Mail preset to the rope. Use the component nConstraint to attach the end of the rope to the vertices at the top of the wrecking ball. Create a wall of polygon bricks and convert them to nCloth objects; apply the Concrete preset to the bricks. Position the ball so it swings toward the bricks. Adjust the settings as needed to create a believable effect.

Animate a series of dominoes falling over.

Create a large number of polygon cubes, and arrange them in a line on a floor that is a passive rigid body. Convert the cubes into active rigid bodies. Add a gravity field to all of the active bodies. Apply a small radial field to the first rigid body so it falls over and collides with the second rigid body, creating a chain reaction of toppling dominoes.

Create the effect of a swarm of insects attacking a beach ball.

Model a single insect. Place the model at the origin of the grid, and freeze transformations on the model. Animate the insect's wings flapping at a high rate of speed. Add an nCloth sphere and an nParticle emitter to the scene. Instance the insect to the nParticles, and make the nCloth sphere a goal for the nParticles. To make the insects face the correct direction, set the aim direction in the nParticles' Instance attributes to Velocity.

Improve the animation of the insects attacking the beach ball by adding different types of insects to the swarm. Randomize their size, and create expressions so that larger insects move more slowly.

Model several types of insects; place them all at the origin. Add the new geometry to the instance node in the swarm scene. Make a creation expression to randomize the index number of the instances so more than one type of insect is included in the swarm. Use the Mass Scale ramp to randomize the mass of the insect nParticles. Create an expression that bases the scale in X, Y, and Z of each instance on the mass of each nParticle.

In the explosion scene from this chapter, make the nCloth bricks emit a smoke trail as they fly out from the tower.

Select the active bricks and convert them to surface emitters. Set the nParticle type to Cloud. Use the nParticle ramps to make the cloud nParticles grow and fade in opacity as they are emitted from the nCloth bricks. Make sure the nParticles have a defined life span.

Create furry whiskers for the old man model used in Chapter 11.

Open the UVMap_v06.ma scene from the chapter11scenes directory on the DVD. Attach fur to the model and paint a baldness map so that nonwhiskered areas are at a value of 0 and whiskered areas have a low value, such as 0.3, to create sparse whiskers.

Create a field of grass that blows in the wind.

Model some rolling hills and apply the Grass Fur preset to the hills. Make the length of the grass fairly long. Apply a grid of hair follicles to the field, and apply forces to the hair follicles (you may want to lower the gravity in the hairSystem node). Attach the hairSystem to the grass fur description.

Add a Physical Sun and Sky network to the hound dog scene, and render with mental ray.

Open the hound_v09.ma scene, open the Render Settings window, and set the renderer to mental ray. In the Indirect Lighting tab, click the Add Physical Sun And Sky button. Render using the perspective camera. Be prepared for a long render!

Create a flag using dynamic curves.

Create two parallel curves and make both dynamic. Set the Point Lock attribute on both curves to Base. Loft a NURBS surface between the dynamic curves. Edit the dynamic properties of the curves, and apply fields to the curves to create a flapping motion for the flag.

Add hair to the old man character from Chapter 9.

Open the UVMap_v06.ma scene from the chapter11scenes folder on the DVD. Create a scalp surface for the old man by duplicating selected faces on the head. Paint follicles on the head to suggest hair growing from the sides and back of the head. Use Thinning and other hair properties to create the look of long and wispy hair.

Create an avant-garde hairdo for the nancy character using fields.

Open the nancyHair_v06.ma scene. Apply a turbulence field to the hairSystem1 node. Set Magnitude to a high value (10 to 20) and set Attenuation to 0. Play the animation. When the hair achieves an interesting state, select the follicles and set the state as the hair's rest position (and start position). Delete the field, and increase the hair's start curve Attract attribute.

Use a constraint to create a ponytail for a character.

Create hair for a character. Select a number of the start curves and apply a hair-to-hair constraint. Play the simulation, and adjust the properties of the constraint to create a ponytail at the back of the head. The effect of the motion of the constraint is visible in the hair strokes.

Apply the Hair preset examples found in the Visor to a character, and render with mental ray.

Open the Visor and import one of the hair examples into a scene with a character. Transplant the hair from the imported surface to your character, or just parent the imported hair surface to your character's rig. Import the hairLights.ma file from the Visor, and render using the Fine Trace Quality preset in the mental ray settings.

Create sweatpants and a sweatshirt with a hood for the simple man character.

Open the simpleMan_v01.ma scene from the chapter15scenes directory. Delete the existing shirt and pants objects. Model sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt using polygon modeling techniques. Convert the pants and shirt to nCloth objects, and make the man's geometry a passive collider. Use a transform constraint to connect the vertices at the top of the sweatpants to the rootCtrl locator in the man's rig. Apply an nCloth preset, such as Heavy Knit, to the nCloth objects.

Add starch to the simple man's shirt by painting a Rigidity value on the shirt geometry.

Open the simpleMan_v06.ma scene from the chapter15scenes directory. Select the surface and paint a vertex map. Choose Rigidity as the property you want to paint. Set Max Value in the Artisan Tool options to 30. Set the Max Color slider in the Artisan Display options to 30. Set the Paint value to somewhere between 20 and 30, and paint on the surface where you want the shirt to be stiff. Adjust the values as needed.

Create a logo animation that dissolves like ink in water.

Create a 2D fluid container, and use the Paint Fluids tool to paint density values in the container. Paint a logo or import a black-and-white image file of the logo. Set the Buoyancy of the fluid to 0. Use dynamic fields to push the logo to create the dissolving motion. Try using turbulence, drag, and vortex fields on the logo.

Create a chain reaction of explosions using the Paint Fluids tool.

Create a 3D fluid container. Use the Paint Fluids tool to paint small blobs of fuel separated by short distances. The painted fuel blobs should be arranged so that they create a chain reaction when lit. Add an emitter that emits temperature, and place it below the first fuel blob in the container. Set the Ignition Temperature, Reaction Speed, and Heat Released attributes in the Fuel section of the container so the fuel burns and emits heat when a certain temperature is reached. Set Shading to Temperature so that you can see the reaction.

Render the TurbulentFlame.ma example in the Visor so that it emits light onto nearby surfaces.

Create a scene that has simple modeled surfaces such as a floor and some logs. Import the TurbulentFlame.ma scene from the Fire folder of the Visor (under the Fluid Examples tab). Set the renderer to mental ray. In the Indirect Lighting section, turn on Final Gathering. Increase Final Gathering Scale to 4. Turn off Default Light in the Common Attributes tab of the Render Settings window. Play the animation, and render a test frame when the fire is burning.

nCloth objects use nParticles and springs to simulate the behavior of cloth. If fluids can affect nParticles, it stands to reason that they can also affect nCloth objects. Test this by creating a simulation where a fluid emitter pushes around an nCloth object.

Create a 3D fluid container and an emitter that emits density and temperature. The fluid should rise in the container, and the Swirl attribute in Velocity should be set to 10 so that there is a turbulent motion. Create a polygon sphere and place it inside the fluid container above the emitter. Convert the sphere to an nCloth object. Use the Silk preset for the nCloth object, and set Gravity in the Nucleus tab to 0.1. Play the animation, and experiment with the settings in the fluid container and on the nCloth object until the fluid pushes the nCloth object around.

Open the swamp.ma scene in the chapter16scenes directory, and create a pond. Add ripples to the surface.

Open the swamp_v01.ma scene from the chapter16scenes directory. The scene has a small ditch and a few Paint Effects trees that have been converted to polygons. Create a pond surface. Add some wake emitters around the edges of the pond to create ripples. These can be hidden behind geometry in the scene. Convert the pond into polygons, and create a surface that looks like dark, brackish water.

Create an ocean effect that resembles stormy seas. Add the capsule geometry as a floating object.

Import the WhiteCaps.ma scene from the Ocean Examples tab of the Visor. Import the capsule_v01.ma scene from the chapter16scenes directory on the DVD. Use the Float Selected Objects command to make the capsule float on the surface of the water. Look at the settings in the ocean shader node to see how the stormy sea effect was created.

Create a polygon cube using the command shell. Create a NURBS cone using the command line. Create a polygonSphere using the Script Editor.

Open the command shell and type polyCube. In the command line, type cone. In the work area of the Script Editor, type polySphere.

Write a more efficient version of the mySpriteScript file that automatically selects all of the nParticle objects in a scene without the need for a conditional statement to test the type of the selected nodes.

In the Script Editor choose History

Write a procedure that adds an expression to selected objects that use the noise function to randomly scale objects over time.

Edit the shakeMeProc.mel file. Replace the text translateX=rand(−1,1); with scaleX=noise(time);. Repeat this for TranslateY and TranslateZ.

Use Python to make a NURBS torus.

Switch the Script Editor tab to Python mode. Import MEL commands by typing maya.cmds. Type maya.cmds.torus() to create the torus using default settings. Flags can be used to specify attributes of the torus. Look up Python commands in the Technical Documentation section of the Maya help files for more information.