Subdivision Surfaces Lesson 1: Beyond the lesson
In this lesson, you were introduced to some basic techniques related to subdivision surface modeling:
Modeling with subdivision surfaces is an easy way to create intricate, smooth objects such as
human hands and faces. The ability to create extrusions, subtle surface alterations, and sharp
edges means there are innumerable types of objects you can model.
Many of the techniques used in modeling polygonal surfaces are applicable to subdivision
surfaces.
There are many other features related to subdivision surfaces not covered in this lesson. These include
the ability to:
Convert a NURBS surface to subdivision surface.
Convert a subdivision surface to a polygonal or NURBS surface.
Create subdivision surface primitive shapes from the Create > Subdiv Primitives menu: Sphere,
Cube, Cylinder, Cone, Plane, and Torus. With these shapes, you can quickly start your subdivision
surface model without converting from polygons or NURBS surfaces.
Attach two subdivision surfaces to form a single surface, for instance, to merge a hand and an
arm.
Create a mirrored copy of a subdivision surface.
You can sculpt subdivision surfaces using the Sculpt Geometry Tool.
If you want to learn more about a particular tool or feature that has been presented in this lesson,
refer to the Maya Help.
Animation Lessons: Introduction
Maya lets you apply action to the objects in your 3D scene. In Maya, when an object or attribute
changes in relation to time, it is referred to as being animated.
Maya provides a large selection of tools to help you animate the objects in your scene. You may decide
to use a combination of several techniques to achieve your desired results.
In this chapter, you learn some common techniques and features that highlight Maya's computer
animation technology:
Lesson 1: Keyframes and the Graph Editor
Lesson 2: Set Driven Key
Lesson 3: Path animation
Lesson 4: Nonlinear animation with Trax
Lesson 5: Inverse kinematics
Animation Lessons: Preparing for the lessons
To ensure the lessons work as described, do these steps before beginning:
1. Select Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences. Click the Settings category and set the
Time option to Film (24 fps) so your animation plays at the rate of 24 frames per second. Click the
Save button.
2. Select the Animation menu set. Unless otherwise noted, the directions in this chapter for making
menu selections assume you've already selected the Animation menu set.
Animation Lesson 1: Introduction
When you set a keyframe (or key), you assign a value to an object's attribute (for example, translate,
rotate, scale, color, etc.) at a specific time.
Most animation systems use the frame as the basic unit of measurement because each frame is played
back in rapid succession to provide the illusion of motion.
The frame rate (frames per second) that is used to play back an animation is based on the medium that
the animation will be played back (for example, film, TV, video game, etc.)
When you set several keys at different times with different values, Maya generates the attribute values
between those times as the scene plays back each frame. The result is the movement or change over
time of those objects and attributes.
In this lesson, you will use simple keyframing techniques to make a ball fly over a fence and bounce off
the ground.
In this lesson, you learn how to:
Set keyframes for animatable objects and their attributes.
Use the Time and Range slider and Playback Controls to control the playback.
Use keyboard shortcuts to set keyframes.
Use the Graph Editor to view animation curves.
Modify the animation of objects using the Graph Editor.
Set preferences to increase the playback quality.
Setting the playback range
In this lesson, you work with a scene we've created for your use. In the following steps, you open the
scene and set how long the animation will play.
To open the scene
1. Make sure you've done the steps in Animation Lessons: Preparing for the lessons.
2. Open the scene named Keyframing.mb.
You can open the scene named Keyframing.mb from the Maya Documentation, Lessons, and
Extras CD or from the drive where you copied the Getting Started with Maya data files.
The scene contains a ball object that is currently positioned on the X-axis near the edge of a
ground plane.
To set the playback range for the scene
To animate the ball, you key its position at different times of the playback range.
The playback range is defined by the Time and Range slider. The Time and Range slider controls
allow you to playback or scroll through your animation or move to a specific point in time of your
animation so you can set keyframes.
1. Look over the playback controls, as shown in the figure below:
The Time Slider displays the playback range and keys you've set for a selected object. Keys are
displayed as red lines. The box at the right of the Time Slider lets you set the current frame (time)
of the animation.
The Playback Controls control animation playback. You may recognize the conventional buttons for
play and rewind (return to the start time). The stop button appears only when the animation is
playing. To find out which operation a button represents, hold the mouse pointer over it.
The Animation Preferences button displays a window for setting animation preference settings
such as the playback speed.
The Range Slider controls the range of frames that play when you click the play button.
The above items will have more relevance as you work through this lesson. After you complete
this lesson, experiment with these items to learn more what they do.
The playback range is currently set at a range of 1 to 24. At a default playback rate of 24 frames
per second, the scene can play for one second. Because you'll animate the ball for a few more
seconds than this, you need to lengthen the playback range.
2. In the Playback End Time box (see above), enter 72.
A frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps) is the frame rate used for motion picture film. For
video, the frame rate can be 30 fps (NTSC) or 25 fps (PAL) depending on the format being used.
With a playback range of 1 to 72, you'll be able to create three seconds of animation. (72 frames
divided by 24 frames per second = 3 seconds.) This is enough time for the short animation you'll
create in this lesson.
In this lesson, you were introduced to some basic techniques related to subdivision surface modeling:
Modeling with subdivision surfaces is an easy way to create intricate, smooth objects such as
human hands and faces. The ability to create extrusions, subtle surface alterations, and sharp
edges means there are innumerable types of objects you can model.
Many of the techniques used in modeling polygonal surfaces are applicable to subdivision
surfaces.
There are many other features related to subdivision surfaces not covered in this lesson. These include
the ability to:
Convert a NURBS surface to subdivision surface.
Convert a subdivision surface to a polygonal or NURBS surface.
Create subdivision surface primitive shapes from the Create > Subdiv Primitives menu: Sphere,
Cube, Cylinder, Cone, Plane, and Torus. With these shapes, you can quickly start your subdivision
surface model without converting from polygons or NURBS surfaces.
Attach two subdivision surfaces to form a single surface, for instance, to merge a hand and an
arm.
Create a mirrored copy of a subdivision surface.
You can sculpt subdivision surfaces using the Sculpt Geometry Tool.
If you want to learn more about a particular tool or feature that has been presented in this lesson,
refer to the Maya Help.
Animation Lessons: Introduction
Maya lets you apply action to the objects in your 3D scene. In Maya, when an object or attribute
changes in relation to time, it is referred to as being animated.
Maya provides a large selection of tools to help you animate the objects in your scene. You may decide
to use a combination of several techniques to achieve your desired results.
In this chapter, you learn some common techniques and features that highlight Maya's computer
animation technology:
Lesson 1: Keyframes and the Graph Editor
Lesson 2: Set Driven Key
Lesson 3: Path animation
Lesson 4: Nonlinear animation with Trax
Lesson 5: Inverse kinematics
Animation Lessons: Preparing for the lessons
To ensure the lessons work as described, do these steps before beginning:
1. Select Window > Settings/Preferences > Preferences. Click the Settings category and set the
Time option to Film (24 fps) so your animation plays at the rate of 24 frames per second. Click the
Save button.
2. Select the Animation menu set. Unless otherwise noted, the directions in this chapter for making
menu selections assume you've already selected the Animation menu set.
Animation Lesson 1: Introduction
When you set a keyframe (or key), you assign a value to an object's attribute (for example, translate,
rotate, scale, color, etc.) at a specific time.
Most animation systems use the frame as the basic unit of measurement because each frame is played
back in rapid succession to provide the illusion of motion.
The frame rate (frames per second) that is used to play back an animation is based on the medium that
the animation will be played back (for example, film, TV, video game, etc.)
When you set several keys at different times with different values, Maya generates the attribute values
between those times as the scene plays back each frame. The result is the movement or change over
time of those objects and attributes.
In this lesson, you will use simple keyframing techniques to make a ball fly over a fence and bounce off
the ground.
In this lesson, you learn how to:
Set keyframes for animatable objects and their attributes.
Use the Time and Range slider and Playback Controls to control the playback.
Use keyboard shortcuts to set keyframes.
Use the Graph Editor to view animation curves.
Modify the animation of objects using the Graph Editor.
Set preferences to increase the playback quality.
Setting the playback range
In this lesson, you work with a scene we've created for your use. In the following steps, you open the
scene and set how long the animation will play.
To open the scene
1. Make sure you've done the steps in Animation Lessons: Preparing for the lessons.
2. Open the scene named Keyframing.mb.
You can open the scene named Keyframing.mb from the Maya Documentation, Lessons, and
Extras CD or from the drive where you copied the Getting Started with Maya data files.
The scene contains a ball object that is currently positioned on the X-axis near the edge of a
ground plane.
To set the playback range for the scene
To animate the ball, you key its position at different times of the playback range.
The playback range is defined by the Time and Range slider. The Time and Range slider controls
allow you to playback or scroll through your animation or move to a specific point in time of your
animation so you can set keyframes.
1. Look over the playback controls, as shown in the figure below:
The Time Slider displays the playback range and keys you've set for a selected object. Keys are
displayed as red lines. The box at the right of the Time Slider lets you set the current frame (time)
of the animation.
The Playback Controls control animation playback. You may recognize the conventional buttons for
play and rewind (return to the start time). The stop button appears only when the animation is
playing. To find out which operation a button represents, hold the mouse pointer over it.
The Animation Preferences button displays a window for setting animation preference settings
such as the playback speed.
The Range Slider controls the range of frames that play when you click the play button.
The above items will have more relevance as you work through this lesson. After you complete
this lesson, experiment with these items to learn more what they do.
The playback range is currently set at a range of 1 to 24. At a default playback rate of 24 frames
per second, the scene can play for one second. Because you'll animate the ball for a few more
seconds than this, you need to lengthen the playback range.
2. In the Playback End Time box (see above), enter 72.
A frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps) is the frame rate used for motion picture film. For
video, the frame rate can be 30 fps (NTSC) or 25 fps (PAL) depending on the format being used.
With a playback range of 1 to 72, you'll be able to create three seconds of animation. (72 frames
divided by 24 frames per second = 3 seconds.) This is enough time for the short animation you'll
create in this lesson.
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