Converting Image Sequences to Video Files Using ffmpeg

By lesterbanks | Published: April 19, 2013

Nelson Cruz with a post on the Maya Station showing how you can create video files from your rendered image sequences (in this case from Maya), using ffmpeg, the cross-platform utility application to record, convert and stream audio and video.

Maya users on Mac OS can run into problems when trying to get a MOV file output of their image sequences

Of course you can simply use After Effects, or anything else to create videos easily from image sequences, however, using the quicktime pipeline can see some color-shifting as Quicktime’s color management is based on screen profiles, where ffmpeg can get around the color issues. For more information on the color management issue, check out the previous post Circumvent QT’s Color Management by Creating Quicktime from Image Sequences Using FFmpeg here.

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Creating Wireframe on Shaded Renders in Maya Using Mental Ray Contours and Ambient Occlusion

By lesterbanks | Published: April 19, 2013

Lucas Licata demonstrates a simple technique for getting wireframe renders from Mental Ray in Maya showing how to get an interesting look of wireframes in conjunction with a clay style render.

In this video we look at Contour Rendering with Mental ray over an Ambient Occlusion pass in Maya 2013 to get a wireframe render

Lucas uses the Mental Ray Counter Shader for creating the wire frame look, and places them over an Ambient Occlusion pass, which is a great way to display models for demo reels or just an interesting way to get a unique look from a low poly render.

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Create Texture and Rig a Little Big Planet Inspired Bunny Character Using Maya and ZBrush

By lesterbanks | Published: April 16, 2013

Shaun Keenan walks through the process of creating a “Little Big Planet” inspired character starting out in ZBrush to give the character the sewn-together beanbag look, sharing some of his brush and sculpting techniques in ZBrush.

Shaun created additional details in Maya where he shows how to UV map using the RoadKill UV Tool for Maya and creates textures and materials using Photoshop for rendering with V-Ray.

In this two part series, professional character artist and rigger Shaun Keenan will walk you through the process of creating a ‘toon’ style bunny inspired by Little Big Planet’s Sackboy

Part two of the series sees Shaun demonstrate the process of rigging the character using Maya Joints, skinning and creating custom controls, and also building some more advanced features, such as a character user interface for the bunny character.

Check out the two part tutorial on Creating and Rigging a “little big planet” Inspired Bunny Character in Maya and ZBrush here.

continue here

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A Look at Maya 2014′s Node Editor Improvements

By lesterbanks | Published: April 9, 2013

Autodesk’s Steven Roselle takes a look at the improvements made in the Maya Node Editor in Maya 2014, improving workflow for editing and managing nodes.

This week I’m going to cover the much needed updates to the Node Editor. The changes in the Node Editor were focused on workflow and visual feedback

The Maya Node Editor is a new editing environment, seeing fruition in Maya 2013, and is basically a hybrid of the hypergraph and hypershade, providing a more modern and functional mix of the two. Extending this functionality in 2014, Autodesk has improved the visual feedback, and made some great changes to the Node Editor.

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Using Mental Ray Unified Sampling in Maya

By lesterbanks | Published: April 4, 2013

Faizal Taher takes a look at Unified Sampling in Maya Mental Ray and explains a bit about what Unified Sampling is, and how to implement it in Mental Ray for Maya, using the string options to add the Unified Sampling options to the Maya interface (in Maya 2012).

the process of setting up unified sampling in Maya

Faizal notes that using the Unified Sampler in Mental Ray is similar to the DMC Sampler in V-Ray in that you are able to change sampling parameters in one handy area, noting a couple of minor differences as he goes. The ElementalRay blog has some great information on Unified Sampling in Mental Ray, particularly the Primer with settings comparison renders that you might want to check out here.

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Thinkinetic Releases PullDownIt 2.5 With New Activation Options for Fractures

By lesterbanks | Published: April 3, 2013

A look at some of the features in the latest release of PullDownIt 2.5 from Esteban Cuesta.

PullDownIt is a dynamics solver plugin creating fractures and massive rigid body dynamic simulations which is both available for Max and Maya, and the recently released version 2.5 of PullDownIt offers a number of new features and fixes.

Viewport demo showing more relevant features of Pulldownit 2.5 in Maya

PullDownIt 2.5 now has some new activation options for fractured bodies, and now has the ability to break fractured bodies using force fields.

The PullDownIt team has also added air damping parameters for fractured bodies, and the ability to set the fragments as either static or dynamic, as well as adding a new cut material frame. Learn more about PullDownIt and PullDownit version 2.5 here.

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CameraSnap Tools for Maya Creates Camera Animation Paths From Photogrammetry Camera Positions

By lesterbanks | Published: April 1, 2013

CameraSnap Tools, an Autodesk Maya script created Andrew Hazelden, will create a Camera Animation Path in Maya based on the position of each original and individual input cameras, such as the ones that might be used in Autodesk’s 123D Catch.

CameraSnap.mel takes a list of selected cameras in your scene as an input and creates a new camera with an animation path that moves through the position of each of the original input cameras

The script was originally created to convert the many still cameras imported from a photogrammetry application such as 123D Catch, and merge those positions in a single camera animation path in Maya. This would essentially allow Autodesk’s 123D Catch or any other photogrammetry program to be used much like a match-moving package.

Andrew also notes that the CameraSnap Tools script for Maya could also be used to convert or create “Matrix” style bullet time camera rigs that can be used and played back in the Maya viewport and controlled using Maya’s normal time controls.

Check out Andrew Hazelden’s post for his CameraSnap Tools for Maya, where he describes its use, installation, and provides some examples here.

Maya-CameraSnap-Tools-Creates-Camera-Path-Based-on-photogrammetry-Cameras

Maya-CameraSnap-Tools

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The Frame Counter for Maya Provides a Custom Frame Display and Animation Details in a PlayBlast

By lesterbanks | Published: March 29, 2013

Santiago Erlich shares his script for Maya dubbed “The Frame Counter”, which will let you enter information on the overscan area of a Maya PlayBlast including frame numbers, time code, project name, and even markers.

The Frame Counter is a shelve script that lets you enter information in the overscan area

The Frame Counter lives as a shelf button in Maya, and provides an interface for easily creating a frame counter, and custom elements such as project name, animation details, date, and even allows you to choose custom colors.

There are also simple tools for aligning and editing the transparency values of the overscan area, with convenient buttons for playing and creating a PlayBlast right from The Frame Counter Panel. Check out The Frame Counter for Maya here. The Script is a $20.00 commercial license purchase, and it does look like something to have handy.

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walkTool for Maya Creates Character Rigs and Simple Walk Cycles Procedurally

By lesterbanks | Published: March 28, 2013

Walktool-for-Maya-builds-simple-procedural-walk-cycles

Fatima shares his rigging and walk cycle tool for Autodesk Maya called walkTool. The Maya script will allow you to create a complete skeleton with an FBIK setup and IK handles, and then provides an interface for creating a simple quick and dirty walk cycle procedurally, simply my choosing slider values for the various walk cycle components.

The walkTool procedurally constructs a complete skeleton for characters and it creates a walk cycle providing the users with an interface to adjust the different parameters of the walk

This is an interesting concept in character animation, where some tools will allow you to get to a starting point quickly… the old MAX footstep tool comes to mind. walkTool will allow you set step size, leg height, and hip rotation for both top and front. Check out the walkTool for Maya here.

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The Basics for Setting Up Linear Workflow for V-Ray in Maya

By lesterbanks | Published: March 28, 2013

Peter Hartwig demonstrates the basics on how to set up V-ray in Maya to a linear workflow as the first part of a series of videos. Although Peter doesn’t cover what Linear Workflow is, he does show more than one workflow method for setting V-Ray up to run Linear.

This video is all about setting up linear workflows in Vray for Maya. It’s the first video in the series

Setting up a linear workflow in V-Ray for Maya is a much simpler and cleaner process than what you might be used to in mental ray implementations. Peter discusses “linearizing” images through file nodes in Maya as well, and demonstrates how to incorporate them into V-Ray’s Workflow,without too much trouble.

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