We started our Maya training by having a brief introduction to 3D graphics (animation) then we moved on to have look at the Maya interface, menus, modules and the user interface in general. Having understood the basic principles of navigating the interface, and also the 3d space, we dived directly into the first task: 3d modeling.
Modeling:
We designed a storyboard, and also some basic character design for it, based on these we started modeling the characters of the story: a bird, a snake, and later we will produce the scenery using Mayas paint effects features.
The Bird:
To learn how to model in 3d we started modeling this character using polygons. We used all the basic tools : extrusion, pulling vertices, etc,etc, following Ahmed original character design sketches. We went over the process several times and tried different solutions for the “problems” that arose along the way. The characters have quite a cartoon appearance which in general make them fairly simple to model but still has enough complexity to make it interesting as an exercise.
The Snake:
A much simpler model, it benefited from the used blend og NURBS and Polygons modeling.
Rigging:
After having finished the model, (or agreeing that we should move on…) we started learning about Rigging (or setting a bone structure for the model). we learned the different kinds of kinematics in 3d animation ( Forward kinematics, Inverse kinematics) and considered by animators as one of the most technicals fields of 3d animation, this is not an accurate perception. while Rigging has certain principles that need to be followed in a given order, these are fairly simple and once you know them they can be replicated and adapted to the characteristics of a given character ie: a quadruped, simply has two more legs than a human, that from the point of view of Rigging means two more sets of bones connected somehow to the Root of the Rig, and a few more IK-handles. Riggs can be very complex or over complex unnecessarily and this tends to make it an intimidating subject to learn at first.
We made a simple Rig for the main body and Inverse Kinematic handles for the legs, the wings we agreed would be easier to animate using Forward Kinematics ( keyframing the rotation of the bone they are parented to), the wings could also be animated either with Setdrivenkeys ( internally deriving or tranfering their movement from another animated attribute in the character), or using an expression or script (this requires scripting-programming knowledge).
We rigged the snake character in the same way, but we used a Spline IK-handle to animate the waving movements characteristic of the snake.
Test Animation:
To test the rig we made a simple animation of the bird “running for his life” with a 360 camera rotating around it , we also used a 4 point lighting, and used basic principles of rendering.
Skinning:
After the bones structure and Ikhandles are in place, we “blend” this rig woth the “mesh” or model, as the intention is that the rig will deform the model, producing the movement we want (animation).
Skinning is pretty straight forward automatized process in Maya, what is quite demanding is the process known as “Painting Weights” whichmeans editing the way each bone in the rig deforms the mesh or model (each vertex) , this process involves assigning different weights to different vertices by “painting” to them the ammount of influence of every neighbouring bone.
As this is a very important topic and quite a “dark art” to master we gave it several trial runs.
Animatic:
From the storyboard, we made an animatic, to explore timing issues for the final animation, we used simple solid models as “stand-in” for the characters and scenery, this allowed us find out not only timing issues but also consistency in the cinematography layout for the animation (shot angles, shot transitions,etc,etc.)
