Maya Indie - global license is here

Maya Indie license - globally available from 7th August 2020!

Here is an example of Germany link

https://commerce.autodesk.com/de-DE/indie-cart?plc=MAYAIU

Alternalively use this main link:

https://makeanything.autodesk.com/maya-indie

Rookies - Introduction to work in VFX

Great FREE to download document - I really recommend for schools, students, 3d animation beginners, people who work in production for VFX and animation.
This was done by the team at ROOKIES.

Download the book:
https://discover.therookies.co/beginners-guide-to-visual-effects-free-ebook/

Here is also link to similar info on Rookies website:
https://discover.therookies.co/2019/05/06/beginners-guide-to-becoming-a-visual-effects-vfx-artist/

Custom Character Toolkit for download

Great tutorial on building simple rigging pipeline is available here. Long lost, no more available to buy anywhere now available at this link.

Maya - Custom Character Toolkit (2004)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t2x5C7NKr10we_r5AHwGh_f4HoRZFX7V/view?usp=sharing

 

Master of Rigging com

Here is great website with link to inspiring collection of rigging demoreel Master Of Rigging and also to custom rigs service www.RIG-IT.net and high quality eshop www.polygonbay.com. 

http://www.masterofrigging.com/

Advanced Rig Deformation Tutorial

Advanced Rigging Deformation tutorial is quick demonstration of advanced Maya rig deformation techniques to help riggers get started with more realistic setups.

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Fish rig in Maya tutorial

Here is nice fish rig tutorial in Maya:

Maya menu show / hide

This is always handy to know, how to hide or show main Maya menus. Especially if you accidentally hide one.

Ctrl + m ....................... show/hide main Maya menus
Shift + Shift + m ....................... show/hide OpenGL modeling Maya menus
Shift + m ....................... show/hide OpenGL +  Outliner Maya menus

Exploring Human Muscles Setup in Maya Course

Here is my latest course on rigging human using Autodesk Maya Muscles for Digital Tutors:

http://www.pluralsight.com/courses/exploring-human-muscles-setup-maya-2395

Over 6 hours detailed workflow, great as an introduction to anyone learning how to use muscles in rigging. Anatomy examples and custom Python tools included. Thanks to Pavel Hruboš who did test animations and Jan Jinda for providing werewolf model.

Pixel Vienna

So I found about another CG Conference. I think the more the better. Here is PIXEL VIENNA, apparently taking place in Wien :)
www.pixelvienna.com

PIXEL 7 from PixelVienna on Vimeo.

Rigging Tutorial on building rigs with Python in Maya

I have recently made my first course for Digital Tutors about Rigging with Python in Maya. This 8 hours course will show how to make rigs 100% using script. A technique which starts to be used more in high profile film productions.  Here is link for a full tutorial:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/2283-Procedural-Rigging-with-Python-in-Maya

I would like to thank to Kaan Kucuk for providing this great model of Komodo Dragon and Pavel Hrubos for making test animation walk cycle for the end lesson.

Sneak Peek: Procedural Rigging in Python with Custom Library in Maya from Digital-Tutors on Vimeo.

Maya architecture overview

This is where I found that Maya has over 600 commands and 900 nodes.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Maya-SDK/files/GUID-F584322E-4A12-4995-9F4E-A38D4331808F-htm.html

I know lot of people are making function that are not needed, because there is already some command or flag, which can deal with it. Similar with API classes. It is really worth reading Maya docs, searching for a suitable command or googling it or wondering there and often something usefull can be found. Because lot of these "gems" are not advertised at all. But it has a lot of potential.

making of music for demoreel

My friend Pavel Kacerle made quite an effort to make a soundtrack with help of his friend who studies sound engineering for his demoreel. And made a making of too. Look at how one CG artist takes care of his promotion :)

Splash 2013 video

One of the best SPLASH conferences so far. Nice look back video cut with track from my favourite NIN.

UK film tax credit update

Based on recent announcement UK government continues to support the film and VFX productions in UK with further enhancing tax credit for lower as well as high budget productions from april 2014. There is also support for digital content Research & Development through Technology Strategy Board and education in the same sector via Skill Investment Fund.

Variety
http://variety.com/2013/film/news/u-k-government-ups-tax-credit-for-bigger-budget-pix-1200921539/

UK goverment website
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/autumn-statement-5-december-2013

* image courtesy Thor The Dark World, visual effects by Double Negative

character TD from DNEG

DNEG has just posted a career profile about Character TD (rigger) where they interviewed my friend Marco Burbano. Nice one!
http://www.dneg.com/career_profiles/career_profile_-_character_td_629.html
He works on Godzilla btw. ;)

Computer Graphics Programming Techniques and Ray Tracing Tutorials » www.scratchapixel.com

Scratchapixel is the first complete interactive resource on the web for anyone (beginner or expert) who seeks to learn 2D and 3D computer graphics techniques from the ground up. Follow the link to find out more about who we are, what you will find here and why scratch-a-pixel is the right place for you to learn these techniques.

Computer Graphics Programming Techniques and Ray Tracing Tutorials » www.scratchapixel.com

New rig from Animation Mentor

Animation Mentor has just released their new FREE to download rig:

http://www.animationmentor.com/free-maya-rig/

Pictures from Splash 2013

So Splash 2013 CG conference ended, it was super exciting as always and here are few pictures from my Procedural Rigging panel

Rigging for Splash WIP skeleton

Basic "build" skeleton added on this mouse for Splash 2013 Rigging talk.

Rigging for Splash WIP

here is some WIP for Splash 2013 Rigging talk. I was editing the mouse model for better pose (click on image for bigger size). T-pose is generally best for cartoons and closed eyelids are easy to bind and detect contact point. Mouth was also closed for the same reasons.