How to Cheat in Maya 2017

Paul Naas is an animator, illustrator, professor, and author of two previous books on Maya. He is currently the Program Coordinator for the Digital Art & Animation program at Cañada College in Redwood City, California. Prior to teaching, Paul worked for nearly 20 years as a professional animator in games, independent film, TV spots, and location-based entertainment. He continues to work frequently on freelance and independent projects.

• ContentsHow to Cheat and Why............... ixAcknowledgments..................... xiiiHow to Use This Book.................xv1 AnimationPrinciples........................1Squash and Stretch......................2Anticipation....................................6Staging............................................10Straight Ahead/Pose to Pose..................................15Overlapping Action/Follow-through........................... 22Slow In/Slow Out....................... 26Arcs.................................................. 30Secondary Action....................... 33Timing............................................ 38Exaggeration............................... 42Solid Drawing ............................. 46Appeal............................................ 50Interlude........................................ 542 Splines.......................... 59How Splines Work.......................61Splines and Spacing.................. 67Tangent Types .............................74Tangent Handles........................ 82Spline Technique ....................... 89Spline Reference ........................ 92Interlude........................................ 953 Graph Editor.............. 103Graph Editor Windup..............104Visual Tools................................. 107Working with Keys....................116Value Operators........................ 120Buffer Curves............................. 124Speed Cheats............................. 1284 Techniques................ 133Auto Key...................................... 134Timeline Techniques............... 138Cartoony Motion......................144Trax Editor................................... 147Copying Curves........................ 151Editable Motion Trails............. 159IK and FK...................................... 167IK/FK Switching......................... 171Character Sets........................... 178Grease Pencil Tool.................... 182Grease Pencil and Trails......... 190Interlude...................................... 1965 Constraints................ 201Parenting.....................................202Parent Constraints...................207Constraining a Prop................ 212Constraint Weights.................. 216Animating withConstraints................................. 221Interlude...................................... 2316 Rigging Cheats......... 235Rig Testing..................................236Sprucing it Up...........................248Rigging Props............................256Interlude......................................2597 Standing Out............. 263Adding BlendShapes..............264Adding Clusters........................272Wrap Deformer.........................282Adding Hair and Cloth...........288Interlude......................................2968 Workflow................... 301Planning/Reference.................302Converting Cycles.................... 310Stepped Keys............................. 313Stepped Preview......................320Moving Holds WhenSplining....................................... 324Moving Holds with theRetime Tool.................................334Refining Arcs in Polish............ 337Final Texture...............................342Interview.....................................3469 Cycles.......................... 355Cycle Basics................................356Stride Length.............................363Walk Cycle...................................372Flying Cycle................................378Quad Cycles...............................38810 Referencing............... 393Referencing Basics...................394Offline Edits................................401Saving Reference Edits...........407Interlude...................................... 41311 Facial Animation.......417Planning and Prep................... 418Core Poses..................................422Lip Sync 1—Jaw Motion........428Lip Sync 2—MouthCorners........................................432Lip Sync 3—MouthShapes..........................................436Lip Sync 4—Tongue................441Blinks............................................445Blink and Brows........................450Eye Darts.....................................459Final Touches.............................465Interlude...................................... 47012 Animation Layers..... 473How AnimationLayers Work................................ 474Animation Layer Basics.......... 476Cheating a Cycle.......................483Layers for Texture..................... 491Interlude......................................496Index..............................................501