Maya Interface

This is a great graphic that labels the basic Maya interface. I found it over the Holidays, and now I can't find the original source.

I'd like to give credit to whoever made this.

Good way to identify Maya's most important tools and menus.

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2009/03/maya-interface-most-important-things.html

Maya Character Animation - Wither Away

A sentimental imp gives us his philosophy on life. Modified "Generi" character rig with dialog from Star Trek, "The Cage". The background is an old pub photo applied to a polygon plane.

3D Bear Character

Here's my old friend, Herman Bear. I've been drawing him since High School, and he finally became a Maya 3D character. His model and rig were another big breakthrough for me.

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2006/01/previous-maya-work.html

Alan Turing was known as one of the early pioneers of computer science, and was head of the Allied program that cracked Germany's Enigma code in World War II. Here are some cool Turing pattern generators based on his chemistry theories. I had to use screen grabs to get them into Photoshop, from there, I converted them into Illustrator curves.

 

From there, I imported them into Maya to create geometry. The texrd.com website has a very cool free software. My hat's off to them.

http://www.texrd.com/
http://www.supracodex.com/processing/gray-scott.html

Once converted into an Illustrator file, I then imported it into Maya. From there, I lofted the geometry from the curves. This was my solution to a student who wanted to build a maze.

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2012/06/labyrinth-built-in-maya-using-turing.html

Following art direction for 3D modeling

 Here's a dude I modeled in Maya for the Friedman 3D "Mars Rover Project".
It was a refreshing challenge taking art direction from Christope Vacher; you can see his work at

http://www.vacher.com/

Bruiser was built from modeled polygons, and primitive polygon objects.

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2005/10/3d-modeling.html

3D Animation Essentials by Andy Beane

A great comic strip outlining the digital production process.

(copyright Andy Beane)

Maya 2017: Quick Rig

Old Tavern in Maya 3D

Personal project: Design an old tavern near my imaginary airport.

From thumbnail sketch, with tones applied in Photoshop...

To more defined building in Maya.

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2008/11/northwoods-airport-cafe.html

Old Airport Maya Model scene

Basic modeling with primitives to build an old and simple airport.
The sky and treeline was done in Photoshop. The texturing is a bit too rough, I was still learning about UV mapping.
 

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2008/04/old-airport.html

Animated 3D Chicken, my first Maya short

Here's the chicken I created at Friedman 3D ( now Studio Arts) under the instruction of John Park. The original assignment only called for a chicken model to lay an egg. I modeled, rigged and animated the short in under 6 months. The little short I made from this scene was accepted into the 2002 "Bring your own Video" open screening put on by L.A. Siggraph. It was a good break.

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2006/01/ancient-maya-work.html

Simple Chase with Two Primitive Characters

Here is a frame from a simple chase I made at Friedman 3D (now Studio Arts). My plot was about a cookie that escaped from a cookie jar, and how the jar chased the cookie in order to recapture him. I animated a bounce for both characters.

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2007/01/tag-lab-2007.html

3D Modeling - 1989

Here are my first 3D models. These glasses and goblets were created on an old IBM PC. I have forgotten the name of the software. This was done on a pen plotter at Lakeland Community College in 1989.

For the technology and software we had back, then this was quite exciting.

I think this was the IBM 5150

http://animationre-creation.blogspot.com/2006/09/ancient-cg-part-ii.html