Pre-Viz for Beginners with Autodesk MAYA

1
Pre-Viz for Beginners with Autodesk MAYA
presents

• Make your movie, before you make your movie

2
We Have the Technology

• Its an exciting time for Indie film makers
• Cheaper
• i.e. Equipments and Software
• Faster
• i.e. Computers and workflow
• Easier
• Relatively speaking for each person

3
The General Pipeline

• Prep Work
• Script or outline
• Recording dialogue
• Lay out audio dialogue into a NLE
• This allows for script changes and story edits.

4
The General Pipeline

• 3D Work
• Set up 3D scenes and characters per location,
  static and/or animated
• Set up camera positions
• Set up lighting
• Render Images

5
The General Pipeline

• NLE Work
• Import rendered images into the NLE to match up
  to the audio
• Changes, rinse and repeat
• Export final pre-viz movie

6
The Pros and Cons

• The Pros
• You can make a finished rough version of your
  movie in a short amount of time
• It allows you to work out your shots
• It allows you to work out the timing
• It allows you to work out lighting
• It allows you to work in your NLE with near
  accurate proxies before you touch a real camera
• The Cons
• The process takes slightly longer then
  storyboarding or making a story reel
• Youve got to learn some basic 3D

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Where to Begin

• Maya is your digital studio warehouse of infinite
  space
• Start your library of 3D models
• Free sources from the internet
• Bundled model library
• Gather your character acting troupe
• Export from other applications like Poser
• Set up pre-rigged characters ready to go
• Learn some basic 3D
• Coming up next

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Learning Basic Maya

• Maya Pre-Topics
• Database
• A bit of UI (user interface)

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Navigating 3D Space

• Knowing which way is which
• Alt LMB Orbit
• Alt MMB Pan
• Alt RMB Zoom
• F key Frame Selected
• A key Frame All

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Selecting

• Knowing how to pick what you want
• Click
• Click drag Box Selecting
• Combination Selecting
• Shift Click Toggle Selecting
• Ctrl Click Subtract Selecting
• Ctrl Shift Add Selecting

11
Transforming Objects

• Knowing how to make objects do what you want
• Transformations
• W key Move/Translate Units
• E key Rotate Degrees
• R key Scale Percentages
• A Pivot Center
• The center of mass without the mass
• Freezing Transformations
• Resets Object transformations

12
Referencing

• Setting up a 3D scene
• What is referencing?
• In Maya, referencing is the process by which the
  contents in other Maya scene files can be placed
  or referenced into another Maya scene file. Any
  changes made to the original referenced scene is
  prorogated in all scene file that is referencing
  it.
• Referencing props and sets
• Static objects that are transformed into place
• Referencing characters
• Static posed or Ready-to-Animate

13
Objects and Sub-Objects

• Knowing what objects are and what makes up an
  object
• Basic Polygonal Mesh
• Vertex/Vertices
• Edges
• Faces
• Basic NURBS
• You dont really want to use this right now
• Normals
• Knowing what you are seeing and how you want to
  see it
• Basic Display Properties

14
Workable Character Rig

• A Simple Character Rig
• Hierarchy A Parent/Child Relationship
• A Child inherits all attributes from the Parent,
  but the Parent cannot follow the Child
• A Slightly More Complicated Character Rig
• Other Relationships
• Connections
• Custom Attributes
• Set Driven Key
• Expressions

15
Action! Camera! Lights!

• Animating
• Transformational Animation
• Setting Keyframes
• Shift W Set keys for Translate
• Shift E Set keys for Rotate
• Shift R Set keys for Scale
• Editing Keyframes
• In the Timeline
• In the Graph Editor
• Timing
• Use a digital timer
• Using audio for timing
• Importing audio into the timeline

16
Camera!

• A Simple Camera
• Types of camera
• A simple camera rig
• Using a virtual camera like a real camera

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Lights!

• Simple Lighting
• Spot lights mostly
• A Directional Light
• 3 Point Lighting
• Slightly More Complicated Lighting to make simple
  lighting
• HDRI lighting example

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Rendered Motion and Pictures

• Rendering your Shots
• What is Rendering?
• The process by which Maya generates pixel images
  based on given variables within a 3D scene
• Mayas Render Engines
• Maya Software Renderer
• Mental Ray
• Vector
• Render out footages to use in your NLE

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Changes, Changes

• Quick to make
• Instant Feedback
• Iteration Development

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Economic Benefits

• Cost Estimate Strategies
• Hardware
• Software
• Equipment
• Supplies
• Time Management Strategies
• Shot estimates
• Location planning

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The End Result

• What does it answer?
• Is it the film you wanted to make?
• Is it a good film even at this quality?
• Can you afford to make it now that you have a
  pre-viz version?
• Do you continue on and make the final?
• What will you need to finish the shots?
• Can you use it to pitch the film and get people
  onboard to work on it?

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Questions and Answers