Cinematography: Maya

3h 44mIntermediate2014-02-17

Authors

Aaron F. Ross

3D Expert, Video Producer, and Teacher

Course details

While Maya's cameras offer you a tremendous amount of creative freedom (even more than real-world cameras), their controls can be complex. This course helps you learn how to expertly adjust them. Aaron F. Ross covers viewport display, controlling orthographic cameras, framing shots, editing with the Camera Sequencer, simple and compound camera moves, and many different special effects. Start now and learn how to expertly position and animate cameras in your Maya projects and give your audience a window into your 3D world.

Learning objectives
Getting the most out of viewport cameras
Controlling camera attributes such as clipping planes
Setting display options such as Resolution Gate
Adjusting focal length and field of view
Previz editing with the Camera Sequencer
Setting rotation order for predictable camera animation
Animating simple camera moves such as pan and dolly
Mastering compound moves such as crane and handheld shots
Understanding the Film Back attributes
Achieving isometric and tilt-shift effects
Projecting a texture from a camera
Rendering depth-of-field and rack-focus effects

Skills covered

CinematographyFilmmakingMaya3D AnimationRenderingVideoMotion Graphics and VFXAutodesk3D ModelingVisualization and Real-TimeAECProduct and ManufacturingAnimation and IllustrationDeep Dive (X:Y)

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - Using the exercise files

1. Viewport Camera Basics

03 - Working with the perspective viewport camera
04 - Undoing camera movements
05 - Using the Zoom tool
06 - Using the Fly Tool
07 - Displaying and moving orthographic cameras
08 - Setting clipping plane attributes
09 - Hiding the ViewCube
10 - Using bookmarks for alternative orthographic views
11 - Creating new preset orthographic views

2. Renderable Camera Basics

12 - The importance of renderable cameras
13 - Creating a Camera and Aim
14 - Increasing Locator Scale
15 - Moving the Camera and Aim
16 - Enabling the Resolution Gate
17 - Setting display options
18 - Creating node presets in the Attribute Editor
19 - Framing shots
20 - Adjusting focal length and the field of view
21 - Locking attributes
22 - Setting drawing overrides and hiding connectors
23 - Using a manipulator to set clipping planes

3. PreVIZ Editing with the Camera Sequencer

24 - Understanding the Camera Sequencer
25 - Creating shots
26 - Adding image planes
27 - Moving and trimming shots
28 - Ripple editing and stretching time
29 - Creating an ubercam
30 - Playblasting a sequence

4. Simple Camera Movement

31 - Choosing the right camera for the job
32 - Avoiding common pitfalls in camera animation
33 - Rotating in Gimbal mode
34 - Setting rotation order in the transform node
35 - Animating a pan and a truck
36 - Keying a truck in only one axis
37 - Animating a tilt and a pedestal
38 - Animating a dolly and a zoom

5. Compound Camera Movement

39 - Animating a truck-pan move
40 - Animating a pedestal-tilt move
41 - Animating a zolly, or zoom-dolly, move
42 - Animating a crane shot
43 - Animating a handheld camera shot
44 - Animating an aerial shot with an editable motion trail
45 - Using the default Turntable camera

6. Special Effects

46 - Rendering an isometric view
47 - Projecting a texture from a camera
48 - Understanding the Film Back
49 - Emulating a view camera for tilt-shift effects
50 - Adding distance blur with Depth of Field
51 - Measuring with the Distance Tool
52 - Animating a rack-focus effect

Conclusion

53 - Goodbye