2010

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Table Of Contents

Contents
Overview
- Introduction
- About the Getting Started lessons
- Before you begin
- Installing Maya
- Conventions used in the lessons
- Using the lesson files
- Using the Maya Help
- Additional learning resources
- Restoring default user settings
Maya Basics
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: The Maya user interface
- Lesson 2: Creating, manipulating, and viewing objects
- Lesson 3: Viewing the Maya 3D scene
- Lesson 4: Components and attributes
Polygonal Modeling
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lesson
- Lesson 1: Modeling a polygonal mesh
- Lesson 2: Sculpting a polygon mesh
NURBS Modeling
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Revolving a curve to create a surface
- Lesson 2: Sculpting a NURBS surface
- Lesson 3: Lofting curves to create a surface
Subdivision Surfaces
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lesson
- Lesson 1: Modeling a subdivision surface
Animation
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Keyframes and the Graph Editor
- Lesson 2: Set Driven Key
- Lesson 3: Path animation
- Lesson 4: Nonlinear animation with Trax
- Lesson 5: Inverse kinematics
Character Setup
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Skeletons and kinematics
- Lesson 2: Smooth skinning
- Lesson 3: Cluster and blend shape deformers
Polygon Texturing
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lesson
- Lesson 1: UV texture mapping
- Lesson 2: UV unfolding
- Lesson 3: Normal mapping
Rendering
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Rendering a scene
- Lesson 2: Shading surfaces
- Lesson 3: Lights, shadows, and cameras
- Lesson 4: Global Illumination
- Lesson 5: Caustics
Dynamics
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Particles, emitters, and fields
- Lesson 2: Rigid bodies and constraints
Painting
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Painting in 2D using Paint Effects
- Lesson 2: Painting in 3D using Paint Effects
- Lesson 3: Painting textures on surfaces
Expressions
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Creating a simple expression
- Lesson 2: Conditional expressions
- Lesson 3: Controlling particle attributes
Scripting in Maya
- Introduction
- Some basic concepts
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Commands in MEL
- Lesson 2: Saving scripts to the Shelf
- Lesson 3: Using Variables in MEL
- Lesson 4: User interface creation and procedures
- Lesson 5: Using Python in Maya
Assets
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Setting up an asset
- Lesson 2: Using assets in a scene
Hair
- Introduction
- About hair simulation
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Creating a basic hairstyle
- Lesson 2: Creating a dynamic non-hair simulation
Fluid Effects
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Creating a dynamic 2D fluid effect
- Lesson 2: Creating a non-dynamic 3D fluid effect
- Lesson 3: Creating a dynamic 3D effect
- Lesson 4: Creating an ocean effect
Fur
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Assigning a fur description
- Lesson 2: Rendering fur
nCloth
- Introduction
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson 1: Creating nCloth collisions
- Lesson 2: Creating nCloth constraints
- Lesson 3: Creating nCloth Clothing
nParticles
- Introduction
- Preparing for the tutorials
- Lesson 1: Creating nParticles
- Lesson 2: Creating a smoke simulation with nParticles
- Lesson 3: Creating a liquid simulation with nParticles
Live
- Introduction
- About Live
- Preparing for the lessons
- Lesson setup
- Lesson 1: Track and solve
- Lesson 2: Solving with survey data
Index

Using the lesson files

Many of the Getting Started with Maya lessons have accompanying lesson

files that were created for use with the lessons. These files are included in the

GettingStarted directory that was installed with your Maya software and can

be found in the following locations:

(Windows XP and Vista, 32 and 64-bit)

<drive>:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2010\GettingStarted

(Mac OS X)

/Applications/Autodesk/maya2010/GettingStarted

(Linux 64-bit)

/usr/autodesk/maya2010-x64/GettingStarted

Before you use the lesson files, you need to copy the GettingStarted directory

to your Maya projects folder. Then, you need to set the GettingStarted folder

as your project directory in Maya. For more information and steps, see Copying

and setting the Maya project

on page 25.

Using the Maya Help

Your Maya software application comes with a comprehensive set of

documentation resources.

Essential Skills Movies

The first time you start Maya, the Essential Skills Movies window displays in

Maya. Watch these movies to learn about the skills you need to master when

you first use Maya. The audio for the movies is available in English, French,

German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin.

Using the lesson files | 5