50 Mind Blowing Maya Tutorials
True to form, and as promised, I have gone and prepared a variable feast of delicious Maya morsels for all you starving Maya users out there. The table is set and the plates are full...so what are you waiting for...dig in!
Creative Cow - Creating a Logo
Model a logo from vector artwork. Part 1 Part 2.
How to Rig a Computer Mouse
Learn how to create bones, ik handles, rig controls, and paint weights. Also learn how to use some MEL scripts.
Creating a Realistic Light Lamp
Create a believable lamplight by using multiple lights to achieve the final effect.
Creating Realistic Candle Flames
Make realistic candle flames by using different shaders and multiple point lights.
Paint Effects - Modifier
Explore how to use the modifiers with paint effects.
Paint Effects - Select By Name
This video will walk you through selecting by name with paint effects.
Paint Effects - Share One Brush
This video will walk you through Paint Effects - Sharing one Brush.
Modeling, Texturing, and Rendering a Believable Eye
Model, texture, and render eyeballs. Note: You must have an account, so fill in the form that pops up, confirm your account, and click the link again to access the tutorial page. Existing Gnomon users can login here: Login. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4.
Controlling Fog Density
Learn how to control Fog Density and use it to create certain effects for your scenes. Note: This is a Gnomon tutorial, and uses the same accessibility method as above.
Realistic Candle Flames with Shaders
Another candle flame tutorial, but with a different approach to achieve amazing results. Note: This is a Gnomon tutorial, and uses the same accessibility method as above.
Particle Emission When Objects Collide
Use dynamics to make particles emit from objects or surfaces when they collide with each other. Note: This is a Gnomon tutorial, and uses the same accessibility method as above.
Arm Set-Up with IK/FK
Rig an arm with IK/FK rigging. Note: This is a Gnomon tutorial, and uses the same accessibility method as above.
Irradiance Particles in Mental Ray
Learn to work with Irradiance Particles and lower your render times while balancing out the render quality of your image using custom techniques and settings.
Sub Scattering of Particles
Use sub scattering of particles, or set up lights that are sufficient enough to shine through flesh or other objects.
UV Mapping Techniques and Workflow
Learn some handy UV mapping techniques from Semir Saleh.
UV Sets in Maya
Some great techniques on how to create UV Sets.
Creating Realistic Glass
Explore how to create realistic looking glass with 3 different materials.
Next Gen Vehicle Creation
Check out the making of this awesome next-gen vehicle, including high and low res modeling, UV layout, and texture creation and baking.
Building for Speed
Learn some techniques to speed up your modeling workflow.
UV Enhancements: Unwrapping a Head
In this video we take a look at Maya 2009's UV enhancement features, and how they can help to unwrap the UVs on a human head.
Understanding Level of Detail Groups
This video covers how to create LOD (Level of Detail) groups inside of Maya.
Easy Normal Map Creation
This video examines how we can easily export a normal map from high poly geometry using Maya 2009's new render pass features.
Face Modeling
Instructor Ryan Kittleson shows us how he polygon models the face in this step by step tutorial.
Creating a Stormy Ocean
Learn how to create an ocean surface, set the stormy ocean characteristics, add a camera and fog, and then render the whole scene.
Create a Spaceship Fleet using Particle Instancing
Bogdan Amidzic shows you how to use the particle instancer to create a fleet of spaceships flying across the planes.
Creating an Old Farm
Learn how to model, texture, and render a realistic looking farmhouse property.
Modeling a Sunbathing American Alligator
Model a highly realistic sunbathing American Alligator.
Human Anatomy UV Coordinates Setup for Texturing
Learn how to create your UV texture maps correctly so they don't blur or stretch.
Making of Varga
See how this amazing piece of art was created using reference artwork, normal mapping, and a lot of time.
Creating and Modeling a Character - Mad Eye Moody
If you like Harry Potter, you will like this. Even though it looks nothing like Mad Eye, the tutorial takes you through modeling and rigging a head.
Box Modeling the Male Body
Learn how to model a full male body from the starting point of a box.
Head Poly Modeling Tutorial
Learn how to poly model a monster head.
Making of Cheese Platter
Using lots of reference images, learn how Hau Ming created an awesome still life 3D render.
Texture Maps NURBS Dragon
Learn how to 3D paint texture maps onto a NURBS dragon model.
Making of Trapped
Recreate a picture of a parrot biting at its cage by modeling it in 3d.
Object Spreading Methods
Learn how to paint an object onto a surface, use a map driven spreading method, and use a particle instancer. You will also learn about animation driven spreading and Melscripting issues.
Making Car Rims
Make some realistic chrome car rims.
Model a Rocket with a Particle Trail
Explore how to create a rocket using NURBS, and then animate its movement using path curve and then make a simple smoke trail.
Growing Flowers
Learn how to create growing flowers from a surface. The flowers will gradually and randomly grow, and will retain their original status when they reach to growing limit.
Bone Based Mouth Setup
This is a tutorial for advanced Maya users, and provides an alternative to the standard facial setup using blend shapes.
Model a Screwdriver and Render with Mental Ray
This tutorial will teach you how to make a screw-driver and render it with Final Gather, Global Illumination, HDRI, and Depth of Field.
Setting Up Studio Lighting
Alejandro shows you how to setup basic studio lighting in Maya 2008 using Mental Ray.
Paint Geometry Tool
This tutorial covers the basics of Maya's Paint Geometry Tool. This can be very useful when adding anything that needs to be duplicated and randomized across a given surface.
Create a Double Sides Shader
In this tutorial Alejandro shows you two ways of creating double-sided shaders in Maya.
Mental Ray's Physical Sun and Sky
Here Alejandro shows you how to set up Mental Ray's Physical Sun and Sky and explains it's main attributes.
Raytraced Shadow Fix
When rendering raytrace shadows through alpha channels you might get an extra unwanted shadow. Here Alejandro shows you how to get rid of that.
Talk about Fluid Transparency
This is a nice talk on how to understand fluid transparency.
Fluid Rendering Optimizations
Learn a bunch of key techniques for speeding up fluids renders.
Overburn Techniques
Check out this awesome tutorial on creating a metor from scratch and using Peter Shipkov's Overburn Technique. Overburn Script.
Pose and Render an Image
Learn how to pose and manipulate a rig for rendering images.
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