Matchmoving Advanced Production Techniques
In this DVD, Tim Dobbert takes you through the more advanced aspects of matchmoving and camera tracking. He discusses how to use survey data to force a camera solution to fit a pre-built environment and how to use camera tracking for paint work. He also covers blending, enhancing and extending match- moved cameras. Tim shows you how to prepare for a live-action shoot and how to get the right information once you're on-set. There's also a section on advanced object tracking that shows how to use an object's motion to create a camera move. And finally, he covers the tricky problem of lens distortion and how it affects the visual effects workflow. Tim uses a variety of software packages for this lecture including Maya, Boujou, MatchMover, SynthEyes and After Effects.
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http://rapidshare.com/files/161728369/GMAPT.txt
Digital Environment Workflow
In this two-disc set, Mark Lefitz creates a fully realized 3D model from an original concept painting by Feng Zhu. He discusses the analysis and setup of the shot, and demonstrates his techniques for efficiently creating a 3D environment using Maya’s polygon and NURBS tool-kit. Mark explains scene blocking, using animated cameras and their attributes, and how to integrate an animated object in the scene. He manipulates Maya fluids to show how to achieve the desired 3D sky environment, and shows some of his techniques for using painted textures and properly applying UVs. With a painted map from the scene, Mark breaks down the various components and shows how to apply layers to Maya shaders for maximum effect. In Shake, Mark demonstrates the use of Depth, Normals and Occlusion passes, and how to manipulate them in the comp to achieve atmosphere and zblur. Lastly, he explains how to use ambient occlusion as a method for Global Illumination, and discusses the initial setup and optimization for this pass and its integration into the final comp.
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http://rapidshare.com/files/160744931/GDEW.txt
Digital Sets 3
This series introduces the essential techniques for creating digital sets and backgrounds, an area of visual effects growing in prominence. In this third disc of a series of three, visual effects designer Eric Hanson begins with rendering a Maya scene into layers and passes, then leads into the various approaches for professionally compositing and integrating a digital set into a live-action background. He examines the main composite tree in Shake, illustrating the use of the various render passes including diffuse, specular, reflection, shadow, z-depth, effects and ambient occlusion. Throughout the disc, Eric uses a sample scene of an urban environment to highlight all essential steps. This series is designed for all advancing intermediate Maya artists.
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http://rapidshare.com/files/160743580/GDS3.txt
Digital Sets 2
This series introduces the essential techniques for creating digital sets and backgrounds, an area of visual effects growing in prominence. In this second disc of a series of three, visual effects designer Eric Hanson covers the global illumination revolution, reviewing lighting principles specific to digital sets. He then leads into direct lighting techniques for both exteriors and interiors. Finally, the lesson highlights digital set texturing, including Adobe Photoshop techniques, and how to weather surfaces with procedural shaders. Throughout the disc, Eric uses a sample scene of an urban environment to highlight all essential steps. This series is designed for all advancing intermediate Maya artists.
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http://rapidshare.com/files/160743033/GDS2.txt
Digital Sets 1
This series introduces the essential techniques for creating digital sets and backgrounds, an area of visual effects growing in prominence. In this first disc of a series of three, visual effects designer Eric Hanson reviews architectural design principles then leads into setting up a scene with a tracked camera and live-action plate. Next, Eric illustrates efficient set modeling techniques using both NURBS and polygons. Finally, the lesson provides a broad review of camerawork, from motion control to camera projection. Throughout the disc, Eric uses a sample scene of an urban environment to highlight all essential steps. The lecture is designed for all advancing intermediate Maya artists.
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http://rapidshare.com/files/160741791/GDMS1.txt
Vue Infinite
In this DVD, Ethan Summers shares his techniques for e-on's Vue Infinite, an amazing landscape creation tool and general purpose rendering engine capable of handling scenes as large as 50 billion polygons. Starting at an introductory level, Ethan covers all the main windows and functions within Vue. He then discusses more advanced topics including strategies for creating ecosystems, methods for designing realistic terrains, and ultimately how to employ DEM maps through the function editor and in conjunction with Maya. Ethan also covers XStream, e-on's new plug-in for achieving seamless lighting and render integration with Maya and Max.
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http://rapidshare.com/files/160629269/GVIIAW.txt
Character Texturing For Production
In this DVD, Ian textures and completes the game cinematic character he modeled in Character Modeling for Production. In this lecture, he shows different techniques to UV map objects of various complexities quickly and efficiently using 3ds Max's UV tools and DeepUV. Ian covers both hand-painted and image-based methods to create textures for the character. From there he uses various ZBrush plugins to both block-in and finalize textures and he uses BodyPaint to fix seams and to begin new textures. Ian demonstrates a variety of other techniques incorporated in the Max>ZBrush>BodyPaint pipeline and shows you how to enhance the hair created in his first DVD, and take it to a more finalized level. Finally, Ian shows how you can reuse your rigs from character to character using Biped, and how to use Adobe Photoshop® to add an extra level of professionalism to your final models before submitting them to a client. In this DVD Ian uses: Max, DeepUV, PolyBoost, ZBrush, ZappLink, Zmapper, BodyPaint and Photoshop®
DOWNLOAD LINK
http://rapidshare.com/files/160502378/GCTFP.txt