Maya special effects for films and commercials

David Xu

Maya special effects for films and commercials

David Xu

Regent University, USA

: J Comput Eng Inf Technol

Abstract

Without Maya Special Effects, it would not be possible to bring the best visual effects for the Oscar-winning films. In this talk, Professor Xu will present an overview of the Maya Special Effects used for the post-productions. He will showcase some Maya special effects used for films and commercials, sharing his thoughts on the CG compositing with films and commercials. The Maya dynamics techniques for special effects will be introduced, including Particle System, Active Rigid Body, Passive Rigid Body, Gravity, Radial, Soft Body, Fluid Effect, Painting Effect, etc. In particular, he will go depth into the Ocean Effect project he made for his published textbook, where the conceptualization and production for ocean effects and rainstorm effects will be explored. As motion capture is becoming an increasingly practical tool for the generation of animation, this course introduces the unique method of creating a 3D representation of a live performance and offers students hands-on experience with software tools for working with motion-captured data such as Autodesks Motion Builder. Students are directed to utilize the tool as the means to edit and blend takes from multiple capture sessions and then mix and match them with keyframed animation techniques. Students gain the capability of exercising great control of style and quality of the final animation output for images.