February 25, 2011

Aaron F. Ross, webmaster of Digital Arts Guild, has authored another series of training videos for lynda.com.

In Maya 2011 Creating Natural Environments, Aaron F. Ross demystifies a common challenge of 3D modeling: fashioning realistic natural environments such as landscapes, atmospheres, and foliage. Starting with flat terrain, Aaron shows how to sculpt various types of geometry and smooth out jagged, polygonal edges. The course also covers creating convincing backgrounds and clouds, populating a scene with foliage using 3D Paint Effects, and incorporating natural light. Exercise files accompany the course.

Topics include:

Laying out the scene
Sculpting terrain with Soft Selection and the Sculpt Geometry tool
Creating 2D textures using Artisan and Paint Effects
Applying 2D and 3D procedural textures
Building backgrounds with skydomes and matte paintings
Shaping clouds with Maya Fluids
Modeling plants and other background geometry with 3D Paint Effects
Creating non-physical daylight and casting shadows
Rendering with Maya software