The Gnomon Workshop Releases Maya Videos

The Gnomon Workshop has released six new training videos on polygon modeling, cameras and dynamics in Alias|Wavefront’s Maya. This series of six—which addresses polygon modeling, rendering and dynamics in Maya—marks the third round of releases and brings the total number of titles available from The Gnomon Workshop to 18. Alex Alvarez, Director of The Gnomon Workshop and Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and Darrin Krumweide, Associate Director of Gnomon School of Visual Effects produced these videos. “This time around our focus has been threefold,” explains Alvarez, “First we address Polygons; always popular in the games market, but now accepted in film and broadcast thanks to subdivision surfaces. Then there is a tape on rendering... just about everything you need to know about cameras in Maya. And finally, three titles on effects animation using particle emission.” Polygon Modeling I and II show how to create surfaces starting with simple polygons moving to refined subdivision surfaces. Part I addresses the fundamentals of modeling, conversion of surfaces, and the necessary UI. Part II addresses how to combine or separate polygon meshes, create and modify subdivision surfaces, converting subdivision surface to Nurbs patches, and adjusting surface normals. Rendering, I: Cameras shows users how to understand Maya’s interpretation of real-world cameras allows for the recreation of these optical properties in rendered scenes. Dynamics, I: Particle Tool demonstrates two of the key tools for creating and designing particle effects animation in Maya. In Dynamics, II: Vertex, Point and Curve Emission video the instruction focuses on the ‘Emit from Object’ tool as well as the ‘Curve Flow’ effect. Dynamics, III: Surface Emission covers a variety of techniques that allow for a high level of control over surface emitted particles from Nurbs objects. The new videos are currently shipping and can be ordered in NTSC or PAL.