Maya character generation tools are extremely sophisticated, and there's no better way to learn all their capabilities than by working through the projects in this hands-on book. This official guide focuses on understanding and implementing Maya's powerful tools for creating realistic characters for film, games, and TV. Use a variety of tools to create characters from skeleton to clothing, including hairstyles and facial hair, and learn how to use Performance Capture.

• Create a character named Jack, starting with his skeleton
• Build facial rigging that allows Jack to talk and show emotion
• Understand hair in all its glory—bangs, bowl cuts, wet hair, thinning hair, growing hair, and more
• Master fur tools and create eyebrows, eyelashes, and Jack's beard
• Add blood, sweat, tears, and more with textures and nParticles
• Outfit your character in field pants, safari shirt, and a bomber jacket
• Bring Jack to vivid life with Performance Capture, made famous in Avatar

Topics :

Character Skeletons

• Character Pipeline
• Weighting
• Motion Capture
• FBX
• Summary

Face Rigging

• Facial Anatomy
• Muscle Movement
• Modeling Muscles
• Muscle Motion
• Summary

Hair

• Hair
• Digital Hair Basics
• Digital Hair Styling
• Summary

Fur

• Fur Basics
• Facial Hair
• Summary

Blood and Sweat

• Sweat
• Blood
• Summary

Clothing

• nCloth Geometry
• Jack’s Outfit
• Summary

Performance Capture

• Motion Capture
• Capturing Motion
• Exporting to Maya
• Summary

Composition

• Connecting Data
• Skin
• Shading and Lighting
• Summary