by Zak Parrish - February 16, 2010
Mastering Maya: Advanced Digital Production takes you on to your next step of Maya training as you experience the creation of a complete animated short using Autodesk Maya, Pixologic Zbrush, and the Adobe Creative Suite.
The video lecture covers the entire production process, from initial conceptualization and pre-production all the way through to compositing and editing the final render. Along the way, you'll experience a wide range of topics including concept art and storyboards, modeling, texturing, rigging, effects, lighting, rendering, and much more! This class is designed to show you the complete process of animated short creation from start to finish. Nowhere else will you find such a complete look at the production process, captured entirely on video, combined with 3D Buzz's quality approach to video training and unrivaled attention to detail.
Why something like Advanced Digital Production? Why not just some smaller focused products?
I’ve always been intrigued with the idea of showing a full project, start to finish. It was one of the pillars we used in the concepts behind Maya Fundamentals, and Max Fundamentals after that. And while those videos are still (as far as I’m concerned) the final word in getting someone up to speed in their respective applications, I always felt that it would be a lot cooler if you could step outside of just using Max or Maya. No production ever just uses a single application. They can’t. I wanted to produce something that went through a more practical production cycle, starting from concept and moving all the way through to final product.
What was your original inspiration for the project?
Really, in the end, I just wanted something funny, and knowing that you can’t account for all senses of humor, at least something that was amusing in passing. I hate to say it like that. You always want to hear that every great project was the result of some sort of divine moment of inspiration, that the Muses themselves came down and blessed an artist with one fleeting moment of clarity that spawned some immense idea.
Nope. Nothing that cool here, I’m afraid. I just wanted something that would make people snicker or at least smile. Everything started from that one point.
I suppose beyond all that, I wanted to produce something that the audience wouldn’t be quick to question. Something that suspended disbelief, if even for a short moment. You watch animated shorts from Pixar, or even full feature films such as Shrek or Kung Fu Panda, and you don’t really think about the render or the modeling or the effects.
Or, at least, I don’t unless I remind myself to.
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