Maya: Camera Techniques

Learn expert techniques to control and animate Maya cameras and give viewers a window into your 3D world.

Introduction

• Camera techniques in Maya
• Using the exercise files

1. Camera Basics

• Understanding the Maya camera
• Creating a one-node camera
• Color settings preferences
• Controlling wireframe colors with Drawing Overrides
• Working with orthographic cameras
• Adding orthographic cameras
• Reverting camera movements with Undo View Change
• Using view bookmarks
• Navigating with specialized camera tools
• Cropping geometry with clip planes
• Copying parameters with Attribute Editor presets

2. Composition

• Conceptualizing renderable cameras
• Creating a Camera and Aim
• Using Camera and Aim
• Precise framing with Resolution Gate
• Setting display options
• Duplicating Camera and Aim
• Composing conventional cinematic framings
• Adjusting focal length and angle of view
• Aesthetics of distance and field of view
• Locking down cameras

3. Simple Camera Animation

• Problems with animating Camera and Aim position
• Problems with animating camera rotation
• Rotating in Gimbal Mode
• Setting rotate axis order
• Horizontal movement with pan or truck
• Animating diagonal translation with a single channel
• Vertical movement with tilt or pedestal
• Dolly movement vs. zoom magnification

4. Compound Camera Animation

• Animating a truck-pan
• Animating a pedestal-tilt
• Animating a zolly (zoom-dolly)
• Rigging and animating a crane shot
• Animating an aerial shot with Transform Keyframes
• Adjusting position keys with Editable Motion Trail
• Automating camera shake with a noise expression
• Orbiting a subject with a turntable camera

5. Special Effects

• Creating an image plane
• Understanding the film back
• Using aperture and film gate
• Film offset for two-point perspective
• Composing an isometric view
• Projecting a texture from a camera
• Distance blur with depth of field
• Animating a rack focus effect
• Rendering depth of field in Arnold
• Rendering lens effects with Arnold imagers

6. Non-Linear Editing With the Camera Sequencer

• Understanding the Camera Sequencer
• Creating shots in the Camera Sequencer
• Trimming shots
• Ripple editing
• Creating an ubercam
• Playblasting a sequence

Conclusion

• Next steps