Digital Tutors/Pluralsight

Click on purple title to jump to my course list page. From there, you can choose each course to view.

Building Walk Cycles in Maya 2017

Have you ever needed a walk cycle for your animation in Maya? If so then this course is for you. In this course, Building Walk Cycles in Maya 2017, you'll cover walk cycle creation from gathering references to final translation of cycled animation into forward motion. First, you'll begin by learning good sources of reference material and how to create and mirror the four basic poses of a walk. Next, you'll then jump in and learn varying poses and timing to give your walk cycles different flavors. Then, you'll discover how to refine those poses and timings using the graph editor. Finally, you'll explore time-saving baking techniques for converting cycled animation to keyframed movement. By the end of this course, you'll have learned a set of fairly sophisticated techniques for creating walks that you can apply to your own characters, animations, and productions. Software required: Autodesk Maya 2017.

Introduction to Rigging in Maya 2017

Rigging a biped is a complex task, but it's still one of the most commonplace types of animations you'll be expected to know how to do. This course, Introduction to Rigging in Maya 2017, will present many techniques for rigging in Maya 2017 and integrate them with the gestalt of the character. First, you'll plan the rig features you intend to include in the final rig, including FK/IK switchable arms and back, stretchy spine, grouped foot, and shoulder controls. Next, beginning with the hips, you will work down the leg creating IK controls for the legs with knee pole vector and an "inverse grouped" foot. You'll also go over creating controls for the arms and fingers, as well as see an overview of skinning techniques focusing on binding and problem areas. When you're finished with this course, you'll be ready to create rigs while emphasizing feature-based planning as a beginning point to rigging while divining the individual needs of each rig. Software required: Maya 2017.

Character Concept and Sculpting Techniques in 3D Coat

Create detailed character concepts while developing your knowledge of voxel-sculpting and the Digital Clay paradigm pioneered by 3D Coat. This course, Character Concept and Sculpting Techniques in 3D Coat, is an intermediate course where you'll learn how to do just that by creating a character from Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series: the evil Ur-vile. In this course, you'll explore 3D Coat's many sculpting toolsets as well as character concept creation and execution. You'll also learn how to use both voxels and surface modeling to bring this character sculpt to life. By the end of this course, your sculpting skills will be sharpened and you'll be better equipped to create your own character concepts in the future. Software required: 3D Coat 4.5.40 and Cura

Character Head Modeling in Maya: A Different Approach

Learn a different approach to modeling heads by using linear NURBS curve cage production as a first step. This approach is fundamentally different from traditional methods and, once mastered, allows you to model from photos as well as drawings Modeling requires the artist to think in 3D, but how can you do this when your computer screen and pencil and paper operate in 2D? In this course, Character Head Modeling: A Different Approach, you will unlock the connection between 2D and 3D thinking through a different approach to 3D modeling (as opposed to more traditional methods such as box modeling). First, you will learn about schematics and how to use contour lines extracted from drawings and photographs of the face. Next, you'll discover how to generate a 3D linear NURBS cage, and with it, you will create your head model polygon by polygon, from all parts of the face to the ears and back of the head. By the end of this course, you'll have a new approach to head modeling that will help you create better character models than ever. Software required: Maya 2016

Planning and Executing a Complete Animation in Maya

This course combines beginning level information in Rigging and Animation to fulfill an intermediate level task: Planning and animating the solution to the X Marks The Spot problem. As part of this course, viewers will take a scene with an “X” arbitrarily located somewhere in the scene and, in a short amount of time, move the main character, “Arty: the walking ball” to the X in a compelling manner. Viewers will deal with three phases of storytelling: beginning (build-up), middle (climax) and ending (resolution). They will create a character and an environment that will allow them to tell that story as effectively as possible and in the process begin to learn that as independent animation storytellers they have the benefit of controlling all aspects of their character and environment to tell their stories. Software required: Maya 2016

Animate and Rig a Bouncing Ball in Maya

Throughout these lessons, we'll explore modeling, rigging and animating a bouncing ball. We'll cover rigging rationales and methods for rigging two distinct types of balls. We'll discuss methods of animating these balls naturalistically and as distinct characters in and of themselves. This course discusses music as a starting point for timing and presents methods for executing a short animation. The course concludes by discussing lighting and rendering techniques applicable to enhance the storyline.

Software required: Maya 2016

Creating an African Tribal Mask for 3D Printing in Maya and Mudbox

In this Maya and Mudbox tutorial, we'll cover modeling, sculpting and painting an African style mask. We’ll explore the process of exporting maps for animating and rendering in Maya. We'll also cover converting the high resolution sculpt to a GCode slice file for FDM printing using a Lulzbot TAZ 5 3D printer. By the end of this Maya and Mudbox training, you’ll have created a tribal mask ready for 3D print.

Software required: Maya 2016, Mudbox 2016, Cura.

Building a Toy Plane for 3D Printing in Maya and Mudbox

In this Maya and Mudbox tutorial, we’ll learn how to create a mesh that will be ready for 3D printing.We’ll use a deceptively simple exercise and create an assemble-able model of a 1930s GeeBee Racer. We’ll start by creating pieces that fit into slots in the individual pieces of the model. Then we’ll animate those pieces to assemble over a 15-second animation. Along the way, we'll delve into some tools and concepts in Maya such as the Multi-Cut tool, Target Weld and the Shrinkwrap command. By the end of this Maya and Mudbox training, you'll have a prepared model ready to print on the Form +1 printer using their PreForm software.

Software required: Maya 2016, Mudbox 2016, PreForm.

Digital Drawing and Painting in Illustrator and Photoshop

In this Illustrator and Photoshop tutorial, we'll introduce new strategies and techniques in character design and realization by unlocking different ways of drawing, inking and applying color to character studies. This course emphasizes looseness in initial treatment as a way of keeping the drawing energetic and fluid while depicting modeled form in Illustrator and Photoshop. By the end of this Illustrator and Photoshop training, you’ll have learned several new techniques to improve your ability as an animator.

Software required: Adobe CC 2014, Photoshop and Illustrator

Accelerating the Face Rigging Process in Maya

In this Maya tutorial we'll explore node-centric pose based deformers as drivers for corrective blend shapes. We'll learn how to accelerate the rigging process by using a free MEL script called abAutoRig.mel as well as several code snippets and Python utilities to create a character rig, skin the model, paint weights and apply corrective blend shapes. By the end of this Maya training you'll have learned new strategies for completing the rigging process quickly and efficiently. Software required: Maya 2015, abAutoRig 6.0.3.

Accelerating the Character Rigging Process in Maya

In this Maya tutorial you'll learn how to accelerate the rigging process by using a free MEL script called abAutoRig.mel, as well as several code snippets and Python utilities to create a character rig, skin the model, paint weights and apply corrective blend shapes.This Maya training will introduce you to some new thoughts and strategies for completing these tasks quickly and efficiently. We'll explore Maya node-centric pose based deformers as drivers for corrective blendshapes. Software required: Maya 2015, abAutoRig 6.0.3.

Accelerating the Character Creation Pipeline in Maya

In this Maya tutorial we'll learn how to accelerate the character development process by showing how to use a character generation program (Mixamo Fuse Basic) in conjunction with Maya, Mudbox and Photoshop to efficiently develop a fully-realized, rig-able character model. Along the way, we'll use Maya to adjust our UV maps, model clothing and eventually render our character model. We'll also use Mudbox to sculpt broad cloth folds and paint high-frequency normal maps. By the end of this Maya training, you'll not only have a fully realized character model but also have a solid understanding of how to create your own characters quickly and efficiently. Software required: Maya 2015, Mudbox 2015 and Mixamo Fuse Basic.

Animator• Artist • Storyteller and Teacher

Eric Kunzendorf