Week 3/4 Scripting - Ex 1 & Ex 2

 Ex 1

Lesson 1:

For the first lesson, I have actually learn how basic MEL scripting commands work in Maya. It teaches me how to:

- Write basic MEL creation commands to bypass the Maya user interface.

- Use flags at object creation time to specify the attributes for the objects.

- Edit the attributes of objects using a command in conjunction with the edit flag.

- Observe the history created in the Script Editor and then copy and paste it into the Script Editor to create your own scripts.

Lesson 2:

Rendered Cube

Creating the Main Lighting, the Rim Light & the Fill Lighting

Things that I've learn in Lesson 2:

- Copy history from the Script Editor history section to create Shelf buttons for easy navigation.

- Save multiple commands as Shelf button.

- Type basic MEL creation commands (to create a polygon and adding lights to stage).

Lesson 3:

Things that I've learn in Lesson 3:

- How to declare, set and use variables.

- Perform mathematical operations to edit the value of a variable.

- Implement dynamics using MEL commands.

Lesson 4:

In lesson 4, I have learn how to create a user interface from an existing MEL procedure.
- Create a window
- Create user interface controls in a window
- Use conditional statements to check the existence of a window
- Use a built-in Maya procedure
- Modify a user interface to add functionality
- Access elements of an array
- Query and edit user interface values
- Save and source a script

With the help of MEL scripting, I could actually create a customized  user interface.

After trying out lessons 1 to 4, it seems to be manageable for me. It looks hard to do but actually it is fun to see how codings actually work in Maya.

Reference:

http://download.autodesk.com/us/maya/Maya2012_Getting_Started/index.html

Ex 2 

Human Walk

Human Run

Zombie Shuffle

 

Final - Creating a User Interface to display Zombies & Humans

The zombie exercise was actually interesting to do. MEL scripting has the ability to do anything to objects. It is able to create user interfaces for users to control the object by pressing the button, etc. I'm sure there are a lot more abilities that MEL scripting can do it's just that we need time and effort for everything.

Week 2 Blocking

Chosen Scene: Frankenstein

Key Pose 1: The Creature looks down at the girl holding a bunch of flowers.

 Key Pose 2: It kneels slowly, reaching forward as if in wonder.

Key Pose 3: The girl looks up smiling, and holds out a flower.

Key Pose 4: The Creature takes the flower,

Key Pose 5: but after a moment, and with a look of sudden anger, crushes it.

Final Video

This exercises is actually not really hard to do. This exercises focuses on the key poses of the character instead of focusing on the expressions or the animation. It may be a bit hard to do because I had to adjust the right poses for my character. But after doing it over, it is quite easy. It may look a little bit stiff or weird at certain parts of the video. But I still had fun doing it. :)

Week 1

Boris

 Cluster & Blend Shapes

Smiling Face

Raised Brows

Eye Brow Animation

The facial animation was not that hard to do. Initially, I had slight difficulties in doing it because it takes me some time to understand how to do the clusters and blend shapes. But I felt that this exercise was easier compared to Boris exercise. The Boris exercise took me quite long to complete it because I had to adjust the mouth movements according to the sound track.

Qns:

Does a blendshape require the base mesh and the target mesh to have the same number of vertices? Explain your answer, with reference to how blendshapes actually work.

Yes, the base mesh and the target mesh must have the same number of vertices. When the target mesh is being modified, it will affect the base mesh.

Reference:

http://animagimation.blogspot.com/2011/01/tutorial-creating-blendshapes-in-maya.html


Can blendshapes only be used for facial animation? If not, prove it! Animate something and post it on your  blog.


If you want a character to look angry, you might decide to create a target mesh of the character's head and then modify it to have an angry expression. This is NOT how it should be done. Why not? And what would be a better approach? (Hint: you want to give the animator as much freedom as possible.)