Maya 2011 Controlling Shadows to Improve Render Quality Tutorial by Stuart Christensen.mov

[eR0ck1nit]

@deepfriedectoplasm Thanks for the reply. It seems like everything I do causes that, but mostly all I do is modeling and still life stuff (very little animation). I'm still in the learning phase I should prob just buy the book I guess. Like if my model gets just a little complicated it will lag just moving the camera or perspective around. Also, say I go from one operation to another it will lag (i.e. From modeling back to changing perspective and visa versa).

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@eR0ck1nit Depending on the complexity of your model, Maya can be sluggish even on a really super computer especially if you have the viewport set to high quality, lights, shadows, and textures. If you are experiencing lagging it could be due to a combination of these things. Check the preferences and turn on "fast interaction". And yes, if you are just starting out, check out Amazon.com for a used version of Mastering 2009/2010/2011/2012 for about $20-30 bucks.

[eR0ck1nit]

I'm using a mac that's been upgraded in the hardware, but I still get pinwheels all the time. Is there a good resource out there for optimizing maya on my mac? (3.1 Intel i7 1, 12 GB 1600 mhz ddr3, and a 1GB video card...)

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@eR0ck1nit That sounds like a beefy little mac and it should have no problem with running Maya. Are you doing something in particular when the program crashes? Sometimes it's more a matter of having correct render settings for optimizing performance...and most of the time spinning beachballs indicate operator error or asking Maya to do something that is impossible. It's sort of hard to answer without lot's more information.

[voidreamer]

I've seen you use student version of maya, can you activate external plugins for it, like vray for maya and so?, can u export to fbx ?, thanks

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@voidreamer Yes, the student/educator version is exactly the same as the commercial version, it's just that I can't use the educational version for commercial purposes. Hope that helps.

[voidreamer]

@deepfriedectoplasm thank you 8))

[Zandalor16]

Thanks again! There were countless situations when I couldn't do something without you :) I started using Maya half a year ago and in the beginning I was a little bit confused..lot of stuff and options..didn't know where to start :D I started watching more of your tutorials 'cos I didn't want give it up..I must say that "absolutely worth it" :)Lots of practice and here I am, a 18 years old Hungarian guy who modelled his school :) I will send a videoto you because I'm curious about your opinion:)

[IWTBFOY]

Thank you so much!!

[voidreamer]

as an advice, you should turn on "emit photons" in the lights you want to get better reaction in global illumination, and control the number of photons and intensity of them 8), thanks for the tutorials

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@voidreamer Yes..there's lot's of stuff I left out of this tutorial and tried to stay with just simple shadows. I actually wanted to stay away from Global Illumination and photons/caustics etc. as I think tutorials for each of these areas are really valuable for those who are not yet familiar with them. Thanks for watching and the tips!

[BriganteCars]

Why did you need to include the CreateMentalRayIndirectLightin­gTab mel? It has always been there for me (Windows7 user)

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@BriganteCars I think you might be confusing the actual Mental Ray Indirect Lighting Tab as found in the Render Settings window. The createMentalRayIndirectLightin­gtab MEL script as seen in the tutorial is a special script that will automatically attach the MIA exposure photograhic node to your PhysicalSunSky, for more control. You can manually connect this node but it's very time consuming and confusing to do so. Check out the MIA Exposure Photographic tutorial for more info.

[Dimebag51]

As always, thank you for answering some questions that are never answered ! (excuse me if I make mistakes I'm french!).

Can I ask you if you have a lot of crashes in maya 2012? it never stop crashing ever five minutes, it's incredible O.o" when I select something, or move more than five edges, or duplicate an object, or anything else ! in my memories 2010 was a lot better.... :/

Btw, do you know where I can find a great tut on using the Hypergraph? that's a mess for me ^^

Thank you!

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Dimebag51 Maya 2012 should be extremely stable. Could you send along your computer specs? I'm not quite sure what to tell you about the "Hypergraph"....and I'm wondering if you meant to say the "Hypershade".

Let me know and I will try and help.

[Anton0witch]

Thank you Sir :)

[SweaterSwagg]

Are you ever gonna go in depth with Mental Ray and Global Illumination.

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@SweaterSwagg In due time! The problem with demonstrating GI is that sometimes in order to see the effects clearly there are usually lot's of textures and stuff in a scene, and when activated, Global Illumination can add significant amounts of time to a render, (2-3 minute renders or more are not uncommon) which makes tutorials sort of hard to do in a "reasonable" amount of time. Keep learning stuff and I'll try and cover this soon.