Maya 2011 Stormy Seas Ocean Shader Tutorial by Stuart Christensen

The high seas are no place for inexperienced sailors. In order to navigate the visual high seas you will need some quick tips to really get a handle on how to change its various properties to suit the scene. In this tutorial by Stuart Christensen, we'll take a look at how to create the exact ocean look you are aiming for to help you quickly get started with creating magnificent ocean scenes and visuals.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Maya
• 2011
• tutorial
• Stormy
• Seas
• Preset
• Stuart
• Christensen
• Ocean
• Shader

[CincoCeroCinco]

what would u do to add a model that interacts with the water? For instance, Text that the waves would push up on and flow between the letters and what not? i am not very literate with Maya but would u make the text a passive collider?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@CincoCeroCinco This should help, check out my Ocean Shader Tutorial Part 1 and Part 2 and it will give you the basics of making stuff float in the water. Work with buoyancy to control the object in the water. I will send you a link to the video..Stay tuned.

[NoFaithNoPain]

Wonderful Tutorial thanks. Despite being from another country, learning English was surprisingly easy for me. (I am English LOL). However, I have a question, you mentioned the ocean could be looped. I thought that was not possible as the sea calcs were not based upon integers that could be matched up to a start position?

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@NoFaithNoPain You are correct!  The "looping" method is sort of a fake looping effect. If you put the sequence together in an editing program you can create a lopped effect by just doing a cross dissolve. The waters motion is then disguised a bit and depending on the motion can sort of look seamless..."sort of", I hope that helps. Stu

[NoFaithNoPain]

@deepfriedectoplasm Thanks for quick reply - I used Premiere Pro CS5 to put the stills in reverse, so the waves go backwards. You then put something else on screen to distract. Right now I am doing Earth Renders. Now that is a pig of a job :( I think Maya 2011 gets pushed with this job and gets buggy. (Shadows that don't work, UV maps that wont orient properly, Transparent clouds where you have to reverse them ) any time you want tutorial material, this is the one!

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@NoFaithNoPain Yes, sometimes the default settings are quirky because they try and achieve a middle ground where you can go either up or down. Remember, there's about 6 different settings or more that can effect shadows so check all those options real good! Generally, I only like the ocean from a low angle toward the water surface and zoomed in a bit. When you do a wide angle on the ocean it looks too CG. Anyway, glad you're on a roll.

[fukabudgetfilms]

Great video.. unfortunatley I have Maya 2009 and don't have the Silver Seas preset.. is there another solution?

Thanks!

[dynob0t]

Good work mate very helpful!!

[deepfriedectoplasm]

@Nantchev It should be exactly the same for 2010! Have fun. Stu

[Nantchev]

I wanna try this but busy atm.

Can I do this in Maya 2010?

Or would Maya 2010 be slightly different or not have it at all.