ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Advisory, Editorial & Creative Inputs

• Smt. Nidhi Chhibber (IAS), Chairperson, Central Board of Secondary

Education, Delhi

Guidance and Support:

• Dr. Biswajit Saha, Director (Skill Education), Central Board of

Secondary Education, Delhi
• Dr. Joseph Emmanuel, Director (Academics), Central Board of
Secondary Education, Delhi
• Shri. R. P. Singh, Joint Secretary (Skill Education), Central Board of
Secondary Education, Delhi

Coordinator:

• Smt. Niti Shanker Sharma, Deputy Secretary (Skill Education), Central

Board of Secondary Education, Delhi

Content and Design:

• Mr. Gaurav Birla, Head - Standards & QA, Media & Entertainment Skills
Council, (MESC) Delhi.
• Mr. Ritik Kumar, Chief Designer, Ridosk Studios, India
Units Page No.

Unit 1:
Surfaces and Materials ......................... 9

Unit 2:
Shading and Texturing .......................... 43

Unit 3:
Texturing in Photoshop
and Autodesk MAYA ................................ 67
UNIT 1:
SURFACES AND
MATERIALS

1.1 MAIN MENU BAR OF 3D SOFTWARE (CHARACTER’S

AND OBJECTS THAT ARE DEVELOPED ON 3D)

Basics
Maya is the premier application for creating compelling 3D digital content, in-
cluding models, animation, visual effects, games, and simulations.

The work you do in Maya generally falls into these categories:

• Creating models. Polygons, Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS),

and subdivision surfaces are different object types with different ways of
modeling. Each has its own strengths, and different artists prefer working
with different types.

o Polygons let you model a surface by building up and reshaping a

number of simple surface facets.

o NURBS let you easily create smooth, curving surfaces with high-level
control.

o Subdivision surfaces let you edit surfaces at a high level with minimum
overhead data, while still letting you work with subsections of the
surface as if they were made from polygons.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

• Character rigging. Most animations involve “characters,” articulated

models such as a person, an animal, robot, or anything else that moves
by articulation. Maya lets you define internal skeletons for characters
and bind skin to them to create realistic movement with deformation.

• Animation. Just about everything you can think of in Maya is keyable or

able to be animated.

• Dynamics, fluids, and other simulated effects. Maya includes a compre

hensive suite of tools for simulating real world effects such as fire,
explosions, fluids, hair and fur, the physics of colliding objects, and more.

• Painting and paint effects. Maya includes an incredible system for using
a graphics tablet (or the mouse) to paint 2D canvases, paint directly on
3D models, paint to create geometry, scriptable paint, and virtually
limitless other possibilities.

• Lighting, Shading, and Rendering. When you want to render a still image
or movie of your scene or animation, you can create them using your
choice of renderers.

Now that Maya is running, you first need to understand what you are seeing.
There are a lot of items displayed in the Maya user interface.

The best way to begin is to learn the fundamental tools and then learn addi-
tional tools as you need them. Begin by learning some of the main tools.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

The Maya workspace

The Maya workspace is where you conduct most of your work within Maya. The
workspace is the central window where your objects and most editor panels
appear.

When you start Maya for the first time, the workspace displays by default in a
perspective window, or panel. There are the other components of the default
perspective view panel:

• The panel is labeled persp at the bottom to indicate that you are viewing
the Maya scene from a perspective camera view.

• The panel has its own menu bar at the top left corner of the panel. These
menus allow you to access tools and functions related to that specific
panel.

• The grid is displayed with two heavy lines intersecting at the center of
the Maya scene. This central location is called the origin. The origin is the
center of Maya’s 3D world, and with all object’s directional values
measured from this location.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

In Maya, like many other 3D applications, the three dimensions are labeled as
the X, Y, and Z axes. The origin is located at X, Y, Z position of 0, 0, 0. The grid also
lies along the X, Z plane. We refer to this as a plane because you might visualize
an imaginary, flat, two-dimensional square laying along this 3D position.

Maya labels the X, Y, and Z axes with a color scheme: red for X, green for Y, and
blue for Z. Many tools that you use in Maya use this color scheme to indicate
that you are accessing a particular item that relates to X, Y, and Z in some way.

The axis indicator shows in which direction, X, Y, or Z, you are viewing the Maya
scene. The axis indicator is color coded in the red, green, and blue color scheme
and appears in the lower left corner of a view panel.
This is extremely useful if you are new to 3D, as many of the instructions in
this manual and the Maya Help assume you know where you are viewing the
scene in relation to the X, Y, Z axes.

Main Menu bar

Tools and items are accessible from pull down menus located at the top of the
user interface. In Maya, menus are grouped into menu sets. These menu sets
are accessible from the Main Menu bar. The Main Menu bar appears at the top

12
 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

of the Maya interface directly below the Maya title bar and displays the cho-
sen menu set. Each menu set corresponds to a module within Maya: Anima-
tion, Polygons, Surfaces, Rendering, and Dynamics. Modules are a method for
grouping related features and tools.

You switch between menu sets by choosing the appropriate module from
the menu selector on the Status Line (located directly below the File and Edit
menus). As you switch between menu sets, the right-hand portion of the menus
change, but the left-hand portion remains the same; the left-hand menus are
common menus to all menu sets. The left-hand menus contain File, Edit, Mod-
ify, Create, Display, Window, and Assets.

To select a specific menu set

1. On the Status line, select Animation from the drop-down menu.

The Main Menu changes to display the menu set that relates to the
Animation module. In particular, menu titles such as Animate, Deform,
Skeleton, Skin, and so on, appear.

2. Using the menu selector, choose Polygons from the drop-down menu.
The main menu changes to display the menu set for Polygons. Menu
titles such as Select, Mesh, Edit Mesh, and so on, appear.

For now, leave the menu set at Polygons. You will use this set in the next step.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

To create a primitive 3D object from the Polygons menu set

1. Select Create > Polygon Primitives > Interactive Creation and ensure that
a check mark does not appear beside this item.
For this lesson, you won’t use this option.

2. From the Main Menu Bar, select Create > Polygon Primitives > Cube.
Maya creates a 3D cube primitive object and places it at the center
(origin) of the Maya workspace.

Status Line
The Status Line, located directly below the Main Menu bar, contains a variety
of items, most of which are used while modeling or working with objects within
Maya. Many of the Status Line items are represented by a graphical icon. The
icons save space in the Maya interface and allow for quick access to tools
used most often.

In this lesson, you learn about some of the Status Line areas.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

You’ve already learned the first item on the Status line: the Menu Selector used
to select between menu sets.
The second group of circled icons relate to the scene and are used to create,
open, and save your Maya scenes.
The third and fourth group of buttons are used to control how you can select
objects and components of objects. You will learn more about selection of ob-
jects in later lessons.
The fifth group of icons are used to control the Snap Mode for objects and
components. You will begin to use these tools in a later lesson in this chapter.
The last section comprise three buttons that are used to show or hide editors,
including the Attribute
Editor, Channel Box, Layer Editor, and Tool Settings. The default display shows
the Channel Box and the Layer Editor. When you create an object, like the cube
for example, information about that object displays in these editors. You will
learn how to use these editors later in this chapter. For better organization on
the Status Line, all of the icon buttons are broken into groups that you can ex-
pand and collapse, as shown.

Shelf
The Shelf is located directly below the Status line. The Maya Shelf is useful for
storing tools and items that you use frequently or have customized for your
own use. You can keep the tools and items you use most frequently in a loca-
tion that provides handy access. Maya has some of the Shelf items pre-con-
figured for your use.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

To create an object using a tool from the Shelf

1. From the Shelf, select the Surfaces tab in order to view the tools located
on that shelf.

2. Select Create > NURBS Primitives > Interactive Creation to ensure that a
check mark does not appear beside the item.
For this lesson, you won’t use this option
3. From the Shelf, select the NURBS sphere icon located at the left end by
clicking on it.

Maya creates a sphere primitive object and places it at the center of the
Maya workspace in the same position as the cube.

TIP:
You can determine if this is the correct tool prior to choosing it by first placing
your mouse cursor over the icon, the name or description of it appears in a
popup window directly over it.

In your scene view the wireframe outline of the cube you created earlier in the
lesson has changed color to navy blue, and the sphere is displayed in a bright
green color. The sphere is now the selected object and the cube is no longer
selected. In Maya, when the object displays like this, we refer to it as being se-
lected or active.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

Selection of objects and components is a way of indicating to Maya that this

particular item is to be affected by the tool or action you will subsequently
choose. As you work with Maya, you will be selecting and deselecting items a
lot. You will learn how to select and deselect objects later in this chapter.

Some numerical information appears in the Channel Box editor on the right
hand side of the user interface. This information relates to X, Y, and Z, transla-
tion, rotation, and scaling for the active object. The X, Y, and Z Translate numer-
ical values are currently set to 0. This indicates that the sphere’s location is at
the origin. The Channel Box is useful for viewing and editing this type of basic
information. You will use the Channel Boxlater in this chapter.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

To hide or show the Channel Box

1. To hide the Channel Box, click the Show/Hide Channel Box icon from the
right end of the Status line.

The Channel Box disappears, and the perspective scene view expands
slightly. With the Channel Box hidden, you have more working area in
your scene view.

2. To show the Channel Box, click the Show/Hide Channel Box icon on the
Status line. The Channel Box appears in the scene view.

Texture Artists are responsible for the creation of textures, colours and organic
surface qualities required for computer-generated creatures and hard-sur-
face models used in production. Texture Artists work closely with Modelers and
Look Development Artists to create photo-real assets for high end visual ef-
fects films.

3D coordinates
The most basic visual entity is the point. The point has no size, but it has a lo-
cation.
To determine the location of points, we first establish an arbitrary point in space
as the origin.
We can then say a point’s location is so many units left (or right) of the origin,
so many units up (or down) from the origin, and so many units higher (or low-
er) than the origin.

These three numbers give us the 3D coordinates of the point in space. For ex-
ample, a point 7 units right (x), 4 units down (z), and 3 units above (y) the origin
has the XYZ coordinates (7,4,3).
To specify points on the opposite side of the origin, we use negative numbers.
In the example, a point at (-5, -2, -1) would be 5 units left of the origin, 2 units
up, and 1 unit below.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

In computer graphics, we don’t really say the point is “left/right”, “up/down”, or

“higher/lower”. Instead we call the three dimensions the X axis, the Z axis, and
the Y axis.

Y-up and Z-up

In animation and visual effects, the tradition is to use Y as the “up” or elevation
axis, with X and Z as the “ground” axes. However, some other industries tradi-
tionally use Z as the up axis and X and Y as the ground axes.
In Maya, you can switch the up axis between Y and Z.
Select Windows > Settings/Preferences > Preferences, then click Settings in the
left pane. For more information, see Settings preferences.

Interface overview
This section is a brief summary of the main Maya interface. Numbered head-
ings below refer to the numbered interface elements in the figure.

• If you can’t find the menu you’re looking for, it may be that the correct
menu set is not open - see Menus and menu sets. You can also choose
Help > Find Menu and enter the name of menu or command you’re
looking for.

• You can show or hide elements (panels) in the main window using the
Windows > UI Elements menu.

• You can hide all the interface elements to maximize viewing space and
instead use the quick command features: the hotbox, Maya Hotkeys, and
Marking menus.

• You can resize most panels by dragging their edges when a

double-headed arrow cursor appears.

• You can rearrange the panels to suit your preferences by docking them
in different areas of the Maya window. For more information, see Dock
and undock windows and panels.

• To zoom in on the view under the mouse pointer, such as the View Panel
or Graph Editor, press Shift + Spacebar. This collapses all other panes

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

docked in the main window. If the mouse pointer is over a floating win
dow or another part of the interface, such as the Channel Box or Tool
Settings, it affects the last view you clicked in. Press Shift + Spacebar
again to restore the previous viewing configuration.

• For a full-screen view of the pane with the focus, press Ctrl + Spacebar.
This works the same way as Shift + Spacebar for zoom-in view, but it also
hides UI elements such as the Status Line, Shelf, Time Slider, and so on.
Press Ctrl + Spacebar again to restore the previous viewing
configuration.

1. Menu Sets
Menu sets divide the type of menus available into categories: Modeling, Rig-
ging, Animation, FX, and Rendering. Maya’s first seven menus on the main
menu are always available, and the remaining menus change depending on
the menu set you choose. See Menus and menu sets for information.

2. Menus
The menus contain both tools and actions for working in your scene. The main
menu is that the top of the Maya window. There are also individual menus for
the panels and option windows. You can also access the menus in the main
menu in the hotbox, which you can open by holding down the space bar in a
view panel. See Menus and menu sets for information.

3. Status Line
The Status line contains icons for some commonly-used general commands,
such asFile > Save, as well as icons for setting up object selection, snapping,
rendering, and more. A quick Selection field is also available for you to set up
for numeric input. Click the vertical dividers to expand and collapse groups of
icons.

20
 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

4. User Account menu

Log in to your Autodesk account. Click for more options, such as to manage
your license or purchase Autodesk products. Trial versions also show many
days are left.

5. Shelf
The Shelf contains icons for common tasks, organized by tabs based on cate-
gory. The real power of shelves, however, is that you can create custom shelves,
and then make tools or command shortcuts that are quickly accessed from
there with a single click. See Shelves for information.

6. Workspace selector
Select a custom or predefined arrangement of windows and panels designed
for different workflows. Shown here is the Maya Classic workspace. For more
information, see Workspaces.

7. Sidebar icons
The icons at the right end of the Status line open and close tools that you will
use frequently. From left to right, the icons display the Modeling Toolkit, the
HumanIK window, the Attribute Editor, the Tool Settings, and the Channel Box/
Layer Editor(which is open by default and shown here).

In the Maya Classic workspace, these tools open as tabs in the pane below,
except for the Tool Settings which open in a floating window. Use the tabs to
switch between open tools, or click the current tab to collapse the whole pane.
Click on any tab in a collapsed pane to restore it. You can also drag the tabs to
change their order, or right-click on the tabs for more options.

8. Channel Box
The Channel Box lets you edit attributes and key values for selected objects.
The Transform attributes are shown by default, but you can change which at-
tributes are displayed here.

9. Layer Editor
There are two types of layers that are displayed in the Layer Editor:

• Display Layers are used to organize and manage objects in a scene,

such as for setting their visibility and selectability.
• Animation Layers are used to blend, lock, or mute multiple levels of
animation.
In all cases, there is a default layer where objects are initially placed upon cre-
ation.

10. View panel

The View panel offers different ways of viewing the objects in your scene with
a camera view. You can show one or several view panels, depending on the

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

layout you’re using. You can also display different editors in the view panel. The
Panel Toolbar in each view panel gives you access to many of the frequently
used commands found in the Panel menus.

11. Tool Box

The Tool Box contains tools that you use all the time to select and transform
objects in your scene. Use the QWERTY hotkeys to use the Select tool ( Q), Move
tool ( W), Rotate tool ( E), Scale tool ( R), and Show Manipulators ( T), as well as
access the last tool used ( Y) in the scene.

12. Quick layout/Outliner buttons

The upper three Quick Layout Buttons below the Tool Box let you switch be-
tween useful View panel layouts with a single click, and the bottom button
opens theOutliner . See Panels and layouts for information on how to create
custom layouts.

13. Time Slider

The Time Slider shows you the time range that is available as defined by the
range slider, below. The time slider also displays the current time, and the keys
on selected objects or characters. You can drag the red playback cursor in it to
“scrub” through animation, or use the playback controls at the right end.

14. Range Slider

The Range Slider lets you set the start and end time of the scene’s animation.
You can also set a playback range if you want to focus on a smaller portion of
the whole animation.

15. Playback controls

The Playback Controls let you move around time and preview your animation
as defined by the Time Slider range.

16. Anim/Character menus

The Animation or Character menus let you switch the Animation Layer and the
currentCharacter Set. There are also icons for Auto Key and Animation prefer-
ences.

17. Playback options

Use the Playback options to control how your scene play backs animation, in-
cluding setting frame rates, looping controls, and auto keying, as well as gives
you quick access to the Time Slider preferences.

18. Command Line

The Command line has an area to the left for inputting single MEL commands,
and an area to the right for feedback. Use these area if you are familiar with
Maya’s MEL scripting language.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

19. Help Line

The Help Line gives a short description of tools and menu items as you scroll
over them in the UI. This bar also prompts you with the steps required to use a
tool or complete a workflow.

Menus and menu sets

There are seven menus always available in Maya: File, Edit, Create, Select, Mod-
ify, Displayand Windows.

All other menus change depending on the menu set you select: Modeling, Rig-
ging, Animation, Dynamics, Rendering. Each menu set is designed to support a
particular workflow.

You select the menu set you want to work with from the drop-down list in the
Status bar.

To switch between menu sets, use the drop-down menu in the Status Line, or
use hotkeys. The default hotkeys are:

• F2 (Modeling)
• F3 (Rigging)
• F4 (Animation)
• F5 (FX)
• F6 ( Rendering)

You can create custom menu sets that contain your choice of menu items -
see Custom menu sets.

Note: To toggle the display of the menu bar, press Ctrl+M. With no menu bar
visible, you can still use the Hotbox to choose commands.

Tear-off menus
You can display menus as separate windows. This is helpful when you use a
menu repeatedly. Pull down the menu and click the tear-off line at the top.
Tear-off menus always display on top.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

Select menu items

You can select items from menus in different ways in Maya:

• The main menu at the top of the Maya window - see Menus and menu
sets.

• Shelves, where the most frequently used menu items are also available
as icons; for example, common commands from the Rigging menu set
are available as icons in the Rigging shelf - see Shelves.

• The hotbox - see Select actions from the hotbox

• Marking menus - see Marking menus

Actions and Tools

Almost all menu items are actions, but there are also many tools.

• When you select an action menu item, that action is performed on the
selected objects or components.

Some actions work differently depending on the order in which you

select the objects. For example, you first select all the objects you want
to constrain, and then select the constraining object last when you
create a constraint.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

If the order is important, instructions about the selection order appear in the
help line at the bottom of the Maya window.

• When you select a tool menu item, that tool is activated, which you can
then use on objects or components. Instructions for using the tool
appear on the help line when it’s active.

The tool stays active until you exit it by selecting another tool.

Many items in the Curves and Surfaces menus can be converted from actions
to tools (or vice versa) - see Switch operations between actions and tools.

Setting Options before selecting a menu item

For many menu items, you can set up options before executing it. When op-
tions are available, a box is displayed next to the name of a menu item. See
Set or reset the options for a menu item for more information.

Quickly repeating the last menu item

You can quickly repeat your last action from a menu item in Maya’s main menu,
or Panelmenu with the middle-mouse button. For example, if your last action
was to open the Windows > Animation Editors > Graph Editor, then middle-click
the Windows menu to reopen the Graph Editor. This also applies to sub-menus.

Middle-click on Panel Menus toggles radio or checkbox selections, where

available. Note: You cannot use the middle-click repeat with Panel > Renderer
menu items.

Set or reset options for a tool or menu item

Many tools have options, shown in the menu as a box . This option box lets you
adjust and finetune individual settings for each tool.

• Click the box next to the name of a menu item to open the action’s
options window.
• Double-click a tool to show the Tool Settings panel.

To reset a tool or action to its original (“factory”) options

You can return menu items to their default settings by clicking Reset.

Do one of the following:

• In an option window, select Edit > Reset settings.

25
Texturing Artist : Class – X

• In a Tool Settings editor, click Reset Tool.

Select Actions from the Hotbox

The hotbox contains every action available in the Maya interface. It appears
when you hold down the space bar in a view.

The hotbox has three main functions:

• It contains every menu and menu item. This is useful if you want to
quickly use an action from another menu set without switching menu
sets.

26
 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

• You can use the hotbox to select actions even if you’ve hidden the menu
bar (press Ctrl+M) and other UI elements to save space.

• The hotbox provides five customizable marking menus you can show
by clicking inside, above, below, left, or right of the Hotbox Controls
option. To select an action from the hotbox

1. Hold the space bar in a view to show the hotbox.

The hotbox remains on screen as long as you hold the space bar.

2. Click a menu and drag while you select an option, or click an empty area
anywhere around the hotbox to show additional marking menus.

Tip: Clicking the tear-off line at the top of a marking menu opens it in a
separate window.

Marking Menus
Marking menus are used throughout the Maya interface. When you right-click
an object, a marking menu appears that lets you select a selection mode and
other actions that are in context to the type of object. Some marking menus
appear when you hold a key and press a mouse button.

Marking menus are very fast for experienced users because once you get used
to showing them and the positions of their items, you can select the items us-
ing very quick gestures with the mouse or tablet pen, sometimes so fast the
entire menu won’t even display.

To select an item from a marking menu

1. Do one of the following:

• Right-click anywhere in your scene when an object is selected, and

release the mouse button.
The marking menu remains on the screen, letting you move your cursor
over the item you want to select.

• Right-click anywhere in your scene when an object is selected and

continue holding your mouse button and drag in the direction of the
item you want to select. It doesn’t matter how far you drag or if you hit
the item exactly. This allows you to make the drag very quickly. Dragging
over an item with a submenu attached shows the submenu.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

Note: You can assign marking menus to hotkeys. Hold the key and press the
mouse button to show the marking menu.

Polygon / NURBS marking menus

Right-clicking a polygon or NURBS object in the scene brings up a marking
menu of many commonly used commands.

Menu Item Effect

Components The upper radial section of each object type displays
options to change the current component selection
mode for that object.

Note: Objects remain selected even when switching

between various object and component modes.
Shape node Allows you to display the appropriate object’s shape
node without changing the current selection.
Select Selects the current object.
Select All Selects all objects in the scene.
Deselect All Clears the current selection.
Select Hierarchy Selects the current object and anything under it in
the DAG.
Invert Selection Selects anything currently unselected in the DAG and
vice versa.
Select Similar When in component mode, Select Similar selects po-
lygonal components (vertices, edges, and faces) of
a similar type to the current selection. When in object
mode, this option selects other objects of the same
node type in the scene.
Make Live Turns the current object into a Live surface that other
objects will then automatically snap to.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

DG Traversal Allows you to navigate up and down the DG into

the current object’s History (upstream) and Fu-
ture(downstream) without having to open the Node
Editor.

Menu Item Effect

Inputs Allows you to select and edit any / all input (up-
stream) connections to the current object’s shape
node.
Outputs Allows you to select and edit any / all output
(downstream) connections to the current object’s
shape node.
Paint Provides quick access to multiple paint modes,
including: Paint Select, 3D Paint, Sculpt Geometry,
and Vertex Color painting (not available for NURBS
curves).
Metadata Allows you to visualize and modify metadata as-
sociated with the current object.
Actions Provides quick access to Templating, (controlling
the object’s selectability), Unparenting (down to
the root level), and Bounding Box display actions.
UV Sets Provides quick access to options related to an ob-
ject’s (possibly) multiple UV sets (polygons only).
Color Sets Provides quick access to options related to an
object’s (possibly) multiple color sets (polygons
only).
Scene Assembly Provides quick access to various options relat-
ed to Scene Assembly for creating large complex
scenes.
Material Attributes Opens the current object’s shader node in the At-
tribute Editor.
Assign New Material Opens the Assign New Material window.
Assign Favorite Material Allows you to assign commonly used shaders
based on your Favorite list in the Hypershade. to
the current object.
Assign Existing Material Allows you to assign the current object any shader
that already exists in the scene.

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

Remove Material Over- Removes any material overrides created on a ren-

ride der layer, reverting back to the master layer’s ma-
terial shader.

Convert Selection marking menus

Ctrl + right-clicking an object provides a menu of selection conversion com-

mands that mirror those found in the Select > Convert Selection menu as well
as Contiguous Edges. The available options differ depending on the current
object type.

Create Polygon marking menus

Shift + right-clicking the scene without a selection provides a menu of polygon

primitives and creation tools.

Polygon Tools marking menus

Shift + right-clicking with a polygon object selected brings up a marking menu

of many commonly used polygon tools.

Menu Item Effect

Target Weld Tool Activates the Target Weld Tool, which allows you
to merge vertices or edges interactively.
Sculpt Tool Activates the Sculpt Tool, which moves vertices in
a direction determined by the average of all nor-
mals within the boundary of the tool cursor.
Fill Holes Fills all holes in the geometry with new faces.
Multi-Cut Activates the Multi-Cut Tool, which allows you to
divide edges and faces by inserting new vertices
/ edges.

Insert Edge Loop Activates the Insert Edge Loop, which allows you
to create new edge loop perpendicular to the ex-
isting edges.
Append to Polygon Tool Activates the Append to Polygon Tool, which al-
lows you to add polygons to an existing mesh.
Soften/Harden Edge Manipulates vertex normals to make all edges
appear soft or hard.
Extrude Extrudes the selected components.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

Offset Edge Loop Tool Activates the Offset Edge Loop Tool, which allows
you to insert

Menu Item Effect

new edge loops on either side of selected edges.
Smooth Smooths the current mesh by adding new polygons.
Subdiv Proxy Smooths the current mesh by adding polygons
and placing it inside the original, non smoothed
mesh, which becomes the proxy.
Crease Tool Activates the Crease Tool, which allows you to
create transitions between hard and soft edges.
Project Curve on mesh Creates a new curve that is the projection of a se-
lected curve on the selected mesh surface.
Split mesh with projected Splits or splits and detaches edges on a poly-
curve gon surface using a projection from the selected
curve.
Mirror Provides the options found in the Mesh > Mirror
menu, to mirror the selected mesh across an axis.
Mapping Provides options to apply a default UV map to the
selected faces.
Triangulate Faces Converts the selected faces to triangles to ensure
proper rendering.
Quadrangulate Faces Converts the selected faces to quads to ensure
proper rendering.
Separate Separates the selected polygon into the individu-
al polygon shells (if any exist) that make it up.
Combine Combines the selected polygon shells into a sin-
gle object.
Booleans Provides the options found in the Mesh > Bool-
eansmenu, to model based on the intersection
points of two meshes.
Reduce Retopologizes the selected object in an attempt
to reduce the overall number of polygons.
Cleanup Opens the Cleanup Options , which allow you to
remove unwanted geometry or tesselate faces
that may be valid in Maya

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Texturing Artist : Class – X

Menu Item Effect

but not elsewhere.

Connect Tool Activates the Connect Tool allowing you to connect

components by inserting edges between them.
Quad Draw Tool Activates the Quad Draw Tool, which allows you to
draw new polygons by placing dots in the scene.
Polygon Display Allows you to toggle various display settings based
on the component type currently selected.

UV marking menus

Shift + right-clicking a polygon object while in UV selection mode brings up a

marking menu of many commonly used UV tools.

Menu Item Effect

Mapping Allows you to project new UVs onto the mesh.
3D Cut and Sew UV Tool Allows you to create or merge UV shell seams di-
rectly in the viewport.
3D Grab UV Tool Allows you to drag UVs directly in the viewport.
Cut UVs Separates the selected UV edges.
Sew UVs Attaches the selected UV edges.
Delete UVs Removes the selected UVs.
Create UV Shell Creates a UV shell(s) out of each set of adjacent
selected UVs.
Merge UVs Merges the selected UVs (assuming they belong
to the same UV shell).
Auto Seams Automatically cuts seams into the shell pertain-
ing to the selected

Menu Item Effect

UVs.
Texture Borders Displays texture borders in the viewport.
UV Editor Opens the 2D UV Editor.
UV Set Editor Opens the UV Set Editor.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

UV Shell marking menus

Shift + right-clicking a polygon object while in UV Shell selection mode brings

up a marking menu of many commonly used UV shell tools.

Menu Item Effect

Mapping Allows you to project new UVs onto the mesh.
3D Cut and Sew UV Tool Allows you to create or merge UV shell seams di-
rectly in the viewport.
3D Grab UV Tool Allows you to drag UVs directly in the viewport.
Unfold Unfolds the object’s UV shell.
Optimize Evens out the space between UVs.
Layout Spreads out an object’s UV shells to make the best
use of 0-1 UV space.
Flip Changes the orientation of the UV shell. Useful if a
texture appears backwards.
Auto Seams Automatically assigns / cuts seams into the UV
shell.
Texture Borders Displays texture borders in the viewport.
UV Editor Opens the 2D UV Editor.
UV Set Editor Opens the UV Set Editor.
NURBS curves marking menus

Shift + right-clicking a NURBS curve brings up a marking menu of many com-

monly used NURBS commands.

Menu Item Effect

Add Points Tool Activates the Add Points Tool, which allows you
to extend certain types of curves (such as CV, EP,
and Pencil)q.
Open / Close Curves Separates or connects the first and last points of
the selected curves.
Reverse Curve Reverses the curve direction by renumbering the
points.
Convert NURBS to Bezier Converts the selected NURBS curve to a Bezier
curve.
Bezier Curve Tool Activates the Bezier Curve Tool, allowing you to
modify or extend the selected Bezier curve.

33
Texturing Artist : Class – X

Transform marking menus

Ctrl + Shift + right-clicking your scene when different transformation tools are
active, or holding the shortcut key for that tool and left-clicking the scene,
opens a marking menu full of various settings related to that particular trans-
formation tool.

Common Transform marking menus

The following marking menus are common to the Select Tool, Move Tool, Ro-
tate Tool, and Scale Tool.

Menu Item Effect

Selection Constraints Lets you select components based on a specific
type of constraint (i.e. edge loops only or border
edges only).
Transform Constraints Lets you select a transform constraint.
Smart Duplicate Lets you Shift + drag to create duplicates.

Smart Extrude Lets you shift + drag to extrude components.

Preserve UVs Maya automatically transforms UVs in the UV
space relative to the transformations taking place
in the scene view (not available for Select Tool).
Preserve Children Maintains the position of child objects when you
move a parent object (not available for Select
Tool).
Tweak Mode Turns Tweak Mode on and off (not available for
Select Tool).

Symmetry
Menu Item Effect
Symmetry Turns Object symmetry on.
Topology q/ World / Object Sets the symmetry space.
X Axis / Y Axis / Z Axis Lets you choose whether to reflect your selec-
tion along the X-axis, Y-axis or Z-axis.

Select
Menu Item Effect
Marquee Turns Marquee select on and off.

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 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

Pre-selection Highlight Turns Preselection Highlight on and off.

Highlight Nearest Compo- When enabled and Maya is in component
nent mode, automatically highlights the compo-
nent (according to the active component se-
lection setting) closest to the mouse cursor for
selection.
Highlight Backfaces When enabled, backfacing components are
highlighted for preselection and are select-
able. When this option is disabled, backfacing
components are still selectable, but they are
not highlighted for preselection.
Asset Centric Turns Asset Centric selection on and off.
Soft Select Opens the Soft Select marking menu.
Camera Based Selection Turns on Camera Based Selection.
Clear Selection Deselects all selected components.

Soft Select
Menu Item Effect
Soft Select Turns Soft Selection on and off.
Object / Global / Surface /Volume Sets the Falloff Mode for Soft Selection.
Color Feedback Turns color feedback for Soft Selection
on and off.

Select Tool marking menus

The following marking menus give you access to options associated with the
Select Tool. You can also access these marking menus by holding Q + clicking
in your scene.

Menu Item Effect

Paint Select Changes the selection mode to Paint Select.
Lasso Changes the selection mode to Lasso Select.

Move Tool marking menus

Holding W + clicking in your scene opens a marking menu of options associat-

ed with the Move Tool. Most of the options can also be found in the Move Tool
Settings.

35
Texturing Artist : Class – X

Menu Item Effect

Axis / World / Object / Component Sets the Move Axis (coordinate system)
for the Move Tool.
Keep Spacing Maintains relative spacing when snap
settings are on.
Update Triad Determines whether the manipulator is
updated during manipulation or when
the mouse button is released, when
moving components along their nor-
mals.
Move Options Opens the Tool Settings.

Axis
Menu Item Effect
Live Object Sets the Axis Orientation for the Move
Axis / Normal / Parent / Along Tool.
Rotation Axis
Custom Sets the Axis Orientation to a Custom
axis orientation based on a specified
point, edge, or face.

Snap
Menu Item Effect
Discrete Move Lets you move components by specified increments.
You can modify the increments in the Tool Settingse-
ditor.
Face Center / Vertex Lets you move and snap to a live polygon’s compo-
nents.
Both can be turned on simultaneously.
Relative Mode Lets you move components relative to their initial ori-
entation or scale.

Rotate Tool marking menus

Holding E + clicking in your scene opens a marking menu of options associ-

ated with the Rotate Tool. Most of the options can also be found in the Rotate
Tool Settings.

36
 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

Menu Item Effect

Object / World/Component / Sets the Axis Orientation for the Rotate Tool.
Gimbal / Custom
Custom Sets the Axis Orientation to a Custom axis ori-
entation based on a specified point, edge, or
face.
Rotate Object Center Lets you rotate object components around the
object’s pivot point.
Free Rotate When on, dragging the area inside the rota-
tion manipulators (the center) rotates the ob-
ject or component.
Relative Lets you rotate or scale components relative
to their initial orientation or scale.
Rotate Options Opens the Tool Settings.

Scale Tool marking menus

Holding R + clicking in your scene opens a marking menu of options associat-

ed with the Scale Tool. Most of the options can also be found in the Scale Tool
Settings.

Menu Item Effect

Axis / World /Object/Component Sets the Axis Orientation for the Scale Tool.
Snap Scale Lets you scale components by specified
increments.
You can modify the increments in the Tool
Settingseditor.
Relative Lets you rotate or scale components rela-
tive to their initial orientation or scale.

Scale Object Center Lets you scale object components around

the object’s pivot point.
Prevent Negative Scale Stops all single axis scaling operations on
components at 0.
Scale Tool Settings Opens the Tool Settings.

37
Texturing Artist : Class – X

Axis
Menu Item Effect
Live Object Sets the Axis Orientation for the Scale Tool.
Axis / Normal / Parent / Along
Rotation Axis
Custom Sets the Axis Orientation to a Custom axis ori-
entation based on a specified point, edge, or
face.

Input / Output marking menus

Holding A + clicking in your scene opens a marking menu of options related to

incoming and outgoing connections to the currently selected objects.

Menu Item Effect

Enable All Outputs / Disable Enables / Disables all outgoing values from
All Outputs the selected node.
Delete History / Delete Non- Clears the appropriate type of construction
Deformer History history.
Select All Inputs / Select All Selects incoming / outgoing connections to
Outputs the selected node.
Freeze Transformations Resets the selected object’s current transfor-
mations to zero.

Component Marking Menus

Shift + right-clicking your scene when in component selection mode opens a

marking menu specific to the type of component (vertices, edges, or faces)
currently being selected.

Common Component marking menus

The following marking menus are common to the Vertex, Edge, and Face com-
ponent modes.

Menu Item Effect

Merge Provides options for merging multiple selections of
the same component into one.
Paint Select Activates Paint Selection mode for the current
component type.

38
 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

Multi Cut Activates the Multi-Cut Tool, which allows you to

divide edges and faces by inserting new vertices
/ edges.
Delete Deletes the selected component (vertices and
edges only).
Normals Presents a number of options to modify the select-
ed components normals (vertices and faces only).
Extrude Extrudes the selected components.
Crease Tool Activates the Crease Tool, which allows you to cre-
ate transitions between hard and soft edges (ver-
tices and edges only).
Connect Components Connects the selected vertices, edges, or faces (in
the form of their border edges) to the last selected
vertex or edge.
Detach Components Separates components into multiple overlapping
components.
Transform Component Activates a Manipulator Tool based on the last se-
lected component.
Connect Tool Activates the Connect Tool allowing you to con-
nect components by inserting edges between
them.
Polygon Display Allows you to toggle various display settings based
on the component type currently selected.

Vertex marking menus
Shift + right-clicking the scene in Vertex component mode opens a marking
menu of vertex tools and options.

Menu Item Effect

Average Vertices Averages the distance between the
selected vertices.
Chamfer Vertex Chamfers the selected vertices.
Apply Color Assigns color data to the selected
vertices.

Edge marking menus

Shift + right-clicking the scene in Edge component mode opens a marking

menu of edge tools and options.

39
Texturing Artist : Class – X

Menu Item Effect

Flip/Spin Edge Flips or spins edges to opposite cor-
ners of a face.
Bevel Edge Expands the selected edge into a new
face based on the current Bevel Op-
tions.
Soften/Harden Edge Manipulates vertex normals to make
connected edges appear soft or hard.

Offset Edge Loop Tool Activates the Offset Edge Loop Tool,
which allows you to insert new edge
loops on either side of selected edg-
es.
Insert Edge Loop Activates the Insert Edge Loop, which
allows you to create new edge loop
perpendicular to the existing edges.
Slide Edge Tool Lets you reposition a selection of edg-
es or entire edge loops on a polygon
mesh.
Edit Edge Flow Adjusts the position of the selected
edges to fit the curvature of the sur-
rounding mesh.
Add Divisions To Edge Allows you to split an edge using mul-
tiple vertices.
Bridge Creates faces connecting the select-
ed border edges.
Fill Hole Automatically creates a three or more
sided face to fill an open
area bordered by the selected edge.

Face marking menus

Shift + right-clicking the scene in Face component mode opens a marking

menu of face tools and options.

Menu Item Effect

Poke Face Creates a vertex at the center of the selected face(s)
and adds vertices to properly triangulate them.

40
 Unit 1: Surfaces and Materials

Bevel Face Expands the selected face’s edges into a new faces
based on the current Bevel Options.
Wedge Face Extrudes an arc out of the selected face until it is
within a certain Arc angle of the selected edge.
Smooth Faces Adds new polygons to smooth out vertices and
edges bordering the selected faces.
Assign Invisible Faces Removes all shading from the selected faces (but
does not remove the face itself).
Add Divisions To Faces Subdivides selected faces into additional faces.
Triangulate Faces Converts the selected faces to triangles to ensure
proper rendering.
Quadrangulate Faces Converts the selected faces to quads to ensure
proper rendering.
Reduce Faces Retopologizes the selected faces in an attempt to
reduce the overall number of polygons.
Bridge Faces Creates faces connected the selected faces’ oppo-
site border edges.
Extract Faces Disconnects the selected faces from the mesh.
Duplicate Face Creates a copy of the selected faces.
Target Weld Activates the Target Weld Tool, which allows you to
merge vertices or edges interactively.
Mapping Provides options to apply a default UV map to the
selected faces.

Texturing artist: Roles and Responsibilities

Texturing artist in the Media & Entertainment Industry is also known as a Shad-
ing artist

Brief Job Description

Individuals at this job are responsible to add textures to models to create pho-
to-realistic models that can be used for animation

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with the CG Supervisor and Lead Texture Artist to execute

the required look of CG characters and objects

41
Texturing Artist : Class – X

• Continual and efficient communication with the Look Dev and Modelling
departments
• Quality control of texture maps prior to publishing to ensure consistency
• Meeting schedules and set deadlines while maintaining the highest
standards
• Communicating with Production and Leads regarding schedules and
deadlines
• Sharing techniques, reference material and ideas with the team
• Continuing to become familiar with new tools, software, data and other
related technology

Essential Skills:

• The ability to work within a team of other Texture Artists or independently

• A commitment to creative collaboration within the team and with other
departments
• Proactive and excellent communication, organisation and interpersonal
skills
• Creative problem solving skills
• The proven ability to work well under pressure
• Open to direction and able to embrace change
• Attention to detail
• Reliable with good time keeping and the ability to meet set deadlines

42
UNIT 2:
SHADING AND
TEXTURING

SURFACE SHADING

In the real world, what an object is made of is one of two main factors that de-
termine the appearance of its surface (the other is light). This is because when
light hits the objects, some of the light is absorbed and some of it is reflect-
ed. The smoother the object, the shinier it is; the rougher the object, the more
matte it is.

In Autodesk®Maya®, the appearance of a surface is defined by how it’s shaded.

Surface shading is a combination of the basic material of an object and any
textures that are applied to it.

In Maya, materials (also called shaders) define an object’s substance. Some of

the most basic attributes of materials include color, transparency, and shine.
For more information on materials in Maya, see Surface, displacement, volu-
metric materials .

Factors beyond basic color, transparency, and shine that determine the ap-

43
Texturing Artist : Class – X

pearance of an object’s surface (such as more complex color, transparen-

cy, shine, surface relief, reflection, or atmosphere) are defined by textures. For
more information on textures, see 2D and 3D textures, Procedural textures, and
File textures.

About backgrounds
Typically you render the objects in a scene against a black background and
composite the rendered images later with an appropriate background using
compositing software. However, you can insert a background:

• to avoid having to model background objects or scenery, but want them

represented, 2Dly, in your scene (especially if you don’t have access to
compositing software).
• as a temporary reference (especially for rotoscoping or motion
matching) for modeling or animating objects in the scene.

Basic color and texture backgrounds

Color backgrounds
A color background floods the background of the scene with a solid color (for
example, black, white, or red).

Create a basic color background

To create a color background

1. In the Environment section of the camera’s Attribute Editor (View >
Camera Attribute Editor), set the Background Color attribute.

For more information on a camera’s Attribute Editor, see Attribute Editor

in the Basics guide.

44
 Unit 2: Shading and Texturing

Texture backgrounds
A texture background uses a 2D, 3D, or environment texture on an image plane
to simulate a 3D background, or environment.

Create a texture background To create a texture background

1. In the Environment section of the camera’s Attribute Editor (View >

Camera Attribute Editor), click the Create button to the right of the
Image Plane attribute.
Maya creates an image plane and connects it to the camera.
2. Set the Type attribute for the image plane to Texture.
3. Click the texture button for the Texture attribute.
The Create Render Node window appears.
4. Select the texture you want to use as a background (for example, an
Environment Texture).
Maya creates the texture and connects it to the image plane.

Create, edit, or position an image plane

To create an image plane

1. Select View > Image Plane > Import Image from the current view.
2. Browse to the file you want and click Open.
A placement icon appears in either the current view or all views,
depending on the Display mode you set (in all views by default), and the
Image Plane Attribute Editor opens.
3. Select an Image File or Texture from the Type drop-down list, then click
the folder icon next to Image Name to load an image plane into the view.

For a description of image plane attributes, see Image plane

45
Texturing Artist : Class – X

To edit an existing image plane

1. Select View > Image Plane > Image Plane Attributes from the current
view and choose any of the camera’s image planes you want to edit.

The selected image plane’s attributes display in the Attribute Editor

(unless the Attribute Editor has been hidden)

Tip

Right-click the arrow key of the image plane attribute in the camera to display
a list of the image planes per camera.

To position an image plane

1. Do one of the following:

• Use the Placement attributes to position an image plane relative to the
camera.
• Use the Placement Extras attributes to control which portion of an
image file is visible on the image plane.

Apply color and shading to an object

After you have created your model, you can add color and shading to it by
doing the following:

• Create a material and assign it to your object

• Set a color for the object
• Map a texture to any of the material attributes
• Adjust the material attributes; for example, its specularity, transparency,
and so forth

Create a material and assign it to your object

Right-click your object in the viewport and select Assign New Material. Select
any of the available shaders from the editor that appears. In this example, a
Phong shader is created and assigned to the body of the dinosaur model.

Set a color for the object

You can set a color for your object by clicking the Color value swatch to edit
the color using the Color Chooser.

46
 Unit 2: Shading and Texturing

Alternatively, you can map a texture to the Color attribute of your material, as
demonstrated in the Map a texture to any of the material attributes section
below.

Map a texture to any of the material attributes

You can map a texture to any of the material attributes that appear with a
icon beside it.
For example, you can add color to your model by mapping a file texture to the
material’s Color attribute, or add surface detail by mapping a normal map to
the Bump Mappingattribute to give the appearance of a rough surface.

1. Click the icon beside the Color attribute and select File.

A File texture node is created. Click the browse icon beside Image Name
to navigate to your texture file.

Press 6 for textured mode in the viewport to see the texture applied to
the dinosaur.

2. Similarly, click the icon beside the Bump Mapping attribute and
select File.

Select the file node in the Attribute Editor and click the browse icon to
navigate to your normal map.

3. Display your normal map in tangent space or object space.

In this example, the bump on the model’s body is not very realistic. To
correct this, select the bump2d node, then select Use As > Tangent Space
Normals.

Note: A icon indicates that a texture has been mapped to an

attribute.

Adjust the material attributes

You can further refine the shading of your model by adjusting any other ma-
terial attribute.

For example:

• Increase the size of the specular highlights by adjusting the Cosine

47
Texturing Artist : Class – X

Power attribute

• Give the dinosaur a metallic, shiny skin by changing the Specular Color
to a lighter grey

The attributes that you can adjust depend on the shader that you have as-
signed to the material. Different attributes are available for the Blinn shader,
for example, as compared to the Lambert shader.

Create layered shaders

You can layer shaders when you want to use more than one material for an
object. Layered shaders let you create the appearance of variations in the
material qualities of the surface by combining two or more material nodes
that each have their own qualities. Layered shaders render more slowly than
other materials, so consider using Layered textures instead to achieve similar
results.

Layered textures with the Layered Shader node

The Layered Shader node has an attribute called compositing flag that causes
the shader type to layer materials or layer textures. You can use this to layer
textures with the Layered Shader node.
However, using the Layered Texture node is recommended because you can
set many more options. See Layered textures for more information.

If you choose the texture option for the compositing flag, you must plug the
whole network into a material (for example, Phong or Blinn).

For a description of this flag and other attributes of the node, see the Layered
Shader node reference.

To create a layered shader (example)

1. Create a Layered Shader in the Hypershade.

2. Select the Layered Shader node and open the Attribute Editor.
3. Create a Lambert shader and drag to the area with the green swatch in
the Attribute Editor.
4. Create a Phong and do the same.
The leftmost shader is the topmost material. You’ll have to have some
level of transparency to see the shader underneath. So, for this example,

48
 Unit 2: Shading and Texturing

you’ll need to map the Lambert’s transparency channel with something

to see the shiny Phong underneath. Then assign the shader to an object.

Textures

In visual arts, a texture is any kind of surface detail, both visual and tactile. In
Maya, you create surface detail with textures connected to the material of ob-
jects as texture maps. Materials define the basic substance of an object, and
textures add detail.

You can connect textures to almost any attribute of a material; the most com-
mon ones being color, transparency and shine (specularity). For more infor-
mation on material attributes, see Common surface material attributes and
Common surface material Specular Shading attributes.

In addition, you can also add detail to the appearance of an object’s surface
by adding Surface relief. Do this by connecting textures as bump maps or dis-
placement maps.

A set of 2D and 3D textures are provided in Maya. In addition, you can create a
Filetexture and connect to it your own image file.

2D and 3D textures

Texture nodes are one type of render node that, when mapped to the material
of an object, let you define how the surface of an object looks when rendered.
Texture node(s) (with material nodes) feed into the Shading Group node, which
tells the renderer how to shade the surface.
Texture nodes are procedural textures generated by Maya or bitmap images
imported into Maya that you can use as texture maps for material attributes.
Texture maps on various attributes such as color, bump, and specularity affect
the appearance of the material. For more information about texture maps,

2D textures

2D textures wrap around an object, like gift wrapping, or stick to a flat surface,
like wallpaper.

49
Texturing Artist : Class – X

3D textures

3D textures project through objects, like veins in marble or wood.

With a 3D texture, objects appear to be carved out of a substance, such as rock

or wood. You can scale, rotate and move 3D textures interactively in a scene
view to achieve the desired results.

Environment textures

Environment textures are commonly used either as backgrounds for objects in

your scene or as reflection maps.

Layered textures

There are two ways to layer textures in Maya: using the Layered Shader with the
texture compositing flag, or with the Layered Texture Node.

Though the workflow for using the Layered Texture node is similar to the Lay-
ered Shader, using the Layered Texture node is recommended because you
can set many blend modes.

Overview of texture nodes

Shared 2D texture attributes

For texture-specific attributes, see the 2D texture name: Bulge, Checker, Cloth,
File, Fluid Texture 2D, Fractal, Grid, Mountain, Movie,Noise, Ocean, Ramp, Water.

50
 Unit 2: Shading and Texturing

Color Balance
Corrects the color or intensity of a texture.

Exposure
Adjusts the brightness of the image. The modified colors are used for render-
ing, as well as for display in Viewport 2.0.

Note: Exposure is available only for File texture nodes.

Default Color
If you map a texture to a material in such a way that it that does not cover the
entire surface, the file node’s Default Color shows through. To select a different
color, click the color bar to open the Color Chooser. To change the texture’s
coverage, use the placement options.

Color Gain
Scaling factor applied to the texture’s outColor channel. For example, you can
color-correct a texture that appears too green by setting the Color Gain to a
shade of blue. The default color is white (no effect).

Color Offset
Offset factor applied to the texture’s outColor channel. For example, you can
brighten a texture that appears too dark by setting the Color Offset to a shade
of gray. The default color is black (no effect).

Alpha Gain
Only has an effect if the texture is used as a bump or displacement. Scaling
factor applied to the texture’s outAlpha channel. The default value is 1 (no ef-
fect).

Alpha Offset
Only has an effect if the texture is used as a bump or displacement. Offset
factor applied to the texture’s outAlpha channel. For example, if the Alpha Gain
value is -1 and the Alpha Offset value is 1, the outAlpha channel is inverted. The
default value is 0 (no effect).

Alpha Is Luminance
Off by default. The alpha (mask) output depends on the luminance of the color
channels. Bright areas of the texture are more opaque when compositing, and
dark areas are more transparent.

Note: You cannot use Alpha Is Luminance for Cloth, Ramp, or Stencil textures.

Shared 3D texture attributes

Color Balance

51
Texturing Artist : Class – X

Corrects the color or intensity of a texture.

Default Color
If you map a texture to a material in such a way that it that does not cover the
entire surface, the file node’s Default Color shows through. To select a different
color, click the color bar to open the Color Chooser. To change the texture’s
coverage, use the placement options.

Color Gain
Scaling factor applied to the texture’s outColor channel. For example, you can
color-correct a texture that appears too green by setting the Color Gain to a
shade of blue.The default color is white (no effect).

Color Offset
Offset factor applied to the texture’s out Color channel. For example, you can
brighten a texture that appears too dark by setting the Color Offset to a shade
of grey. The default color is black (no effect).

Alpha Gain
Only has an effect if the texture is used as a bump or displacement. Scaling
factor applied to the texture’s out Alpha channel. The default value is 1 (no ef-
fect).

Alpha Offset
Only has an effect if the texture is used as a bump or displacement. Offset fac-
tor applied to the texture’s out Alpha channel. For example, if the Alpha Gain
value is -1 and the Alpha Offset value is 1, the out Alpha channel is inverted. The
default value is 0 (no effect).

Alpha Is Luminance
Off by default. The alpha (mask) output depends on the luminance of the color
channels. Bright areas of the texture are more opaque when compositing, and
dark areas are more transparent.

Note: You cannot use Alpha Is Luminance for Cloth, Ramp, or Stencil textures.

Effects Filter
Filter attributes scale the size of the filter and let you specify the amount of blur
in the texture map. Use it as an anti-aliasing technique used to refine file tex-
tures, reduce flickering, or to achieve special effects.
By default, Filter is set to a value of 1.0 to help prevent such aliasing effects. The
effect of Filter is related directly to eye space. As the object moves further away
from the eye, the more the texture blurs.

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 Unit 2: Shading and Texturing

Filter Offset
Controls the texture blur in texture space (not eye space). Use Filter Offset for a
blurred effect instead of anti-aliasing. Maya adds a constant value to the Filter
setting. The default value is 0. Increasing the value increases the texture blur.
For example, 1.00 completely blurs the texture.

Tip:
A Filter and Filter Offset of 0.00 results in no blur effect, but a small amount of
blur can help reduce moiré and aliasing effects in texture maps.

Invert
Reverses all texture colors (black becomes white, white becomes black, and so
on). Invert is off by default. For example, you can change a bump or displace-
ment map’s raised regions to depressions and vice versa by setting Invert on
or off.

Local, Wrap
Wrap repeats or tiles the texture completely over the object. If off, everything
outside the 3D placement cube displays the texture’s default color. Wrap is on
by default.

Tip:
Some nodes, such as the Reverse utility, repeat themselves to achieve the ef-
fect of Wrap, so that it extends infinitely. Others, such as a Marble texture, ex-
tend outwards without repeating.

To adjust texture placement on all objects at once, turn Local on, transform the
texture placement icon, then turn Local off to see the results. Turning on Local
also means that if you transform any of the objects during an animation, the
3D texture transforms accordingly.

Blend
Controls how much of the texture’s Default Color is mixed into the texture Color.
A value of 0 means the Default Color does not affect the texture Color. As you
increase the Blend value, more and more of the Default Color mixes in. This at-
tribute does not work unless Wrap is turned off and Local is turned on.

To blend colors and textures using the Blend slider

1. Change the Default Color (in the Color Balance section of the texture’s
Attribute Editor), or map another texture to the Default Color.

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2. Make sure Invert and Wrap are off and turn Local on.
3. Drag the slider to change the Blend value.

Color Remap
Applies a color map to the texture and lets you add or subtract colors from a
texture’s default settings. Maya maps the U value to the original texture’s hue,
and the V value to the original texture’s intensity.

To remap a texture
1. Click the Insert button under the Color Remap section. The texture colors
change and a Remap Ramp Attribute Editor appears. Adjust the Ramp texture
colors and attributes if necessary.

UVs
UVs (pronounced U-VEEZ) are two-dimensional texture coordinates that re-
side with the vertex component information for polygonal and subdivision sur-
face meshes.

UVs exist to define a two-dimensional texture coordinate system, called UV

texture space. UV texture space uses the letters U and V to indicate the axes in
2D. UV texture space facilitates the placement of image texture maps on a 3D
surface.

UVs are essential in that they provide the connection between the surface
mesh and how the image texture gets mapped onto the surface mesh. That is,
UVs act as marker points that control which points (pixels) on the texture map
correspond to which points (vertices) on the mesh. Textures applied to poly-
gon or subdivision surfaces that do not possess UV texture coordinates will not
render.

Although Maya creates UVs by default for many primitive types, you’ll need to
rearrange the UVs in most cases, because the default arrangement will usu-
ally not match any subsequent edits to the model you may make. In addition,
the location of the UV texture coordinates do not automatically update when
you edit a surface mesh.

In most cases, you map and arrange UVs after you have completed your mod-
eling, but before you assign textures to the model. Otherwise, changing the
model will create a mismatch between the model and the UVs, and affect how
any textures appear on the model.

Understanding the concept of UVs and how to map them to a surface, and
subsequently lay them out accurately is essential for producing textures on
polygonal and subdivision surfaces when working in Maya. This is also import-

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ant when you need to paint textures, fur, or hair onto a 3D model.

Note: For NURBS surface types the texture coordinates (UVs) that control the
placement of a texture exist by default and are implicitly connected to the
control vertices. When the control vertices get repositioned, so do the positions
of the corresponding UV texture coordinates. Any textures mapped to the sur-
face will adjust automatically.

Texture mapping
To apply a texture to an object, you map the texture to an attribute on the
object’s material. (Textures and materials are render nodes. The attributes to
which the texture is connected determines how the texture is used and how it
affects the final results.

Maya has a number of textures that you can map onto objects. For example, if
you connect Maya’s 2D black and white Checker texture to the color attribute
of an object’s material, you have applied a color map; the checkered pattern
determines which parts of the object appear black and which appear white
(or other colors if you adjust the texture’s color attributes).

If you connect the black and white Checker texture to the transparency at-
tribute, you have applied a transparency map; the checkered pattern deter-
mines which parts of the object are opaque and which are transparent.

Commonly used texture maps

To map a texture, see Map 2D or 3D texture.

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Color maps
By mapping a texture to the Color attribute of an object’s material, you create
a color map which describes the color of the object.

To learn more about how you can work with color, see Common surface ma-
terial attributes.

Transparency maps
By mapping a texture to the Transparency attribute of an object’s material, you
create a transparency map which lets you make parts of an object opaque,
semi-transparent, or entirely transparent.

To learn more about how you can work with transparency, see Common sur-
face material attributes.

Specular maps
By mapping a texture to the Specular attribute of an object’s material, you
create a specular map which lets you describe how shine appears on objects
(by controlling highlight).

To learn more about how you can work with highlight, see Common surface
material Specular Shading attributes.

Reflection maps
By mapping a texture to the Reflected Color attribute of an object’s material,
you create a reflection map which lets you describe how an object reflects its
surroundings.

Bump maps
By mapping a texture to the Bump attribute of an object’s material, you create
a bump map which lets you add the illusion of surface bump detail to a sur-
face.

Displacement maps
Displacement maps let you add true dimension to a surface at render time,
a process which may reduce or eliminate the need for you to create complex
models.

UV mapping
The process of creating explicit UVs for a surface mesh is called UV mapping.
UV mapping is a process whereby you create, edit, and otherwise arrange the
UVs (that appear as a flattened, twodimensional representation of the surface
mesh, over top of the two-dimensional image to be used as a texture as it ap-
pears in the UV Texture Editor.

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The UV mapping process results in a correlation between the image and how it
appears as a texture when mapped onto the three-dimensional surface mesh.
UV mapping is a critical skill to master for accurate and realistic textures on
polygonal surfaces.

• You create UVs by mapping them onto your surface mesh. For more in
formation see Mapping UVs.
• You view and edit UVs using the UV Texture Editor. You can display the
texture image as a background image to let you more easily correlate
the UVs to the texture.
• You use the tools in the UV Texture Editor to lay out and manipulate the
2D representation of UVs. For more information see Editing UVs.

Creating UVs
In Maya, UV texture coordinates (UVs) can be created for polygon surface
meshes using the following UV mapping techniques:

• Automatic UV mapping
• Planar UV mapping
• Cylindrical UV mapping
• Spherical UV mapping
• User-defined UV mapping
• Best Plane mapping
• Camera UV mapping - see Planar UV mapping

Each UV mapping technique produces UV texture coordinates for the surface

mesh by projecting them onto the surface mesh based on its inherent projec-
tion method. However, the initial mapping produced via the above UV map-

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ping techniques does not usually produce the final UV arrangement that is
required for a texture. As a result, you will often need to perform further editing
operations on the UVs using the UV Editor. It is best to map UVs onto a model
only when it is complete.

Note: Polygon and subdivision surface primitives have default UV texture coor-
dinates that can be used for texture mapping. However, if you modify the de-
fault primitives in any way (that is, scale, extrude faces, insert or delete edges)
you will need to map a new set of UV texture coordinates onto the object to suit
your texture mapping requirements.

Bump maps
Bump maps are grayscale textures you map to objects to create the illusion of
surface relief (elevations and depressions) on an otherwise flat object.

With bump maps, depressions and elevations look real because they don’t al-
ter the geometry of the surface the way Displacement maps do. Bump maps
just change the direction of the surface’s normals based on the bump map’s
Alpha Gain value.

Use bump maps to create very shallow reliefs. For example, you can make ob-
jects look like they are embossed, have shallow rolling hills, and so on.

Because bump maps are not true surface relief, they:

• cannot cast or receive shadows

• cannot be seen if you silhouette the mapped object
• take less time to render than displacement maps

Note: File textures that are used for bump mapping are usually connected via
their out Alpha attribute. If the corresponding texture image file does not pro-
vide an alpha channel, then the bump effect may be missing when using cer-
tain image formats.

To avoid this, turn on the Alpha is Luminance attribute in the Color Balance
section of the File Texture node. For more information, see File.

Tip:
• Map surface relief (bumps or displacements) to the Blinn surface
material to reduce highlight roping or flickering. The soft highlights on
Blinn surfaces are less likely to cause roping or flickering than the harder
highlights on Phong surfaces.
• Although scratches are like little depressions, you can more easily
achieve them with 2D textures.

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Simple specular map made in Photoshop

Just like the bump map you can quickly make specular map in PS by changing
a few parameters.

a.) Desaturation
To do this simply select Hue/Saturation(Ctrl+U)and set the value of Saturation
to -100 or slightly less.

b.) Inversion
Unfortunately now all of the reflections would be in the hollows but we want
to achieve just the opposite of that. That’s way you need to do inversion. Key
combination Ctrl + i will do color inversions and already we can see that map
is close to what you are expecting.

c.)Levels
You have to set the Levels that so the black areas will be really crisp and so are
going to see the transitions between black and white points.

d.) Sharpen
It’s always worth to make our map a little sharper. Just go to Filter-> Sharpen->
Smart Sharpen and play with the sliders. Immediately you have a real-time

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view in the window how the sharpening is changing. Of course you cannot
overdo with this.

And this is how it looks like step by step.

2.Crazy bump

Here is very simple work to do. We will do everything in analogy of the creating
the bump map.

a.) Import a map

Now, you have to open your map. Select that option which you can see on the
left in the picture below. Once have you chosen the map wait until Crazy Bump
will stop thinking and then new window will appear like on the right side in the
picture. What’s going on? If you remember how the bump map works(you have
to know it!), you should immediately guess that the program gives us a choice
of what type of map we want. Map on the left has darker places so when you
will choose that one , your map will give more concavity effect, and the map on
the right is the inverse. In fact it doesn’t make a big difference which type you
will choose, because in 3ds max you can set the right value of the map.

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b.)Settings
First of all there is a fewer setup sliders than on bump card however that doesn’t
change the fact that you can get great effect or screw up everything :D

Description of the parameters for the Specularity map Slope influence

- here you can make that the holes will look deepen. I don’t recommend
changing it from a zero value. Below you can view how map is changing while
you are changing this and the other settings.

Texture influence
- Here you can change the influence of texture on the map. Why I would
to change it from a zero value? It’s a very good question :P It’s only useful when
you have a texture with a lot of pits and bulges, then you can make that the
light will reflect only on the most sharp places.

Enhence detail
- responsible for the amount of detail to be included on the map.

Brightness
- higher value makes map will be… all shiny without taking into account the
number of pits and bulger of diffuse map.

Contrast
- with increasing contrast, collapse places will be more sharp. Sometimes
this can be useful (for example on leather seat material) but usually the better
way is just set a value in the range 15-25.

Add noise
- this can add noise to the map

Metallic color
- this can add metallic color to the map

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c.)Saving the file

Let’s choose save(floppy disc) -> save normals as -> and here we have to pick
out the same typ of map like in the second method – tiff format. Sometimes
map doesn’t want to work (I read that on the internet). The way to avoid this is
very simple, just reopen the file in Photoshop or another type of program and
simply save it again and it will work correctly.

How to Create Seamless Textures in Photoshop

Whether you’re wrapping textures around 3D objects or simply filling a back-
ground, it’s likely you’ll need to fill a larger space than your original texture
block will allow. The problem is how to avoid the obvious joins where the tex-
ture repeats. Here’s a simple solution that you can use to make any texture
seamless.

Step 1: The starting texture

Choose your texture, and crop it so that it fits the Photoshop window – you
don’t want any of it to hang off the canvas. If you have your Crop Tool set so
that it doesn’t delete pixels, which is standard, then after you’ve cropped Select
All and then make a new layer from the selection. This will limit the new layer to
just what’s visible in the window.

Step 2: Offset the texture

Drag the texture layer to the bottom left, so the corner of the texture is now
more or less in the middle. You don’t have to do this precisely.

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Step 3: Repeat the texture

Hold Option/Alt as you drag the texture up with the Move Tool to make a copy,
holding Shift so it moves exactly vertically, until the bottom of the repeated
texture meets the top of the existing one. Then use Command/Ctrl+E to merge
these two layers together.

Step 4: Repeat again

Now drag the layer to the right, again holding Option/Alt and Shift to make a
copy. Merge down once again. You’ll now have offset the original texture so
that the edges are in the middle. The joins are obvious here – but you know

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that where the texture goes off the top, it seamlessly repeats on the bottom,
and the same for left and right.

Step 5: Patch the joins

The easiest way to begin is to use the Spot Healing Tool, dragged vertically
down the centre and horizontally across. This will be a great start, although
you’re not there yet.

Step 6: Fix the errors

After using the Spot Healing Tool you’ll probably be left with some unwieldy
patches – such as the black stone at the top of this image, which looks too

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cut-off on the right. Switch to the Clone Tool, and use it to sample clear patch-
es of background to cover up any anomalies.

Step 7: Save the texture

Select All, then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Give the new pattern a name, and
click OK. You’ll now be able to use it in any of your Photoshop work.

Step 8: Try it out

The easiest way to test the new texture is to make a new layer, filled with any
flat color, and choose Layer > Layer Style > Pattern Overlay. The new texture will
be the last one in the list. Once it fills the layer, move the dialog out of the way,

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and you’ll be able to drag it around to check that it really is seamless. You can
reduce the scale as well, if you like, to check the repeats.

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TEXTURING IN
PHOTOSHOP AND
AUTODESK MAYA

1. CREATE COLOUR MAP

Process of creating diffuse map in Photoshop
The diffuse map is a tilable (usally) image which gives the color infomation,
but does not contain lighting or height information for the texture. It is stored
as dds with dxt1 or dxt3 compression for use in Doom 3 and as 24 bit TGA (with
or without RLE) for the hires repository.

If your image has lighting baked in (shadows/highlights), you should remove

it.

Photoshop
Inspect the source image. If you’re going to tile it, try to find a regular repeating
area. This is only to make your job easier. You can tile anything, really, but it
depends on how much work you want to give yourself.

After you’ve chosen a rough tile-able area, crop that area out, and size your im-
age to the desired size ratio. Do not go lower than 1024 resolution at this stage
of the work, or you’ll start losing picture quality quickly. So set it to 2048X1024,
or 1024X1024, etc. The reason we need to fix the size ratio (not the final size) at
this stage is for the next step.

Set the offset

Go to Filter->Other->Offset. You want to set the horizontal and vertical to be

exactly half of your cropped picture’s width and height. That will make the op-
posite edges of the texture meet each other in the middle of the view, so you
can make it really tile-able.

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Make the seams disappear

See those seams running right down the middle of the pic, vertically and hori-
zontally? You have to make them disappear. Get to know the clone tool. (Goo-
gle...) There are many other ways to shuffle pixels too, but I’ll leave the specifics
up to you. This is usually the hardest, most time consuming step.

Once you’ve blended the lines away, run the Offset filter again to restore the
correct layout of your pic, and save it out in a nice high quality (but not too big
to manage) format. This is the “diffuse” image. We’re using 24bit TGA for TDM.

Preparing the Diffuse Map in Photoshop

Open the Normal map project.

Add a new layer above the Normal group. Name it ColorBase. Change the fore-
ground color to a dark gray.

Turn on the Template layer. Go to the ColorBase layer, and fill it with the fore-
ground color.

Pick a dark brown color for the foreground, and light brown color for
the background.

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On the ColorBase layer, make a selection over the handle grips mesh. Go to
Filter/Render/Fibers. This will fill in a wood texture for the handles.

Go to Select/Inverse. This will select all the other pieces which we want to be
gray.

Keep the selection on and go to Filter/Noise/Add Noise/0.25%. This will add a

bit of texture.

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Save your project as a .PSD file. Turn off the Template layer. Flatten the rest of
the layers. Then Save As… Diffuse.TGA

Now check your model in 3ds Max. It is still plain looking, but we will fix that with
some layer style effects.

Layer Style Effects

Add a new layer. Call it ColorIndents.

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Open the Normal group. Go to the Indents layer in the Normal group. Use the
MagicWand tool and click the empty background. Then go to Select/Inverse.
The Indents are all selected.

Turn off the Normal group, go to the ColorBase layer and go to menu and Edit/
Copy. We now have a copy of the ColorBase texture inside the selections.

Go to the ColorIndents layer. Then go to Edit/Paste Special/Paste in Place.

Merge the pasted layer into the ColorIndents layer. Now we have the ColorIn-
dents layer filled.

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Turn on the ColorBase layer and the ColorIndents layer. The pieces blend in.
We will use Layer Style Effects to the indented areas to add more color to the
texture.

While on the ColorIndents layer, go to Layer/Layer Style/Inner Glow. Pick a

brown color to simulate dirt. Blend Mode = Overlay. Size = 10. Noise = 25.

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Then go to Layer/Layer Style/Outer Glow. Pick a bright grey color to simulate

chipped paint. Blend Mode = Overlay. Size = 10. Noise = 20.

Finally go to Filter/Blur/Blur More. This will smooth the edges of the indented
areas.

Now we have the texture for all the Indented areas.

Create two new layers: ColorExtrude1 and ColorExtrude2.

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Follow these steps:

ColorExtrude1 layer:

#1. Get the selection of extruded pieces from Extrude1 in the Normal group of
layers.
#2. Go to the ColorBase layer and Copy.
#3. Go to ColorExtrude1 and Paste in Place.
#4. On the ColorExtrude1 layer add an Inner Glow for chipped paint, and an
Outer Glow for dirt. #5. Filter/Blur/Blur More.

ColorExtrude2 layer(the rivets):

#1. Get the selection of extruded pieces from Extrude2 in the Normal group.
Turn off Anti-alias

#2. Go to the ColorBase layer and Copy.

#3. Go to ColorExtrude2 and Paste in Place.
#4. On the ColorExtrude2 layer add an Inner Glow for chipped paint, and an
Outer Glow for dirt.
For the rivets, we want the Inner Glow to come from the Center, Size=5.

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#5. Don’t blur.

Almost finished the Diffuse(Color) map.

Ctrl-click all the layers below the Template layer and above the Normalgroup.
Then right click and go to Link Layers. Under Layers on the menu, Group the
layers and rename it Diffuse.

Highlight All Edges

Create a new Layer called Alledges. Put it below the Template layer.

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Open the Diffuse group, and turn off all other layers. Merge the Visible layers.

Select the entire screen. Go to Copy on the menu. We just want a copy of this
diffuse image.

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Get the Diffuse group of layers back again. We want to keep the Diffuse group
if we decide to make any changes there.

So, CTRL+ALT+Z until you are back the Diffuse group. Now go to the All Edges
layer and then Paste from the menu.

Now we have a copy of the flattened Diffuse group in the All Edges Layer.

Uncheck Anti-alias.

Go to the Template layer and use the Magic Wand tool to click anywhere out-
side the Template pieces.

Go back to the AllEdges layer and press Delete. Now we have all the pieces for
the gun model.

We just have to add a light gray color to all the edges.

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Make a Duplicate copy of the AllEdges layer.

Go to the Diffuse group and make a Duplicate copy of the ColorBase layer and
drag it under the AllEdgescopy layer.

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Go back to the AllEdges layer. On the menu go to Layer/Layer Style/Inner Glow.

White color, Noise=20, Size=7.

All the pieces have a light gray edge.

Add a layer mask to the AllEdges layer. Go to Layer/Layer Mask/ Reveal All.

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Now use the Pencil tool. Size=25. Make the foregroundcolor black.

On the AllEdges layer, click the layer mask, then use the pencil to erase edges
we don’t want to show on the model.

The edges to erase are mostly on the barrel pieces, and the line indent areas
on the gun box.

This is the Final Diffuse image.

Save your project as a .PSD file. Turn off the Template layer. Flatten the rest of
the layers. Then Save As… Diffuse.TGA

Un rapping the 3D Polygon Object

Within Photoshop the standard brush tool can be used to paint directly onto
the 3D geometry and project the paint marks onto the texture map.

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Painting on one face of this particular object will result in the paint appearing
on every side. This can be quite confusing to why it happens. If the material for
cube is opened, it’s fairly obvious why.

To access the materials for a 3D Object in Photoshop, click on the material ob-
ject in the 3D menu (marked yellow) and select to open/edit the Diffuse texture
(marked in red) from the folder (marked in purple)

It turns out that we only see one face, the reason that we see this result on all
faces is that each of the other faces takes the texture from a single definition.

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3D Texture maps are controlled by something called UV’s or UVW (in some cas-
es). A UV is a collection of reference points that link texture back to the original
Polygons. The U and V are simply references for an X and Y coordinates ref-
erence, but are represented in a 2D fashion, this is called un-wrapped geom-
etry. These 2D representations will make texturing and painting much simpler
and more controllable. In the case of the cube there are six faces, so therefore
six UV’s exist. however, the UV’s in this example are all positioned in the same
place, that’s why we only see one, but in reality there are six overlapping.

This might be want you need to paint the cube for your texture, but if you need
to have different designs, patterns and textures on each face, then this won’t
work for you and will need to be corrected.

Photoshop CC can read the UV’s that have been created from a 3D Package
and also has a way to automatically correct the UV’s by choosing ‘Generate
UVs’ from the 3D Menu. This again, might be ok for the texture that you would
like to paint. However, if you would like to get full control of the UV’s, then you
will need to unwrap them using a dedicated 3D package.

There are many different 3D packages out there and one is Cinema 4D and
that is what’s explained here. N. B. You will need Cinema 4D Body Paint to do
UV unwrapping with your models.

Within Cinema, you can see the same object that existed in Photoshop CC
above. N.B. This is a very simple tutorial and not the only way to perform the
unwrapping.

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When you unwrap, you will want to think about how the textures will be laid on
the final object.

The first thing inside Cinema is to make the object editable, clicking the ‘Make
Editable’ button in cinema to do this (marked in red below)

N.B. Make Editable essentially converts the object from parametric (you can
still change parameters) to polygons. This is typically done when want to edit
the points/polygons by hand, edit the UVW map, etc.

The next step is to define the points that will be used to refer the object on the
UVW map. For the cube, move the Cinema view port into top mode.

Each window has a window selector in the top right (as shown in red below).
When on the perspective mode as in above, clicking this button (marked in red
below), will take you into multi view mode, then clicking on the same button on
the required view will show it in full screen.

Move Cinema into the Points view (by clicking on the points mode (marked in
red).

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On the top view, hold the SHIFT key down and click on each corner of the square.

N.B. Points refer to Vertices. Vertices/Points are the collections that hold the
polygons/edges of the model together.

Now move back to perspective mode in the viewport.

The 2D representation of the 3D model (or the UV’s) is a flattened version, so

obviously when converting a 3D object to a 2D representation it will need to be
cut in certain places. By selecting the edge tool (marked in red), will tell Cin-
ema how to cut the model and lay it down on a 2D surface (Similar to when a
tailor makes a suit). In the case below, each vertical edge of the cube is select-
ed (using the SHIFT key), Cinema will cut the model on each edge.

To unwrap this model as a conventional representation, we need to specify

the bottom and how that will be cut, bearing in mind how it will be unfolded.
We will just specify three sides to cut, leaving the 4th connected to the uncut
faces. (Holding the SHIFT key will ensure that these are selected as a collection,
if the wrong edge is selected, then pressing CMD/CTRL will allow you to remove
a single edge from the collection).

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Now, we can unwrap the model into the 2D UV.

The object marked in Red shows that the model has a UV map assigned to it.
To access this, change the view port to be in BP UV

Edit.

When inside the BP UV Edit, you can select ‘UV Mesh / Show UV Mesh’, and in
this case, the lines shown in the yellow box below, will be the same as what
Photoshop is showing.

Move Cinema into the top view, as we are now going to specify on the UV
where the selected points are. To start specifying the UV, click the UV property
(marked in red), then move the viewport into UV mode (marked in yellow). As
long as a UV property exists the area marked in purple will become active).

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There are many variataions to the next step, but for this we are specifying the
points, so just click the Projection / Frontal. This will take the points and repre-
sent them on the UV (show below).

Move cinema into perspective view and click the Relax UV tab.

Make sure the ‘Pin Point selection’ is turned on (but the use tag is turned off), as
we will use the active selection, not a saved selection. And make sure that ‘Cut
Selected Edges’ is turned on (but the use tag is turned off), for the same rea-
son as just mentioned. Also, make sure that LSCM is selected, as well as having
Auto re-align turned on.

Then click on Apply!

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Hopefully the 2D UV will be shown on the right hand side, which will have col-
lapse all six surfaces

Save the Object and export as either Collada 1.4 or OBJ from Cinema 4D, then
open into Photoshop CC. Now painting on the 3D model or on the 2D UV map
by using the standard Photoshop CC brush tool, should be much easier and
each side can be painted independently.

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2. CREATE BUMP MAP AND USE DE-SATURATE

COMMAND CREATING BUMP IN MAYA
MAP IN MAYA
Bump maps are grayscale textures you map to objects to create the illusion of
surface relief (elevations and depressions) on an otherwise flat object.

With bump maps, depressions and elevations look real because they don’t al-
ter the geometry of the surface the way Displacement maps do. Bump maps
just change the direction of the surface’s normals based on the bump map’s
Alpha Gain value.

Use bump maps to create very shallow reliefs. For example, you can make ob-
jects look like they are embossed, have shallow rolling hills, and so on.

Because bump maps are not true surface relief, they:

• cannot cast or receive shadows

• cannot be seen if you silhouette the mapped object
• take less time to render than displacement maps

Tip:
• Although scratches are like little depressions, you can more easily
achieve them with 2D textures.

How to Sharpen Images

There are hundreds of suggestions, tips, and methods for sharpening images.
My favourite technique for sharpening uses Photoshop to create a high pass
layer and then layer masks to control where and how much sharpening is ap-
plied.

A high pass layer works in the same way an unsharp mask works on film: the
high pass layer creates slightly blurry halos around edges in the original im-
age, thus increasing the contrast at edges. The difference between high pass
sharpening and most other methods of sharpening is that high pass sharp-
ening does not actually adjust or change any pixels in your original image.
Also, because high pass exists as a separate layer, you can adjust the layer’s
Opacity and Blending Modes to control the strength of sharpening over the
entire image. You can then use masks to control where sharpening is applied
within the image and to make localized changes in the strength of sharpening.

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Another advantage to sharpening with a high pass layer is you can save the
layer with the Photoshop file and go back later and change the settings and
areas where sharpening has been applied. This is a huge advantage when
working with an image that you might finish for web viewing and printing, or
printing on different papers.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Evaluate Your Image

I’m going to sharpen the image below. I want to bring out the details in the back
left corner (in the circle) and prevent the details in other places (at the arrows)
from becoming overly sharp. If I let the artwork at the back of the window dis-
play become too sharp, the background will distract from the foreground. If I

let the edges of the eyes in the centre mask become too sharp, the mask will
look painful to wear. Overall, I’ll need to prevent the colours from clumping and
the details from breaking down as a result of too much sharpening.

Step 2: Stamp New Layer or Duplicate Your Image Layer

Sharpening is usually the last or almost the last thing you do when preparing
an image, and you want to be sure that you are applying sharpening to a fin-
ished, complete image. Therefore, before making your sharpening layer, en-
sure you have a duplicate layer of your completed image.

If your work is all on one layer, then just duplicate that layer (Command-J/

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Control-J). If, however, you’ve been working on a few layers, then merge the
layers together into a new layer. In Photoshop, this is called Stamp New Layer.

To Stamp New Layer, check that all layers you want included in your final
image are visible (turned on). Click on (select) your topmost layer and then
stretch your fingers to use Command-AltShift-E/Control-Alt-Shift-E to acti-
vate the Stamp Visible command and make that stamp a new layer. (There is
no menu item for this command.)

You now have a flattened version of your final image while preserving all of
your independent layers. In addition to allowing you to sharpen without mak-

ing changes to your image, creating this layer allows you to still access your
original layers to make further changes, should you wish. To keep your work
organized, rename your new merged layer “High Pass Sharpening.”
Step 3:Desaturate the High Pass Layer
A disadvantage to sharpening with a high pass layer is the potential for in-
creasing or adding noise to a photo. With other sharpening tools such as Un-
sharp Mask, you can control noise problems with adjustments to the different
values set in the tool. With the high pass option, you control noise by doing
three things:

• Ensure your image capture is as clean as possible. This means using a

tripod if not shooting at a high shutter speed, choosing the lowest ISO
possible, and using the correct exposure.
• Deal with any noise while processing your image.
• Desaturate the high pass layer. Even when working on a colour image,
the colour information in a high pass layer is irrelevant, so we’re going
to remove that information right from the top to ensure that extra
information doesn’t add noise.

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Because we don’t need to preserve an adjustment layer, desaturate the high

pass layer by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or use the shortcut
Command-Shift-U/Control-Shift-U.

Step 4: Apply the High Pass Filter

To apply the high pass filter to your sharpening layer, go to Filter > Other > High
Pass.

This will bring up a dialogue box with a Radius slider. You want to increase the
Radius slider (increase the number of pixels affected) until the details in the
image just begin to pop. You’ll find you need more Radius when you’re work-
ing with high resolution images. Don’t be surprised if you need around 10 to 20
pixels or more. Select OK.

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top image has not been sharpened enough; the details appear to be behind a
veil. The middle image has been sharpened too much; large patches of colour
on the centre mask - which are not edges - are popping. The bottom image
has been sharpened correctly for the area that needs the most sharpening
(the back left of the image). In that area, the details are just beginning to pop
through the layer of grey.

Step 5: Set the Layer’s Blending Mode

Change the layer’s blending mode in the blending options drop down menu
to Soft Light. As you become more familiar with using high pass sharpening,
experiment with Hard Light and Overlay blending modes as well.

Step 6: Adjust the Layer Opacity

You will likely find that you now have a bit more sharpening than you need. That’s

okay; starting with 100%, adjust the Layer Opacity down to get the amount of
sharpening you need. Aim for an opacity that gives you the right amount of
sharpening in the area of your image that needs the most sharpening.

Step 7: Mask the Layer As Needed

Add a layer mask by clicking on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of your
Layers window, or by going to Layer > Layer Mask.

Depending upon how much sharpening you’re going to need, you have three
options:

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• If you need sharpening in many places, add a white layer mask (Reveal
All or click on the Layer Mask icon a the bottom of the Layers window),
then paint out what you don’t need with a black brush.
• If you need sharpening in just a few places, add a black layer mask (Hide
All or Alt-click if you’re adding a mask with the Layer Mask icon) and
paint in what you need with a white brush.

• If you will both add and take away sharpening, add a white layer mask
(Reveal All or click on the Layer Mask icon a the bottom of the Layers
window), then fill the mask with 50% grey. (Set the Foreground colour to
50% grey and with the layer mask active, use Alt Delete to fill the mask.)
Paint in what you do need with a white brush and paint out what you
don’t need with a black brush.

To begin adding or removing sharpening, ensure your colours are set to the
default Foreground and Background (D). Use a very soft brush (0% Hardness)
at a medium or larger size. Paint in or out sharpening as you need. Change the
Opacity of your brush to control how much sharpening you paint in or out.

Turn on and off visibility of the high pass layer while you work in order to check
the changes you’ve made. It’s better to not apply quite enough sharpening
than to over sharpen an image. Avoid creating edges that become unnatural-

ly razor sharp or causing colours to clump. The dreaded sharpening halos are
not as obvious with high pass sharpening as they are with other sharpening
tools, so you may not see them before you notice the other two changes.
I chose to fill my mask with 50% grey and then both paint in and out sharpening

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as I needed. As I finished, I realized that I wanted a bit more general sharpening

across the whole image, so I lowered the opacity of the layer mask, effectively
applying more sharpening over the whole image.
Finishing Up

If you discover after you’ve sharpened that you need to make other changes
in your image, you can still work on the adjustment layers beneath without
having to redo the sharpening. You will only have to redo the sharpening layer
if you change the actual content of your image by, for example, cloning.
Once I finished sharpening my image, I concluded that my image was slightly

over saturated, so before outputting my final image, I made an adjustment in

the Hue/Saturation layer that was beneath the High Pass Sharpening layer.

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3. CREATE SPECULAR MAP USE OF SPECULAR MAPS

By mapping a texture to the Specular attribute of an object’s material, you
create a specular map which lets you describe how shine appears on objects
(by controlling highlight).

Common surface material Specular Shading attributes

Some surfaces are shinier than others (for example a wet fish has a shinier
surface than a dry leaf). Depending on how shiny a surface is, it reflects light in
different ways.
Shiny objects reflect light directly; matte objects diffuse light. Specular high-
lights show the places on the object where the light sources are reflected at
consistent angles; reflections on an object show, among other things, light
bounced from surrounding objects.

Specular highlights depend directly on the view (camera), not the position of
the light, like diffuse shading does.

The size of a specular highlight on a surface makes the surface look either flat
or shiny.

Note: Only materials with specular attributes ( Anisotropic, Blinn, Phong , and
PhongE) have surface highlights. The specular highlight is the white shiny glow
on the material.

Tip:
The Blinn material is recommended for shiny surfaces in animations. High-
lights on other specular materials, like Phong and PhongE, may flicker when
animated.

For material-specific specular shading attributes, see the particular material.

Specular Color
The color of shiny highlights on the surface. A black Specular Color produces
no surface highlights. The default color value is 0.5.

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Tip: For glossy plastic surfaces, use a whitish Specular Color. For metallic sur-
faces, use a Specular Color similar to the surface color.

Reflectivity
Gives the surface the ability to reflect its surroundings or the Reflected Color
(similar to Specular Roll Off). The valid range is 0 to infinity. The slider range is
0 (no reflections) to 1 (clear reflections). The default value is 0.5.

Reflectivity values for common surface materials are car paint (0.4), glass
(0.7), mirror (1), chrome (1).

Note:
• For the Anisotropic material, you must turn off Anisotropic Reflectivity to
change this value.
• Real reflections are only calculated during raytracing.
• If you are doing raytracing and you want other objects in the scene to be
seen in reflections, then for those objects you must ensure the Visible
In Reflectionsattribute is turned on in the Render Stats section of the
Attribute Editor. (It is on by default.)

Reflected Color
Represents the color of light reflected from the material. When raytracing,
Maya multiplies the color with the light color reflected mirror-like from the sur-
face. This can be used to tint a reflection.

If you are not raytracing, you can map an image, texture, or environment map
to the Reflected Color attribute to create fake reflections, which is faster and
uses less memory than raytracing. This is called reflection mapping.

Specular
Weight

The specular weight. Influences the brightness of the specular highlight.

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0 0.5 1 (default)

Color

The color the specular reflection will be modulated with. Use this color to ‘tint’
the specular highlight. You should only use colored specular for certain metals,
whereas non-metallic surfaces usually have a monochromatic specular color.
Non-metallic surfaces normally do not have a colored specular.

Red Green Blue

Roughness

Controls the glossiness of the specular reflections. The lower the value, the
sharper the reflection. In the limit, a value of 0 will give you a perfectly sharp
mirror reflection, while 1.0 will create reflections that are close to a diffuse re-
flection. You should connect a map here to get variation in the specular high-
light.

0.2 (default) 0.4 0.6

The ‘microscopic’ features of a surface affect the diffusion and reflection of

light. This ‘micro surface’ detail has the most noticeable effect on specular
reflections. In the diagram below, you can view parallel lines of incoming light

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commence to diverge when reflected from rougher surfaces when each ray
hits a part of the surface with a different orientation. In summary, the rough-
er the surface becomes, the more the reflected light will diverge or appear
‘blurred.’
‘Microsurface’ detail represented as a general measure of roughness (this surface would have a

high Specular Roughness value).

The brightness of the Specular highlight is automatically linked to its size due
to the Standard Surface Surface shader’s energy conserving nature. In the ex-
ample below, all of the materials are reflecting the same amount of light, but
the rougher surface is spreading it out in multiple directions. However, with low
amounts of roughness, the surface is reflecting a more concentrated amount
of light.

0.1 (default) 0.4 0.6

To get variation in the highlights of the surface, a map should be connected to

the Specular Roughness. This will influence not only the brightness of the high-
light but also its size and the sharpness of the environmental reflection.
You may need to connect the file texture to a Range shader to see any results
in the Specular Roughness.

0 0.5 1
Fingerprint texture -> Specular Roughness

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The specular roughness affects both specular reflection and refraction. There
is also a Transmission Extra Roughness parameter to add some additional
roughness for refraction if required. You can, however, use Coat to create a
rough reflection layer over a sharp refraction.

0 0.5 1

Out Color R of file texture connected to Specular Roughness

IOR
The IOR parameter (Index of Refraction) defines the material’s Fresnel reflec-
tivity and is by default the angular function used. Effectively the IOR will define
the balance between reflections on surfaces facing the viewer and on surface
edges. You can see the reflection intensity remains unchanged, but the reflec-
tion intensity on the front side changes a lot.

1 1.1 1.5 (default)

Using a very high IOR value can look quite similar to Metalness. It looks the
same if you set the Base Color to the Specular Color and the Specular Color to
black. The difference is that you get an extra reflection at the edges, with the

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Specular Color controlling the edge tint. The metal fresnel works the same as
in the new complex IOR shader, with the artistic parameters.

You should normally use IOR for materials like plastic, glass, or skin (dielectric
fresnel) and Metalness for metals (conductive fresnel with Complex IOR). The
other reason is that Metalness is easier to texture since it’s in the 0..1 range, and
using textures from applications like Substance painter works best when using
Metalness rather than IOR.

Specular IOR with Transmission

The default value of 1.0 is the refractive index of a vacuum, i.e., an object with
IOR of 1.0 in empty space will not refract any rays. In simple terms, 1.0 means ‘no
refraction’. The Standard
Surface shader assumes that any geometry has outward facing normals, that
objects are embedded in the air (IOR 1.0) and that there are no overlapping
surfaces.

1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

1 1.5 (default)

Normals

When rendering refractive surfaces, it is very important that the normals of

the geometry face in the right direction. In the example below (left), you can
see the difference between normals that are facing in the right direction
(outward), versus those that are facing inwards (incorrect). This is especial-
ly important when rendering surfaces with double-sided thickness, such as
glass. However, with air bubbles in glass (below center), the reverse is true.
The bubble geometry normals should be reversed and the bubbles should
be combined with the glass geometry. Normal direction is equally important
when rendering single sided surfaces such as a car windscreen (right).

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Normals pointing outward (correct). Windscreen model (single sided). Air bubbles in glass: Normals should
Rollover image to view normals Rollover image to view normals point inward. Rollover image to view
pointing inward (incorrect). pointing inward (incorrect). normals pointing outward (incorrect).

If you see any black where there should be refraction, you may not have a
high enough Transmission Ray Depth value (found in the Ray Depth section
in the render settings). The default value is eight, which is sufficient for most
cases.

Anisotropy
Anisotropy reflects and transmits light with a directional bias and causes ma-
terials to appear rougher or glossier in certain directions. The default value for
Anisotropy is 0, which means ‘isotropic.’ As you move the control towards 1.0,
the surface is made more anisotropic in the U axis.

0 (default) 0.6 0.9

Anisotropy is suitable for materials that have a clear brush direction such as
brushed metal which has tiny grooves in which form a ‘stretched’ anisotropic
reflection.

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Many small discs form together to create an effect which is the anisotropic highlight

0.3 0.6 0.9

Anisotropic reflections are suitable for brushed metal effects such as in the
example below:

Texture assigned to Anisotropic Rotation

You may notice faceting appear in highlights when using Anisotropy. It is pos-
sible to remove the faceted appearance by enabling smooth subdivision tan-
gents (via Arnold subdiv_smooth_derivs parameter). Take into account this
requires a subdivision iteration of at least one in the polymesh to work.

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Faceting seen in the Subdivision: enabled. Subdivision

anisotropic highlight Iterations: 1. Smooth Tangents: enabled.

Increase Subdivision Iterations to remove anisotropic faceting.

More information about Specular ‘Anisotropy’ can be found here.

Rotation
The rotation value changes the orientation of the anisotropic reflectance in
UV space. At 0.0, there is no rotation, while at 1.0 the effect is rotated by 180
degrees. For a surface with brushed metal, this controls the angle at which the
material was brushed. For metallic surfaces, the anisotropic highlight should
stretch out in a direction perpendicular to the brushing direction.

0 (default) 0.25 0.5 0.75 1

It is possible to assign textures to the rotation. When doing so, it is advisable

to avoid texture filtering. This means disabling MIP-mapping and disabling the
magnification filter, which by default is set to “smart bicubic.” One way is to set
the mipmap_bias of the image node to a strong negative value, like -8, which
means “use 8 MIP levels higher resolution than usual”.

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Mipmap bias set to 0. Mipmap bias set to -8. No Mip-mapping. Magnifi-

Filtering set to Bicubic. Filtering set to Bicubic. cation filter set to closest.

Arnold filter attributes found under Maya file node

Export the UV map to Adobe Phtoshop and paint the Texture on UV map

Sometimes it’s necessary to have a 2D Texture Template for a 3D model. It

makes texturing a lot easier in 2D painting apps.

While some programmes like Marvelous Designer can create the UVs, and
quite clearly show them to us, there’s no easy way to export them as a flat file
– akin to the one you see on the right here.

Photoshop to the rescue! All versions of Photoshop 3D and Photoshop CC can

import OBJ files, and they can not only display the UV Map as an overlay, they
can turn it into a new Layer for us as well.

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Here’s how to do it.

Displaying the UV Map as an overlay

Import a UV mapped and perhaps even textured OBJ file into Photoshop. You’re
greeted with a 3D View of the object, and a small thumbnail of it in the Layers
tab. I’m using the Marvelous Designer default dress for this demo.

Notice the Diffuse Texture Map underneath the thumbnail. Mine is called c_
broadcloth_maroon because that’s the texture file my OBJ references. De-
pending on your OBJ, there may be other maps applied here as well.

Double-click the diffuse texture anywhere right to the little eye icon (eyecon…
har har har) and a new document PSB document opens, showing you the flat
texture. This allows for easy changes. Right now all we see here is a Background
Layer, with no indication of how the object is unwrapped.

In the Properties Palette, under 3D Paint, find a checkbox that reads UV Over-
lays. When ticked, Photoshop will display the UV Map on top of the current im-
age. How cool is that?

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While this is a great help for painting textures, the overlay is presented much
like a guideline or a ruler – it’s not exportable as such. We’ll see how to do that
next.

Turning the UV Overlay into a Layer

Untick the UV Overlays checkbox for now and see the UV Map disappear again.
What we really want is that overlay baked into our image, preferably as a layer.
And of course that’s possible with Photoshop.

Head over to 3D – Create Painting Overlay – Wireframe will do just that.

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Selecting this will create a new layer with the same UV Map as we’ve just seen.
This is your UV Texture Template.

If you find that the current map isn’t big enough, simply resize the image to
your liking and create the UV Overlay layer again to match your new texture
size.

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4. DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE OF
CREATING SEAMLESS TEXTURES

To apply a texture to an object, you map the texture to an attribute on the ob-
ject’s material. The attribute to which the texture is connected determines how
the texture is used and how it affects the final results.

For example, if you connect Maya’s 2D black and white Checker texture to
the color attribute of an object’s material, you have applied a color map; the
checkered pattern determines which parts of the object appear black and
which appear white (or other colors if you adjust the texture’s color attributes).

If you connect the black and white Checker texture to the transparency at-
tribute, you have applied a transparency map; the checkered pattern deter-
mines which parts of the object are opaque and which are transparent.

Commonly used texture maps

Color maps
By mapping a texture to the Color attribute of an object’s material, you create
a color map which describes the color of the object.

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The following attributes are common to most surface materials.

For material-specific specular shading attributes, see the particular material.
For example, for information on the specular shading attributes of the Aniso-
tropic material, see Anisotropic.

Type

The material’s basic type (such as Blinn or Phong).

When you change a material’s type, only those attributes common to both
types retain their previous values or settings. For example, if you change the
material type from Blinn (which has a Color attribute and a Specular Color
attribute) to Lambert (which has a Color attribute but no Specular Color attri-
bute), the Color setting is preserved, but the Specular Color setting is lost.

Color

The default material color.

You can work with color in Maya in so many different ways. Here are some of
the most common:

• Change the basic color of an object by adjusting the color attribute of a

material applied to the object. See Set a color for the object for a visual
demonstration.

• Apply a texture as a color map to the material’s color attribute. See Map
a texture to any of the material attributes for a visual demonstration,
and Map a 2D or 3D texture to a material for more information.

• Use a Ramp Shader for extra control over the way color changes with
light and view angle. You can simulate a variety of exotic materials and
tweak traditional shading in subtle ways.

• Expand, enhance, or manipulate colors in applied textures using utilities

such as Blend Colors, Clamp, Gamma Correct, and so forth. For example,
you can blend colors, adjust contrast, and convert HSV to RGB. For a
description of each of the utilities and what you can use them for, see
Utility nodes.

Transparency

A material’s color and level of transparency. For example, if the Transparency

Value is 0 (black), the surface is totally opaque; if the Transparency value is 1

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(white), the surface is totally transparent.

To make an object semi-transparent, set the Transparency color to a shade of
grey or to the same color as the material Color. The default value is 0 (black).
If you change Transparency from the default black (0), the background of the
material’s Hypershadeswatch becomes a checkered pattern. This is a visual
aid and is not rendered.

You can work with the transparency of an object in the following ways:

• Change the transparency level of an object adjusting the transparency

attribute of a material applied to the object.

• Apply a texture as a transparency map to the material’s transparency

attribute to designate which areas of an object are opaque, transparent
or semi-transparent.

Note: If the material has specular highlights the transparency setting do not
affect the highlights. So if you are trying to make an object disappear by ani-
mating the transparency attribute, you may also have to animate the specu-
lar highlight attributes.

Ambient Color

Set to black by default, which means it does not affect the material’s Color. As
the Ambient Color becomes lighter, it affects the material’s Color by lightening
it and blending the two colors. If there are ambient lights in the scene, the color
and brightness of those lights is used to control how much the ambient color
contributes to the final color of the material.

Incandescence

The color and brightness of light that a material appears to be emitting. (In-
candescent objects do not illuminate other objects.) For example, to simulate
lava, use a bright red Incandescence. The default color value is 0 (black).

Tip:
• Although incandescence makes a surface appear to glow, it does not
actually act as a source of light in the scene.
• Use a little Incandescence for vegetation to make it look organic.

Bump Mapping

Makes the surface appear rough or bumpy by altering surface normals (during

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rendering) according to the intensity of the pixels in the bump map texture. A
bump map does not actually alter the surface. A silhouette of the surface ap-
pears smooth.

For more information about bump mapping, see About surface relief.

Diffuse

Gives the material the ability to reflect light in all directions. The Diffuse value
acts like a scaling factor applied to the Color setting—the higher the Diffuse
value, the closer the actual surface color is to the Color setting. The valid range
is 0 to infinity. The slider range is 0 (no light is reflected in all directions) to 1, but
you can type in a higher value. The default color value is 0.8.

Translucence
Gives the material the ability to transmit and diffuse light. Light falling on a
translucent surface is first absorbed beneath the surface, and then diffused in
all directions. If set to 0, the default, no light shows through the object. If set to
1, all the light shows through. The default value is 0.

Tip:
Use Translucence to simulate clouds, fur, hair, marble, jade, wax, paper, leaves,
flower petals, or frosted light bulbs.

Note:
• The Translucence value of a surface lit by a non-shadow-casting light is
zero or infinite (all non-zero values).

• If the scene combines a translucent surface with a shadow casting spot

light, faint gridlike artifacts may become visible. If this happens, increase
the spotlight Filter Size or lower the Resolution.

• For high values of Translucence, lower Diffuse accordingly to avoid wash

out.

• A surface’s actual translucence is based on the illumination it receives

from lights, and is not related to its transparency. However, as an
object becomes more transparent, its translucent (and diffuse)
illumination gets dimmer.

• Ambient lights have no effect on translucent (or diffuse) illumination.

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Translucence Depth

Simulates the way light diffusely penetrates through translucent objects. For
example, when light shines on one side of the object, the other side is partially
illuminated. This can be used for effects such as clouds, fur, hair, marble, jade,
wax, paper, leaves, and so on. (To see this effect, turn on raytraced shadows for
the light shining on the object.)

Translucence depth is based on worldspace. If it is set to 0 (the default), no

light shows through the object. If set to 10, light penetrates through the surface,
10 units past the point where the object is in shadow.

Tip:
To see the effects of translucence depth, set the transparency to a non-zero
value. If the surface is supposed to be opaque, set the transparency to a very
small value, such as 0.0001.

Translucence Focus

The Translucence Focus value controls how much translucent light is scat-

tered depending on the direction of the light.

For example, use a high value for very thin materials, such as wax paper or
steam, where most of the light is scattered over a small angle relative to the
light’s direction. The object looks brightest with the light source directly behind
it.

Note:
When a spotlight is used to light an object with a translucent material, the light
does not scatter past the light’s cone of influence, even if Translucence Focus

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is lowered.
Use a mid-range focus value for items such as leaves. The leaves glow when

backlit, but do not wash out when lit from the front.
Use a low focus value for thicker objects, such as wax. To compensate for the
added light and avoid a washed out result, lower the diffuse value, or lower the
overall color (which also affects ambient lighting).

Tip:
Lower the color value for very shiny objects that have a bright specular com-
ponent.

Transparency maps
By mapping a texture to the Transparency attribute of an object’s material, you
create a transparency map which lets you make parts of an object opaque,
semi-transparent, or entirely transparent.

Specular maps
By mapping a texture to the Specular attribute of an object’s material, you
create a specular map which lets you describe how shine appears on objects

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(by controlling highlight).

Reflection maps
By mapping a texture to the Reflected Color attribute of an object’s material,
you create a reflection map which lets you describe how an object reflects its
surroundings.

Create true reflections

Note:
To create true (photorealistic) reflections, you must raytrace the scene, a pro-
cess which can take a significant amount of time. For more information about
raytracing, see Depth map and raytraced shadows.

You must have at least two surfaces to create true reflections (or a surface
that somehow curves around so one part of its surface can reflect onto anoth-
er part of its surface).

You can control which surfaces appear in reflections and which don’t by turn-
ing Visible in Reflections on or off in each surface’s Attribute Editor. (Visible in
Reflections is on by default when you create new surfaces.)

To create true reflections (example)

1. Create a sphere and a plane, and position the sphere over the plane.
Create a light to illuminate both surfaces.

2. Create a specular material (a Phong or PhongE) and assign it to the

sphere. The sphere is reflected in the plane.

3. Create a second material and assign it to the plane. The plane reflects
the sphere.

4. Make each surface a different color so you can see the reflection of one
in the other.

5. In the Raytracing Quality section of the Render Settings window, turn on

Raytracing.

This tells Maya to raytrace any surface whose Visible in Reflections/Re

fractions is toggled on. These attributes are on by default for all surfaces,
but raytracing only works when you turn on Raytracing in the Render
Settings window.

To learn more about the Render Settings, see Render Settings window.

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6. Perform a test render to visualize the results. If you want the sphere to
reflect the plane, open the plane’s Attribute Editor and turn on Render
Stats > Visible in Reflections.

To test iterations of a scene, see Visualize interactively with IPR.

Bump maps
By mapping a texture to the Bump attribute of an object’s material, you create
a bump map which lets you add the illusion of surface bump detail to a sur-
face.

Displacement maps
Displacement maps let you add true dimension to a surface at render time,

a process which may reduce or eliminate the need for you to create complex
models.

Displacement maps are grayscale textures you map to objects to create true
surface relief (elevations and depressions) on an otherwise flat object.

With Displacement maps, depressions and elevations become part of the ge-
ometry of the object, changing the topology, unlike Bump maps that only cre-
ate the illusion of surface relief.

Note:
• Because displacement changes the geometry of an object,
displacement mapped objects usually require further tessellation (more
triangles, which the renderer uses to approximate the smoothness of
the surface). By default, Maya uses Feature-based displacement
mapping to automatically add more triangles where required.

• File textures that are used for displacement mapping are usually
connected via their outAlpha attribute. If the corresponding texture

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image file does not provide an alpha channel, then the displacement
effect may be missing when using certain image formats. To avoid this,
turn on the Alpha is Luminance attribute in the Color Balancesection of
the File Texture node. For more information, see File.

Displacement maps move an object’s vertices. By default, the height of the dis-
placement is determined by the Alpha Gain value in the displacement map’s
Attribute Editor. If you turn on Alpha is Luminance, the height result is based on
the intensity of the pixels instead.

Use displacement maps to create shallow or deep surface relief. For example,
you can create embossing, mountain peaks and valleys, spikes, and so on.

Because Displacement maps create true surface relief, they:

• can cast or receive shadows

• can be seen if you silhouette the object

• take more time to render than bump maps, which create the illusion of
surface relief

Note:
You can connect a texture as a displacement map by connecting it to the
Displacement mat attribute in the material’s shading group. See Connect a
texture as a displacement map for more information.

Displacement Bounding Box

Because displacement mapping changes the volume of an object, it’s bound-

ing box may become too small or too large.

Bounding boxes, which represent the bounding volume of an object, can be

used to speed up Maya operations and can make a significant difference for
complex models.

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References

Autodesk.
https://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/maya2013/en_us/index.htm-
l?url=files/Asts_Convert_a_t exture_or_shading_network_to_a_File_Tex-
ture.htm,topicNumber=d30e542666
Anonymous, 2015. Working and delivery file formats. https://www.dpbestflow.
org/fileformat/working-and-delivery-file-formats
Caplin, S. 2019. How to Create Seamless Textures in Photoshop. Retrieved from
https://creativepro.com/creating-seamless-textures-in-photoshop/
Szymański, M. 2018. Creating specular maps on Photoshop. Retrieved from
http://www.impossible3ds.com/en/creating_specular_map_ps/

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