In Maya 2011: Creating Natural Environments, author Aaron F. Ross demystifies a common challenge of 3D modeling: fashioning realistic natural environments such as landscapes, atmospheres, and foliage. Starting with flat terrain, Aaron shows how to sculpt various types of geometry and smooth out jagged, polygonal edges. The course also covers creating convincing backgrounds and clouds, populating a scene with foliage using 3D Paint Effects, and incorporating natural light.
Topics include:
* Laying out the scene * Sculpting terrain with Soft Selection and the Sculpt Geometry tool * Creating 2D textures using Artisan and Paint Effects * Applying 2D and 3D procedural textures * Building backgrounds with skydomes and matte paintings * Shaping clouds with Maya Fluids * Creating non-physical daylight and casting shadows * Rendering with Maya software
