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How To Create Light Flickering In Maya and Arnold – Neon Flicker Animation

In this Maya and Arnold tutorial we will be creating light flickering animation like what you see in fluorescent lights that gone bad, the light flickering animation will be driving by Maya procedural 3d textures to simulate this effect.

We will be using Volume noise to create the animation and then apply the volume noise 3d texture to the mesh light intensity so this way all the animation of the light will be generated dynamically without using any keyframes.

The methods that will be taught in this tutorial will apply to multiple situations like what we did in the pervious tutorial for creating camera shake in Maya. its just a matter of adjusting the settings of the noise to behave correctly and simulate the desired effect in 3D. 

Assets used in this tutorial:
Click on the link to download the Cern Large Hadron Collider 3d Model

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

Creating a Hologram Animation In Maya and Arnold – Holographic Projection

In this Maya tutorial I will show you a step by step on how to create a hologram animation in Maya and Arnold from start to finish this tutorial is really fun and packed with tips and tricks on creating such cool effect in Maya we will be using Maya 2018 and Arnold to create the holographic projection/ interface.

Click on the link to download Hologram Rig Maya 3D Model

First we will start by the creating the geometry of the hologram that will include the hologram cone in the centre and then we will move into the shader creation for the cone, once that is completed we will start working on the hologram rays modelling and placement and finalize the shader for the rays as well.

Once we are happy with the result lastly we will create the shader for the object that will be in the centre of the hologram and customize it to looks unique and cool. at the end of the tutorial I will be showing a rigged version of this hologram with a really cool control to automate the process and speed up the workflow and the result that you are looking after.

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

How to Render Wireframe in Arnold and Maya – Tutorial

In this Maya tutorial I will show you a step by step on how to render wireframes on top of your 3d models using Arnold for Maya, this way you will be able to show the quality of your 3d models and the topology of your mesh, this tutorial will be pretty quick and fun to learn we will be using the Arnold aiWireframe shader I will be showing you the basics of it and how to quickly use it.

Once the basics of the aiWireframe shader is cover will have fun by start customizing the look of the wireframes and also start to create a stylized look as well, make sure to watch the tutorial until the end so you don’t miss some of the stylizing effects that we can do using the Arnold aiWireframe shader.

Assets Used in this Tutorial:
Boeing Vertol CH 46 Sea Knight 3D Model

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

How to Create 3D Pebbles from Photos and Render in Maya and Arnold – Quickly

In this Maya tutorial we will be creating 3d pebbles from photo/texture map first we need to import the photo into Crazy Bump software and convert the pebbles photo into displacement maps and other maps as well.

Then we will create the poly plane in Maya 2018 and work into creating the shader in Arnold using the aiStandard surface and connect the displacement maps to the pebbles poly plane and work on the settings of the displacement to get it to look correct and accurate, this tutorial will help a lot if you are in a hurray and want to create a pebbled 3d effect when you are on a budget and want to create something quickly.

Link for the assets used in this tutorial:
Crazybump: https://www.crazybump.com/
Pebbles Texture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Pebbleswithquarzite.jpg

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

How to Create 3D Timer Digital Clock Counting Animation in Maya and Arnold Tutorial

In this Maya tutorial we will be creating and animating a digital clock / timer in Maya and Arnold, the approach for this tutorial will work with any Maya version without any problems, we will not rely on Mash so this way any Maya user can replicate the same result achieved in this tutorial.

First we need to download the font online from free website and then we will use Adobe Illustrator to create the digital font and export it to Maya using the adobe illustrator object. after that we will start working on creating the numbers in Maya and work on the clock rig.

In this tutorial we will cover a lot of helpful tips and trick for creating animation cycles for repeating numbers and how to leverage one setup and use it multiple times to speed up the process and have great amount of control as well.

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

Maya Tutorial – How to Create Unique Custom 3D Text in Maya All Versions

In this Maya tutorial we will be creating a unique and custom 3d text in previous generations of Maya and we will show you how to have full control over the typography in Maya no matter what Maya version you are using.

First we will give a quick intro about creating text and typography in May 2018 and then show how Maya now does great job for creating and customizing the text, however the previous generations in Maya lack this options and doesn’t give you great results. so this tutorial will be focusing on the previous generations of Maya and how you can still create great looking text using them.

We will use Maya 2015 as an example and we will use Adobe illustrator as well to create the text and then export it to Maya using a specific settings to get the file transfer to Maya correctly.

In maya we will import the file and start customizing it and generate great looking text in non-destructive way so we always can replace it if we need to. I will be showing lots of tips and tricks along the way so make sure to watch until the end.

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

Maya Tutorial: How to Animate Day to Night Transition Earth 3D Animation in Maya and Arnold

In this Maya tutorial we will be animating a transition between day time and night time in Maya 2018 and Arnold rendering engine, this tutorial will be very fun and have pretty good tips and tricks on how to approach the earth transition animation in Maya using the layered texture approach while maintaining a realistic scale and believability to the animation.

We will first start by creating Arnold ai-standard surface and then create a layered texture that will have a earth day time texture map and also earth night time texture map as well, after that we will start working on the transition between the two maps by creating a ramp texture within the layered shader day time map, and do some tweaks and adjustments to it and finally animate it.

Finally we will animate the earth rotating consistently to simulate scale while transitioning from day time to night time then we will finalize the animation of the transition in Maya 2018 and render the final sequence in Arnold.

Assets used in this tutorial:
click on the link to download: Solar System 3D Model

This tutorial is for all Maya skill levels, the topics we will cover in this tutorial include the following:

1- Using Layered texture to combine 2+ maps.

2- Creating transition in layered texture using the alpha node.

3- Animating the alpha mask in Maya to create the animated transition.

4- Animate the earth rotating and transitioning from day time to night time.

5- Finalizing the earth shader to look more realistic and believable.

6- Tips and tricks for smooth animation to show scale and get more realistic results. plus much more!

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

How to Create Gold Metal Shader Using ARNOLD in Maya 2018 HDRI Lighting

In this Maya tutorial we will create a gold metal – shader using Arnold in Maya 2018 the shader creation will be pretty straight forward, but to achieve a realistic look we will be doing some extra steps to get the look of the shader to behave correct and also we will discuss some tips for rendering the gold to feel more realistic.

We will be looking at reference images so this way we can understand what you are looking for, The approach in this tutorial will work for creating different type of materials as well mainly metal shaders in Maya 2018 and Arnold, whenever you want to create a metal shader its always best to create a lighting setup that utilize the sky-dome in Arnold and make sure to have an HDRI image plugged into the color swatch, this way you can get a better idea of how to develop the shader in Maya and get more accurate/realistic results. cause its important to keep in mind that shading and lighting need to be developed at the same time in order to achieve the best results possible.

Assets used in this tutorial:
click on the link to download: Giordano Bruno Statue 3D Model

This tutorial is for all Maya skill levels, the topics we will cover in this tutorial include the following:

1- Creating Metal – Gold shader using Arnold AiStandard shader.

2- Walkthrough of the sky dome light / HDRI lighting setup using Arnold.

3- Tips and tricks for enhancing the look of the gold shaders using the specular ray depth

4- Using the coat property in the ai-standard surface to enhance the look of the shader and add extra reflections and much more…

Links for the HDRI images used in the tutorial:

1- Links for the HDRI library used in this tutorial: http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

How to Create and Render Animated Water Shader in Arnold and Maya Tutorial

In this Maya 2018 tutorial we will create and render a lake water shader using Arnold ai-standard surface shader and also an animated displacement utilizing the Maya water texture node.

This water shader tutorial will go into a fast and effective technique for simulating the look of lake water or river water in Arnold and Maya 2018, we start by using the Arnold Standard surface material and then adjust the transmission and the diffuse to get the base look of the water shader.

After the basics of the shader is established we will work on the displacement map, using the water texture provided by Maya it will help us to create the deformation of the water and the waves to get the result we want. Finally we will animate the water and render the animated sequence.

Assets used in this tutorial:
click on the link to download: buxus plant cone shape 3d model

This tutorial is for all Maya skill levels, the topics we will cover in this tutorial include the following:

1- Adjust the aiStandard surface shader to behave like water using the transmission and the reflections/specular.

2- Create Maya water texture node and use it as a displacement map.

3- Adjust and customize the geo displacement on the water mesh to look correct using Arnold subdivisions.

4- Animate the displacement map to create the wave movement and correct water behaviour.

5- Create a sub geo for the lake and assign new material to it, to use for coloring the water and enhancing the look of it, this way it will protect the animated water shader and will give us extra layer of control over the water render.

6- Render the water shader in Arnold and Maya 2018 and much more…

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

How To Render Zdepth Pass In Maya 2018 Tutorial Camera Depth Pass Workaround

In this Maya 2018 tutorial we will render z-depth pass in Maya using Maya software render utilizing the environment fog in the render options.

We will use a workaround for those of you who don’t want to use Arnold or Mental ray render passes to achieve the same results, the great thing about this approach is you can apply the same technique to any version of Maya and will always get a pretty good results of accurate Z-depth pass.

We will be suing the Render setup window to create Zdepth layer and assign all our objects in the layer a material override so this way we can customize the render results in Maya software.

With this Z-depth tutorial you will still be able to render your regular render passes using Arnold or Mental ray and use Maya software to generate the Depth Pass.

Assets used in this tutorial:
click on the link to download: FA18 Super Hornet 3D Model
click on the link to download: CVN 77 Aircraft Carrier USS George H.W Bush 3D Model

This tutorial is for all Maya skill levels, the topics we will cover in this tutorial include the following:

1- Using the Render Setup editor to create new layer override.

2- Using the Maya Software render environment fog utility to render z-depth in Maya.

3- Customizing a basic shader and assign to the geometry in our scene to get the proper z-depth pass and look.

4- Setting up the render setting to be correct for master layer pass and the z-depth pass.

5- Rendering z-depth pass using Maya software render and the beauty pass using Arnold rendering engine.

6- Importing the images sequences in After Effects.

7- Applying a Lens Blur effect onto our beauty pass in after effects then connecting the depth pass to get the correct depth of field look.

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.

Maya Tutorial: How To Render Curves In Maya and Arnold

In this Maya tutorial we will be rendering nurbs curves in Maya and Arnold, in order to render curves in Maya the fastest way to do that is to convert the curves into polygons and then render them using maya software render, mental ray or Arnold rendering engine.

First we will convert the curves into paint effects strokes, by using the curve utility option and then adjust the brush settings to have full control over the curves output.

Once we are done with the paint effects step we will convert the paint effects into polygons quads and finally assign Arnold standard surface shader to our curves poly and render them.

This approach is pretty handy for lots of scenarios including converting a 2d logo into 3d objects. also we will be showing by the end of this tutorial how to use the same approach for other versions of Maya that uses Mental ray or Maya software render as the main rendering engine. 

This tutorial is for all Maya skill levels, the topics we will cover in this tutorial include the following:

1- Converting curves into paint effects strokes.

2- Adjusting the brush settings to get the maximum control over the look of the final look of our curves.

3- Converting the strokes to polygons and keeping everything as quads for clean render and lower poly count

4- Maintaining the construction history on the curves so we can always tweak the look of the polygons/curves at any stage of the process.

5- Rendering the curves in Maya 2018 using Arnold.

6- Creating the same effect using Maya 2015 and the same process will work on previous generations of Maya so no matter which version of Maya you are using this tutorial will help you out.

We hope that you will benefit from this tutorial, if you have any questions please feel free to ask us in the comments below and we will be happy to answer them.