GeoUV is a tool that automatically produces a map from a 3D surface to a 2D plane. Traditionally this process was done by hand. Each polygon of the 3D mesh was chosen and placed, one by one, onto the UV plane. When meshes consisted of only tens of faces, this process was feasible but time consuming.
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A tutorial on how to make an animated giant whirlpool with foam and spray. Inspiration from Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End.
1. Start by creating a NURBS or a polygon plane. NURBS is propably best, but I used polygons on this one. Make it a high resolution, like 80×80.
2. Go into Polygons>Mesh>Sculpt Geometry Tool. Or if using NURBS go into Surfaces>Edit NURBS>Sculpt Geometry.
3. Model a valley in the middle of your plane.
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This very brief tutorial is intended to familiarise the user with the basic layout of animation tools in Maya. It assumes that the reader will consult help files to find out more about each tool.
1. Channel Editor
2. Layer Editor
3. Shelf
4. Toolbox
5. Timeline
Okay, so Maya looks pretty daunting, especially if you go hunting through all the menus, but from an animation point of view it’s not that hard to use once you know where things are.
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Creating art in a 3D modeling package such as Max or Maya and then trying to get it to work in the Unreal Editor can sometimes be quite a feat, especially if you’ve never done it before. Hopefully this process will provide a basic understanding of the art pipeline for Unreal Ed and answer any questions you may have about getting your static meshes from the 3D package of your choice into the Unreal Editor and into your Mod.
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The 2.5D concept. ZBrush combines 2D and 3D. When you are doing basic sculpting and movement you are in 3D but when you add detail and color with projection Master you are in 2D. This is where 2.5D came from. ZBrush and the use of the Pixol rather than the Pixel
• This is from the ZBrush Practical guide
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1. Create a NURBS surface and deform it a bit to get a nice-looking bumpy terrain.
Create a camera
2. Open the Hypershader. Create a Blinn node and edit it as shown below
I highlighted in red the attributes that need to be edited. Don’t forget the slight blueish Ambience, because snow is always a bit blue when in sunlight. Also add a light bump (on the example, I use the Turbulence texture, available in the highend3d.com library. Rename the blinn1 as snowBlinn.
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In this tutorial, we will be working with NURBS geometry. NURBS surfaces are always XY grids, but these grids can be shaped in different primitive forms. For our purposes, we will create a simple plane. After creating the plane, open the channel editor.
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This tutorial is intended to teach new animation students a few basic animation techniques and workflow based on fundamental animation principles using Maya and a free character setup named walkingBall_v2.3 created by the author. This character setup or “rig” has many useful features without being overwhelming to newer students. This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of how to navigate the Maya interface, find menu commands, and other basic computer file management skills.
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