Friday, August 29th, 2008 -- Class #3 review for MAYA 3D Graphics Getting comfortable with some of the Chapter 3 Solar System exercise with a much smaller problem. One planet and one moon that each rotate on their axis. The Moon has an orbit named moonOrbit. This moonOrbit allows the Moon to orbit around the earth. The moonOrbit and the Earth are part of a group named earthOrbit. The earthOrbit is animated to orbit the Sun. Sun, Earth and Moon were NURBS Primitives. Edit menu > Group command Animate menu > Set Key command (Animation menu set) Channel Box Transform Attribute Rotate Y for rotate on axis and also for orbit Earth or orbit Sun. Keyframes and the Time Slider for an object -----> Earth or Moon rotate on axis or a group -----> earthOrbit group moonOrbit group _ - Animate > Set Key | | <------- to indicate the Option Box | | - - Set Key Options Recall how we did Edit menu > Reset Settings Then we chose All keyable attributes (radio button 2) and we chose From Channel Box instead of All keyable in the Channels: choices radio buttons toward the bottom of the Set Key Options dialogue box. Page 84 of your textbook has a Setting Keyframes explanation in a grayed out extra information section. Read that over. Do NOT worry if you do not understand it very well. Its something you will understand sometime in October! All keyable attributes and From Channel Box are good ---------------------- ---------------- to see and be exposed to and be confused about NOW, but you won't understand them much until at least the 2nd half of the semester. Lots of things in Maya, you just do what the textbook or the expert says, and maybe months later you start to understand WHY you did that. You need lots more background and experience BEFORE understanding some of this stuff. ------ That is the way it is supposed to be, so enjoy the ride and don't get discouraged. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: 6:20 p.m. Friday Summary to be continued -- NOT DONE YET -- check back later... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun, Earth, Moon 1. Create > NURBS Primitives > Interactive Creation (turn it off if its on, if its checked). _ 2. Create > NURBS Primities > Sphere | | - Edit > Reset Settings in NURBS Sphere Options Click the Create button to exit NURBS Sphere Options 3. Name the newly created NURBS Sphere "Sun", where the default name is nurbsSphere1. --- 4. In the Channel Box where you just renamed nurbsSphere1 as Sun, highlight the three Scale X, Scale Y and Scale Z values. They will all be 1. Type 2 and press Enter. Your Sun is now twice the size it was. 5. Create > NURBS Primitives > Sphere 6. Rename this new nurbsSphere1 as "Earth". 7. Choose the Move tool from the toolbox. Recall that W is the shortcut for choosing the Move tool. Q WER TY tool shortcuts. - 8. Move the RED X handle so that the Earth is now separated from the Sun by about 4 or 5 Grid spaces. 9. Create > NURBS Primities > Sphere 10. Rename this nurbsSphere1 as "Moon". Move it with the Move tool and the RED X handle so its on the other side of the Earth from the Sun, i.e. farther from the Sun than the Earth is. Scale X 0.5 <------ Now the Moon is smaller than the Scale Y 0.5 Earth, which is still 1 for all Scale Z 0.5 three Scale attributes. 11. Now we are going to animate the Earth and the Moon to rotate on their axis. Click on the |<< Playback control to move the Time Slider to frame #1. 12. Click on the Earth to select it. Highlight the Rotate Y attribute name in the Channel Box (not the value 0). 13. Animate > Set Key This sets a KF, a Key Frame, for the Earth. Where does it set it? Frame 1. 14. Click the >>| playback control. This should move the active frame or the Time Slider to Frame #24. 15. Type 360 or 720 into the Rotate Y attibute value box, replacing the 0 that was there. 16. Animate > Set Key to set a KF, a Key Frame, for the Earth's Rotate Y attribute at frame #24. 17. Scrub and run the animation to see the Earth will now rotate on it's axis as we move through the time line of the Timer Slider with scrubbing or watch it after clicking the Play forward button (5th button in the Playback controls group). 18. Carefully repeat the above process for the Moon object, so that it too rotates around it's Y axis. Steps 11 through 17 are performed for the Moon. 19. Switch to the Top View. Click the Snap to grids icon. It is on the Status Bar. The Status Bar has 8 groups of icons that can be opened or can be hidden. The 5th group of the 8 groups has 5 different icons, and each of the 5 icons shows a magnet. The first icon looks like a magnet is up above the upper left hand corner of a grid. Click that button. Drag the Earth on the X axis with its red handle. It will SNAP to points on the Grid. Keep the Earth on the X-axis but have it exactly as the intersection or point where two grid lines cross. 20. Now choose the Moon. You do NOT have to have it snapped to a grid point, but makes sure its on the X-axis. Choose Edit > Group from the FEMCDW menu. - 21. The group you just created will be named group1, which you see in the Channel Box. Rename it from group1 to moonOrbit. Press the Insert key. You will see the following in the Help Line: Move Tool: Use manipulator to move rotate/scale pivots. Use INSERT to toggle back to translate mode. You will see a yellow bulls eye, very small, and a yellow circle around the center of the Sun. 22. Drag that center bulls eye with your mouse until it is at the center of the Earth. It should Snap to the same point on the grid that the Earth snapped to. Snap to Grid. Note: If you accidently clicked off of the moonOrbit you created, you CANNOT select the moonOrbit again by clicking on the Moon! The third group on the Status Bar defaults to Select by Object type. That is the 2nd button or icon in that THREE ICON group of icons. Click the FIRST icon in that 3rd group. Select by Hierarchy and Combinations means that when you click on the Moon object it will select the entire group or the parent child hierarchy it is part of. This Select by Hierarchy and Combinations choice and Select by Object Type choice is critical to understand... 23. |<< to ensure you are in Frame #1 of the Timer Slider. Highlight Rotate Y in the Channel Box, making sure that it is the Channel Box for moonOrbit, and NOT Moon. --------- Animate > Set Key to set a KF (Keyframe) for Moon at Frame 1. 24. Click the >>| playback control to move the current frame from 1.00 to 24.00 which will be showing above the Time Slider in the current time box. Change the value for Rotate Y from 0 to 360. Click on Rotate Y to highlight and select it. Animate > Set Key to set the KF (Key Frame) at Frame 24 for the moonOrbit Rotate Y attribute. 25. Now, scrub and/or play the animation to see the Moon orbit the Earth. 26. Now is the part we did not have time for in Friday's laptop class. Please refer to page 91 of your textbook. GROUPING THE MOON WITH EARTH Be sure you are in Hierarchy Mode (see 3rd group on Status Bar again. Make sure 1st icon is depressed and not the 2nd icon. Select the Earth by clicking on it, then hold down the Shift key and click on the Moon to add it to the selection. You actually added the moonOrbit to the selection because of having the selection filter be for Hierarchies instead of Objects. Edit > Group Rename the group1 to earthOrbit. ---------- 27. You do NOT have to move its Pivot Point by using the Insert key like you did with the Moon. Why? The pivot point is by default at (0, 0, 0) for any group you create. That is the CENTER of the Sun object. Hooray. That is what the Earth (and its Moon) is supposed to orbit, the Sun! 28. Animate > Set Key should now be done, after you have earthOrbit selected and are in Frame #1 courtesy of |<< playback control. As usual, it would be Rotate Y attribute in Channel Box you highlighted first. 29. Now do >>| playback control to move to frame #24. Type 360 or 720 into the Rotate Y value area, replacing 0. Animate > Set Key to set the KF (Key Frame) there at 24 for the earthOrbit. 30. Scrub the Time Slider and/or play the animation with the playback control to see the Earth orbit the Sun, while the Moon is following the Earth and in perfect Orbit around the orbiting Earth. Whew! That concludes the review of today's class, which is also a preview of Wednesday's and Friday's class next week, especially for steps 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 which we did not get to try out today in class. (12:27 a.m. Saturday August 30th)