Study Guide for the 09:00 a.m. Wednesday April 29th, 2009 Test

Final Version - now complete as of 11:01 p.m.

1. Review all of your previous quizzes. I will probably take at least one question from each previous quiz that we have had to ask again on the exam. I will also test over some of the same concepts as on previous quizzes with different, perhaps more challenging questions.
2. Pages 314 to 323 of the Dariush Derakhshani textbook Introducing Maya 2008. You received all of these textbook pages as a handout. We went through this material during a Lang 213 Monday lab class on April 20th.

   Also, see the URL: Squash and Stretch Cartoon Ball - Animation Curves and the Graph Editor.

   Watch any of these suggested 3D Buzz videos to review the way we animated the ball. This material is excellent in helping you understand the Dariush Derakhshani textbook pages handout. It also is likely very helpful in helping you as you finish your final project.

1. Keyframe Animation - Bouncing a Ball
2. Creating a Cartoon Ball - freezing the transforms.
3. Animating the Ball - Shift+W; Auto Keyframe; Window > Animation Editors > Graph Editor.
4. Animations Curves, Tangent Handles.
5. Acceleration (ease-in).
6. Deceleration (ease-out).
7. Flat Tangents versus Linear Tangents on the Cartoon Ball.
8. Squash and Stretch.
3. Basics of Maya review: Learning the User Interface H O C, FEMCDW, APSDR, etc. should be carefully reviewed and practiced for the final exam.
4. The SDK animation quiz material will be important to know for the final exam, so look at this SDK Set Driven Key review page.

   SDK: Set Driven Key Animation October 29th quiz preparation page.

5. Spring 2009 - Class #5 review page: H O C; Tumble, Track and Dolly; Selection Masks and Vertexes, Faces and Edges; Snap to Grid - X, C and V shortcuts for Snapping.
6. The Solar System: Understand how to make the Sun, Earth and Moon animation and be able to answer written questions about the techniques and concepts behind making the Sun, Earth and Moon. Grouping, Parenting, Pivot Points basics and how they apply to the Sun, Earth, Moon solar system animation we started the class off with.

7. Storyboard handout - PRODUCTION PLANNING and Storyboarding. There will be a few questions about storyboarding based on that handout. STORYBOARDING is part of the planning phase of all animation.
8. Emitters and particles and omni omnivorous animals that are both herbivorous and carnivorous. Dynamics: Hard Bodies and Soft Bodies - Animating Curtains so they sway.
9. Kinematics - Forward and Inverse Kinematics - 313 as in 03/13 March 13th: Skeletons and Rigging a character and pick walking and roots, parents, children. Hierarchy, joints, forward kinematics compared to inverse kinematics. FK and IK acronyms. Siblings in a hierarchy. Parent and child relationships.
10. Lights in Maya - the Point Light and the Spotlight. Casting SHADOWS Depth Map Shadows can be turned on from the Attribute Editor or from the Channel Box or by using the options on the Create menu > Lights specific command to get the dialog box of settings at the creation time.