Mastering Autodesk Maya 2011 -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Who Should Buy This Book -- What's Inside -- How to Contact the Author -- Chapter 1: Working in Maya -- Creating and Editing Maya Nodes -- Creating Maya Projects -- Organizing Complex Node Structures with Assets -- File References -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 2: Virtual Filmmaking with Maya Cameras -- Determining the Image Size and Film Speed of the Camera -- Creating and Animating Cameras -- Creating Custom Camera Rigs -- Applying Depth of Field and Motion Blur -- Using Orthographic and Stereo Cameras -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 3: NURBS Modeling in Maya -- Understanding NURBS -- Employing Image Planes -- Modeling NURBS Surfaces -- Creating Realism -- NURBS Tessellation -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 4: Polygon Modeling -- Understanding Polygon Geometry -- Working with Smooth Polygons -- Editing Polygon Components -- Adding Components -- Modeling with Deformers -- Combining Meshes -- Using Bevel Plus and Bevel Edges -- Polygon Modeling with Paint Effects -- Convert NURBS Surfaces to Polygons -- Boolean Operations -- Sculpting Polygons Using Artisan -- Advanced Polygon Editing Tools -- Using Subdivision Surfaces -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 5: Animation Techniques -- Using Joints and Constraints -- Inverse Kinematics -- Keyframe Animation -- The Graph Editor -- Playblast and FCheck -- Driven Keys -- Animation Using Expressions -- Motion Path Animation -- Animating Constraints -- Animation Layers -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 6: Animating with Deformers -- Animating Facial Expressions Using Blend Shapes -- Animating Blend Shapes Sequentially -- Animating with Lattices -- Animating Object Components with Clusters -- Animating a Scene Using Nonlinear Deformers -- Creating a Jiggle Effect -- Optimizing Animations with the Geometry Cache.

The Bottom Line -- Chapter 7: Rigging and Muscle Systems -- Understanding Rigging -- Creating and Organizing Joint Hierarchies -- Rigging the Giraffe -- Full Body Inverse Kinematics -- Skinning Geometry -- The Maya Muscle System -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 8: Paint Effects and Toon Shading -- Using the Paint Effects Canvas -- Painting on 3D Objects -- Understanding Strokes -- Designing Brushes -- Create Complexity by Adding Strokes to a Curve -- Shaping Strokes with Behavior Controls -- Animating Strokes -- Rendering Paint Effects -- Using Toon Shading -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 9: Lighting with mental ray -- Shadow-Casting Lights -- Indirect Lighting: Global Illumination -- Indirect Illumination: Final Gathering -- Image-Based Lighting -- Physical Sun and Sky -- mental ray Area Lights -- Light Shaders -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 10: mental ray Shading Techniques -- Shading Concepts -- Creating Blurred Reflections and Refractions Using Standard Maya Shaders -- Basic mental ray Shaders -- Car Paint Materials -- The MIA Material -- Controlling Exposure with Tone Mapping -- Rendering Contours -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 11: Texture Mapping -- UV Texture Layout -- Bump and Normal Mapping -- Displacement Mapping -- Subsurface Scattering -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 12: Rendering for Compositing -- Render Layers -- Render Passes -- Render Pass Contribution Maps -- Setting Up a Render with mental ray -- mental ray Quality Settings -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 13: Introducing nParticles -- Creating nParticles -- Making nParticles Collide with nCloth Surfaces -- Using nParticles to Simulate Liquids -- Emit nParticles Using a Texture -- Using Wind -- Shading nParticles and Using Hardware Rendering to Create Flame Effects -- nParticles and Fields -- Rendering Particles with mental ray -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 14: Dynamic Effects.

Creating nCloth Objects -- Creating nCloth and nParticle Interactions -- Rigid Body Dynamics -- Creating Flying Debris Using nParticle Instancing -- Animating Instances Using nParticle Expressions -- Creating Smoke Trails -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 15: Fur, Hair, and Clothing -- Adding Fur to Characters -- Adding Dynamic Motion to Fur -- Rendering Fur Using mental ray -- Animating Using Dynamic Curves -- Adding Hair to a Character -- Styling Hair -- Creating Hair Constraints -- Rendering Hair -- Creating Clothing for Characters -- Painting nCloth Properties -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 16: Maya Fluids -- Using Fluid Containers -- Creating a Reaction -- Rendering Fluid Containers -- Create Fluids and nParticle Interactions -- Creating an Ocean -- The Bottom Line -- Chapter 17: MEL Scripting -- Using a MEL Command -- MEL Scripting Techniques -- Procedures -- Using Maya Commands Within Python -- The Bottom Line -- Appendix A: The Bottom Line -- Chapter 1: Working in Maya -- Chapter 2: Virtual Film Making with Maya Cameras -- Chapter 3: NURBS Modeling in Maya -- Chapter 4: Polygon Modeling -- Chapter 5: Animation Techniques -- Chapter 6: Animating with Deformers -- Chapter 7: Rigging and Muscle Systems -- Chapter 8: Paint Effects and Toon Shading -- Chapter 9: Lighting With Mental Ray -- Chapter 10: Mental Ray Shading Techniques -- Chapter 11: Texture Mapping -- Chapter 12: Rendering for Compositing -- Chapter 13: Introducing nParticles -- Chapter 14: Dynamic Effects -- Chapter 15: Fur, Hair, and Clothing -- Chapter 16: Maya Fluids -- Chapter 17: MEL Scripting -- Appendix B: About the Companion DVD -- What You'll Find on the DVD -- System Requirements -- Using the DVD -- Troubleshooting -- Customer Care -- Index -- End-User License Agreement -- Color Gallery.