Maya Shader Networks

On September 10, 2020

Release date:2020, August 9

Author:Aaron F. Ross

Skill level:Intermediate

Language:English

Exercise files:Yes

Autodesk Maya is one of the most popular 3D packages available, and it particularly excels in the area of complex materials. In this course, you can learn to harness the power of Maya to design more interesting shader networks. By combining and manipulating maps, materials, and UVs, you can construct an infinite variety of shader trees. Whether the goal is photorealism or a stylized render effect, Maya has all of the tools you need to create impressive and unique materials. The course concludes with a chapter on interoperability, so you can export your Maya work to other applications such as game engines.
Topics include:
Essential Hypershade techniques
Building Adobe Substance networks
Color correction
Remapping color palettes
Layering textures and shaders
Working with UV sets
Interactive 3D paint
Incorporating scene data in a shading network
Using the Node Editor for materials
Camera mapping with the Projection node
Building a nonphotoreal material
Converting Maya procedural maps to bitmap files
Baking Arnold maps with Render to Texture

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001 Shader networks in Maya
002 Using the exercise files
003 Duplicating networks
004 Exporting and importing networks
005 Distance-based mapping with Ai Ambient Occlusion
006 Shape-based mapping with Ai Curvature
007 Creating a Substance node for parametric mapping
008 Mapping Substance outputs
009 Adjusting Substance attributes
010 Color adjustment with Color Correct
011 Adjusting a floating-point attribute with remap value
012 Mapping luminance to a color palette with ramp
013 RGB curves with remap color
014 Extracting hue, saturation, and value with RGBToHSV
015 Building a network to remap saturation and luminance
016 Compositing maps with layered texture
017 Compositing materials with layered shader
018 Applying multiple map coordinates with UV sets
019 Preparing for the 3D Paint tool
020 Painting a map with the 3D Paint tool
021 Using a 3D Paint file in a shader network
022 Combining UVs with texture data
023 Camera- and scene-based mapping with sampler info
024 Scene and shading nodes in the Node Editor
025 Using an expression in a shading network
026 Camera mapping with projection
027 Understanding a non-photoreal network
028 Creating a ramp texture
029 Creating a noise texture
030 Multiplying colors with layered texture
031 Defining a cutoff threshold with a Condition node
032 Incorporating diffuse light with surface luminance
033 Exporting Maya maps with Convert to File Texture
034 Setting up AOVs for Render to Texture
035 Baking shader components with Render to Texture
036 Next steps