The days of unrealistic, herky-jerky monsters, aliens, and Godzillas are gone, thanks to the power of programs like Maya. With this state-of-the-art application, you can create fantastically real creatures to take on starring roles or just traumatize other character in a movie. Maya Feature Creature Creations teaches the fundamentals of how to develop, create, and implement your own next generation computer generated character. Written for 3D artists and modelers of all levels with a solid understanding of Maya, the book provides an easy-to-follow process for building an anatomy based CG character with physics-driven, elastic skin.Upon completing this book, you'll walk away with a character that was sculpted in clay and modeled with subdivision surfaces using Maya. You can easily modify this creature for you ouwn purposes and use the skills and techniques you learned to create a variety of other Hollywood-quality character.Key Features* Uses Maya 4/4.5 for Windows and 3.1 for Macintosh* Details the entire design process from character development, sculpting, modeling, and texturing, to skeletons, muscles, and tendons* Covers cutting-edge techniques possible with off-the-shelf software Teaches skills that can be transferred to a variety of 3D software applications and your own creature creationsTable Of Contents :Contents:AcknowledgementsPrefacePART I In the Beginning..Chapter 1 Getting Ready; Chapter 2 Pre-Production; Chapter 3 Biology 101: Imitating FilePART II Reference MaterialChapter 4 Design and Conquer; Chapter 5 Sculpting; Chapter 6 Scanned DataPART III Modelling For FilmChapter 7 The Tools; Chapter 8 The Polygon Proxy; Chapter 9 Modelling the Skeleton; Chapter 10 Modelling the SkinPART IV Texturing For FilmChapter 11 Resoulitons; Chapter 12 Make It RealPART V Anatomically CorrectChapter 13 Skeletons; Chapter 14 Muscles and Tendons; Chapter 15 The Dynamics of Life; Chapter 16 FatPART VI ConclusionChapter 17 Wrapping IT UpAppendix About The CD-ROMIndexAbout Author :Todd Palamar (Winter Park, FL) is a course director at Full Sail Recorders,Inc. in Suburban Orlando. He is also a professional animator and 3D artist whose work has been in a number of commercial productions, including movies and games.