Maya 2011/2012 Clay Renders

[timberwo7ves]

Such an empty forum... I suspect this is the wrong place to post, but...

I haven't seen any clay render tutorials on Threedy, apart from a kind-of one with ambient occlusion (sorry if this is the same thing), but as there's a tutorial for most modelling packages in the SMC thread, except Maya, I learnt how to do it (google (Y)), and made a short tutorial of. I tried to keep it short like the other ones.

[Crispy4004]

Not to put your tutorial down, but there are better, physically correct ways to get clay results like this if you look into Mental Ray lenses, MR Lights, linear workflow, and mia_materials. It's time to ditch those legacy Maya hyper-shade nodes, and make the full switch to Mental Ray.

[timberwo7ves]

sweet that looks cool :O

I've not much experience with texturing/rendering in general (and basically none at all with MR); just wanted a quick way to get a clay for the SMCs here, but I'll definitely look into it in a few months Thanks

[RHedendahl]

Why don't show us crispy instead of saying it exist, we already knew people can do sweet stuff. :P

[timberwo7ves]

+1 yes please :]

[Crispy4004]

Originally Posted by kirgan

Why don't show us crispy instead of saying it exist, we already knew people can do sweet stuff. :P

Because doing research on your own gives you more incite than simply copying my settings without understanding the "why". It teaches you to think independently, makes you question everything you do and read in a typical rendering tutorial, and builds character.

Besides, if you want to discover both the "how" and "why" there is no way I could cover all that here. Also I can tell you out of my own experience and training others, it's not something you get overnight. It's is almost like someone new to 3D asking "Tell me how to use Maya".

[timberwo7ves]

Originally Posted by Crispy4004

It's is almost like someone new to 3D asking "Tell me how to use Maya".

Asking how to achieve a clay render in the style you've shown isn't really like asking how to use Maya; saying there's a better way to achieve it than the one shown makes it sound like you had a particular way in mind, but I could be wrong

If anyone else reading this is planning to do a tutorial, I'd appreciate a link to that thread in here

[Crispy4004]

Originally Posted by timberwo7ves

Asking how to achieve a clay render in the style you've shown isn't really like asking how to use Maya...it sounds like you had a particular way in mind

If I was to explain everything, it's basically like asking me to tell you how Mental Ray and Rendering in general works. That was my point, it's far too much to cover in a forum post. It's not that I have a particular method in mind for clay rendering, so much as a series of many different rendering principles that can be used in any sitation, including clay.

Also out of respect to my former lighting mentor, and myself for the countless hours I've spend researching this stuff, I can't just give it all away. Also this. So like I said, you're just going to have to start reading into it on your own, I've given you the road map.

[timberwo7ves]

Originally Posted by Crispy4004

Also out of respect to my former lighting mentor, and myself for the countless hours I've spend researching this stuff, I can't just give it all away. Also this.

I can't appreciate this fully, as 3d is still just a hobby to me. The method I outlined above was primarily for the SMCs, and as such it fulfils that role :]

[rachelveron]

Yes it shows that the method you have shown above is merely for the SMCs. That's good it serves the purpose.