DataLife Engine - Softnews Media Group

The Landscape tutorial is intended for intermediate Maya users. You will begin by setting up your reference image on an image plane and then start modeling the project using both polygons and nurbs to block in the correct shape.
Some of the tools covered in the modeling section are extrude face, cut face tool and split polygon to name a few. After modeling is complete we will do our UV layouts which is taking all the geometry and converting it to a flat pintable map to apply textures on them in a painting program. We will also learn how to assign color to the geometry to make planar maps as well as how to use tools like move and sew uv's.
In the paint program you will learn how to use layers as well as many of the painting options to achieve the correct colors and textures for the objects in your scene. After we get the correct colors on our Landscape we will start to add lights so we can see how both textures and light affect each other. In this part of the tutorial you will learn texturing techniques like bump/spec maps, as well as how to use some of the built-in shaders in Maya. After we have achieved a nice look on both our textures and the first few lights we will start adding more light sources to add the true highlights and shadows. These light details will be done by using more point lights with decay as well some negative lights to fake shadows in certain areas which will be light-linked to only certain geometry.

Tutorial Details:
Polygon & NURBS Modeling Techniques
Creating Exteriors in Maya
Modeling Rope Bridges & Windmills
Mountain Terrain with Sculpt Geometry Tool
Keeping Spacing & Proportion in 3D Sets
UV Layout in Maya
Texture Painting in Photoshop
Procedural Textures
Image Based Sky Environments
Shader Glow & Specular Maps