Texturing and Baking textures in Maya - a tutorial

Hey guys,

Me Makaio and Rez worked on a quick and easy tutorial for baking and lighting textures in Maya. If you've played with Maya to make sculpties, or even use another program to make them but have access to Maya, this will teach you how to apply textures, bake on lighting and shadows, and export them. No third party plugins like Turtle are required.

This is a first draft of the tutorial which I want to have polished and hosted on the ESC website when its done - right now all the tutorial files (.doc file and .tgas and Maya scene files for following along) are zipped and put up on sendspace.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/risn66

Please take a look and let me know what comments you have, if it was easy to understand, what I could make clearer, etc.

The biggest thing outstanding right now is Maya always screws me up when it saves the file and its hard as hell to figure out where it went. If anyone knows a trick to that please let me know.

Here's the final result of the tutorial, all files are included.

Thanks Cory.

Very clearly explained. I did have some trouble finding the Batch Bake menu choice, but did something and then it was there. Hope I can repeat that.

Any chance you might include info on adjusting the texture to better fit the object?

My textures all ended up in C:\Documents and Settings\DT\My Documents\maya\projects\default, prefixed with "blinn1SG-"

Once again, thanks.

Assuming you've set up proper directory structures for your projects, your baked textures will always get saved to the sourceimages folder of whatever project you're currently working on. If you haven't done that, then yes, files can appear to end up in random places (it's actually not random, but it can certainly seem like it is if you're new to Maya's methodology). To control exactly where your files go, and to prevent tragic accidents, always set a project directory every time you start Maya. Here's how:

To make a new project, go File -> Project -> New. The New Project dialog window will open. In the first two fields, give your project a name and a location for its master folder, and then click on Use Defaults to let Maya set up the proper directory structure. When you're done, click Accept.

To work within an existing project, go File -> Project -> Set. Chose the master folder whatever project you want to work on, and click OK.

One of these two things must be done every single time you start Maya. Simply opening a scene file is not enough. You have to tell Maya exactly what project you're working on. Otherwise, you can easily end up overwriting existing work, or you can lose track of files as you think they're going one place when in fact they're going another.


For more on this, consult the File Management section of the Maya Help. Specifically, it's under Using Maya -> Basics -> File Management -> Organize files into projects. I'd highly recommend reading the entire section so you know what all the folders and file types are for.

The sendspace link seems to have expired. Is there a permanent home for this tutorial? I'd really like to have a look.

Hello

I saw the image you posted and I would like to try this out but the link sends me somewhere else. Could you please update the link?

Thanks!

I would also like to read this tutorial, but the link appears to be dead. Is there anywhere else you can post it or send it to me? Thanks!

I got this:

"Sorry, the file you requested is not available.

Possible reasons include:

- File date limit has expired.
- File was not successfully uploaded.

Please contact the uploader and ask them to upload the file again. sendspace is not able to help you in this matter."


Just before I was redirected to a photo of Mylie Cyrus with some half-naked fat guy.

If Cory hasn't gotten to you, I actually have a copy of her zip (downloaded 07.23.2007). I will transfer it to you if you contact me. I think that's okay, IP wise, since it was given out for free. :/ PM me on the forum or in-world and I'll give you my skype.

Link still broken. Whatta tease!!!!

cory said elsewhere that she'll be updating this by early next week, possibly even this weekend

she might or might not update the tutorial with new info as well.

oh jeez, I just realized the OP was from July!

I obtained a copy of this tutorial (thanks Chance) and I'm now hosting it for your download pleasure.

Enjoy!

http://www.xploited.com/Lighting_and_Baking_in_Maya_tutorial.zip

Silox, I posted the link to your hosting on the SLUniverse site, where they're also looking for Cory's tutorial, hope you don't mind.

And from SlUniverse, here's a link to a different Maya sculptie tutorial from Drake Nishi, this one looks like a really nice "getting started":

http://www.landgasthof-waldschaenke.de/sculptytutorial/quick_maya_sculpty_tutorial_v1.1.pdf

Enjoy!

Nika, in case the tutorial was never updated, you might want to steer people from that SL Universe thread over here to read the information on how to tell Maya where to put the outputted files, since Cory didn't know how to that when she wrote it. Unless people set up a proper project directory, and direct Maya to it every time they work, they're gonna have all sorts of problems on their hands, some of which will be far worse than just having to hunt around for missing baked textures.

You can also feel free just copy & paste the text from my post here to your own over there. Author credit would be appreciated for the quote, if you go that route.

I'd do it myself, but I've got my hands full enough as it is with these forums here. If I were to start getting involved over there too, I'd never get anything else done.

Done, thanks. This is where all the real action is anyway

I obtained a copy of the zipfile thanks to Silox Boomhauer, and tried the tutorial. It looks really clear, until I get to the point:

7. When you're happy with your lighting, right click the object > baking > assign new bake set

I don't have that options. I see its there under Lighting/Shading, but there its greyd out. What am I doing wrong ??

Woops, mental ray plugin was not loaded for some reason. Issue fixed....

Hi Folks.

Im using maya 2008 - aaand I'm stuck here..

9. Now, in the editing window, click the object and hold the Space bar.


Look for the Lighting/Shading option, click and hold, go to Batch Bake (mental ray), and click the little box (that's the options box) right after that Batch Bake (metal ray) listing. Make sure that Bake Shadows is checked. Click Convert and Close


When I hold space, there is no "lighting/shading" option. I've got lighting, but thats not it.. what gives?? 'elp!

Neil,

Don't use the space bar quick menu.

Make sure the "Rendering" menu is what is visible and NOT the surfaces menu. Top left drop-down selection below File & Edit.

Once you have it on "Rendering," look across the top and then you'll see Lighting/Shading>> the Batch Bake (mental ray) option.

~el3

MY QUESTION:

I try to bake the items utilizing a image that isn't 1:1 in the place2dTexture menu. i.e. under the "interactive placement" i have it set as a Repeat UV as 1 to 3. I would like to paint on the surface but in the Edit UV's option, it simply displays a image 1x3 and repeats my paint steps in triple. How can i set it to update for this?

Also, I'm having trouble with the output image not being clear nor updated to reflect this updated size. It isn't very clear on export either or on upload to SL. Is there a better way to create this resolution?

Thanks!

Thanks so much Cory and everyone involved.

Great tutorial! Goes back to his hobbit house with knowledge!