Maya animation for web?

[Anonymous]

Hi All, as you might be able to tell with my subject title, I am a newbie.  Can anyone tell me if Maya animation can be done for the web like how flash animation can be?

Also can Maya animation be made interactive with user intervention by using scripts such as javascript or actionscript is flash?  I want to be able to make animation with maya where users can input his or her name, which I will incorporate into the animation.  I think in flash they use placeholders in a particular frame, so is that possible with Maya?  I am assuming that it needs to be rendered or exported to swf format first?  Thanks for any advice I can get!

[FalconCrest]

I think you can, but your also looking at Flash Scripting which is just Java scripting. You want interactivity, I'd recommend you begin with Flash. If you don't have any prior experience in a 3D package, then Maya is going to appear as though you are fighting a dinosaur.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply FalconCrest.  Yes I have been reading up on Maya and you are absolutely right I think it's a beast of a package to learn.  But I'm going to give it a shot because I feel I have no choice if I want to get my bills paid. lol.  

With maya, would I be able to put placeholders in certain frames for me to input or does that need to be exported to another program to do that?  Lastly, what format do most animators use to publish their work on the web or for download? Thanks.

[FalconCrest]

Placeholders are, if I understood you correctly, are reference objects !

Most animators export there animations to a series of images, then compile those images together to a video format, if a video format is needed.

[Anonymous]

Awesome insight there thanks!  Now after exporting it as png files, is it quicker to compile to a movie file afterwards or the same as a straight render?  I am a little confused between rendering and compiling.  And what if I had audio, does It export the audio also? 

[FalconCrest]

You'd take all your images then using a compositor, for example, After Effects and add your audio, then make a movie file in whatever video format you desire.

[Anonymous]

Thank You FalconCrest for leading me the right way!!

[FalconCrest]

No problem !

[Anonymous]

Hi FalconCrest, I am in need of your personal advice once again if you may.  I need to get a dedicated computer to work on Maya but here is my dilemna.  I don't know if I should get a workstsation or a laptop.  I would like to at least work an hour a day with maya and I can probably do that while at work (with the last hour of work mostly down time).  So for that I can get a laptop.  BUT is a laptop enough for me to learn, and build characters with and possibly animate (not rendering)?  If I get a workstation at home I probably won't be able to work on it as much at home since I'll be drained after work, but I know I can do all of that on it PLUS render on it better then a laptop.  I guess the best of both worlds is a laptop, but rendering simple short (5 mins) animations would take forever no?  What is your take on this?  Thx! 

[FalconCrest]

The decision is up to you, in my opinion I would proceed with a laptop. As it sounds you get tired at the end of the day and will spend little time on your desktop, except for the weekends, what is the weekend, only typically two days, not including holidays.

If you get a good laptop, you will be able to render on it, depending what king of rendering you plan on doing, if it's simulations or GPU rendering, you may find a good laptop with a good GPU, nothing will compare to a desktop GPU as you and I both know that. If you do go the laptop route with a good GPU it will be a pretty penny, that you have to expect. As you said you will only render short animations so in the end a laptop most likely will suit you just find, and as I said, get yourself if you can a powerful laptop so it lasts you a few years.

I have an old Core2Duo it's already six years old, I occasionally use it, and because of that it still does me well, good for programming, some web design etc.

[Anonymous]

Thank you FalconCrest!  Once again you came through again.  My apologies for a late reply have been hectic this week.  BTW have you ever heard of iclone and have you worked in it?  I saw it and it looks to be able to bang out pretty quick animations although quality wise is a bit subpar because its a game rendering engine.  But I read that its possible to export the animation and bring into maya for editing work and rendering.  So that is pretty cool.  In iclone you can also implement motion capture animation as well as keyframing.  Now is this feature available in maya also?  If it does it is a Ginormous potential.  Do 3d packages allow you to do a combination of mocaping and keyframing in one single animation production?  Cool stuff!

[FalconCrest]

I never heard about iClone, it's a per-visualization tool for roughing out your animations, you would have to go though the process of creating the animations in a 3D package, unless you didn't want to.

Of course Maya has the ability to bring in MoCap data, I personally don't know the procedure, nor do I work with MoCap data, but it is possible. Most 3D packages can import MoCap data with the rise of Alembic it makes things easier and flexible.

[Anonymous]

Thanks again for your help FalconCrest.  Your help is greatly appreciated!