Materials, Lighting & Rendering Tutorials at Vimeo

3D VFX at our Vimeo Tutorial Channel 

Our Escape Studios Vimeo Tutorial Channel supports our students with online resources for Materials, Lighting and Rendering.  

Our Vimeo Tutorial Channel is our central hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies.  

We have tutorials on Materials, Lighting and Rendering in Arnold, Renderman, Unreal Engine, and also how to use Qube, the Escape Studios' Render Farm. 

UVs & Texturing in Maya and in Substance Painter

Texturing a Cube in Autodesk Maya - Basics

This very basic beginner's tutorial with Alexander Williams shows how to texture a cube in Maya. For beginners who have never used Maya before, this is a good place to begin. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uIMxbTuzkU

You can read more about it at the blog post here.

Model and Texture a Cereal Box in Autodesk Maya

This basic beginner's tutorial with Alexander Williams shows how to model and texture a cereal box in Maya.  For beginners who have never used Maya before, this is a good place to begin (but do the dice exercise above first).  

To get started, read this blog post - which sets out all the steps. 

https://escapestudiosanimation.blogspot.com/2023/10/model-and-texture-cereal-box-in-maya.html

You can find the video tutorial at YouTube here. 

Unwrapping UVs in Autodesk Maya
UV unwrapping in Maya with Michael Davies. In this series of Six short videos Michael Davies shows how to unwrap UVs, explains why not all models need perfect UV maps, and shows how to use the UV Editor. 
https://vimeo.com/album/5396680

https://vimeo.com/album/5396680

For more on UV unwrapping with Michael Davies, read this blog post.

Texturing in Substance Painter

Texturing in Substance Painter with Will

This tutorial shows how to use Substance Painter for texturing - increasingly the industry standard software. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKjC75r1FWU&list=PLxk6jMxEsFn7yh9lXWO4woP19Mc1T3Axx&index=15

Hypershade and Nodes
Learn how to use the Hypershade Editor (used for managing materials and shaders) in Maya, and also how to use the Node Editor, with Michael Davies
https://vimeo.com/album/5396697

Using Texture Maps
https://vimeo.com/album/5397020
Displacement Maps with Michael Davies

Texturing in Substance Painter
Texturing in Substance Painter by Michael Davies
https://vimeo.com/showcase/5399159

For more on texturing in Substance Painter with Michael Davies, see this blog post.

Materials in Maya

Materials, Lighting and Rendering
Maya Basics: materials,  textures, bump maps, lighting, and rendering with Michael Davies.
https://vimeo.com/album/5394014

For more on the basics of texturing in Maya with Michael Davies, see this blog post.

Maya Materials - The Basics

A Basic Introduction to Materials in Maya (for beginners - 5 minutes) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pdmZUFCxeU&list=PLu7u7lQGdDyZnpwdedWEKBi9SvGTrQIOf&index=33

The Hypershade in Maya

How to use the Hypershade in Maya (Beginners - 5 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYXJDfCvPCc&list=PLu7u7lQGdDyZnpwdedWEKBi9SvGTrQIOf&index=34

Creating and Assigning Materials

Creating and Assigning Materials in Maya - The Basics (5 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwKNz2oa0mc&list=PLu7u7lQGdDyZnpwdedWEKBi9SvGTrQIOf&index=35

Introduction to The Render View

Introduction to The Render View in Maya (Beginner - 10 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXn5pv6tkR8&list=PLu7u7lQGdDyZnpwdedWEKBi9SvGTrQIOf&index=36

Lighting & Rendering in Maya: Arnold & Renderman

Super Basic Lighting Setup in Arnold & Maya for Beginners

In this beginners' tutorial Alex Williams explains how to achieve a super basic outdoor lighting setup in Maya and Arnold. No previous Maya experience required. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s20eFoWTH6o

You can read more about this simple tutorials at the blog post below:

https://escapestudiosanimation.blogspot.com/2023/10/basic-lighting-in-maya-arnold-physical.html

Basic Lighting in Arnold with Sky Shader

In this beginner tutorial Alex Williams explains how to achieve a Basic Lighting Setup in Maya with the Arnold Sky Shader.

This is a simple introductory tutorial about lighting in Arnold, aimed at Maya and Arnold beginners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c5x8zduJ3U

Shadows and Lighting Effects in Maya
Shadows and lighting effects in Maya with Michael Davies.
https://vimeo.com/album/5396718
To see more about shadows and lighting effects in Maya with Michael Davies, see this blog post.

Arnold Renderer
Learn the fundamentals of lighting and rendering with Arnold by Michael Davies.
https://vimeo.com/album/5396970

To see more on how to the use the Arnold Renderer in Maya, see this blog post here. 

Render Layers & Render Passes
Render layers and render passes, with Michael Davies
https://vimeo.com/album/5397104

Renderman
Learn the fundamentals of lighting and rendering in Renderman by Michael Davies.
https://vimeo.com/album/5399156

Creating Physically Based Shaders in Arnold
Learn to create materials for glass, metal, thin film & iridium, sub-surface scattering, and cloth, with Michael Davies.
https://vimeo.com/album/5399162

How to render animation "on twos"

Video tutorial on rendering animations to look like they were animated on 2's, by Michael Davies

https://vimeo.com/368544804

To see more about rendering animation on "twos", read this blog post.

3D Stereo Rendering
3D Stereoscopic rendering in Maya with Michael Davies:
https://vimeo.com/album/5396966

For more on 3D Stereoscopic rendering in Maya with Michael Davies, see this blog post. 

"Qube" Render Farm

How to use Qube, Escape Studios' Render Farm
https://vimeo.com/showcase/6634249  

For more on how to use Qube, see this blog post.

Real-Time Rendering with Unreal Engine

How to use the Unreal Engine pipeline with Michael Davies
https://vimeo.com/showcase/5414193

To see more on how to the Unreal Engine with Michael Davies, see this blog post.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2024, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.