Friday, October 10th, 2014 Posted by Jim Thacker

Gnomon releases Maya Viewport 2.0 and Shader FX

The Gnomon Workshop has released Maya Viewport 2.0 and Shader FX, a new five-and-a half-hour training DVD exploring the new features of Maya 2015’s Viewport 2.0, recorded by CG veteran Eric Keller.

The tutorial explores how to use the new high-quality real-time display for look development of game and movie assets, pre-viz, animatics and illustrations – all without the need for time-consuming offline renders.

A complete guide to Viewport 2.0
In the DVD, Keller discusses the special Viewport 2.0 Shader FX and DirectX 11 materials in depth, exploring how to use them to view transparency, environment reflections, ambient occlusion and translucency.

Topics covered include how create Shader FX networks, use multiple UV sets, create real-time animated textures, generate environment reflections and apply them to surfaces, use IBLs, create real-time displacements with the DirectX 11 shader, and tricks for generating glow and translucency effects.

The techniques are demonstrated on a range of example scenes including environments, props, and creatures.

Keller also explains how to optimise your workstation to take advantage of the new features, and describes his own techniques for creating real-time render passes that can be composited in Nuke.

About the artist
Eric Keller has been working as a professional CG artist since 1998. He teaches Introduction to Maya at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects and is the author of Introduction to Maya 2014 and Hyper-real Insect Design.

Through his work with scientific visualisation firm Digizyme, he has recently been creating insect models and animations for renowned etymologist and author E O Wilson as part of the Life on Earth iBook project.

Pricing and availability
Maya Viewport 2.0 and Shader FX is available now on direct download from The Gnomon Workshop, price $59. The DVD edition will begin shipping shortly.

Order Maya Viewport 2.0 and Shader FX from The Gnomon Workshop’s online store

Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by the Gnomon School of Visual Effects.