Below, you’ll find 125 Excellent 3Ds Max and Maya Tutorials and Best Practices for your Graphics & Animation related needs.

Creating A 3D Sopwith Pup, Part one: The Engine

Classic Ashtray

Furniture Modeling

Fuse Bomb

Realistic Dart

Wooden Stool

Open Umbrella

Fluorescent Lightbulb

Realistic Toothbrush

The Making of A Winter Amid the Ice

Virtual beer

Making of The Crates

Tire modeling in 3D Max

Create a Windows-Like Logo

How to create an icon in 3D

Creating a cool neon sign

DNA priority tutorial

How to create cool tribal symbols and signs

The Yellow House

Making of the Auditorium with 3dsmax

Making of The Phoenix building

MAKING OF THE OLD SHACK

Exterior Scenes Part-I Part-II Part-III Part-IV

Creating Grass Land Using Pflow

Making of Wood/Concrete WC

Modeling of Schwerin Theater

Making of Light House

Building a Pyramid of Stones in 5 Minutes

Creating A New World

Making ASANTI wheels by photo

How to make realistic trees with SHAG

Sunrise of the 80’s

Making a Water Fountain

Making a Pool

Interior Scenes Part-I Part-II

3d marble tomb model tutorial

Invisible Tutorial

Making of Jungle

Arcadia

The Making of The Tower

Making of The Hole

Upside down

Leather in vray

Illumination Tutorial (3dsmax MentalRay)

Realistic Spiderweb with Waterdrops

Camera Projection

Setup car rendering studio with V-ray

Lighting With Textures

IES light in Vray

Caustic effects

12 Tips for 3dsmax and your PC

Developing A Scripted Utility In 3ds Max-9

BASIC TECHNIQUES FOR V-Ray ADVANCED

3D Modeling Car Rim

Monster from a Teapot Part-I Part-II

Making of Autobot, Transformers

Studio & light setup Part-I Part-II

Knight modeling

Making of Tallgate

Roman soldier

Fat Monster – Gordo (modeling) Part-I Part-II Part-III

Rendering Objects using Vray

Poly Head Modeling

Skullhead Mobster
Making Skullhead Mobster, by Harsh Borah.

Box Modeling a Male
Brief tutorial on the box-modeling technique.

Low Poly Character
In this tutorial, you will see how to create a low poly character in 3D.

Real-Time Character Modeling
Modeling a real-time character.

Subdivision Surfaces
Use subdivision surfaces to model a character in Maya.

Face
This video tutorial teaches you how to model a face in Maya using polygons.

Texture Map NURBS Dragon
This tutorial teaches you how to paint 3D texture maps onto a NURBS dragon model.

Layered Texture
In this tutorial, you learn how to use the alpha channel of your projected image to “stencil” your image over or under other images in your geometry using a layered shader.

Fur
Basic tutorial on Maya fur.

Tree
Create a realistic tree in Maya.

Grass
Creating simple grass in Maya.

CG Nature
This tutorial shows you how to make terrain, trees and grass using Maya.

Realistic Ear
This tutorial shows you how to model a realistic human ear.

Human Anatomy UV Coordinates Setup for Texturing
Learn how to create your UV texture maps correctly so that they don’t blur or stretch.

Coin
This tutorial shows you how to create a very realistic coin using Maya.

Keroro Gunso
In this Maya tutorial, you learn how to model Keroro Gunso.

Coffee cup
This tutorial shows you how to create a coffee cup in Maya.

Screwdriver
This is a basic modeling tutorial that teaches you how to create a screw-driver and then use Final Gather to render global illumination, HDRI and depth of field.

Onion
Create a realistic-looking onion in Maya.

Mud Effect
Tutorial on creating a dynamic mud effect in Maya using soft body.

Wine Glass
This video tutorial teaches you how to model a wine glass in Maya.

LCD Monitor
In this tutorial, you learn the basic modeling of an LCD monitor in Maya.

Toilet
Tutorial on modeling a simple toilet in Maya.

Cigarette Box
In this tutorial, you learn basic modeling and UV mapping for a cigarette box.

Tea Cup
In this tutorial, you learn how to model and texture a tea cup.

Space Ship
Learn how to model a space ship.

Airplane
Video tutorial shows you how to model an airplane in Maya.

Tarantula
Tutorial shows you how to model a tarantula in Maya.

Paint Geometry Tool
The Paint Geometry Tool can be very useful when adding anything that needs to be duplicated and randomized across a given surface. In this tutorial, you learn all the basics of Maya`s Geometry Tool.

Using Bump Map to Sculpt Details

Rendering Wireframe
This tutorial shows you how to render wireframes on top of 3D models.

Subsurface Scattering
Simulating subsurface scattering with Mental Ray.

3D Cloud Shader
Create a realistic cloud in Maya using fluids.

Light Lamp
Creating a realistic lamp light using Maya.

Mental Ray Studio Lighting
This tutorial teaches you how to achieve a basic studio lighting setup with Maya and Mental Ray, using a single HDR image and Final Gather.

Maya Optics
A brief explanation of how lighting works in Maya and how it is different from physical real-world lighting.

Getting Started With Mental Ray`s Final Gather
Basic guide teaches you how to use Mental Ray’s Final Gather to render a model.

Light
A detailed tutorial on lighting in Maya.

Studio Lighting in Autodesk Maya 2009
Tutorial gives brief explanation on studio lighting in Maya 2009.

Image-Based Lighting
In this video tutorial, you learn how to create shadows under an object with a photorealistic image in the background.

HDRI in Mental Ray
This tutorial demonstrates how to use HDRI to achieve photorealistic rendering in Maya.

Realistic Lighting with LDRI Images

Chrome Car Rims
This tutorial guides you through the process of creating realistic-looking chrome car rims.

MapCreation in Maya 2009
Video examines how, using Maya 2009’s new render pass features, we can easily export a normal map from high poly geometry.

Realistic Glass
This tutorial explains three methods of creating realistic glass in Maya.

Tennis Ball Fur

Tire Cover
This tutorial shows how to model difficult rotating objects.

Cable
In this tutorial, you learn how to make a simple NURBS cylinder behave like a real cable, affected by gravity, elasticity and other real-life physical forces.

Hair styles with Maya fur
In this tutorial, you learn how to create various hairstyles with the Maya fur plug-in.

Hair Dynamics

Dynamic Telephone Cord
This tutorial shows you how to create a dynamic telephone cord using Maya Hair.

Crowd
Create a simple crowd in Maya with the help of the CrowdMaker Rendering Engine.

Cobblestone
This tutorial guides you through creating a 3D mesh in Maya that will be used for repeating material. It also includes instructions on how to create the model and then obtain a color map and normal map from the model.

Gear
This tutorial teaches you how to model and render a gear in Maya.

Sport Car Nissan 350-Z
Tutorial explains how to create 350Z’s body using polygonal modeling with blueprints in Maya.

Bee
This basic tutorial covers topics such as modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, rendering and particles.

Using Sun and Sky in Mental Ray with Maya
This tutorial demonstrates Sun and Sky system options in the Mental Ray Maya rendering engine.

Tire
In this tutorial, you see how to create realistic-looking sports car tire in Maya.

Candle Flame
Create a realistic candle flame in Maya.

Eye
Model and apply shaders to get realistic eyes.

UV mapping Techniques
This tutorial shows most of the UV mapping techniques and tricks of Maya software.

Water from Particle
Learn how to create realistic water, with effects, from Particle in Maya.

Pillow with ncloth
Maya ncloth provides excellent ways for CG artists to create realistic clothing. It simulates real-life factors such as forces acting, friction, rigidity, glue strength, pressure, tearing surfaces, etc. This video tutorial teaches you how to use ncloth to create a pillow.

Controlling Fog Density
Create and control a fog effect in Maya.

Optimized Caustics in Maya Mental Ray
In this tutorial, you learn how to make fast and optimized caustics effect with Maya and Mental Ray.

Coca-Cola Bottle
Modeling a Coca-Cola bottle in Maya.

Shelves And Mel scripts
Mel is a scripting language for Maya that is similar to C. Using Maya’s Mel scripts, you can link objects, loop an action, simulate real-world dynamics and do many other things. This tutorial teaches you how to make shelves and create Mel scripts to speed up repetitive tasks.

• January 29, 2010 -- 110 The Ultimate Collection Of Maya and 3D Max Tutorials (5)

How to Create a Flaming Photo Manipulation

Alien Photo Manipulation Photoshop Tutorial

Landscape photo manipulation

Making of Color Combustion a Photo Manipulation

How to Create an Abstract Photo Manipulation

Create a dynamic butterfly inspired photo manipulation

How to Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation with Twisting Water

Combine Photo Elements to Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation

Alien Invasion

Blissful Landscape Photo Manipulation Photoshop Tutorial

How to Create a Cute Green Apple Photo Manipulation

How to Create a Fantasy Photo Manipulation

Create an Explosive Cover with Precise Photo Manipulation Techniques

Design an Epic Fantasy Scene with Photoshop

Creating Medusa With Photo Manipulation

Vibrant Photo Manipulation

Design a Photo Manipulation from Sketch to Color

Create a Magical Image using Photo Manipulation

End of the World Photo Manipulation

Texture Photo Manipulation

Making of a Forest Magical Scene

Making of a Mythical Encounter

Create a High Flying Snowboard Illustration

Scared Photo manipulation Tutorial

How to turn Tom Cruise into an alien

How to Design a Dramatic Winged Dragon with Photoshop

Photo-Manipulating an Image Into a Realistic Night Scene

Create a Face Shattering Effect

How to Apply Textures to Uneven Surfaces

Creating a Touching Story Scene in Photoshop

The Making of Mystic

Eery Eye Photo Manipulation

Blissful Landscape Photo Manipulation

Manipulating a WW2 Fighter Aircraft

Making of a Sexy Humanoid

Design an Epic Fantasy Scene with Photoshop

End of the World Photo Manipulation

How to Turn Tom Cruise into an Alien

Hulk Eyes Effect

How to Create a Flaming Photo Manipulation

How to Create a Fantasy Photo Manipulation

Create an Explosive Cover with Precise Photo Manipulation Techniques

How to Design a Dramatic Winged Dragon with Photoshop

Photo Manipulation: Lonely Fairy

Storm Effect

The Garden

Making of a Mythical Encounter

Create a Nuclear Explosion Effect

Creating a Smoke Fading Effect

Eye Manipulation

How to Create an Abstract Photo Manipulation

Photo Manipulating an Image into a Realistic Night Scene

Transform a Person into an Alien

Vibrant Photo Manipulation

Create a Face Shattering Effect

Photo Manipulations “ Digital Art Training

Bloody Method Photoshop Tutorial

Age Progression

Modern Ruins

Combine Photo Elements to Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation

Making of Color Combustion, A Photo Manipulation

• April 24, 2010 -- 30+ Fresh Photoshop Photo Manipulation Tutorials (30)

Aligning Images and Text in Word 2007

Before you finalize a document, check the spacing of text, pictures, and other document elements. Word 2007 offers a couple of different ways to check the alignment of document elements. My tip will help you turn on Word 2007′s rulers and grid lines.

Format Academic Term Papers in Word 2007

If you’re working on an academic research paper, it is important to get the formatting right. Special formatting requirements for research papers can make this difficult. Fortunately, Word has tools to help you perfect your document’s presentation.

Inserting a Table of Contents in a Word Document

A table of contents is essential for lengthy documents like annual reports, books, and other types of documents. Creating a table of contents manually is a tedious process. But, Microsoft Word 2007 includes handy tools to help you create a table of contents for your document easily. My step-by-step tutorial will show you how easy it is to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word 2007.

Indexing a Word 2007 Document

If you’re working on a book or a lengthy document, you may want to create an index. This will let readers easily navigate to specific portions of your book or document. Indexing a document is no easy task. That is, unless you use Word’s indexing feature. It will help you index your Word 2007 document in no time! My tip will help you get up and going with indexes in Word 2007.

Change Paper Size in Word 2007

By default, new documents in Word are set up for letter-sized paper. And, this will be fine for most of the documents that you print. But, sometimes, you will want to print on a different sized paper like legal or a4. Fortunately, it is easy to change the paper size. My tip will help!

Insert Tables the Easy Way in Word

Tables are a nice way to arrange data in a Word document. Readers will be able to read the data easily. And, it will lend a pleasing, polished look to your document. Fortunately, inserting a table in your Word 2007 document doesn’t need to be difficult. My tip will show you how to do it the easy way!

Inserting a Caption in a Word Document

If you’re working on business reports or academic papers, you’ll want to add captions to figures in your document. This makes it easier for readers to understand tables, pictures, and charts. You can also refer to the objects easily. Learn how easy it is to work with captions in Word 2007.

Adding a Picture Watermark to Your Word Document

Watermarks are often used to provide information about a document. For example, they can be used to show that a document is a copy or a working draft. But, you can also use watermarks to spruce up your documents’ formatting. Use an image like your company logo or seal to add a more professional look to your documents. Adding an image watermark is easier than you think. My tip will help you get go…

Using Outlook Contacts in Your Word Mail Merge

Mail merge is an easy way to create letters, lists and other Word documents quickly. You can create a single document. Then, specify a data source. Word will merge your data with the documents. You can create hundreds of documents in a short period of time! Save even more time by merging your document with your Outlook contacts. My step-by-step tutorial will walk you through the process. …

Using Excel Data in Your Word Mail Merge

Mail merge is an easy way to create letters, lists and other Word documents quickly. You can create a single document. Then, specify a data source. Word will merge your data with the documents. You can create hundreds of documents in a short period of time! Save even more time by using data you have stored in an Excel file. My step-by-step tutorial will walk you through the process. It’s super easy!

Automatically Sort Data in Word 2007

When you’re creating a list in Microsoft Word, you don’t need to worry about putting it in alphabetical order. You can put it in alphabetical order after you complete the list–without any time-consuming cutting and pasting. All you need to do is use Word’s Sort feature. It also works with numbers and dates. My tip will show you how to use Word’s Sort feature!

Create and Insert Auto Text Entries in Word 2007

Auto Text is a handy way to save time in Microsoft Word. With the click of a button, you can insert commonly used phrases and names in your documents. For example, you can use it to insert greeting lines or closing lines in letters. Learn how to get started with Auto Text in Word 2007 now! It’s easy!

Working With Headers and Footers in Word

If you want to add page numbers to your document, you should use headers or footers. Page numbering will always be placed in the appropriate location in your document. But, headers and footers aren’t just for page numbering. You can also put information about your document such as title and author. Working with headers and footers can be tricky. But my step-by-step tutorial will help get you up and going!

Setting Page Margins for Word Documents

The default page margins in Microsoft Word are ideal for most documents you create. However, there are times when you will want to alter the margins. For example, it is virtually a necessity to change the margins when you’re working on a resume. My step-by-step tutorial will show you how to change the margins in Microsoft Word. Let’s get started!

Creating Text Boxes in Microsoft Word 2007

By using text boxes, you can place text anywhere you’d like in your document. They’re great for formatting newsletters and other complex documents. My step-by-step tutorial will help you get up and going with text boxes in Word 2007!

Inserting Excel Data in a Word 2007 Document

If you’re working on business documents or academic papers, you’ll want to insert data from Excel into your documents at some time or other. One way to do this is by linking to an Excel spreadsheet. Your Word document will be updated with the latest Excel data. Find out how to link to Excel data in Microsoft Word in my handy step-by-step tutorial.

Inserting Excel Data in a Word 2007 Document

One of the benefits of an office suite like Microsoft Office is the ability to share data between programs. For example, you can embed Excel data in your Word 2007 documents. This is handy for both business users and students. Embedding Excel Data in a Word document isn’t too difficult. My tip will walk you through the process!

Templates–Create Word Templates Quickly

Templates save you a lot of time when you need to create a new document in a hurry. There’s even a fast way to make a template in Word! If you’re looking for a quick way to create a template, or want to make templates that are easy to edit, then this tip is for you!

Recording Macros in Word 2007

Macros are a great way to save time in Word 2007. By creating your own macros, you can automate frequent tasks in Word, no matter how complicated they are. Get started using macros today! My step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of creating a macro in Word 2007. It’s easier than you think!

Getting Started With Mail Merge in Word 2007

If you want to customize a letter or document for specific recipients, mail merge can help. It will merge data from a data source with your document. It’s perfect for letters, catalogs, labels and more. So get started creating mail merge documents in Word 2007. My tip will walk you through the process of creating mail merge letters in Microsoft Word 2007.

Microsoft’s Free Save as PDF Add-in for Word and Office 2007

If you need to distribute documents in PDF format, you don’t need to purchase Adobe Acrobat. Microsoft Office 2007 can save documents in PDF format. You’ll need to download a free add-in from Microsoft. It will allow you to save documents in PDF format. However, you won’t be able to edit the PDF documents. To learn more, read this quick tip.

Creating and Editing a Custom Dictionary in Word 2007

The dictionary is one of the more helpful features in Word 2007. It will alert you to misspelled words in your documents, cutting down on the time you spend proofing your work. But, many people find it annoying. That’s because the dictionary isn’t complete. Fortunately, you can create your own custom dictionary and add your own terms to it. This is helpful if you often use specialized terminology. Find out how it’s done!

Comparing Different Versions of a Document

Word’s Track Changes feature is essential for those collaborating on documents. It highlights the changes you’ve made to the document so that they’re readily apparent to others. Changes can then be accepted or rejected on an individual basis. You must activate Track Changes when you start editing a document. Fortunately, though, if you forget, you can show the changes using Word’s Compare feature. Find out how it’s done!

Inserting Cross References in Word 2007

If you’re working on a long document such as an academic paper, you may want to refer readers to another part of your document. This is particularly true when it comes to charts and figures. Fortunately, you don’t need to manage cross references manually. Word 2007′s Cross-reference feature will do it for you. Find out how to use cross references in Word 2007.

Showing the Number of Words in a Microsoft Word 2007 Document

If you’re working on an academic paper, you may need to know if your Word document meets certain length requirements. There are ways to estimate your document’s word count based on the number of lines it contains. However, Microsoft Word makes it easy to get an accurate count of the words in your document. To learn more, read this tip!

Disabling Editing Languages in Word 2007

Has the spelling and grammar feature in your version of Word 2007 gone haywire? Are correctly spelled words marked incorrect? If so, you’re not alone. Many people have complained about this. Fortunately, there is an easy solution. Find out how to fix it.

Navigating Through Your Word 2007 Document

Navigating through long documents can be a chore. You can spend a lot of time scrolling through pages of text to get to the section you want to read or edit. But, there is an easy way to jump to the exact page you want to edit. With Word 2007′s Thumbnails view, you’ll see small pictures of each page of your document. You can use the thumbnails to navigate through your document. Learn more by reading this quick tip.

Turning off Reading View for Email Attachments

Reading View is designed to make it easier to read documents on your computer screen. It also places reviewing tools at your fingertips. However, it does not display the document as it would appear when printed. Word automatically opens email attachments in Reading View. If you don’t like this feature, you can easily disable it.Find out how!

Disabling Word 2007′s Mini Toolbar

The Mini Toolbar in Word 2007 is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it puts commonly used formatting options right at the tip of your mouse. But, it can get in the way when you want to click and drag to move text. If the cons outweigh the pros, learn how you can disable the Mini Toolbar in Word 2007.

Opening and Creating Word 2007 Files in Earlier Versions of Word

Microsoft Office 2007 uses different file formats from previous versions of Office. This means files created in Word 2007 (or other Office 2007 applications) are not compatible with earlier versions of Word (or Office applications). But, Microsoft has released a compatibility pack to help with the transition. Find out how you can get it.

Check for Word 2007 Updates

It is important to keep Microsoft Word 2007 up to date. Microsoft frequently issues updates that improve the performance, stability, and security of Word. Unfortunately, you may not be getting the updates you need to keep your version of Word in order. To find out how to check for updates in Word 2007, read this tip!

Changing the Macro Security Level in Word 2007

Word macros can pose a security risk to your computer. So, macros are disabled by default in Word 2007. This is a hassle if you rely on macros to speed up your work flow. Fortunately, you can change Word’s macro security level. To find out how, read this quick tip!

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In this presentation we present to you a Ultimate Collection of Maya and 3D Max Tutorials and Best Practices for your creativity.

The Making of Al Pacino Sculpt

The Making of Wonded Ork

Making of “The Hunter”

Low-Poly Character Modeling and Texturing

The Making of Kehel, elf warrior

Modeling a Cartoon Duck

Modeling of Chipi

Young Rodeo

Making of Wolverine

Bad Pussy (Hungarian)

Making of Paragalis

Making of Binah

The Making of Lulu

The Making of Warrior

A female body from a cylinder

Modeling and Texturing of a Shark Part-I Part-II

Modeling Creature’s Details

Mecha Modeling: Gundam RX-78-2

Dinosaur

The last knight

Making of Bugatti

Z4 Unleashed

The Making Of Porsche

Modelling overview of a Mercedes S-Class Millau

Anchor Box Modelling tutorial

Create airplane model

The making of Bruttus 4Z

Making a Chair in 3ds max

Making of a Toaster

Golden Diamond Ring tutorial

Tyre Modelling

Compositing For Production Using 3DSMax and Mental Ray

Making of a coffee table

Creating low-poly foliage

Render Glass

Making puzzles with a picture on top

Caterham

Making of Nissan 350Z

Making of Dead Twice

Tutorial: It’s Time for Bullets!

3ds MAX + VRay Tutorial :: Time is running

Clock tutorial

Creating a Golden Jaguar Statue

Making of cafe

Computer case modelling

Advance Illumination in 3ds Max

Making of Quad bike

How to create a car using the polygonal modelling

Gold Material Tutorial

Lighting your Spaceship

Chrome Material Tutorial

Dotted Dice

Tank
This tutorial focuses on making tank treads using Mel scripts.

Making eyelid rig with driven keys and expressions
This tutorial teaches you how to create an eyelid rig with driven keys and expressions.

Growing Flowers
In this tutorial, you see how to create a growing flower animation.

Stormy Ocean
This animation tutorial teaches you how to create a realistic ocean storm.

Clock Animation
Create a clock animation using Maya Expression.

Lava Effect
This tutorial explains how to make a shader for lava effects using Maya’s material editor, called Hypershade.

Rocket
Model a rocket with a particle trail in Maya.

Particle Emission When Objects Collide
Emit particles at the exact location of the collision of objects.

Destroying A Wall
Destroy a wall using rigid bodies and particles in Maya.

Rigid Body Collision Detection

Spaceship Fleet
This animation tutorial shows you how to use the particle instancer to create a fleet of spaceships flying across a plain.

Bend Deformer
This Maya tutorial covers the use of the Bend Deformer, which links one attribute to another, and the use of math in expressions to create animation.

Rotating Wheels
Learn how to create an animation of a wheel that rotates in sync with the speed of the car. The final animation is more accurate and realistic.

Falling Leaves
Create a falling leaves animation in Maya using nCloth and Paint Effects.

Yoyo Animation
Tutorial on animating a yo-yo, with the string wrapping around the fingers of a deforming hand.

Muscle Rigging
Maya tutorial on creating muscles that contract and expand a few frames before the limb moves.

Instancing Animated Geometry To Particles
Particle Instancing saves time when animating many identical objects in a scene.

Mechanical Stairs
This tutorial teaches you how to create a set of mechanical stairs.

BlendShapes
This Maya tutorial explains the process of using BlendShapes for facial animation.

Domino Effect
This tutorial teaches you how to set up the geometry of a domino effect and apply a passive-to-active key switch.

Jellyfish
This tutorial shows you how to create and animate jellyfish. It covers many topics such as modeling, texturing, animation and paint effects.

Walk
This complex tutorial uses Maya Expression to add repeating actions to a model.

Motion Blur
Add motion blur to your 3D animation in post-production by creating 2-D motion vectors in Maya.

Maya Live
Maya Live is a set of motion-tracking tools for matching CG to clean plate footage. This basic tutorial teaches you how to use Maya Live.

Hotbox
Hotbox is a great feature of Maya that will increase your speed and productivity. It allows artists to access every tool in Maya with the keyboard space bar, without having to waste time searching for tools and menu items all over the large Maya interface.

Irradiance Particles in Mental Ray
Learn how to use the powerful irradiance particle system in Mental Ray to lower your rendering times while balancing the rendering quality of your image using custom techniques and settings.

The tutorials featured below come from skilled professionals who work in the CG industry and are intended for advanced users of Maya software. You can use these techniques in other 3D software packages as well. Some of the tutorials use other packages like ZBrush, Mudbox and Photoshop in combination with Maya for best results. Before you begin any of these tutorials, make sure you have enough processing power: most of these tutorials are resource hungry. If you perfect the basic techniques covered above, try to use your skills to work on some of the high-quality projects featured below. Practice is the key to success.

Modeling a Character
In this tutorial, you see how Carsten Lind creates a character model in Maya.

American Alligator
See how Massimo Righi creates a sunbathing American alligator.

Next-Gen Environment Textures
A tutorial by Daniel Vijoi on creating next-gen environment textures in Maya. This tutorial focuses more on texturing.

Sohrab
Making Sohrab, by Farzad Dalvand.

Male Green Frog
Tutorial teaches you how to create a photorealistic render and 3D model that can be used for animation.

Steam MasterNext
Making Steam Master: next-gen game head by Sorin Lupu.

Spitfire War Plane
In this tutorial, you see how to model a Spitfire war plane.

Swimsuit Babe
Make an attractive woman, by Jimmy Chow.

Fruit Tarts
Make lovely fruit tarts, by Hau Ming.

Last ELF
Make the Last Elf in Maya. The author, Piotr Fox Wysocki, has done everything in detail to give it a real-life look.

Prince
Making Prince, by Robert Vari.

Tiger Zoo
Making Tiger Zoo, by Massimo Righi.

Prehistoric Animals
A demonstration of how this artist renders realistic-looking prehistoric animals.

Ingrid Bergman
Making Ingrid Bergman, by Max Edwin Wahyudi.

Morgane
Modeling Morgane in Maya, by Cousigne Adrien.

Breaking Subsurface Scattering into Render Layers in Maya
This tutorial is about the process of breaking the subsurface into rendering layers and compositing them in post.

Portrait of a Troll
Jonas Persson creates this Portrait of a Troll.

Cheese Platter
Detailed tutorial on making a cheese platter, by Hau Ming.

Quiet Room
Making a quiet room, by Yan Chan.

Gladiator
Making a gladiator, by Christopher ADAJAR.

Joker
Making the Joker, by Mohammadtaghi Aibaghi Esfehani. The detailing is done with ZBrush, texturing and matte painting and shave and haircut with Adobe Photoshop, and the finaly rendering with Mental Ray.

Varga
Making Varga in Maya.

Old Farm
Creating an old farm, by Daniel VIJOI.

Trapped
Making Trapped, by Massimo Righi.

Fatjon’s Performance
Making of Fatjon’s Performance, by Qu Yu Cheng.

High Polygon Realistic Character Creation
Creating a realistic high polygon character in Maya.

Gordon Ramsay`s Caricature
Making Gordon Ramsay, caricature by Jason Edwards

Turtle
Maya tutorial on creating a realistic-looking turtle. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Street Cop
Creating a street cop, by Mashru Mishu.

Dr Julian
Maya texturing tutorial by Julian Jeremy Johnson-Mortimer.

Character Walk Through
Maya tutorial on creating a stunning character.

Meet You
Making of Meet You by Zhang Sheng.

Facial Animation Rig for Delgo
This tutorial from Warren Grubb shows how he created a facial animation rig for this character, which is more powerful and flexible than standard multi-targeted blendshape rigs.

Character hair
This tutorial shows how to create low poly hair for game characters using lots of images and some printscreens directly from the application used ( Maya, Photoshop, etc.)

Next-Gen Game Car
Model a game car without blueprints. This tutorial covers modeling, UV mapping and texturing.

Mini Cooper
This Maya tutorial focuses on shading and texturing.

Classical Girl
Making a Classical Girl by Wang Shiyong.

Foot
Modeling a foot in Maya, by Steven Stahlberg.

• April 7, 2010 -- 125 Ultimate Round-Up of 3D Studio Max and Maya Tutorials (11)

I took the liberty of commenting anything that is not immediately clear in the CSS.

Now let’s take a look at the code.

HTML

<form id="nice-form" method="post"> <fieldset>
<legend>Nice Contact Form</legend>
<label for="name">Name:</label>
<input name="name" type="text" /><label for="email">Email:</label>
<input name="email" type="email" /><label for="message">Message:</label>
<textarea cols="40" rows="10" name="message"></textarea>
</fieldset>
<input name="submit" type="submit" value="Submit" /> </form>

CSS

html, body {
margin:0;
padding:0;
}
#wrapper {
margin:0 auto;
width:960px;
}
fieldset {
border:none;
}
legend {
font-size:30px;
color:#BD2B7B;
font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
}
#nice-form {
float:right;
margin:20px auto;
width:470px;
}
#nice-form label {
text-indent:-9999px; /*  Move the text off the screen while still keeping accessibility */
display:inline-block;
}
#nice-form p.name {
background:url(../images/nameinput.png) no-repeat scroll top left;
width:446px;
height:62px;
position:relative; /* To allow child containers to be positioned absolutely */
clear:both;
display:block;
}
#nice-form p.name input {
position:absolute; /* To position this container absolutely inside of #nice-form p.name parent container */
top:10px;
left:130px;
border:none; /* By default, the input field will show a border/box, this sets it to not display anything */
font-size:30px;
width:300px; /* This keeps the text within the background image so the text will not type outside of that area */
background:none; /* This sets the background color to none so you will not see a default white */
font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
color:#999;
display:block;
}
#nice-form p.email {
background:url(../images/emailinput.png) no-repeat scroll top left;
width:446px;
height:62px;
position:relative;
clear:both;
display:block;
}
#nice-form p.email input {
position:absolute; /* To position this container absolutely inside of #nice-form p.name parent container */
top:10px;
left:130px;
border:none; /* By default, the input field will show a border/box, this sets it to not display anything */
font-size:30px;
width:300px; /* This keeps the text within the background image so the text will not type outside of that area */
background:none; /* This sets the background color to none so you will not see a default white */
font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
color:#999;
display:block;
}
#nice-form p.textarea {
background:url(../images/textinput.png) no-repeat scroll top left;
width:446px;
height:302px;
position:relative;
}
#nice-form p.textarea textarea {
position:absolute; /* To position this container absolutely inside of #nice-form p.name parent container */
top:20px;
left:140px;
border:none; /* By default, the input field will show a border/box, this sets it to not display anything */
font-size:20px;
width:290px; /* This keeps the text within the background image so the text will not type outside of that area */
background:none; /* This sets the background color to none so you will not see a default white */
font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
color:#999;
overflow:auto; /* This ensures that there should be any text overflow, it would automatically determine to use vertical and horizontal scrollbars */
display:block;
}
#nice-form .button {
background:url(../images/button.png) no-repeat top left;
width:121px;
height:57px;
text-indent:-9999px;  /*  Move the text off the screen while still keeping accessibility */
border:none; /* This sets the background color to none so you will not see a default white */
cursor:pointer; /*Since we are using a background image, this will set the mouse cursor to change when hovering over so you know it is a clickable button */
overflow:hidden; /* hides any graphic/image element if it overflows */
display:block;
line-height:0; /* this is really a hack for IE6 and IE7 because text-indent will not work here unless the line-height is set to zero */
}

This technique has been tested on IE6,IE7,IE8,FF (latest), Opera (latest), Safari (latest), and Chrome (latest).

Although I know this wasn’t a step by step tutorial but I figure the comments on the stylesheet should explain most of whats going on. But if for some reason you think this does not suffice, please let me know and I will write this out in a tutorial step by step style. Enjoy and have fun!

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With the general idea already in my mind, I needed to find a suitable background image.
The image I found turned out perfect because of the line of direction of the main figure’s vision. He’s looking directly where we’re going to place our smoke, creating unity among our elements. How convenient!

1. The first step was to remove most of the smoke from the original image, as we’ll be bringing in our own later on.
I did this simply by taking the Clone stamp tool, shift-clicking a clean area of the background to sample, and painting over the smoke covered areas with our selected sample.

It doesn’t need to be perfect at this point, as most of it will be covered by the end anyways.

2. Next, I brought in a high contrast image of a model. Not only do the natural stark shadows and highlights of this image look good, but hey, the contrast will do half the work for us in the long run.
Using a combination of the Move and Distortion tools, I re-sized and situated the model right where we want her.
Then set the layer’s blend mode to “Screen”.

3. Now that we have our basic composition in place, it’s time to get to the real action.
Using the liquify tool, I smudged the edges of the figure and pulled out trails to draw a smokey effect.
I did that until I was left with a wispy looking figure.
And remember, the more work you do in this stage, the less time it’ll take to cover your overlooked areas later on.

It’s almost good to go just as is, if I do say so myself.
But since we saved time by finding excellent source pics to begin with, let’s spend our free time fine tuning this thing up.

4. Our lady could always be more smokin’. And what’s more smokin’ than, well, smoke?
Using the Lasso tool, I copied and pasted a segment from an image of actual smoke onto a new layer.

I set this layer to “Screen”, just as we did with the woman. Using the Move tool, I resized the piece to situate around our lady friend.
I repeated that step numerous times until our lady was covered entirely hiding my earlier (now hideous in comparison) attempts to freehand the smoke entirely.

5. Now we’re getting somewhere! But I still wanted to expose a few of the highlights of the smoke a bit more. Just to give it that extra pop.
I did this by using a white brush to paint a rough outline around the figure on a new layer, then set this layer to “Overlay”.

6. Then, as a final touch, I filled the entire image in a light blue on a new layer, then set this layer to “Overlay”, and set the opacity to 25%.
Of course, this step is not 100% necessary, but it adds a little extra mood and brings the whole image together harmoniously.

And there you have it. With the magic of Phoenix, you’ve created the smokin’ woman of your dreams.

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Firstly, create a new layer, then grab your Pen Tool (P) and draw out a spiraling path, as if you have a snake wrapped around the arm.

Then select the Brush Tool (B) and set your diameter to 7px, with the Opacity and Flow at 100%, and your foreground color set to white. With your path still on the artwork, go back to the Pen Tool, right click on the canvas, and choose “Stroke Path.” A menu will appear with the Brush set as the Tool. Check “Simulate Pressure” and press OK. This will make the beginning and end of your stroke thinner

Now you need to delete the parts you want hidden behind the arm. With your stroke layer selected, choose “Add layer mask” at the bottom of the Layers Palette. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select areas of the arm you want in front of the stroke — use your eye and imagine how this path will wrap around the arm. Make sure your mask is active by clicking on it, and fill these selected areas with black. They should now be cut out, appearing as if they’re behind the arm.

Right click on your stroke layer and choose Blending Options. A Layer Style menu will appear, where you’ll be adding an Inner and Outer Glow to the stroke, making the edges of it glow with a blue hue. Use the settings below:

Make a copy of your stroke layer and right click on the Layer Effects icon. Choose “Clear Layer Style” — we simply want to blur this layer (about 6 pixels) to add another layer of glow. Everything’s looking nice and illuminated here, so lets add some sparkles. With your Brush Tool, add some quick spots around your glowing path with varying small brush sizes (3 – 5px). Make as many as you want here, as you’re always free Erase undesired sparkles.

We’re now going to make a secondary stroke to create another level of motion. Use the Pen Tool to go over your original path, but make it a bit different and overlap parts. Select a smaller diameter brush this time with a 50% opacity, and stroke the path as before.

Our energy beam is nearly there. To make the effect more dramatic, you can adjust the overall hue of your photo. Create a new Curves adjustment layer, and tweak the colors to get a vibrant blue atmosphere. Download the Curves preset below to load it in your document. After your colors are locked in, use the Dodge Tool (O) (with a diameter of 35 pixels and the exposure set to 25%) to brush in some highlights underneath your beam, directly on the background photo. This makes it appear as if your beam is casting light on to the arm.

For the last part of this effect, we’ll add one more layer of shimmer. Hold down Ctrl and click on your main stroked path in the layers palette — your path should now be selected. Go to Select › Modify › and Expand the selection by 7px, then feather it by 10px.

Highlight Strength to 20, the Detail to 6, and the Smoothness to 8. Finally, lightly Gaussian Blur your background layer with the feathered selection still active.

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