"The bar keeps getting higher for Maya artists to create human characters that look more, well, human. Autodesk Maya 2012 has the sophisticated tools to make realistic characters, but human artists still need to know how to harness them to get results that audiences believe.Maya Studio Projects: Photorealistic Characters is an all-projects book that shows you how to use Maya 2012's tools to make realistic characters that are ready for professional-level films, videos, and games. Start with a skeleton to create a character; build a facial rig; create different hair styles; use Maya's Fur to create swarthy facial hair such as a beard; experiment with textures and nParticles; fashion your character's shirt and bomber jacket using Maya's nCloth; and understand the process of Performance Capture.Projects serve as a guide for readers to complete their own version. Each project comes with starter, intermediate, and final Maya scene files to validate results, as well as real-world videos for reference.The projects are ideal for professionals already in the field who want to enhance their skill set and also for advanced students who are getting ready to break into the field"--