ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Paint Effects basics, including painting strokes, reviewing nodes, adjusting attributes, rendering with Maya Software, mental ray, adding Paint Effects Smoke and casting shadows. The Paint Effects is a unique visual effects system within Maya that produces myriad geometry with the stroke of a brush. Although the geometry is based on primitive tubes, simple meshes, or sprites, its complex growth can emulate a wide range of natural objects, including a variety of plant life, animal fur and feathers, fire, electrical arcs and sparks, base elements such as metal and water, and artistic materials that include pencil, pastel, and oil. With preparation, people can render Paint Effects with Maya Software or mental ray. However, the true power of Paint Effects lies in their ability to adjust hundreds of attributes to create an almost inexhaustible number of permutations. Surface quality, shadow-casting, built-in dynamic animation, and growth patterns are all adjustable.
