Author › Aaron F. Ross
Aaron F. Ross is a video producer, author, and educator. Aaron creates abstract video and computer animation. His work has screened at prestigious festivals and venues such as SIGGRAPH, ISEA, Berlin Interfilm, Geneva Videoweek, and the Exploratorium. Over the years he has worked professionally in various roles, including director, editor, videographer, 3D computer modeler, animator, and sound designer. His commercial video and animation work has been broadcast on major TV networks such as CNN and Fox. Aaron is an expert in 3D animation, and has written or co-written three books on the subject. In 1999 he began teaching at the university level, and in 2007 began teaching accelerated professional development courses in Maya and 3ds Max. He currently operates a training web site for 3D artists, digitalartsguild.com. Aaron holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film/Video from the California Institute of the Arts, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
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Bring scenes to life by building realistic fluid simulations in Maya, including foam and bubbles, liquid being poured, and volumetric liquid in a container.
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Learn to render realistic bodies of water such as ponds and oceans and underwater shots with Maya—essential skills in a visual effects artist's toolkit.
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Dive deep into the Hypershade window and shader creation with Maya and the mental ray rendering engine.
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Covers the basics of the classic dynamics engine, showing how to build a simulation with passive and active rigid bodies, add attributes like bounce and friction, integrate keyframes, and apply constraints.
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Take an in-depth look at nCloth, Maya's toolkit for simulating high-resolution mesh cloth for 3D characters and animations.
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Covers 3DS Max from the ground up, providing a thorough overview of this advanced 3D graphics and modeling package.
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Shows how to generate stunning special effects simulations in Maya, including exploding fireworks, tumbling snowflakes, and burning flames.
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Shows how to create realistic landscapes, atmospheres, and natural light effects in Maya 2011.
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Demonstrates the basics of how to use 3ds Max 2011 for media, entertainment and design visualization applications.
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Demonstrates one of the most powerful toolsets for photorealistic 3D image visualization, the mental ray renderer in 3ds Max.
