For three days last week I was at the EMBL in Heidelberg taking a fantastic course on data visualisation.
As is often the way with scientific training, the course was intense: lectures and practicals from 9 in the morning till 10 at night. This particular course was perhaps unusual in being divided into three modules even though each student focused on just one of them. There was one on programming in Python, one on writing applications for Mac OS X and one — which I took — on making computer animations using Maya.
The Maya course was taught by Gaël McGill, who runs Digizyme, an American company that specialises in scientific visualisation and is something of a pioneer when it comes to animation. For anyone interested in virology, check out their animation of reovirus cell entry.
Maya is a rather sophisticated program, to say the least. Gaël proved to be a very enthusiastic and patient teacher. We worked hard, very hard (!) but still only scratched the surface of the possibilities that Maya has to offer. It was great to have three days to get started with the program (although my brain took a pounding in the process). I now feel — metaphorically — that I have at least managed to master riding on two wheels, even if I am staying on the grass for now and every so often putting my feet down to stop myself falling over.
One of the most exciting aspects of learning this new program is that Gaël–as part of his academic work at Harvard Medical School–is developing a tool called mMaya that allows you to directly import the PDB files of the structures of macromolecules such as proteins and DNA to facilitate animation. This is a capability that I have been waiting for for about five years.
To give a idea of what can be done, I made a very quick animation on my return to the UK. It didn’t take that much effort to pull together, though I am hoping that it won’t take me too long to get up to some kind of decent speed with Maya.
Anyway, have a look at my teaser trailer.
Ah, that’s what you were up to – I saw your tweet about learning Maya and was wondering. Nice movie, love the modest title!
Cheers Steffi – I had a great time in Heidelberg. My neurons got badly abused but it was worth it…!
That was nifty! Do you get to choose on which atom your molecule gets to spin as it dances around? (I presume you do.) The music was choice. I also saw some gorgeous data movies – time-lapse confocal microscopy, or maybe two-photo – and have to hunt down the speaker and find out how they did it. It was fabulous.
The program automatically assigns a pivot point (usually in the centre of the object), but it is a trivial matter (one of the few trivial things in Maya!) to move the pivot to any other location inside or indeed outside the object.
Glad you liked the music: Loneliness by Horslips from “The Man who Built America”. On old favourite.
Very cool. Hope you managed not to gain any weight in that amazing canteen…
No comment on that front though I did try to stick to fresh fruit for dessert!
One problem of the intense timetabling was that it left me no time for running. I could have got up at 5 I guess. But I didn’t. Just got back into the groove this lunchtime but it was a bit of a struggle…
Nice! I wonder if Maya still has a free student edition. My daughter (coincidentally, of the same name as the software) is very interested in 3D rendering and animation. Right now, she’s trying to master Blender, but its nonstandard interface presents a pretty steep learning curve.
Ken – Academics (and students too, I suppose) can download a trial version that lasts for 13 months and seems to have full functionality. That’s what I downloaded to use on the course. However, there’s a steep learning curve to Maya as well, though your daughter’s experience with Blender may help.
Thanks, Stephen, I’ll give it a try. Thirteen months should be plenty of time for me to see if she’s serious about it (she’s 8).
If she’s only 8 years old, she’ll probably pick it up in no time. Will I be permitted to consult her for trouble-shooting in a few months time? 😉
Sure, I’ll act as her agent, with the usual commissions 🙂
Her motivation in all of this is to learn how to create and animate objects for a MMO game called Blockland. It also involves learning an obscure (at least, to me) scripting language: Torque Script. I’d rather she find ways to make millions so I can retire, but at least it keeps her out of trouble.
That is very cool. I am in awe of anyone, adult, 8-year-old, or otherwise, who can do 3-D rendering.
And I *thought* there was a Toronto connection – the usual 30 seconds of Googling reveals that Maya was developed by Alias (nee Alias|Wavefront), a company that used to be headquartered not a million miles from where I’m sitting. I believe I even used to know someone who worked there. Very cool.
Your awe is most welcome, but largely undeserved… 😉