3DNY Publishing announced today that its “MAYA|Multi-Pass Rendering” educational MediaBook is now shipping for both Windows XP and Mac OS X.

Multi-pass rendering (MPR) is the secret workhorse of all 3D. This volume is the most comprehensive study produced for this very important topic. It offers hours of education within its fully interactive interface. The reader will find an exhaustive study of exotic Maya controls, After Effects compositing techniques and a wide range of workflow applications.

“This is a very large project that amounts to an entire courseware on the subject of multi-pass rendering for 3D artists/animators”, said lead author Lance Evans. “We have crafted a curriculum that works for the advanced beginner, and provides the professional with many new concepts and ways to get their work done faster and better.”

The DVD is presented in 3DNY’s interactive MediaBook format and includes over 3 hours of video content, plus an entire book’s worth of advanced reading material, many fast-learning interactive “work” modules, and over 1 gig of project files for Maya and After Effects. Also included on the DVD is the Maya RenderPass plugin, and the actual After Effects compositing files from the Oscar nominated short animation “The Cathedral”.

The educational product which covers all aspects of multi-pass rendering, is written by an industry-wide team headed by Creative Director Lance Evans (3D art and animation for top international advertisers like Miller Beer, Absolut Vodka, Trojan), Andrew Chapman (Senior Technical Director Framestore Studios CFC London, lead tech on the movie TROY, creator of RenderPass plugin), Tomek Baginski (Academy Award nominated animator for “The Cathedral”), and Eric Schaecter (Lead Compositor, Spy Kids movie series).

Multi-pass rendering allows the artist to produce effects and a wide range of treatments that could not otherwise be created. More importantly, it gives the production team the power to save tremendous amounts of time, and money. Multi-pass techniques are so powerful that it is often said they are more important than the choice of 3D package. There is a lot of truth to that, however Maya adds many tools that make it uniquely suited for industrial strength MPR projects–if one knows how to use them. Only a few tools are identified for MPR, most aren’t. This MediaBook shows where all the other tools are, and how to use them.

The MediaBook covers the creation of multi-pass projects using lighting, shaders, exotic selection sets, advanced matte opacity controls, and software solutions. It shows how to use multi-pass techniques to: combine passes and reduce your workload, move 3D controls into the 2D work environment for enhanced production speed, how to create a range of effects like depth of field controls in reflective surfaces, advanced edge controls, chromatic passes, and merge 3D with live action footage. There is a chapter on project management and naming conventions for MPR.

There is also in depth coverage of new Maya features like the PSD Node (Photoshop), which offers worlds of new opportunity for a faster production workflow. A sample chapter on the subject of PSD nodes is available in Acrobat format for free download at our site (www.3dny.com/mpr.html).

STUDENT DISCOUNTS Education which students can’t afford makes little sense. So 3DNY offers substantial student discounts of 50% off. These discounts are available to educators as well.

3DNY PUBLISHING & MEDIABOOKS Electronic Publishing Magazine recently named 3DNY on its “Top 20 Inspired Publishers” list. Our MediaBook” format is an advanced multimedia digital book that brings together the best of video, text and software simulations to create the perfect learning environment. A 5-star review of one of our books said that MediaBooks “…substantially increase learning”. MediaBooks are captioned for enhanced accessibility. To read more about the new format, features it offers and products we make with it, go to http://www.3dny.com/mediabook.html

3DNY Publishing is the natural outgrowth of the original 3DNY.org, which is a 5,000 member association of artists and animators in NYC. It has run industry and educational seminars in association with Alias, Apple, Newtek, auto-des-sys and others in the industry. 3DNY soon expanded into publishing for the graphic arts. It is attracting great interest with its unique products and high quality of education.