Alex Alvarez是好莱坞Gnomon特效学校，the Gnomon Workshop，Gnomon Gallery, SketchTheatre，还有Gnomon Studios的创办者与校长。在过去的15年里面致力于教授来自全球的学生与专业人士。Alex帮助改变了电脑图形设计与设计教育的面貌，他出现在很多杂志，网站与书本中。他一如既往的参与了个人与专业项目的制作，最近又以生物设计师的身份参与了阿凡达，星际迷航，绿灯侠，普罗米修斯的制作。在GNOMON之前，他是Alias|Wavefront的一名顾问与培训师。Alex毕业于宾夕法尼亚美国艺术中心设计学院设计系。

Founder, Director The Gnomon Workshop Gnomon School of Visual Effects

Alex Alvarez is the founder and president of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, the Gnomon Workshop, Gnomon Gallery, SketchTheatre and Gnomon Studios. Having dedicated the past fifteen years to educating students and professionals around the world, Alex has helped change the face of computer graphics and design education. He has been published in industry magazines, websites and books, plus he has taught workshops at several major trade conferences. He continues to work on personal and professional projects, recently as a creature development artist on Avatar, Star Trek, Green Lantern and Prometheus. Prior to Gnomon, Alex worked for Alias|Wavefront as a consultant and trainer for studios in the Los Angeles area. Alex is an alumnus of the Art Center College of Design and the University of Pennsylvania.

在本教学中,Alex将为大家讲解如何使用MAYA，Paint Effects还有mental ray来创建真实的植物。我们将先来学习基本的paint effect库，然后学习使用mia材质将笔触转换为可渲染的几何体。使用物理的太阳与天空，我们能够创建更多照片级真实的渲染结果。教学中详细讲解了如何详细的创建一个带有真实的有光泽的反射与透明效果的双面的shader。我们将通过diffuse,bump,reflection,还有translucency来为更多令人信服的shader映射参数。包括了如何组织UV进行拼贴得到各种不同的叶片纹理。我们将深入学习如何使用PAINT EFFECTS还有Ivy Generator tool工具来创建常青藤，还有如何将常青藤与植物分布到悬崖上的技术。所有相关的Paint Effects的设置都会被讲解到，这样我们就能创建自定义的植物库，最终我们就得到了一个照片级的森林小路。我们从零开始制作了各种蕨类植物，地面植被，吊兰等等，讲解了如何将它们继承到一个复杂的环境中。

In this DVD, Alex thoroughly covers how to create realistic plants using Maya, Paint Effects and Mental Ray. We begin by evaluating the default paint effects library and how to convert the strokes into renderable geometry with mia Materials. Using Physical Sun/Sky, we create more photorealistic renders through the creation of our own materials in a tonemapped workflow circumventing the default shaders created by Paint Effects. Everything necessary to create double sided shaders with realistic glossy reflections and translucency is demonstrated in detail. We look at mapping all relevant paramaters for more believable shaders via diffuse, bump, reflection and translucency, including how to organize UVs into tiles for variety in our leaf textures. We take an in-depth look at creating ivy with Paint Effects and the Ivy Generator tool and incorporate the discussed techniques for plants and ivy into a cliff scene. All relevant Paint Effects settings are then discussed so that we can create our own custom plant library, all of which culminates in a photorealistic forest trail. We create a variety of plants from scratch including ferns, ground cover clover, spider plants and more, demonstrating how to incorporate them into a complex environment.