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为我们讲解了如何在使用Paint Effects引擎来创建真实的树木。我们首先会查看默认的PFX library，它已经为了mental ray的工作流程被转换为了POLYGON。接着ALEX我们讲解了如何自定一个树木，使用一个预置作为起点。所有相关的paint effects属性都被讲解到了，这样我们就明白了如何得到所希望的枝干，叶子，运动效果的树木。接着我们在PHOTOSHOP中创建贴图，并且设置 MIA材质，接下来探索了如何使用物理真实的sun/sky，还有摄影曝光度的知识。还准备了在风力影响下的树木运动，包括使用用户自定义的预设置来创建 一个随机的资源库，将它们用于一个高POLY数的公园场景。其中讲解了在公园中布满树木，植物，草，落叶的技术，使用的方法包括了表面发射，实例化，粒子 表达式等。Alex渲染出了这个动态的场景。包括了ZDEPTH流程呢个，在AE中使用Lenscare, Magic Bullet，还有Sapphire插件合成最终结果。他还为大家分享了使用体元来创建体积雾效，渲染为一个单独的层，生成最终的4K大小公园合成效果的 技术。最后还介绍了很多创建自定义植物的技巧，从而让你的默认资源库更加的有用，可用于专业的项目中，例如大叶植物，棕榈树，松鼠，柳树，竹子，

In this DVD, Alex demonstrates how to use the Paint Effects engine in Maya to create realistic trees. We begin by looking at the default PFX library, which has been converted to polygons for a Mental Ray workflow in an interactive instancer driven scene. Alex then thoroughly demonstrates how to customize a tree, using a library preset as a start point. All relevant paint effects attributes as discussed so that it becomes clear how to create trees that match the desired look for branching, leaves and behavior. Creating custom textures in Photoshop and setting up miaMaterials is then explored using Physical Sun/Sky and photographic camera exposure. Tree animation with wind turbulence, including how to create a randomized library from a user-defined preset, is generated in preparation for incorporating trees into a high-poly park scene. Techniques for populating the park with trees, as well as plants, grass and ground leaves, are discussed in a dynamic and flexible workflow via surface emission, instancing and particle expressions. Alex renders the animated scene, including his ZDepth workflow, compositing the final result in After Effects using the Lenscare, Magic Bullet and Sapphire plug-ins. He also shares his techniques for using volume primitives to create volumetric fog effects, rendered as a separate pass, creating a final 4k comp of the park scene. In conclusion, a variety of tips for creating custom trees are shared in order to make the default library a more useful start point for professional projects including broadleaf, palm, pine, willow and bamboo.

Gnomon Workshop是全球娱乐业与设计工业设计师的顶级专业培训机构，它是由Alex Alvarez在2000创建的。它原本是为那些无法参加加利福尼亚GNOMON SCHOOL好莱坞特效课程的学员提供一个分享专业技术的平台。在过去的9年时间里，GNOMON教学系列DVD已经提供了超过60多位专业讲师的教学系列，涉及到了各种不同的工具，软件与媒介，包括了设计，绘画，雕塑，建模，贴图，动画，特效与合成等各方面。

Gnomon以提供最顶级的教学为己任，不但教授了知识，还激发了学员的灵感，帮助学员实现他们的个人目标，不论你感兴趣的是数码抠像，还是角色建模，数码场景设计，汽车设计，生物渲染，雕塑，这些DVD都能帮助艺术家从顶级设计师那里学习到专业的经验，节省自己的时间，并且增加应用技巧。这些技术都是需要作为教师的艺术家通过多年的时间才能掌握的。

Gnomon位处好莱坞的核心地段，已经发展成为顶级专家培养下一代设计专家的枢纽，Gnomon school的教学设施包括了17000平方英尺的教室，工作室，实验室与办公室，制作间。每学期有70个教室教授250个学生，在这个行业，没有哪个学校能提供如此高端的教学服务。GNOMON的创建者ALEX本身就是一位设计师，保持着与这些行业的沟通，确保GNOMON保持行业培训的核心地位。

Welcome to The Gnomon Workshop, the industry leader in professional training for artists in the entertainment and design industries. Founded by Alex Alvarez in 2000, The Gnomon Workshop was launched as a means to share professional techniques with artists who could not attend the hands-on courses offered at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, California. Over the past nine years, the Gnomon Workshop DVD library has expanded to offer training by over sixty professional instructors on a diverse range of tools, software and media including design, drawing, sculpture, painting, modeling, texturing, animation, effects and compositing. Shipped to literally every corner of the globe, our DVDs can be found in countless libraries, studios and universities... and on many thousand bookshelves.

Gnomon's mission has always been to provide the highest caliber training that both educates and inspires, in order to help artists achieve their personal goals. Whether your interests are digital matte painting, character modeling, digital sets, vehicle design, creature rendering or maquette sculpture, our DVDs help artists learn from the experience of others in order to save time and improve skills. Techniques that have taken our instructors years to master are available to artists in a format that is unparalleled in art education history. Our customers range from high-school students who are just discovering the career opportunities that lie ahead of them, to seasoned professionals with decades of experience.

Located in the heart of Hollywood, Gnomon has become a hub for many of the industries top talents who come together to help train their peers and the next generation of artists. The Gnomon School and The Gnomon Workshop facilities comprise of over 17000 square feet of classrooms, studios, lounges, labs, offices and production space. With over 250 students and 70 instructors every term at the School, no other training provider is as immersed in the industry and it's education as The Gnomon Workshop. Our founder Alex Alvarez, himself an artist and instructor, maintains a constant dialogue with the industry to ensure that Gnomon maintains its position as a critical industry resource. As the demand for artists increases and the quality of visuals in games and film continues to mature, education is the foundation of our industry's future.