Learning Autodesk Maya 2008: Foundation

£25.72

not as good as people are saying - this book can be vague in places, although if your looking for the basics this is still a good one, I had problems with the support files.. certain ones seem to be corrupt on the disk and I couldn t open them, that doesn t really help when your trying to learn this from a beginners point of view, this package is complex enough without things being made more difficoult.

From newbie to middlebie - I was a total novice in the 3D world when I bought this book, intending to teach myself as I went. I chose this book due to it s official status and I am certainly glad I did...The book is authored by experienced Maya operators and is crammed with colour images and screenshots througout. The authors have been granted a great deal of access to Sony s Surf s Up movie and this is reflected in the 5 projects that you undertake to learn the book s content, all of which recreate character or set content and sequences.Explanations are clear throughout (although total novices such as me may need to re-read the opening section a few times!). My only caution is that the book does contain instructions such as tweak as necessary until you are happy here and there- but only after explaining the principles solidly. The authors also provide podcast style briefings on a disc to support the lessons, which I found essential in the early stages. These come along with resources, freebies and some student shorts. The book is a hefty tome but well worth the money- I am embarking on its two sister books, the Modelling handbook and Special Effects handbook. As I hinted in this title I am not lefr expert but I have a middling understanding and the confidence to move further. For new Maya users this is about as essential a publication as you could want.

Perfect entry in the world of Maya - Before I bought this book, I had little experience with Maya. I tried to learn stuff from free online tutorials. I learned some things that way, but I missed a structured learning path, and there aren t many good free tutorials out there, for people who don t have much skill yet.I want to learn Maya the way it is ment to be, so I bought this book to get myself a good foundation. Hence the name ,)There are 32 lessons, spread over 5 projects. And you ll begin from scratch, advancing to more advanced stuff later on. Everything is explained very easy to understand, and together with the video files from the included dvd, and the full color images, this book is awesome!It will handle all things Maya has to offer: modelling, animation, lightning, rendering, dynamics etc. Don t expect to be a master in one of those aspects after you completed this book, but you will know what everything is about, and have good experience with it.Also if you re stuck, you can just watch the scene files on the dvd how the guys from Autodesk did it as a reference.Conclusion: if you want to learn the basics of Maya and discover all of it s potential, this book is a no brainer. Say goodbye to crappy online tutorials!

• Learning Autodesk Maya 2008: The Modeling and Animation Handbook
• Learning Autodesk Maya 2008: The Special Effects Handbook
• The Animator s Survival Kit: A Working Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Computer, Stop-motion, Games and Classical Animators (Applied Arts)
• Introducing Maya 2008
• Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting