The Maya 6 Handbook (Charles River Media Graphics) [Paperback]

Adam Watkins (Author), Chris Neuhahn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2004 | ISBN-10: 1584503513 | ISBN-13: 978-1584503514 | Edition: 1

Maya® is one of the most widely used 3D animation programs available. It is used in every major movie and by most special effects and game studios. With its new competitive pricing, its user base continues to grow, and with each new release, Maya expands its already impressive feature set. These new features keep Maya users loyal and anxious to upgrade. The Maya 6 Handbook is a completely updated edition of the best-selling Maya 4.5 Handbook. It not only teaches users how to utilize the new features, but provides a complete guide to the fundamentals of this powerful program. Unlike many books that use a variety of unrelated tutorials, this book uses a complete, practical project for users to work through as they learn to model, render, and animate in Maya. By the conclusion of the book users will understand how and why Maya works, providing them with the knowledge they need to adapt the tools to a variety of tasks and projects. The companion CD-ROM includes all the figures from the book in full color, as well as the Maya files used in the completion of the exercises.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adam Watkins (San Antonio, TX) is the director of Computer Arts at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. He has a BFA in theater set and lighting design, and an MFA in graphic design. His previous books include The Maya 4.5 Handbook, Final Cut Pro 3 and DVD Studio Pro Handbook, and 3D Animation: From Models to Movies.

CHRIS NEUHAHN (Los Feliz, CA) is most well known for his solo effort on A Curious Bit of Scrap, part of the Vacant Planet series (www.vacantplanet.com). Although he keeps getting roped into TD work he is primarily a character animator. Over the years he has worked on television shows and cinematics for popular games. In the past three years his expertise in 3ds Max has been crucial to the completion of every project he¿s been on. He is currently trying to bring Vacant Planet to your living room.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584503513
• ISBN-13: 978-1584503514
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,120,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good when it doesn't hurt, August 28, 2005

By 

Karlito (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Maya 6 Handbook (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars because I thought the first 3/5 of the book dedicated to modeling and texturing were, for the most part, succinctly written and very informative. However, once the lighting chapter began, I spent much of my study time thinking that beating my head against a brick wall would train me in Maya faster.

The entire book is one long project which I was looking for and I found myself having to rebuild models in order to light them properly, i.e., redesigning my lamp so that the point light inside shown through the bottom of the shade. The worst of the lighting problems were the lights in the fixtures above the room's 'paintings' (photos of the authors family which was a cute idea); where I'd previously speed through a dozen pages in an evening, here I'd have to spend two nights tweaking the settings of the lights, the bulbs, and the painting textures utterly differently than instructed in order to achieve that nice glow the author had. True, I believe there's a finished project in the CD, but I wanted to do it right myself and finally I gave up on lighting the wall hangings.

Then the bird... don't get me started. The final part of the project was to rig, skin and animate a hummingbird. The instructions were clear enough, but after again giving myself two nights for each section, I had to give up and move on to the next section where we were given new, completed models from each previous section to work with.

Anyhoo, I'm feeling good I completed my first Maya book (I'd been spending my time reading the online manual and getting free tutes from Alias). Again, the modeling chapters gave me very few problems, although the lofting section was often painful; for some odd reason even though I believe I followed the book word-for-word, it wook way too long a time to solve a mysterious problem whereby the end of the loft would shoot off disastrously into space like the Apollo 13.

2.0 out of 5 stars read it if you dont have another tutorial book., April 20, 2009

By 

jayamazon - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Maya 6 Handbook (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

I got this book from county library.

Maya Free tutorial is better than this book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor :(, February 4, 2006

By 

M. Sheerin "souless critic" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Maya 6 Handbook (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

This book only makes sense for the ABSOLUTE BEGINNER. Its fairly well organized and displays limited technical merit explaining interface and concepts. However, it dwells far too long on step by step directions for operations anyone who isnt lobotomized could figure out with minimal instruction. The illustrations and cd-rom are a joke. Family reunion textures? Most of the pages are filled with unnecessarily oversized images. The cover image is completely unrelated to the content. I would be ASHAMED to waste paper and ink publishing this book at its retail price. If I had paid anywhere near retail I'd be demanding a refund. Its not worth the cost of shipping unless you are an ABSOLUTE BEGINNER. It serves its purpose as a simple introduction/review of concepts nothing more. I skimmed through it in an hour and tossed it aside as a library donation.