Learning Maya 6 | Foundation [Paperback]

Alias (Author)

Book Description

Series: Learning Maya 6 | Publication Date: April 19, 2004

Learning Maya 6: Foundation is your key to learning Maya quickly and easily. Join the tens of thousands of other users who have proved their Maya skills by creating the Bouncing Ball, Jack-in-the-box, Primitive Man, Spaceships and, most importantly, Salty the Seal. Get hands-on experience with Maya's key tools and techniques through project-based lessons while you learn to model, animate, render, and add dynamic effects to your creations. With Learning Maya 6: Foundation you'll model with NURBs and Polygons, animate, texture map, add visual effects and render your scenes. We've also added instructor-led chapter overviews, presented by an Alias Certified Instructor to further demonstrate the concepts covered in the book. Get up to speed in Maya 6.0 with Learning Maya 6.0: Foundation.
With this book you will:
* Become familiar with the Maya User Interface
* Work in 3D space
* Model with NURBS (Spline)
* Model with Polygons
* Set Keyframes and Motion Paths
* Learn to use Trax Non-linear animation
* Apply Forward and Inverse Kinematics
* Deform surfaces
* Set cameras and lights
* Create Shaders and Textures
* Discover rendering techniques
* Explore particles and Dynamics
* Begin to use MEL (Maya Embedded Language)

"I've been teaching Learning Maya | Foundation to my students for years and wouldn't consider a substitute. This tool is ideal for you if you are new to Maya."
--Peter Weishar, Dean of Film and Digital Media, Savannah College of Art and Design

What you need to use this book:
* A working knowledge of 3D space. Learning Maya Beginner's Guide or Art of Maya are excellent resources to learn about 3D space.
* Maya Complete 6, Maya Unlimited 6, or Maya Personal Learning Edition
* DVD-ROM Drive

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learning Maya 6: Foundation is your key to learning Maya quickly and easily. Join the tens of thousands of other users who have proved their Maya skills by creating the Bouncing Ball, Jack-in-the-box, Primitive Man, Spaceships and, most importantly, Salty the Seal. Get hands-on experience with Maya's key tools and techniques through project-based lessons while you learn to model, animate, render, and add dynamic effects to your creations. With Learning Maya 6: Foundation you'll model with NURBs and Polygons, animate, texture map, add visual effects and render your scenes. We've also added instructor-led chapter overviews, presented by an Alias Certified Instructor to further demonstrate the concepts covered in the book. Get up to speed in Maya 6.0 with Learning Maya 6.0: Foundation.

With this book you will:

• Become familiar with the Maya User Interface
• Work in 3D space
• Model with NURBS (Spline)
• Model with Polygons
• Set Keyframes and Motion Paths
• Learn to use Trax Non-linear animation
• Apply Forward and Inverse Kinematics
• Deform surfaces
• Set cameras and lights
• Create Shaders and Textures
• Discover rendering techniques
• Explore particles and Dynamics
• Begin to use MEL (Maya Embedded Language)

"I've been teaching Learning Maya | Foundation to my students for years and wouldn't consider a substitute. This tool is ideal for you if you are new to Maya."
—Peter Weishar, Dean of Film and Digital Media, Savannah College of Art and Design

What you need to use this book:

• A working knowledge of 3D space. Learning Maya Beginner’s Guide or Art of Maya are excellent resources to learn about 3D space.
• Maya Complete 6, Maya Unlimited 6, or Maya Personal Learning Edition
• DVD-ROM Drive

About the Author

This official book is written by Alias, the creators of Maya.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Sybex; 1 edition (April 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894893611
• ISBN-13: 978-1894893619
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #997,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible beginners book, August 13, 2004

By 

Beginner 3D Artist - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning Maya 6 | Foundation (Paperback)

I started at the very beginning of this book with no 3D experience at all, and unfamiliar with how to use Maya. By completing this book, I feel like a pro. Obviously in reality I still have a long way to learn studio effects, but this book makes you feel comfortable in the program and allows you to get used to the feel of all the tools. Great lessons, great description of 'why' you are doing things, and covers all aspects of 3D graphics, from modeling to rendering. With this book by your side, you'll land on your feet and start running w/Maya and the 3D World.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not what I was looking for, March 9, 2005

By 

A. Irwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learning Maya 6 | Foundation (Paperback)

First off I purchased the entire Learning Maya 6 series from Alias directly. It's been a long time since I've come across more incompetent people than the ones involved with their Learning Tools. They never were ever able to tell me what I had purchased, I had to wait until it arrived to find out. So if you are going to buy it, buy it here.

Second, I don't know why anyone else hasn't mentioned it (a reason why most reviews are worthless I guess), but the DVD is just about guaranteed to make you go blind. I am not an expert on how to make DVD's, but they did a terrible job. The index doesn't cover all the chapters (for starters), but most importantly the quality of the vids is so fuzzy that watching more than one chapter at a time makes me get a headache. What the vids show is just someone working with the Maya application itself, the vids are such poor quality that you can't see what they are doing or what menu items, etc are being selected, which again makes them almost worthless.

Third, this is not the way I want to learn. I assumed that the "Foundation" part of a series would explain in detail how to use things and build up (hence the word foundation) to the more specific books that follow. Instead, they are all just "follow me" type tutorials without giving much detail, if at all, as to why you are doing things. So instead of understanding why and when to use certain tools, you end up mimicing someone else's actions without really understanding why, not really learning anything.

This might be a good book to augment another book that I haven't found yet, that explains the Maya application itself and 3d fundamentals. Otherwise I think it was a waste of time.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, July 11, 2005

By 

J. S. Monkey - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning Maya 6 | Foundation (Paperback)

This book, and entire series for that matter, is great you will learn everything you need to know about Maya and 3D modeling/animation in this series. it is geared more towards the novice/intermediate 3D modeler/animator, but it is very helpful to have some understanding of 3D and Maya before trying this book, especially if you want quick results.

This book takes you through the ins and outs of 3D but you don't start any projects right off the bat. i would recommend Mayaź at a Glance - by George Maestri for the animator who has never done anything before, but this book will do the newbie a lot of good as well. it is part of the best series you can get to go from beginner to advanced in 3D animation (and i know... i have the whole series and close to 30 other books).

I hope this review was helpful to you, and if you have any questions feel free to ask them.