Learning Maya 6 | Rendering [Paperback]

Alias (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2004 | Series: Learning Maya 6

Learning Maya 6: Rendering is your resource for creating dazzling imagery in Maya. Get hands-on experience with the power of the Maya rendering engine and mental ray for Maya as you set lights and cameras to your scenes, apply materials and textures to your models, create shading networks, and much more! Whether you are striving for photo-realism, expressionism, or anything in between, achieve the results you want with Learning Maya 6: Rendering.

Get the look you strive for with Learning Maya 6: Rendering. This book will enable you to explore lighting, cameras, shading networks and other rendering issues from an introductory level. Get ready to explore advanced concepts in a comfortable format while you learn to take advantage of options such as hardware and vector rendering. Get the information you need to master Caustics and Global Illumination, Final Gather and HDRI. Learning Maya 6: Rendering includes an inspiring photo gallery of images rendered in Maya and mental ray for Maya so you can see the types of results you'll soon achieve.

Each chapter includes a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy to follow step-by-step tutorials so that you can start working right away. The book also includes an accompanying DVD-ROM featuring chapter-by-chapter overviews offered by Alias Certified Instructors. Gain additional insight and assistance from these valuable bonus discussions. You'll also take advantage of Maya Beginner's Guide: Rendering to help you get started.
With this book you will:
* Create materials and textures
* Set up lights and cameras
* Work with shadows and raytracing
* Learn to control your renders
* Understand rendering for special effects and compositing
* Explore hardware rendering and vector rendering
* Create Caustics and Global Illumination effects
* Understand Final Gather and HDRI techniques
* Create Maya and mental ray Shaders
* And much more!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learning Maya 6: Rendering is your resource for creating dazzling imagery in Maya. Get hands-on experience with the power of the Maya rendering engine and mental ray for Maya as you set lights and cameras to your scenes, apply materials and textures to your models, create shading networks, and much more! Whether you are striving for photo-realism, expressionism, or anything in between, achieve the results you want with Learning Maya 6: Rendering.

Get the look you strive for with Learning Maya 6: Rendering. This book will enable you to explore lighting, cameras, shading networks and other rendering issues from an introductory level. Get ready to explore advanced concepts in a comfortable format while you learn to take advantage of options such as hardware and vector rendering. Get the information you need to master Caustics and Global Illumination, Final Gather and HDRI. Learning Maya 6: Rendering includes an inspiring photo gallery of images rendered in Maya and mental ray for Maya so you can see the types of results you'll soon achieve.

Each chapter includes a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy to follow step-by-step tutorials so that you can start working right away. The book also includes an accompanying DVD-ROM featuring chapter-by-chapter overviews offered by Alias Certified Instructors. Gain additional insight and assistance from these valuable bonus discussions. You’ll also take advantage of Maya Beginner’s Guide: Rendering to help you get started.

With this book you will:

• Create materials and textures
• Set up lights and cameras
• Work with shadows and raytracing
• Learn to control your renders
• Understand rendering for special effects and compositing
• Explore hardware rendering and vector rendering
• Create Caustics and Global Illumination effects
• Understand Final Gather and HDRI techniques
• Create Maya and mental ray Shaders
• And much more!

About the Author

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

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Sybex; 1 edition (May 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894893689
• ISBN-13: 978-1894893688
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,784,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphic Design > Rendering & Ray Tracing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative, in-depth coverage, July 11, 2004

By 

S. Chan (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

It comes at a rather hefty $60 price, and it's not for novice users at all. But if you've been doing Maya for awhile now, this is definitely worth it.

First, if you *are* still at a beginning/intermediate level, the included Rendering DVD has 5 or 6 lessons (if I recall) to bring you up to speed. The presenter (Bob Gundu) isn't terribly exciting, but his walkthroughs are fairly clear and presented at an understandable speed.

At a higher level, the book really gets into how the software renderer works, with useful tips on how to get rid of banding in depth-map shadows, and how to use shading map nodes. There are some Mental Ray-specific chapters included as well; this renderer usually never gets decent coverage in other introductory Maya books. This isn't a comprehensive reference (i.e. it won't cover in painstaking detail *every* single texture node), but it's a pretty useful tool for learning. I'd say this product is well worth the money.

Oh, and yeah, from what I recall, this book almost looks the same as Learning Maya 5, so don't expect much of an update from that volume.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little disappointed., June 11, 2004

By 

Greg (Ohio) - See all my reviews

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

This book I was a little disappointed in. It's pretty much a mirror of the Maya 5 Rendering book. It even has the same color showcase of images. The only true addition to the book is the Maya Basics Rendering tutorial video thats located on the DVD (worth $34.99). If you previously purchased the Maya Basics Rendering DVD you pretty much have a revised Maya 5 Rendering book. The only reason I am giving it a three is because there is really nothing new.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, November 3, 2009

By 

Dmitriy Sorokin "bretaner" (Russia, Moscow) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

That is good book for beginners. But I cann'd dowloading support_files from Autodesk site. Could you help me, when I can downloading this files. Excuse me for my english.