Customer Reviews

Maya Illuminated: Games

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I took the mesmer course in Seattle that the book is based on. I have read a number of Maya books including Maya Complete, Learning Maya and Maya Character Animation, and although there are better books out there for general training in Maya, this is a must have if you are interested in designing and modelling characters for game content. I also found that I got more useful tips and general guidance in the basics of poly modelling in Maya from this courseware than in the other literature I've read. Definately should have this book on the shelf. (BTW other than the learning Maya crap you get from A/W this is also one of the few/only? books out there that is updated for Maya 3).

this book is completely focused on learning how to use polygons. For ANYONE out there who wants to learn how to model polygons from scratch, this is it. This is the only book I know of that teaches only polygons.

It will then move on to teaching UV mapping for polygons. That is also very helpful.

A few notes to beginners. This book is meant for animators who already know how to use the Maya interface. It won't go much into where all the buttons are etc., so I suggest your familiarize yourself with Maya's interface first. If you decide not to, you might be doing some searching around to do the tuts. I can't make a very accurate guess with this because I already knew the interface before starting with this book.

Another thing is that it ends with rigging characters for games. I was expecting to learn how-to, only to find that it says that it expects you to know how to work with the basics of rigging. I haven't gone into that chapter yet, so I could be wrong about how hard it is as a beginner in rigging, but there is another book called Maya 2 Character Animation that goes over rigging techniques and teaches it in depth, from simple to complicated. For beginners like me with rigging, since rigging exercises are so hard to find online, maybe this book will be a very good buy to accompany Maya Illuminated.

Otherwise, this is an EXCELLENT resource book. It will teach you how to model polygons from scratch. The only thing you need to know as I said is the interface.

Ok, I don't know about the *best* Maya book out there, but I do know that Maya Illuminated: Games, is one of the best. If you're looking for subdivision surfaces or NURBS, look elsewhere, because they aren't covered here. What this book does cover is most of the tools involved with polygon modeling, polygon UV mapping, character rigging and weighting, and animation. The first two subjects will take you about 2/3 of the book, leaving the rigging and animation pretty sparse. However, those subjects are covered in great depth in other books. Many other books.

If you're looking for a hefty tome of reference information, this book is not it. The picture seemed to me to indicate a book about the size of most Maya reference books, but in reality, it's the size of a workbook, and was designed for class use, complete with short quizzes at the end of each chapter. The book is a good intro to game modeling, for people starting out in the software. People familiar with other software's tools and principles may find this book mostly review, with only a little new information introduced, apart from the differences in the toolsets.

A final note, you may want to consider getting it direct from Mesmer, too. It does tend to be a bit cheaper, although shipping isn't as fast or free. Teachers can get a Teaching Gamecraft book for free with an order as well.

This book is great. The Poly Toolset and UV Toolset sections are more comprehensive than the manuals, and demonstrate what each command does. The poly modeling stuff isn't just Poly Modeling 101, it teaches you to develop an approach that results in CLEAN low-poly models. The UV Mapping chapter is similar, not just how to unwrap UVs, but the right way to approach it for any model and lay out the texture info like a pro.

I got the first version, and just got the new one, updated for Maya 5. It's in full color!! And they added a bunch of rigging stuff and a chapter on weighting. Also the printing is way better (the quality on the first one was kind of poor).

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn how to make game art with Maya. As other reviewers have commented, it isn't for absolute newbies, but being familiar with the interface or maybe having taken an intro Maya class is probably good enough to get started with it.

The exercises are impossible to follow if you are a new maya user. The book is optimized using version 5. The tool commands in 8.5 are completely different.

I really regret purchasing this book. I thought that I was purchasing a great book that can't go wrong from reading other reviews. However, what I got was a book filled with information that can be found on other Maya books. You can easily purchase other Maya book and cut out all the Nurb section, and this book is what you get. I am very disappointed.