Frustrated with Maya, contemplating divorce.

# 1 15-05-2011 , 10:54 PM

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Join Date: May 2011

Location: Tampa, FL

Posts: 1

Frustrated with Maya, contemplating divorce.

Okay, not really contemplating divorce. But I will say I'm fairly new to Maya and animation, and I'm committed to making this relationship work, only I'm finding myself getting stuck at times and not being able to troubleshoot my issues well.

I guess I'm hoping to hear some success stories from fellow Maya users. Are you now a Maya guru, but you used to be so frustrated with Maya you thought you'd throw your computer out the window?

If so, I'd love to hear your story! user added image

Also -- what are some good resources you used to get you through those tough times? Any books or forums (other than this one) that are ABSOLUTE MUST-HAVES when starting with Maya and animation?

Thank you in advance!

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# 2 16-05-2011 , 02:53 AM

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Join Date: Jan 2011

Posts: 116

I know how you feel but frustration will always happen when you are learning something new. Just got to accept that and find ways to solve it.

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# 3 16-05-2011 , 06:25 AM

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Join Date: Feb 2009

Location: Hawaii

Posts: 224

Hey Stickybrit. I understand your frustration and I'm sure a lot of people here do as well.

One thing I've learned is that you will need patience. Stick it out long enough and what you can do in Maya will catch up to what your imagination is producing.

Your best bet is to stick around, there is really no place better for aspiring maya users than here. The best thing about this forums is its members and the quality of feedback you'll receive. Purchase a few of the videos here starting with the basics and pretty soon you'll be on your way. Another alternative is digital tutors but you'll wind up having to spend a monthly fee to get access to the videos. But its another group of professionals who might cover something not shown here or might show you a new way to do something that will make more sense to you and your work method.

Hope this helps and good luck!

~To create a new world through the imagination

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# 4 16-05-2011 , 06:47 AM

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Join Date: May 2005

Location: Manchester Uk

Posts: 6,300

If you want to get good at animation its all about practice IMHO. Stick to it. Something that might take you 4 hours to do when you first do it will take you 1 hour the next then 30 min after that.

Let your skills build up to realise your imagination.

As for resources, there are loads on the web, just go throtght them and keep pushing yourself.

Good luck

Steve

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 5 16-05-2011 , 08:40 AM

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Join Date: May 2003

Location: London

Posts: 1,001

Oh totally, so annoying when I started out with Maya, .
My advice would be to constantly learn and improve your technical ability and your artistic eye at a balanced rate, constantly strive for high quality and if you are unable to achieve it, re-evaluate what you know and try and find the best practice.
Know what good looks like, or you cannot achieve it.

This means plan everything, don't just open Maya and start straight ... do all the ground work first, it will make all the difference.

Be very aware that Maya is one of many programs that do very similar things and when learning try to understand the core principles behind what is going on rather than the subtleties of Maya and where to find the right button for the job, this will allow you to problem solve in a much more flexible way, at this point you can imagine and create your own tools or solutions rather than rely on preset routes.

Set realistically sized projects for yourself that are just beyond the scope of your knowledge, if it is too grand and un-achievable then you will only disappoint yourself.

These forums have been pivotal for my learning curve, I love to help problem solve user issues, its an excellent refresher and forces me to question my own practices and when I was learning CGI on my own it was great to have somewhere to talk about my passion.

Unlike cgtalk and other places it isn't about throwing your weight around, and although cgtalk does have its merits I find the approachability and unity of simply maya its strength.

Honest-passionate people.

FX supervisor - double negative

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# 6 16-05-2011 , 04:10 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011

Posts: 29

Hello!

Its good to have a place like this to get thoughts out of your head to share-The people here seem very cool and helpful.

As for me, I am also very new to Maya and I have come here from Carrara 8- its great entry level software and I learned many of the basic principles of animation on it but has limited capabilities. I also managed to make a 70 min feature length film on C8 which is a whole other story in itself....,

As for Maya, I have been struggling to learn what I need to know in order to make my next project. This has meant countless hours of tutorials that seem to go in directions I don't want to go into. I do 8 hours of video tutorials 5 days a week for the last 6 months and seemed to be making little progress. The tutorials are very specific as well so I just get confused since there is usually more than one way to accomplish a single task in Maya. Then there are accepted ways of doing things that may not match how you would do them. In my cas, I know that people look down on animators who use Poser models but they suit my needs perfectly so why should I follow conventional thinking?

Just because everyone does things a certain way doesn't mean you have to.

Then about two weeks ago things finally started coming into sync and I could see answers for many of the questions I had- Then I could also ask better questions so it became easier to get direct answers. It turns out you have to go though a lot of sh*te you don't understand initially until you get that vital piece of info that makes everything else make sense.

Just keep pushing and listening/reading what other people have to say. Reading other threads is also a great way to pick up info on stuff you may not have realized about this amazing software.

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# 7 17-05-2011 , 10:26 AM

rm3d
Join Date: May 2008

Location: northern ireland

Posts: 184

I am a fan of maya always have been, but yea it can very frustrating haha, and it can be hard to find help on specific problems. but there ares some great sites out there, this place obviously, its unreal for help and support! i also found 3Dbuzz's tutorials are great they explain everything, not just making a model or script, but how and why they made it and other other work arounds as well; and digital tutors is good as well, + cg+tuts is a good free site for tutorials and of course youtube, ( hope im allowed to say all these rivals user added image

) . All these places have been an awesome help to me.

Stick around here buddy i find myself checking the forums just to see problems solved encase i come across the same problem and you will forever pick up hints and tips from the guys and girls on the forums. user added image

the more I Think I know about Maya the less I seem to know about it.

check me out www.rm3d.co.uk

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# 8 17-05-2011 , 04:25 PM

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Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: South FL

Posts: 3,522

Lies! All lies! If software doesn't have a "Make My Project Awesome" button then it's a piece of crap. user added image

In all seriousness, you just have to stick with it and try not to bite off more than can chew as you'll probably just burn out. I learned that the hard way. Oh yeah, beware of Youtube tuts, some are fine, some are just misleading and terrible.

- Genny
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::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

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# 9 17-05-2011 , 04:46 PM

rm3d
Join Date: May 2008

Location: northern ireland

Posts: 184

yea i have searched for that button for a long time, would have helped me immensely at uni user added image

, there are a few people on youtube who dedicate their life to maya and they are good to follow, but most of the time it some fella with bad audio and even worse screen capture software user added image

the more I Think I know about Maya the less I seem to know about it.

check me out www.rm3d.co.uk

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