Some questions re learning Maya

# 1 31-05-2007 , 03:19 PM

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Hi,

a few questions:

1) How would you rate Maya's in built tutorial's?

2) Is there any one book which is considered the key text for learning Maya?

3) Is there a good source indicating good surface parameter settings for different materials?

Thanks in advance,

g

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# 2 31-05-2007 , 03:53 PM

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All I can tell you is that the tuts in Maya are not good.

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# 3 31-05-2007 , 04:12 PM

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Don't be so silly Ignacio,

the in built tutorials are specifically made for the user to get to grips with any tool or function that maya has to offer. The tutorials and help files are invaluable and I look at them (perhaps not to follow but certainly to find direction) on a regular basis.

There are no key texts for learning Maya but there are quite a few books I could reccomend, not least the 'Foundation' and 'The Modelling & Animation Handbook' from Maya Press. Jim Lammers writes a fundamentals book under the New Riders press, I still look to my first textbook 'Maya 4.5 Foundation' every now and then.

I can't really point to any material/Hypershade tutorials but Highend3d has a nice free library of shaders (I found out a whole load from disassembling and modifying them).

Hope that helpt you out a bit, I'm sure that others will have a few words to say too.

Take it easy,

Mat.

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# 4 31-05-2007 , 05:40 PM

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There is no silliness in my response, 3D Max has a great tutorial section, while Maya does not. I learned 3D Max using the tutorials included in the software because those tuts are outstanding, learning Maya and checking the tuts, they were badly lacking hence I bought 3DBuzz.com course:
Mastering MAYA:The Fundamentals & from SimplyMAYA.com I bought the Apache helicopter set. Excellent learning material.

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# 5 31-05-2007 , 06:27 PM

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I think the tutorials are great but that's just me. But now that I'm getting more into intermediate modeling, I look more for other tutorials. They're all over the place.

Don't be satisfied with what you can do but rather strive to do the things you can't do!
Exceed Expectations!

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# 6 01-06-2007 , 01:59 AM

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Thanks for the replies, more opinions welcome.

I understand that there are a lot of tutorials around - so it's almost a case of, where to begin? It was the same with Lightwave, there were plenty around but some were of variable quality.

Think I'll check out those books mentioned - anyone have any recommendations re Maya character animation books / materials?

Thanks again,

g.

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# 7 01-06-2007 , 03:55 AM

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iv been using the getting started tutorial that you get when you download personal learning edition and i think its excelllent. Im gonna move onto some of the free tutorials now and then i think ill try a bigger project but all in good time.

https://www.dell.com/html/global/topics/gaming/en/us/us/dhs/systems-notebook.html

gimme.

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# 8 01-06-2007 , 05:19 AM

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dont really use the build-in tutorials in maya, just google it up and youll get better things which are exactly what you need user added image

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# 9 01-06-2007 , 10:27 AM

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Thanks folks

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# 10 29-06-2007 , 08:18 AM

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Hi,

considering the Jim Lammer's Fundamental book, but notice that they are for much older versions of Maya (got 8.5).

Will the tutorials and workflows he uses still match the user interface?

thanks,

g

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# 11 29-06-2007 , 10:44 AM

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If it's done in an older version of Maya then yes the user interface is probably different but as far as I know, anything you can do in an older version you can do in a newer version...and then some. You just have to figure out where everything is located (and named) in the 8.5 version.

Don't be satisfied with what you can do but rather strive to do the things you can't do!
Exceed Expectations!

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# 12 04-07-2007 , 09:48 AM

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Perfecto,

wondered it you know what the equivalent in 8.5 is of the split vertices tool? I've watched and older tutorial where they talk about it and it looks' very useful. Also, the collapse polygon tool? Again, I saw it in an older tutorial but don't see it in 8.5.

thanks,

gubar.

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# 13 04-07-2007 , 11:13 AM

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Hi guber,
To collapse an edge in 8.5, select the edge you want to collapse. Then goto the Edit Mesh Menu and select Merge to Center. You'll need to do the edges one at a time if you have more than one to collapse. After you collapse one edge, just select the next one and press "g" to repeat the last command.

To split a vertex, just select the vertex and goto the Edit Mesh Menu and select Detach Component. It only works if the vertex is a shared vertex, meaning more than one face is connected to it. It the vertex is shared by two faces, it will spit into two vertices. If it's shared by three faces, then it will split into three vertices, and so on.

Hope this is what you were looking for!

Don't be satisfied with what you can do but rather strive to do the things you can't do!
Exceed Expectations!

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