How to start?

# 1 06-01-2003 , 07:02 PM

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I am very new, Please tell me what is the best way to learn properly , and efficiently, Thanks in advance.

Maya Pharaoh

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# 2 06-01-2003 , 07:06 PM

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There is no certain way. It depends on the person. I, personally, would start off opening the program and playing around. You will spend several "wasted" hours doing nothing but learning. You will spend even more "wasted" time making garbage only a mother could love.
Start with playing around. Then press F1 and read the manual. Once that is complete, do as many tutorials as you can find - websites, books, videos, etc, etc.

- Chris L. Harkins -

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# 3 06-01-2003 , 08:43 PM

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that just what i did. I've been using Maya since September and i'm only starting out with modelling. Learn about the maya enviroment (tool...etc) and look at tutorials...there everywhere (some vid ones on this site).

I'ts all just trial and error user added image

Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

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# 4 06-01-2003 , 10:13 PM

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Yep. Oculus said it. There will be many hours where you simply sit at your desk and explore the inards of Maya. Create polygons, create nurbs, see what they do, what their differences are, scale them, make simple objects, learn how to move the camera, etc, etc, etc. I picked up modeling first. I believe the first thing I ever created was a door with a knob. After about a month of hard modeling, I ventured into the attributes window, which is where you can change various attributes for objects such as their colour, transparency, etc. I fiddled around with simple key framing from time to time, figured out how to accomplish various tasks in hypershade, and slowly learned a little about everything here and there along the way.

Basically, experimenting is the first step you will want to take in Maya. After you get your feet into the mud, you should...

figure out what you want to do, read the help files on tools you will use to do it, look for tutorials about what you want to do, and ask questions here at Simply Maya. Rarely do questions remain unanswered at SM and you're sure to get an answer quickly.

www.Darkware3D.com

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# 5 06-01-2003 , 10:18 PM

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The most important thing is: Stick with it.

There are many times even now where I wanna toss my computer out the window and urinate on my manual, but you just gotta stick it out - the end result it *usually* worth it. user added image

- Chris L. Harkins -

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# 6 07-01-2003 , 03:20 AM

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A good starting point is the Maya documentation. Hit F1 on your keyboard and go through the help files. In particular, the "Maya Essentials" section will get you up and running fairly quickly.

Danny Ngan
Animator | Amaze Entertainment
my website | my blog | my job

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# 7 07-01-2003 , 04:11 AM

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The key is baby steps.....start small and work your way to more difficult stuff. That way you won't miss something small when doing something large user added image

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# 8 07-01-2003 , 06:50 PM

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Thank you all for your advices, I hope I'll show something good here in near future.

Maya Pharaoh

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# 9 08-01-2003 , 12:37 PM

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Good luck Phantom, and welcome to SM.

Looking forward for asking you for help
user added image

I don't suffer from stress, I'm a carrier.

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# 10 10-01-2003 , 06:24 PM

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The way I did it was to give myself a goal: e.g. I'm going to model a tower block with nice reflected windows and a photograph of a sky for a background. WIthout worrying about how the hell I was gonna do it.

Then I learnt the techniques that I needed to accomplish what I needed to do. Whether this is from a tute or a message board (such as the fine one you're reading this on!! user added image

) it doesnt matter.

And also: KEEP TRYING! No matter how hard it seems and no matter how many times you have to re-start or completley re-do something the end is worth it! Everyone on the board is really encouraging so dont worrying about posting up "below par" images as every one has been there and it's the only way to learn! user added image

Good luck and I hope to see some cool stuff from you soon!

Oh and remember the banana is your friend!!!! :banana user added image

ALan

Technical Director - Framestore

Currently working on: Your Highness

IMDB

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# 11 11-01-2003 , 01:12 PM

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Location: Athens, Greece

Posts: 34

get maya Personal Learning Edition,
(non commercial full working demo. from aliaswavefront.com.

download the free simplymaya tutorials for a start,

practice everyday,

practice more

practice even more,

ask the forums when you have a hard time...

probably someone else has already been in the hard spot
you can't figure out yourself.

DONT GET INTIMIDATED by the "perfect" work of others. They
started off as newbies at some point of their life (well most of
them user added image

)

Learn from free and not free tutorials and combine the skills
you learn

From then and on it depends on how "proffesionally" you perceive
the whole situation user added image

When you get to a "i_know_the_basics_now" user mode, choose
a good book for maya, and maybe start some courses to get
better handson guidance from experienced people.

Enjoy

Konstantinos ,Greece

You know, there are at least two ways of getting things done... Your way and the right way...

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# 12 11-01-2003 , 02:22 PM

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Posts: 1,253

Maya is an extremely big software package(dont be afraid)... its big due to fur, live.... blah blah and other unlimited and other normal stuff... maya will take a long time to learn...

begin by downloading the stuff thats here in the SM site..

make normal stuff that you see around yourself...

make a habit of sketching out all the sides and views of the object or place you are trying to model...(or can be on your mind too)

as konstantintos said, never get intimitadated by the awesome art by professional and expert mayans...

this can only bring frustration and gradually you will lose your interest to use maya, you can make your own stuff when you are an expert mayan..

Try to get all the tutorials you can...(www.maya3d.dk -> tutorials)... try to do as much as tutorials as you can...

you might think at first when you use maya... oh my god, how am i ever going to do this... all the mayans started out like this... then when you start using it... it becomes more easier and easier..
pretty much like learning to ride a bicycle... you always fall when you try to ride... but when you know how to ride, its damn easy..

and come here and keep asking questions and you will get all types of tips and hints, with which you can learn......

Never never never lose hope to learn maya... beleive me,,,, learning maya pays off once you know maya...

what i should probably learn right now is to stop using so many ".....", got addicted to that key........

Anyway.... enjoy learning maya... and welcome to SM...
Be glad to help you always

Tariq

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# 13 15-01-2003 , 09:44 PM

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Hey Phantom, good luck, heard you've just installed Maya 4.5 good luck man user added image

I don't suffer from stress, I'm a carrier.

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# 14 16-01-2003 , 12:33 AM

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tutorial for all tools etc......

Hi all,
I am also new to Maya and I would only like one main thing to get me started and that's a vid tutorial that explains all the tools. Well as many as the tool as possible and what they do more or less. I seem to take information in much easier when I am listening and watching someone else show me. Although I am still going to be goin through the F1 help stuff too user added image

Cheers BL

no thanks....oh a sig thought you meant a cigarette!!

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# 15 16-01-2003 , 12:38 AM

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and remember, even the most committed pros only know pieces of this package really well, so you may be doing fine even if you feel you've only scratched the surface.

-- Mark

Mark R. Wilkins
author of MEL Scripting for Maya Animators
www.melscripting.com

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