Product Description

Learning Autodesk Maya 2008 I Foundation is your key to unlocking the power of Autodesk Maya software, directly from the creators of one of the world's most powerful 3D animation and effects software products. Get hands-on experience with the innovative tools and powerful techniques available in Autodesk Maya 2008. You'll gain a sense of the entire production process as you work on creating and animating characters from Sony Pictures Animation's feature film, Surf's Up. You'll even learn about compositing your characters into alternate environments in a bonus chapter on Autodesk Combustion software. Explore the Maya user interface, create organic structures with NURBS, apply forward and inverse kinematics, deform surfaces, learn to use Trax non-linear animation, discover rendering techniques, and so much more with this easy to follow guide to Maya. Includes bonus DVD with scene files, instructor-led podcasts, and other reference guides to give you a solid foundation in the art of animating with Maya.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48339 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 632 pages

From the Back Cover
Foundation.

Learning Autodesk® Maya® 2008 / Foundation is your key to unlocking the power of Autodesk Maya software, directly from the creators of one of the world's most powerful 3D animation and effects softwa4re products. Get hands-on experience with the innovative tools and powerful techniques available in Autodesk Maya 2008 software through all new project-based lessons.

Learn key Maya tools and techniques while you model, animate, render and add dynamic effe4cts to your creations. Further, You'll gain a sense of the entire production process as you work on creating and animating characters from the Sony Pictures Animation feature film, Surf's Up. You'll even learn about compositing your characters into alternate environments in a bonus chapter on Autodesk® Combustion® software. Based entirely on easy-to-follow step-by-step lessons and including helpful demos on DVD, this book will help you develop your 3D skills.

With this book, you will:

• Explore the Maya user interface (UI)
• Learn to work in 3D space
• Build characters & props with polygons
• create organic structures with NURBS
• Set keyframes & motion paths
• Learn to use Trax non-linear animation
• Apply forward & inverse kinematics
• Deform surfaces
• Set cameras & lights
• Create & apply shaders and textures
• Discover rendering techniques
• Explore particles & dynamics
• Begin to use MEL (Maya Embedded Language)

Bonus features included on DVD

• Link to FREE trial version of autodesk® Combustion®
• Autodesk® Maya® Reference Guides
• Instructor-led podcasts presented by an Autodesk Certified Instructor

What you need to use this book

• Autodesk® Maya® Complete 2008 or Maya® Personal Learning Edition software
• DVD-ROM drive

Customer Reviews

A Great Tool For Learning
Loved this book, my only concern was occasionally they would tell you to set a parameter as a certain number, but not explain the parameter or tell you what it does. You can tweak it yourself and kinda figure it out on your own, but an explanation would be nice. Other than that I loved this book, learned a lot too!

Could have been really good if....
I'm a beginner using Maya so I bought this book because I like the project and the fact you could recreate a scene from Surf Up was very appealing to me.
The book is relatively easy to follow most of the time but the main issue is that it tells you to do this and this but with no explanation. It would have been nice to have the author explaining why we should uncheck this check box or not, why do we have to click on this button so I feel like I'm just following a tutorial and don't learn more about the functionalities of the soft.
Anyway I'm still glad that I bought it.

For the student of architecture
Maya strikes me as a program that is intensely difficult to learn if you don't already have an objective in mind. As a student of architecture in one of the few programs that encourages its use for design purposes I have found this book indispensable not only for its easy introduction to the virtually limitless Maya interface, but also for its excellent explanations of the three common 3D techniques available within (polygon, NURBS, and subD modeling). Although in general I had no use for the animation or effects chapters they did serve to give a glimpse into the overwhelming possibilities of the program.

The book is not for beginners per se, but if you have a working familiarity with a computer interface, a little 3D modeling under your belt and a reason to be lurking around in the machine then the book will provide a solid 'foundation', as its title suggests. If what you need is rather an 'introduction' then you might look elsewhere.