Overview
The new edition of this perennial bestseller is the ideal initiation to 3D and Maya. Starting with the basics, it builds from the ground up, combining straightforward text with practical examples that make it fun and easy to learn Maya's core tools while introducing the latest Maya 2008 features. Follow clear-cut, step-by-step lessons while you learn by doing using a wealth of hands-on files provided on the CD. You'll also find compelling examples in the full-color insert.
Synopsis
Enter A New Dimension With Maya 2008
The Academy Award–winning Maya 3D animation and effects software is the top choice for film and video artists, game developers, and 3D design professionals. Learn to build, render, and animate your own digital models and scenes, and begin to develop professional-level Maya skills with Introducing Maya 2008.
This new edition of a perennial bestseller is the ideal initiation to 3D and Maya. Starting with the basics, it builds from the ground up, combining straightforward text with practical examples that make it fun and easy to learn Maya's core tools while introducing the latest Maya 2008 features. Follow clear-cut, step-by-step lessons while you learn by doing using a wealth of hands-on files provided on the CD. You'll also find compelling examples in the full-color insert to inspire you.
The enclosed CD features images, movies, and scene files that let you view material from the book. The support files will enable you to complete all of the tutorials. The CD also includes Maya Personal Learning Edition software.
- Learn to navigate the Maya 2008 interface
- Experiment with modeling by creating a hand, a rocket, and a locomotive
- Explore the basics of NURBS, polygons, and subdivision surfaces
- Discover the nuances of shading and texturing
- Rig a locomotive model for automated animation
- Create more natural lighting with mental ray® Final Gather and Global Illumination
- Use Maya's Render Layers and an Ambient Occlusion pass for greater reality
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Autodesk's Introducing Maya 2008 is simply the best low-cost way to succeed with Maya -- even if you've never touched a 3D or animation tool before.Dariush Derakhshani covers the entire process of building, rendering, and animating digital models and scenes for film, video, gaming, or 3D design. Introducing Maya has always had a strong hands-on focus; now he's introduced an additional case study, in which you'll model, texture, light, and render a child's rocket in 3D, using photos for reference.
As you practice, Derakhshani systematically introduces you to through virtually every technique professionals need to master. You'll start with one of the simplest animations possible -- the solar system -- and as you do, you'll gain a clear sense of the Maya preproduction and production processes, and start getting comfortable with its Outliner tool.
You'll walk through modeling with both polygons and NURBS, mastering techniques like patch modeling (Derakshani's example: a detail from a larger locomotive project). Step by step, you'll work your way through deformers, subdivision surfaces, shading, texturing, essential animation and lighting techniques, and a whole lot more. Not least, there's a practical introduction to dynamics, including rigid and soft dynamic bodies, particle effects, and paint effects. Along the way, Derakhshani introduces several of Maya 2008's key enhancements. And, beyond the previous edition's extensive set of tutorials, he's also added widely requested topics such as lattice deformation to soft shadow mapping.
Check out the color insert showing how good "beginner" Maya work can be. Then, load the free Maya Learning Edition and accompanying CD-ROM project files, and prepare to do some great work of your own. Bill Camarda, from the January 2008 Read Only