Overview
Maya® is one of the most widely used 3D animation programs available. It is used in every major movie and by most special effects and game studios. With its new competitive pricing, its user base continues to grow, and with each new release, Maya expands its already impressive feature set. These new features keep Maya users loyal and anxious to upgrade. The Maya 6 Handbook is a completely updated edition of the best-selling The Maya 4.5 Handbook. It not only teaches users how to utilize the new features, but provides a complete guide to the fundamentals of this powerful program. Unlike many books that use a variety of unrelated tutorials, this book uses a complete, practical project for users to work through as they learn to model, render, and animate in Maya. By the conclusion of the book users will understand how and why Maya works, providing them with the knowledge they need to adapt the tools to a variety of tasks and projects. The companion CD-ROM includes all the figures from the book in full color, as well as the Maya files used in the completion of the exercises.
FEATURES:
* Provides new tutorials covering the unwrapping and texturing of an organic form, as well as lighting an exterior scene, and a mental ray primer
* Includes a new chapter on creating a Skeletal System, and new coverage of modeling with skeletal deformation
* Teaches how to navigate Maya's updated interface and essential tools
* Explores the theory behind the tools and teaches users how, when, and why to use them
* Explains the theory and practical knowledge of NURBS Modeling
* Includes expanded coverage of SubDivision Surface Modeling and Character Animation
* Provides step-by-step tutorials for the creation of a complete project
About the Author:
Adam Watkins (San Antonio, TX) is the director of Computer Arts at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. He has a BFA in theater set and lighting design, and an MFA in graphic design. He is also the author of The Maya 4.5 Handbook, The Cinema 4D R8 Handbook and The Final Cut Pro 3 & DVD Studio Pro Handbook. He currently teaches a number of 3D graphics courses, including several on Maya. Chris Neuhahn (Los Angeles, CA) has been working in 3D animation professionally since 1996. He has served as an animator/team lead on MYST III: Exile, part of the bestselling video game series, lead cinematic animator and TD for Pitfall Harry, and visual effects supervisor for Freedom's Gate.
Synopsis
Knowing how to use Maya is a must-have skill for today's 3D artists, designers, filmmakers, and game artists. Maya is used throughout the movie industry and by most special effects and game studios. If you are new to Maya, The Maya 6 Handbook will get you up to speed on the latest version of this powerful program quickly and efficiently. This completely updated edition teaches the core of the program and the theory behind the Maya workflow. The book uses a tutorial-based approach that has you work through a complete project as you learn the ins-and-outs of the program. You'll learn how to model and render a character and scene in Maya. And you'll explore the creation, rigging, and animation of a cartoon bird.
By the end of the book you'll understand how and why Maya works, and you'll have the knowledge and skills you need to adapt the techniques and tools to your own projects.
FEATURES:
Provides tutorials covering the unwrapping and texturing of an organic form, lighting an exterior scene, and a mental ray primer
Includes a chapter on creating a Skeletal System, and new coverage of modeling with skeletal deformation
Teaches how to navigate Maya's updated interface and essential tools
Explores the theory behind the tools and teaches users how, when, and why to use them
Explains the theory and practical knowledge of NURBS Modeling
Includes expanded coverage of SubDivision Surface Modeling and basic Character Animation
Includes appendixes that explain how to run Maya most effectively and how to customize the Maya interface
On the CD-ROM
IMAGES
Includes all the screenshots from the book in full color. (For several areas of the book - particularly the ones on texturing and lighting, these full color images are especially important so you may want to have them available as you work.)
TUTORIALS
Contains the finished files that show the results of the tutorials with scene files. Also contained in the Tutorials folder are additional texture maps and other files used in the course of the tutorials.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
To use the CD-ROM, you'll need a machine with a CD-ROM drive and software to view jpgs/tiffs and Maya 6. OS X is suggested for Mac users for ease of reading the filenames. If you wish to use the Maya binary files included on the CD-ROM, you must have and be aware of the following: Maya 6 Complete or Unlimited. Maya 6 is qualified officially to run on Intel Pentium III, Pentium 4, AMD Athlon Processors, and Apple G4 or G5 processors. Maya 6 will run with Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional, and Mac OS X. Run Maya with as big a video card as you can get. Officially, Maya does not have definitive video card requirements, but if you have less than a 32MB card, you will be too slow to work efficiently.