tredeger
08-23-2004, 06:54 PM
Brown just delivered my hard copy of Foundation and it is chock full of learning materials. I rather expected the hardcopy manual to be a complete duplicate of the XSI HTML help files which are so extensive but very taxing to digest in front of the CRT and far to long to print. Alas, it really only covers fundamental principals. Valuable for sure, but absolutely devoid of material on the actual creative processes: modeling, rigging, animation, etc.
Of course, all of this material is covered by the clearly extensive training DVDs. And finally, there is the fundamentals disk which seems to be a thorough but distressingly haphazard collection of ad hoc tutorials on a range of topics. So here is my question:
If you are new to the program, just what is the best way to utilize these learning materials? A very brief survey seems to indicate that all the tutes assume slightly different levels of competence with the program and I can't quite intuit the right order in which to take it all in so that it all makes sense. I'd start with the principals disk, but it's the most disjointed of them all. I guess what I'm looking for is the best way to make a syllabus of the material.
I am much impressed with the power and depth of XSI. I've migrated from Maya and what I find most striking is the thought that has gone into the XSI workflow. It promises so much upon mastery, but the learning curve is rather daunting. Where you might achive a basic task in one particular manner in Maya and be restricted to the basic method, XSI often gives you half a dozen subtly different options. The good news is that if you ever thought you might want to do X to Y, the program has a means of doing so, but that's also the bad news--I think I could spend the rest of my life figuring out the optimal preferences for all this power.
Any advice is deeply appreciated.
Of course, all of this material is covered by the clearly extensive training DVDs. And finally, there is the fundamentals disk which seems to be a thorough but distressingly haphazard collection of ad hoc tutorials on a range of topics. So here is my question:
If you are new to the program, just what is the best way to utilize these learning materials? A very brief survey seems to indicate that all the tutes assume slightly different levels of competence with the program and I can't quite intuit the right order in which to take it all in so that it all makes sense. I'd start with the principals disk, but it's the most disjointed of them all. I guess what I'm looking for is the best way to make a syllabus of the material.
I am much impressed with the power and depth of XSI. I've migrated from Maya and what I find most striking is the thought that has gone into the XSI workflow. It promises so much upon mastery, but the learning curve is rather daunting. Where you might achive a basic task in one particular manner in Maya and be restricted to the basic method, XSI often gives you half a dozen subtly different options. The good news is that if you ever thought you might want to do X to Y, the program has a means of doing so, but that's also the bad news--I think I could spend the rest of my life figuring out the optimal preferences for all this power.
Any advice is deeply appreciated.