Question: opinions about independent study

[akewt]

if your new to 3d then i would suggest you go through the tutorials supplied with maya to learn interface etc. also if this is your first 3d ap then you need to grasp the principals behind 3d creation.

There is an abundance tutorials on the internet and CG talk is also an amazing resource. But its the last resort. You must try and find the answer yourself first. I would suggest you read as much as possible. read the forum posts even if there not relative to your project as you will be sure to find a gem of info u never new before.

If you want online video tutorials head over to www.digital-tutors.com (http://www.digital-tutors.com/) they have lots of videos there including some free ones. the videos range from uber novice (like moi :scream: ) to quite advanced techniques.

hope this helps

kev

ps. it wont take you 3 years thats ballox. it will take you a month to get ver the first steep curve then it will be pretty slight hill climb from there. when you find a gem its great. it opens up a whole new area of maya. its like a game :P

[Cleveland]

as akewt says. if you're doing maya full time (what a luxury) inside of six months you'll be able to produce practically anything you want. what'll improve is effiecency and quality of work.

for human modelling the FOT organic modelling DVD is great for begining. you can find a thread in the cg news forum. there's also the gnomon dvd's which seem quite good. and yes, an absolute wealth of online help too...

you'll be flying in no time. have fun,

cleveland

[derekserra]

Thanks guys,

I am going to order the Digital-Tutors DVD's. The Gnomom ones looked good, but cost a little bit more.

akewt, thanks for the advice. What do you mean by 'finding gems'? btw... cool nick.

Cleveland, the FOT DVD looks awesome... I'm sure I'll be buying that one after I learn some basics.

Nerf

[akewt]

np dude. all i mean about finding a gem :D is sometimes you'll find a small piece of information - either in forums, by stumbling across it or by learning it - you can improve your knowledge of 3d/maya ten fold.

you'll get the 3d bug very soon and then my friend.... its all over *ehumm* i mean you'll start having fun :rolleyes:

[pollywoggles]

In my opinion, sure learning Maya (or any 3D package) definately won't hurt when you're looking for a job in 3D... but I think having just that rich background in traditional animation could land you a 3D job by itself (such as the legendary Bolhem Bouchiba at Pixar!)

Yeah... sure, it can take a very long time to learn Maya inside-and-out... but you don't need to know it *that* well in order to create good stuff. You can be up and running fairly quick. Particularly if you're just wanting to specialize in a particular aspect (such as animation). Heck, if you're wanting to do animation, you could even use pre-made rigs (like LowMan) and avoid being bogged in some of the modeling/rigging learning curve (although knowing a little about both would probably help your animating).

If $ is a factor, you might also want to check out the features in Maya Complete (your link was for Unlimited). It's a little cheaper, and *may* have what you need.

[BillSpradlin]

Since you are a student, save yourself several thousand dollars and get the educational version of maya:

http://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?T1=28036473

It's the same version of the much more expensive Unlimited but the license is much less because you can't use it to create work to sell, just for learning. So it's perfect for teaching yourself Maya and making a demo reel to promote yourself with (again can't sell anything you make check out the license agreement for it for further details).

[akewt]

In my opinion, sure learning Maya (or any 3D package) definately won't hurt when you're looking for a job in 3D... but I think having just that rich background in traditional animation could land you a 3D job by itself (such as the legendary Bolhem Bouchiba at Pixar!).

i couldnt agree more. traditional skills can make up for less knowledge in any such 3d package. when i applied fo my first job in games most of my reel was traditional work. (drawing, markers and product design models)

i wish i could have a job with traditional media :(

[DezFX]

A great learning resource you can find lots of help getting past he initial learning curve is 3DBuzz.com (http://www.3dbuzz.com). There you will find many free video tutorials for Maya as well as several other software packages. Along with the fact that you should purchase the student version of Maya and not the commercial version, keep in mind that Gnomon offers a 29% student discount on their DVDs as well. While you can find some decent deals on eBay for Gnomon DVDs and other training material, beware of getting into a bidding war for something. You could probably get it cheaper directly from Gnomon with a student discount. A great book that I recommend to all beginners is: Maya 6: Visual Quickstart Guide (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0321247469/qid=1110970517/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/002-8813103-3057646?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). I don't really recommend any books from Sybex and Alias because they tend to skip a lot of steps in their explanations that leave most beginners confused and frustrated.

[derekserra]

Thanks everyone. I have been a long time lurker on CGTalk, so I knew this would be a good place to get information.

pollywoggles and BillSpradlin:
I forgot to mention it before, but I am planning on buying the student version of Maya. Money is a factor, and I could not afford to pay full price. As far as Complete vs. Unlimited, I am willing to spend the extra $70 so that I have the extras available when I need them. :drool:

akewt,
I think you should pursue that job you want in traditional animation. You should wait one year though, so I can take the job you have now. ;)

DezFX,
Wouldn't you know it... I went out a couple weeks ago to look for a book on Maya. Out of the selection available, I bought the Visual Quickstart Guide. I have been to 3DBuzz and downloaded the free videos. I have only watched a couple, and I like what I see. I will go back and compare the educational prices of both Gnomon and Digital-Tutors. I don't think the Digital-Tutors discount is as high as 29%.

This is finals week at school... I start learning Maya next week.

Nerf

[akewt]

well, i'm starting to get a tan from my monitor i've been in front of it so long.... i think i will pursue concept work once i get the finances to go back to college.

im excited for you dude. good luck.

some comments on videos. i think gnomon, whilst really good are harder to follow and presume you have some experience using maya. (also alex, bless him, uses a lot of custom user prefs. can be confusing) 3dbuzz videos are, from what i've seen, very specific industry techniques. imho digital tutors have the best beginer range.

howdie hoe

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