Maya 4.5 Savvy

[mark_wilkins]

Maya 4.5 Savvy is pretty good. It strikes me as a much better book in a lot of ways than Mastering Maya 3 Complete, which I didn't like all that much.

It only scratches the surface of the rendering and dynamics areas, but as a general survey it's great.

At the moment, people who are looking for intensive coverage of effects animation in Maya are still pretty much caught between Alias's coverage in the Learning Maya series, Kian Bee Ng's book from a few years ago, and some of the stuff from our book (which is not meant by any means to be a full-blown dynamics introduction.) However, there's enough in Maya 4.5 Savvy to get started.

-- Mark

[legadan]

Mark, is there any other book you would reccomend over Savvy? I am a Maya novice and am seeking the best means of self education from a book. thanks in advance!

[mark_wilkins]

I think Maya 4.5 Savvy is a great overall place to start. I know some people like the Maya 4.5 Fundamentals book also, and I think the Learning Maya books are also pretty good (but expensive!)

Once you get a little farther, you'll probably find Jae-jin Choi's "Maya Character Animation" book really interesting.

-- Mark

[lurifrax]

i´ve read Maya 4 fundamentals and it´s really great.. as for Learning Maya 4 i don´t think it´s as good or as cheap as m4f..
I´m now looking for a book in which i will get deeper into lgihtning and rendering. I´ve thougt of [Digitals] Lightning and Rendering. Though it's not maya specific Ï've heard that it's really good. Anyone read this book or can give me some other tips on lgihtning/rendering books for maya?

[mark_wilkins]

Now that Learning Maya has been split into several different books for the 4.5 versions, they're quite different (and more expensive!). You might have a look at them.

[Heber]

Jae-jin Choi's "Maya Character Animation


anyone read that? i looked at the outline on amazon and it sounds great , covers deep paint 3d as well , i might pick this up , ive read through m4f and now moving beyond that on my own ,

[onlooker]

Originally posted by legadan
Mark, is there any other book you would reccomend over Savvy? I am a Maya novice and am seeking the best means of self education from a book. thanks in advance!

Hi! Novice, or newbie? The best all around way to learn Maya is probably Instant Maya documentation located in your help menu. (also in book form) After that for good all around knowledge I think the Alias|Wavefront documentation is pretty darn good. The Learning Maya series seems full bodied. I've been going through books and lessons for Maya like crazy over the past few (3-4 Months), and If I could do it all again I would start with the Alias|Wavefront documentation to lay the groundwork. If your looking for "the best means of self education" (which is what I'm in the middle of) that's how I would start.

And that's my 0.2¢.

[Signal2Noise]

Lurifrax,

I have and refer to the [Digital] Lighting & Rendering book all the time. It's great resource and what really makes it stand out- as all [Digital]-series books do- is the fact it's non-app specific. You will recognize most of the screen shots being from Maya, XSI, and I believe Houdini. What I found it useful for is the theory behind lighting and scene set ups. If you don't know about it already head on over to www.3drender.com which is the author's website and you'll find a plethora of info.

[legadan]

thank you mark and thank you onlooker...

aw's free documentation does look like a great place to start and not as costly :)

[mark_wilkins]

By the way, when you do get around to purchasing a Maya Complete license, I believe Alias is offering a version of it bundled with ALL the Learning Maya books for about $150 more than the regular price. This is a very good deal if you're planning to buy a license anyway...

-- Mark

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