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Learning Autodesk Maya 2008, (Official Autodesk Training Guide, includes DVD): Foundation | 
 enlarge | Author: Autodesk Maya Press
Publisher: Sybex
Category: Book
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $34.74
You Save: $35.25 (50%)
New (35) Used (13) from $30.00
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 39200
Media: Paperback
Edition: Pap/DVD
Pages: 640
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 1897177429
Dewey Decimal Number: 370
EAN: 9781897177426
Publication Date: September 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Learning Autodesk Maya 2008 I Foundation is your key to unlocking the power of Autodesk Maya software, directly from the creators of one of the world's most powerful 3D animation and effects software products. Get hands-on experience with the innovative tools and powerful techniques available in Autodesk Maya 2008. You'll gain a sense of the entire production process as you work on creating and animating characters from Sony Pictures Animation's feature film, Surf's Up. You'll even learn about compositing your characters into alternate environments in a bonus chapter on Autodesk Combustion software. Explore the Maya user interface, create organic structures with NURBS, apply forward and inverse kinematics, deform surfaces, learn to use Trax non-linear animation, discover rendering techniques, and so much more with this easy to follow guide to Maya. Includes bonus DVD with scene files, instructor-led podcasts, and other reference guides to give you a solid foundation in the art of animating with Maya.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A great book for anyone wanting to learn Maya 2008 December 12, 2007
R. McClellan (Pearl City, HI USA)
37 out of 38 found this review helpful
I just received this book 2 days ago from Amazon and I have to say I was totally blown away by the content.
The amount of detail in the book and the quality of the book is well done. There are 32 lessons that cover about 630 pages and 5 projects. The entire book is printed in vivid color on pages that are a bit thicker than most manual books, which will make them a bit harder to rip. Also with the book there is an included DVD that includes the projects and other bonuses such as podcasts from instructors telling you more about what to do.
The Table of Content is as follows:
Understanding Maya - page 13-38
Project 01
Lesson 01 - Primitives - 39-62
Lesson 02 - Adding Details - 63-74
Lesson 03 - Shaders and Textures - 75-94
Lesson 04 - Animation Basics - 95-110
Lesson 05 - Working with Maya - 111-146
Lesson 06 - The Dependency Graph - 147-172
Project 02
Lesson 07 - Polygonal Modeling - 173-204
Lesson 08 - Polygonal Texturing - 205-220
Lesson 09 - Skeleton - 221-238
Lesson 10 - Skinning - 239-256
Lesson 11 - Blend Shapes - 257-268
Lesson 12 - Inverse Kinetics - 269-286
Lesson 13 - Rigging - 287-304
Lesson 14 - Animation - 305-338
Project 03
Lesson 15 - NURBS Modeling - 339-360
Lesson 16 - NURBS Texturing - 361-370
Lesson 17 - Rigging - 371-382
Lesson 18 - Paint Effects - 383-392
Lesson 19 - Deformers - 393-408
Lesson 20 - Lights and Effects - 409-422
Lesson 21 - Rendering - 423-442
Project 04
Lesson 22 - SubD Modeling - 443-458
Lesson 23 - SubD Texturing - 459-472
Lesson 24 - More Animation - 473-486
Lesson 25 - Trax Editor - 487-502
Lesson 26 - Rigid Bodies - 503-516
Lesson 27 - Motion Path - 517-528
Lesson 28 - Particles - 529-546
Lesson 29 - MEL Scripting - 547-574
Project 05
Lesson 30 - Render Layers - 575-588
Lesson 31 - Combustion - 589-614
Lesson 32 - Compositing - 615-627
The book starts with teaching you the basic for Maya. It approaches it from the idea that you have no knowledge of Maya or a 3D program. Personally, I used 3DS and LightWave before but since this was my first time using Maya I completed the starting chapter. It explains everything from the coordinates X/Y/Z to U/V coordinates to how to move around the UI, camera system, etc.
Throughout the projects you actually build a "scene" from Surfs Up then you add two characters, some props, and animation. I figured the characters and such would just be premade models that you import but you make everything from scratch while learning the basics of Maya. It is quite amazing that with just an hour or two what you can accomplish with this book. I had no knowledge of Maya and I am now able to breeze around it like I have been using it for years.
In the book it gives you easy step by step directions when starting out, such as press CTRL+G to group these items together after selecting them all. It also gives side notes of different ways you can accomplish the same thing. That way you can do what works for you. By the end of the first project I knew all the basics and about 3 ways to do it. As the chapters go along it then assumes you know the basics that it taught you so instead of saying press CTRL+G to group the items after selecting them all, it will just say something like group the rock items together.
It holds your hands at the beginning but makes you use what you learned. If you forgot how to do something you can always go back to where it taught you that basic too look it up right quick.
This book teaches all the basics and then some. Any 3D artist or just anyone taking an interest into animation or 3D design will learn ALOT from this book. After finishing this book the user will have a solid foundation to make things they want to.
For the student of architecture July 16, 2008
poikax (Los Angeles, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Maya strikes me as a program that is intensely difficult to learn if you don't already have an objective in mind. As a student of architecture in one of the few programs that encourages its use for design purposes I have found this book indispensable not only for its easy introduction to the virtually limitless Maya interface, but also for its excellent explanations of the three common 3D techniques available within (polygon, NURBS, and subD modeling). Although in general I had no use for the animation or effects chapters they did serve to give a glimpse into the overwhelming possibilities of the program.
The book is not for beginners per se, but if you have a working familiarity with a computer interface, a little 3D modeling under your belt and a reason to be lurking around in the machine then the book will provide a solid 'foundation', as its title suggests. If what you need is rather an 'introduction' then you might look elsewhere.
Review April 28, 2008
Mario Padilla (Tijuana, B.C. Mexico)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a very powerful tool for everyone who doesn't know how to use Autodesk maya but want's to learn it.
Could have been really good if.... August 8, 2008
Gregory Gomez (Los Angeles, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a beginner using Maya so I bought this book because I like the project and the fact you could recreate a scene from Surf Up was very appealing to me.
The book is relatively easy to follow most of the time but the main issue is that it tells you to do this and this but with no explanation. It would have been nice to have the author explaining why we should uncheck this check box or not, why do we have to click on this button so I feel like I'm just following a tutorial and don't learn more about the functionalities of the soft.
Anyway I'm still glad that I bought it.
A Great Tool For Learning September 23, 2008
Karina Perez
Loved this book, my only concern was occasionally they would tell you to set a parameter as a certain number, but not explain the parameter or tell you what it does. You can tweak it yourself and kinda figure it out on your own, but an explanation would be nice. Other than that I loved this book, learned a lot too!
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