Learning Autodesk Maya 2008: Foundation [With DVD]

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!

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.

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.

This is a very powerful tool for everyone who doesn't know how to use Autodesk maya but want's to learn it.