Learning Maya 4.0

A very good way (albeit expensive) to get started with Maya. I always found that the problem with other books, is that they were too wordy/verbose. You get bored and distracted by all the talk. Here its literally all step-by-step, short and to the point (with very succinct explanations throughout, that do the job as well as any paragraph would). You make fast progress, and learn just as much, while also leaving enough room for personal expression.

If you are a newbie struggling to learn Maya, then Learning Maya 4, along with the manual, is the best reading material money can buy. Although the book is abit pricey, you will find it's well worth the money. It covers basic modeling in both polygon and NURBS, basic texturing and some simple dynamics and some excellent animation set-up. All the instructions are step-by-step based, so it's virtually impossible to get lost. What I really like about the book, is the way they teach you the basics of the many editors in Maya that would otherwise be hard to figure out yourself. And the book also explains the reason for a specific action instead of telling you to blindly follow it.By the time you are finished with the book, you will be ready to make animations of your own.

Learning Maya 4 contains five projects, that require you to build from the stage up powerful little animations, while teaching you to utilize many of Maya's more in-depth tools (particles, kinematics, skeletons, shading groups, etc). Rather than being the boring "let's-make-this-read-like-a-dictionary" technical textbook, Learning Maya 4 is fun and moves quickly. The projects are very enjoyable and clean.The book has numerous pictures, illustrating exactly what the text is saying, and it is easy to follow without getting lost or stuck. Learning Maya 4 gives you a solid working knowledge of the majority of the tools that you will use in far more complex projects.

I have purchased several intro to Maya 4 books and really admire the processes, labs, and instructions in this edition. This book offers a more reliable step by step concept, where others skip from basics to advance techniques. Here you can start from the GUI to MEL scripting in comfort. Being new to 3D animation software, but experienced in networks, business, web, and desktop publishing, find this book to be the perfect starter for thoe's that need a hands on approach to learning. The instructions are set perfect visually to read and follow, not like other books where its nothing but paragraphs and you end up getting lost between the words. Even for the advanced, this book gives you great reference to do's and dont's that might have been forgot.

It's what I am waiting for!!!This book is about to show you how Maya works in practice, not just theory, insufficient examples and improper samples like others. The book contains color pictures with step by step instructions to create work, including five pratical projects that you are able to follow and get the fantastic results. The book presents the samples of significant features of Maya from basic to advanced, but of course, by its way that is not included all functions, in fact huge. However, the book also advises MEL, Maya Embedded Language if you like. That's perfect to me to continue magnificent works. I recommend this book as five stars.