Learning Maya6 Rendering [With CD]

It comes at a rather hefty $60 price, and it's not for novice users at all. But if you've been doing Maya for awhile now, this is definitely worth it.First, if you *are* still at a beginning/intermediate level, the included Rendering DVD has 5 or 6 lessons (if I recall) to bring you up to speed. The presenter (Bob Gundu) isn't terribly exciting, but his walkthroughs are fairly clear and presented at an understandable speed.At a higher level, the book really gets into how the software renderer works, with useful tips on how to get rid of banding in depth-map shadows, and how to use shading map nodes. There are some Mental Ray-specific chapters included as well; this renderer usually never gets decent coverage in other introductory Maya books. This isn't a comprehensive reference (i.e. it won't cover in painstaking detail *every* single texture node), but it's a pretty useful tool for learning. I'd say this product is well worth the money.Oh, and yeah, from what I recall, this book almost looks the same as Learning Maya 5, so don't expect much of an update from that volume.