Maya 4.5 Fundamentals [With CDROM]

This book is excellent. The book was written so well that the book itself should teach you maya alone. AND the CD was done so well that the CD itself should teach you maya alone. Basically the first 4 chapters teach you all of maya and if you have some experiance you don't really need to go on. But the rest of the chapters are great also because they go into extreme details over all the different parts of maya. The authors did an excellent job with this book and the cd that comes with it. A lot of parts of the book can be used for future reference also. This book is worth a million dollars (in my mind).

Being a student and new to computer graphics I found this book amazingly easy to read and easy to follow. I've had my nose in many computer program how-to books the past year and a half and this one is by far the best I've dealt with. The cd-rom is an invaluable tool that demonstrates each step in the creation of the projects but the text is not to be ignored. There are lots of tips and warnings that are given along the way that aren't mentioned on the cd. I've enjoyed every minute I've spent with it.

I started with MAYA FUNDAMENTAL 4, which I find very useful, step by step instruction, clear description of whatever going on in your screen. MAYA 4.5 FUNDAMENTALS is just another amazing masterpiece from Jim lammers and Lee gooding. I find the chapters are easy to follow. If you are new to MAYA (like me) or you have some experience with other 3d software, this book will guide you to work like a pro. You will learn from "What? MAYA?" to "Particle System and Dynamics" in no timeIf you still cant understand what's going on with some of the chapter, the video in the CD-ROM will get you up and running in no time!cheers!

Ever since I purchased Maya 4 Fundamentals, I've been practically glued to my computer. I loved the book so much I went out bought Maya 4.5 Fundamentals and it still had that great learning technique. These books are outstanding and the best thing about them is the CD-ROM that comes with them. If you get stuck on a tutorial, or just want to see how the tutorials are done, you can watch the authors as they do the tutorials! I recommend this book, and it's predecessor, Maya 4 Fundamentals, to anyone looking to get into the computer graphics industry using Maya.

This book is a good source for learning Maya 4.5 and you can promote your knowledge from begining to some advanced level. If you don't have any background about computer graphics this book teach you foundation and esential subjects about graphics and working with Maya then takes you step by step to the some advanced projects. Even If you already knew about Maya still you can learn more features.This book you gives you the basics of using Maya, interacting with Maya, modeling, texturing, rendering and your first animation. In the further steps you will learn about NURBS mdeling basics, modeling with polygons, materials, lighting, character animation, cameras and rendering. One of the good point of this book is video movies on the CD providing demonstration of every tutorial that you feel your'e at the class. It is a uesful book for self studying and great for learning Maya 4.5.