Autodesk Maya Techniques: Hyper-Realistic Creature Creation: A Hands-On Introduction to Key Tools and Techniques in Autodesk Maya [With DVD ROM]

Great for beginners and those that just want to know more about the process. Step by step easy directions take you through everything, even comes with lesson files and MEL scripts so you can pick up anywhere in the book. I'm using Maya 2009 and the book was written for Maya 2008, but its still relivent to the current version. This book has shown me things that a college instructor's don't even go into. I will definetly pick up more of AutoDesk's books.

I've had about 6 months worth of modeling in Maya and I wanted to learn how to character model. I have to say, if you are a beginner, do not get this book. This book goes over the techniques used for each step of modeling the beast on the cover, it does not go in to detail on how to do the very complex modeling (Ex. One step is "Increase Overall Level of Detail", then it just shows a picture of what the final product should be.) On the other hand, if you have experience modeling then this book is great. It has good reference images and all of the scenes from the book are on the CD so you can really get a view of what you should be doing.