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infinknight · Posted: Wed Dec 29, 1999 11:54 am

Does anyone out there know of a "solid" Maya tutorial? The tutorial that comes with the program is too complicated. I'm looking for something that is easy to understand, something that gives examples and projects to complete. If anyone knows of a Maya tutorial like this I would apprietiate it if you let me know. Thank you!

Jessica Tobine · Guest Member #

at the risk of sounding really stupid... what is Maya?

[This message has been edited by Jessica Tobine (edited December 29, 1999).]

imdaking · Posted: Wed Dec 29, 1999 4:18 pm

Maya is a really good 3d animation program... not like pen and pencil stuff like disney.. but like toy story type things ya know...

I don't know where any maya tut's are.. but I could probably get you in contact with someone who knows, drop me a line 10316852

snap · Posted: Wed Dec 29, 1999 4:47 pm

http://www.aw.sgi.com/assistant_online/
Great for getting started with Maya, plus they give you some sample scene files.

Here is some work I've done with Maya. Let me know what you think. I know they're a little dark, I'll have to fix that later.

Just the model:

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Office/2378/musashi_beta_front.jpg

Some foilage on ground, model in fighting pose:

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Office/2378/musashi_final_9.jpg

This is the original one I posted a while back:

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Office/2378/pic-2.jpg

Modeled, textured, rendered in Maya 2.0 (NT and SGI)

snap
modeler/animator
LUCIDesignz

Oscar Alexander · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 1999 5:29 am

FUCK SNAP! That's Namco quality 3D-artwork you're posting here!

So tell me, how hard is Maya to comprehend? Can I build images like that after working with it for 3 months (I've got quite some 3DS experience)? Lemme know

infinknight · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 1999 4:53 pm

SNAP i'm on the website of the tutorial that you sent me, yet I don't see a tutorial. All I see is courses that can be taken in Toronto. I was looking more for an online tutorial. If I'am mistaken please let me know ASAP! Thank you!

Trance-R · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 1999 8:25 pm

Infinknight, why don't you just edit your msg instead of triple posting a new msg every two minutes or so?

I see no purpose in do'n that. How much did that Maya prog cost ya? I heard it's really xpensive!

infinknight · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 1999 9:26 pm

Thanks for the tip Trance. I'm kind of new @ this I had no idea. I edited my post, yet I can't erase the others because I'm not a manager. The maya program is quite expensive.

infinknight · Posted: Fri Dec 31, 1999 12:57 am

SNAP, you are very talented. I have just one question: How did u do them?
Another question for SNAP: Thank you very much for the tutorial. Is the tutorial you gave me the same one you learned to use Maya from? If not where/how did you learn? And how did you manage to bring your maya skills to the "very impressive" level it is @ now?
SNAP i'm on the website of the tutorial that you sent me, yet I don't see a tutorial. All I see is courses that can be taken in Toronto. I was looking more for an online tutorial. If I'am mistaken please let me know ASAP! Thank you!

[This message has been edited by infinknight (edited December 30, 1999).]

snap · Posted: Fri Dec 31, 1999 12:57 am

Try this, it's a direct link to the tutorials on A/W's site.

http://www.aw.sgi.com/assistant_online/entertain/maya/how_tos/index.html

Also try this one:
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/
Very good site plus a message board if you get stuck, plus they give a lot of stuff away to registered users (free).

Thanks for the compliments guys, but I'm still learning Maya myself. I've been playing with it for about a year, year and 1/2. I'm in my final term at school, so hopefully this guy (mainly him) will get me a job soon! I have my own student eval copy of Maya 2.0, it cost $650, but it's definetly worth every penny!

I learned Max first, so Maya was pretty easy to get around in when I first started. The poly tools are excellent, and the NURBS tools are good too, but I'm not a big NURBS fan (plus I'm trying to get into the game industry so poly modeling is a lot more useful).

3 months of Maya would get you a good hold on it, but it really takes time because it does so many damn things! I recommend learning a little bit of code (C++) for using mel script, it will make your life a bit easier, but you can get by w/o it. Animation is my main focus and that's what Maya does better than anything else out there right now. Just learn the basics first and learn all of the shortcut keys. Most of the modeling tutorials they have out there are pretty good, but the ones that come in the help file with Maya are very, very good. They pretty much show you everything from start to finish. Don't let it overwhelm you, you have to be persistant, try to model something everyday or do a short animation, it's the only way to learn it.

Well I've gotta pack. I'm off to Vegas for New Years!!!

later

snap
modeler/animator
LUCIDesignz

infinknight · Posted: Fri Dec 31, 1999 12:59 am

Another question for SNAP: Thank you very much for the tutorial. Is the tutorial you gave me the same one you learned to use Maya from? If not where/how did you learn? And how did you manage to bring your maya skills to the "very impressive" level it is @ now?