Maya 5 Fundamentals

Rating:
Summary: Not my first choice for learning Maya
Review: To start I'll let you know I own Maya Fundamentals 4.5, 5.0, and Learning Maya 5: Foundation books. I only bought the Foundation book because it was required for a college course I took.

I recommend 4.5 book over the 5.0 for two reasons:

1. The CD is much better, in that the lessons are a playback resolution of 800 x 600. The 5.0 is higher and thus "fuzzier" and harder to read when exact numbers are given for tutorials and you pause to make sure you have exact coordinates.

2. The lessons do not flow as well, in my opinion, in 5.0. For example, there is an instructional error in extruding a surface in chapter five in the first lesson. If I was totally green to computer graphics, I'd have not figured it out. The first tutorial you need to extrude the face on the "Y" not on the "Z" axis as intructed in print. (Yeah, it's kind of a "duh" moment.)

I do like the tutorial covered on Polygons in Chapter 5. I think the demonstration of using the sculpt polygon tool is great. This book does hit modeling with polygons harder, which I do like.

However, I suggest Maya Fundamentals 4.5 if you are brand new to Maya. The CD is much more helpful, the lesson flow very well and I do find the narator much more "in-command" of the subject matter being presented (it doesn't sound like he is following a script laying on the desktop).


I do think that if you wish to pursue more modeling instruction, this book does offer more for polygon modeling.

I have to give it the additonal star for the coverage of polygonal modeling.

I do suggest Maya Fundamentals 4.5 first, regardless of which verision of Maya you are running.



Rating:
Summary: Buy it for the DVD not the text
Review: Buy this book for the DVD not the text. I have read many books written about Maya and this is the worst. It fails for two or three reasons the first being cheap production values. Trying to follow the tutorials is like finding a white duck in a snow storm. You are supposed to follow the intricate instructions by looking at example screen captures from the actual program. The printing is so flat in contrast that trying to figure out what the authors are referring to is impossible in many examples.
The second reason for this not so positive review is that the authors instruct you on how to re-create the tutorials from a very non intuitive approach. You are to type numbers in fields to get the desired affects in the tutorial. I found myself more curious how they came up with the numbers as that would have given me more useful information than plugging in abstract ( as far as the reader is concerned) numbers. It was like following a food recipe exactly word for word only to find there was a typo and the amounts were incorrect.
As a last resort, I put in the DVD of movies of each tutorial to see if I could get a better idea of what was supposed to be happening. I thought this was the solution until I got to Chapter 5 and then I experience the strangest thing I had ever seen on a training video. It becomes apparent that the person doing the tutorial demo is NOT one of the authors.
The other thing that becomes apparent is that the lessons are filled with mistakes in the data you enter and in process. I am trying to follow along with the tutorial and I am now hearing the speaker say " I can't figure out what the author meant by this"" or " these numbers do seem to be correct". I felt sorry for the guy. He was reading from a script that seemed to follow the book text but he was wandering in the woods at midnight. There were times when he just stopped talking and I knew he was trying to figure out how to continue the demo.
I must blame whoever produced the DVD because the the person doing the tutorials obviously had never seen the "script" before. There were no second takes. There were instances where even I could see where following the instruction was going to cause a problem with the model. He couldn't get it close to what was intended in many instances. When I went to the next movie the problem was corrected - no explanations.
This was such an amateurish production from beginning to end that I felt I had to write this review. Maya is such a deep program that any help furthering your skill would be a welcome one- as long as it doesn't make the complicated more obtuse as this book does..... SAVE YOU MONEY or buy it for the DVD or better yet buy a better book. (The actual cover art is different from the photo in this listing)

Rating:
Summary: All Right, Could be Better for Mac Users
Review: First off, I'm no stranger to 3D work. I do still art, not animation, so granted a lot of the animation-related training is helpful but not absolutely necessary. However, I got Maya and this book because I wanted to do much more detailed, more powerful render jobs for my artwork. I've sold numerous book cover designs and my abstract art has appeared in a number of artshows. I wanted to finally step up to the big boys and do quality work at a new level of ability.

This book starts out very promisingly--the first three-four chapters are great for giving you a primer on 3D history, the Maya interface (okay, for Windows users, but it's not a hard variation to figure out the Mac format). You can do the basic models and what-not fine.

Where this breaks down for me is around Chapter Five. First off, the WMV tutorial files wouldn't play on Mac's Windows Media Player (and I have the most recent version with all updated codecs). I tried playing the files through other media players--RealPlayer, Media Player X, etc., and all of them could only play the audio--pretty useless if I need a visual cue to see what the book is describing in a given step. Second, the Mac files in general are a mess. This was obviously developed by people who only used the Windows side, and did minimal research on what Mac users (who frankly make up the majority of high-end professionals in film and art who even use Maya) need to know to use this product. Given how many people out there purchase and use Macs for this kind of stuff (and despite PC defenders' popularity, it's unavoidable--Macs are more stable and user-friendly for graphic designers and power-users), I think the lack of support for these users in this book is a bit unprofessional on the authors' parts.

Also, the printed images showing the examples are in black-and-white...this is particularly silly in the section talking about primary and subtractive colors (Ooh, wow! A gray, darker-gray, and black circle mix to form...nothing!). But it's crucial when you start seeing problems with your steps and try to back-track. The contrast on these images is HORRIBLE--you can't make out a lot of them, especially important when so much detail is expected out of a given picture (try Chapter 5's project on building a room--you're expected to somehow make out the difference in moving a few microscopic vertices dots from one figure to another, when you can barely make out the black-on-gray images of what you're supposed to be working on).

I enjoyed this book about halfway through, and so it gets about halfway my stars of credit. There are probably better books out there, not to mention just diving in and using the product and learning on your own. Take this book with a grain of salt. I give it positive marks for effort, but it falls apart in simple presentation of tutorial materials in a clear and useful print or electronic form.

Also, I have to nitpick that there are the inevitable parts here and there where the book's steps are outright wrong (I'm not sure if this is related to the Win/Mac issue or not). A step would tell me to Extrude Face, except that the program is telling me it can't do it because I just subdivided the cube model into too many parts to just select one and extrude it like I'm told to. Or I was told by one step in the animation projects to open the Duplicate options box, only every time I clicked on it, the program wouldn't open this box, though the actual ctrl-d command duplicated fine. Just little bits and pieces here and there that made me think this book is a bit overpriced for what it ultimately delivers.

Rating:
Summary: All Right, Could be Better for Mac Users
Review: First off, I'm no stranger to 3D work. I do still art, not animation, so granted a lot of the animation-related training is helpful but not absolutely necessary. However, I got Maya and this book because I wanted to do much more detailed, more powerful render jobs for my artwork. I've sold numerous book cover designs and my abstract art has appeared in a number of artshows. I wanted to finally step up to the big boys and do quality work at a new level of ability.

This book starts out very promisingly--the first three-four chapters are great for giving you a primer on 3D history, the Maya interface (okay, for Windows users, but it's not a hard variation to figure out the Mac format). You can do the basic models and what-not fine.

Where this breaks down for me is around Chapter Five. First off, the WMV tutorial files wouldn't play on Mac's Windows Media Player (and I have the most recent version with all updated codecs). I tried playing the files through other media players--RealPlayer, Media Player X, etc., and all of them could only play the audio--pretty useless if I need a visual cue to see what the book is describing in a given step. Second, the Mac files in general are a mess. This was obviously developed by people who only used the Windows side, and did minimal research on what Mac users (who frankly make up the majority of high-end professionals in film and art who even use Maya) need to know to use this product. Given how many people out there purchase and use Macs for this kind of stuff (and despite PC defenders' popularity, it's unavoidable--Macs are more stable and user-friendly for graphic designers and power-users), I think the lack of support for these users in this book is a bit unprofessional on the authors' parts.

Also, the printed images showing the examples are in black-and-white...this is particularly silly in the section talking about primary and subtractive colors (Ooh, wow! A gray, darker-gray, and black circle mix to form...nothing!). But it's crucial when you start seeing problems with your steps and try to back-track. The contrast on these images is HORRIBLE--you can't make out a lot of them, especially important when so much detail is expected out of a given picture (try Chapter 5's project on building a room--you're expected to somehow make out the difference in moving a few microscopic vertices dots from one figure to another, when you can barely make out the black-on-gray images of what you're supposed to be working on).

I enjoyed this book about halfway through, and so it gets about halfway my stars of credit. There are probably better books out there, not to mention just diving in and using the product and learning on your own. Take this book with a grain of salt. I give it positive marks for effort, but it falls apart in simple presentation of tutorial materials in a clear and useful print or electronic form.

Also, I have to nitpick that there are the inevitable parts here and there where the book's steps are outright wrong (I'm not sure if this is related to the Win/Mac issue or not). A step would tell me to Extrude Face, except that the program is telling me it can't do it because I just subdivided the cube model into too many parts to just select one and extrude it like I'm told to. Or I was told by one step in the animation projects to open the Duplicate options box, only every time I clicked on it, the program wouldn't open this box, though the actual ctrl-d command duplicated fine. Just little bits and pieces here and there that made me think this book is a bit overpriced for what it ultimately delivers.

Rating:
Summary: look elsewhere
Review: First off, the reason I bought the book is because it's required text for a Maya class I'm taking and the instructors decided on this book before it's release - big mistake! This book is loaded with inaccurate, vague or mislabeled information and the DVD isn't much better, in one of the DVD tutorials the instructor stops and backtracks several times because his "script" is off. Please save yourself the complete frustration if you are learning Maya, and look elsewhere for something more helpful.

Rating:
Summary: Maya 5 Fundamentals by Garry Lewis and Jim Lammers
Review: I agree with pswoods review on this book.

Three D animation is a whole new universe, which requires an enormous base of information and a very long learning curve. Currently acquiring skills with Maya requires a steep investment in classes or expensive company learning cds. There are few comprehensive books for new Maya users. The book's enclosed CD is also a vital part of getting answers to difficult and complex questions.

This book is more than just fundamentals, though it does that very well. I have Maya 4.5 Fundamentals, and was eagerly waiting for the new material in Maya 5.0. Maya 4.5 has the same slow foundation, and fewer projects. Maya Fundamentals 5.0 is a rather ambitious collection that quickly moves from the basics to new and complex projects. (modeling the human head and the office building)

Indeed, this is a good value and will give more "bang for the buck" that one would expect.

My only regret is not having another cd with Jim Lammers' relaxed and insightful presentation.

Rating:
Summary: Maya 5 Fundamentals
Review: I highly recommend anyone who wants to learn Maya buy this book. The companion DVD-ROM tutorials is worth more than many Maya books I have Combined. I did have some problems to get the DVD-ROM working,because Microsoft Media Player needs to be version 9/on Windows XP. Not your movie rental DVD format.

Rating:
Summary: A book that is only for some people
Review: If you are good at figuring things out and enjoy exploring all the mechanisms of Maya 5 by yourself but dont know where to start then this book is for you.
On the otherhand, if you just a firm hand to guide you as you learn the basics of Maya then this book is not for you as the instructions is aimed towards people who are able to figure somethings out by themselves. But this book covers alot and as I said some people will learn alot from this book and others will end up hating it.

Rating:
Summary: The tutorial book I've always wanted
Review: If you're a visual person like me, then your search for good ole step-by-step-with-screen-shots tutorials can be a long and arduous journey. Equally taxing is the task of finding good video tutorials for those of us who learn most from watching others work. Well, if you're new to Maya 5 then your search is over. Pop a tent and break out the Coleman burner and hot dogs. Maya 5 Fundamentals is the book we've all been waiting for. As the title suggests this book covers mostly the fundamentals of Maya, so don't expect to land a job at Industrial Light and Magic after completing the book. But, what you can expect is a much more enjoyable experience with Maya. For all of the important aspects of 3D you will find detailed step-by-step tutorials, with appropriate screen shots and graphics where needed. But, here's the clincher: There are video tutorials that go with each lesson. So, if you want to watch a pro in real time you can watch the relevant video before tackling the lesson.

I don't know about you, but I find this combination of clear and concise step-by-step tutorials with accompanying video tutorials pretty exciting. The other benefit of having video tutorials is that when you ever need to refer back to the tutorial, you can play the video and see your answer without having to thumb through the book again. If I could rate this 10 stars I would, but they only gave me 5 stars to work with. So, if you want to start having fun with Maya in a relatively short period of time, I could not recommend this book more highly.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely frustrating book!
Review: It is a tutorial book. In order to get answers to your questions, you need to comb through a step-by-step description of how to build a lobby or create a coat; and you never know why you are asked to do thing in one way and not the other. If you need information, explanation or basic understanding of how and why Maya works - do not buy this book.