Rating: 
Summary: The "Real Deal"
Review: If you are determined to learn Maya 3, this is your roadmap. A comprehensive tome, to be sure - not for the beginner or dabbler. Worth the money, and perhaps my favorite amazon purchase to date. It's exhilirating. Keep in mind there is nothing about Cloth or Fur. Also, I'd love to see the job market studied - pointers for demo reel creation and what employers are looking for. These are just nit-picks though, I highly recommend the book. Great price, great CD-ROM. Great job John & Peter.
Rating: 
Summary: Mastering Maya 3?
Review: If you're looking for a good Maya book for a beginner... Keep looking! This book is made for intermediate to semi advance level artists. Basically, this book is not a how to book. It's a "hey look, that button can do this, but we won't tell you how we do it."
It's just a reference book. No wonder why they can produce Maya4 book so quickly. Don't get me wrong, it is a good reference book but that is all. Way too much hype.
Rating:
Summary: Best Maya book out there.
Review: It's still version 3, but it doesn't matter. Mastering Maya 3 is one of the best beginner/intermediate books you can buy. I used Maya 4 and now Maya 4.5 and have had only benefits using this book. It has helped me along from being a beginner to being very familiar and capable with the software. I've used and seen a lot of the other books out thee, but I haven't seen a better book that covers things in the depth and range that Mastering Maya does. It's not for people new to 3D, but if you have experience in another 3D package and are moving over to Maya, it is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Mastering Maya 3
Review: Maybe thoses other guys who wrote reviews of this book work for the company but it is a big book with not much substance. Its like a 1000 pages of add copy for the software but does little to show you how to actually use the program.
Rating:
Summary: Great Maya Book!
Review: This book is absolutly amazing. I just bought the book today and within the 1st chapter I learned more about maya then I could of imagined. I am was a 3d studio max user but just switched from it to maya and I thought it would be hard to get used to the maya GUI. Within the 1st chapter of this book it seems like I have been using maya forever.. Book is written in a well way that teaches you more and you won't forget what you learn! go out and buy it!
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE BOOK
Review: This book is excellent for beginners OR intermediates. It is crystal clear - no beating around the bush!
I took Maya at school and found this book really good to review topics that I had forgotten or havnt used in awhile! A +++++++
Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners...
Review: This book is great for beginners. I can't really say anything about it's worth for professional artists and advanced Maya users, as I am but a mere beginner. Anyway, I downloaded the free trial version of Maya 4 and bought this book and I am now cranking away! I didn't know anything about 3D modeling before, although I have a CAD background. The book is very well organized and each chapter (that I've worked through so far) has lots of examples of how to apply the techniques described in the book. It is excellent with respect to teaching you how to do things in Maya, but it lacks in general 3D design principals, which is to be expected from a book with the word Mastering in its title. Now, if I could just find some good books on basic techniques (ie. when to use NURBS over polygons), etc. I'd be set!
Rating: 
Summary: Biased, easy, but maya 4 comes out next month anyway
Review: This book is pretty much as basic as you can start off (considering you already know how to use your computer)...the first 3 chapters tell you what the buttons do & when to use them (it even covers a little bit of MEL). The rest of the book has you apply it, whether it be in character animation or particle effects. keep in mind there's 28 chapters. However, the cd is just about useless. One important (and biased) aspect is that THE AUTHOR USED TO WORK FOR ALIAS WAVEFRONT...so he is very eager to say "isnt this feature neato" and "wow-wee to this program". By the way, if you have Maya Unlimited 3.01...this book isnt gonna teach you how to play with your extra $8,000 worth of toys. Sorry, one last thing...you might wanna save your money Maya 4 comes out in 1 1/2 months. (check www.aw.sgi.com if you dont beleive me)
Rating: 
Summary: If your learning Maya 3 you need this book
Review: This is one of the most comprehensive books available for Maya 3. The tutorials are easy to follow and they are well explained. This book is used as a textbook for my Animation V and VI classes.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Very good book if you want use MAYA to be a pro. It's a good start.
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