"Learning Maya 6: Modeling", is your key to creating effective and efficient models in Maya. Building smart models means you’ll save time and frustration at each stage of your pipeline. Learn to create realistic models for both organic and non-organic surface types and avoid mistakes at the modeling stage. Get the theory you need to understand what’s happening in Maya and then work your way through helpful step-by-step exercises as you create characters and their environments. "Learning Maya 6: Modeling", will allow you too make the right decisions throughout the modeling process to get the results you need quickly and efficiently. Each chapter includes a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy to follow step-by-step tutorials so that you can start working right away. The book also includes as accompanying on a human head. This book will teach you: Polygon Modeling; Working with Image Planes; Building a Human Figure; Building a Human Head; NURBS Modeling Parameterization; Figure Modeling; Industrial Modeling; Subdivision Surface Modeling; Hierarchical Modeling; Building a Shark; General Modeling Issues; Tessellation; and Texturing.

Learning Maya 6: Modeling is your key to creating effective and efficient models in Maya. Building smart models means you?ll save time and frustration at each stage of your pipeline. Learn to create realistic models for both organic and non?organic surface types and avoid mistakes at the modeling stage. Get the theory you need to understand what?s happening in Maya and then work your way through helpful step?by?step exercises as you create characters and their environments. Learning Maya 6: Modeling will allow you too make the right decisions throughout the modeling process to get the results you need quickly and efficiently.

Each chapter includes a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy to follow step?by?step tutorials so that you can start working right away. The book also includes as accompanying on a human head. This book will teach you:

Polygon Modeling

• Working with Image Planes
• Building a Human Figure
• Building a Human Head

NURBS Modeling

• Parameterization
• Figure Modeling
• Industrial Modeling

Subdivision Surface Modeling

• Hierarchical Modeling
• Building a Shark

General Modeling Issues

• Tessellation; Texturing

This official book is written by Alias, the creators of Maya.

Learning Maya 6: Modeling is your key to creating effective and efficient models in Maya. Building smart models means you’ll save time and frustration at each stage of your pipeline. Learn to create realistic models for both organic and non-organic surface types and avoid mistakes at the modeling stage. Get the theory you need to understand what’s happening in Maya and then work your way through helpful step-by-step exercises as you create characters and their environments. Learning Maya 6: Modeling will allow you too make the right decisions throughout the modeling process to get the results you need quickly and efficiently.

Each chapter includes a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy to follow step-by-step tutorials so that you can start working right away. The book also includes as accompanying on a human head. This book will teach you:

Polygon Modeling

• Working with Image Planes
• Building a Human Figure
• Building a Human Head

NURBS Modeling

• Parameterization
• Figure Modeling
• Industrial Modeling

Subdivision Surface Modeling

• Hierarchical Modeling
• Building a Shark

General Modeling Issues

• Tessellation; Texturing

Learning Maya 6: Modeling is your key to creating effective and efficient models in Maya. Building smart models means you’ll save time and frustration at each stage of your pipeline. Learn to create realistic models for both organic and non-organic surface types and avoid mistakes at the modeling stage. Get the theory you need to understand what’s happening in Maya and then work your way through helpful step-by-step exercises as you create characters and their environments. Learning Maya 6: Modeling will allow you too make the right decisions throughout the modeling process to get the results you need quickly and efficiently.

Each chapter includes a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy to follow step-by-step tutorials so that you can start working right away. The book also includes as accompanying on a human head. This book will teach you:

Polygon Modeling
* Working with Image Planes
* Building a Human Figure
* Building a Human Head
NURBS Modeling
* Parameterization
* Figure Modeling
* Industrial Modeling
Subdivision Surface Modeling
* Hierarchical Modeling
* Building a Shark
General Modeling Issues
* Tessellation; Texturing

It`s O.K. could be shorter.

I agree that Foundation was a step-by-step approach to learning with little to no explanation about the concepts underlying the processes. Since modeling is pretty self-explanatory, this book’s approach is acceptable. No color pages. Lacking DVD coverage.

Sadly disappointing

The quality of the official Maya training books is usually high, this book is no exception to that rule but for one disapponting facet of the authors training method.

He falls into an all too common trap of some instructors in that the author tells you what to do but not how to do it.

I already know what needs to be done , I bought the book to find out how.

Maya is an exceptionally powerful application but I fear the author has failed to communicate properly the best methods of use to the student.

Therefore regrettably I can only offer this book two stars.

Sadly disappointing

The quality of the official Maya training books is usually high, this book is no exception to that rule but for one disapponting facet of the authors training method.

He falls into an all too common trap of some instructors in that the author tells you what to do but not how to do it.

I already know what needs to be done , I bought the book to find out how.

Maya is an exceptionally powerful application but I fear the author has failed to communicate properly the best methods of use to the student.

Therefore regrettably I can only offer this book two stars.

come on guys, this book has got tobe good

Well to start with, I should not review this book simply cause I have not read this book. For those considering buying this book, I will be as honest as they come. I have a few alias book both from version 6 & 7 & iv read reviews from those who bought such books. Some good, some not so good. Let me start out to say, those who write books have something to share, they take the time, interest to share there years of skill. Those who read books complain, there exspectations are way to high so high they become disapointed. Take a look at the contents of this book then ask yourself if this is where you are in Maya.In any stage of life we must be ready to explore its wonders. This book starts off where the foundation closses. Here you will learn advance stages & yes if your not ready to journey such gravel then step back & choose a more simply path so you may come back to this road when you you are ready. Learning about Parameterization for example is a must for building any model, these patches must match for seemless rendering so yes! learning such advance skill is a must. Knowing how to work with tessellation is also a plus for any successful modeling & I think this book covers such. Maya must convert to pologonal when rendering, this is where tessellation comes into to play so yes! learning such is a must. Would I buy this book ? Sure I would if I needed to learn such skills & if I was ready. Those that complain that this book is to hard to follow is just not ready. My advice is to use what you learn in the foundation book & then when the time is right, when you feel its time to take maya to the next level, feel free to explore this book. Modeling like anything, its a skill, you may have the blue prints to build the house, you may have the hammer & nails but without skill, a plan is just a plan. Good luck.

ok, but not worth it

I recently took a Maya class where we learned how to do most stuff in this book. When I got this book for free, I decided to go through it step by step just for the hell of it.
I got lost. Half the stuff they told me to do did not work and I followed it step by step. There are lots of pictures, but where I went wrong, there were no pictures. I does not do a good job of explaining why it tells you to do things which is a major point in my book. I would suggest looking elsewhere for modeling.
The only good part of this book is learning one or two things teachers never bothered to tell you like merging verts after checking normals.

(...)

More like a 3.75 out of 5

I recently finished the Learning Maya 6, Foundations book, of which I thought was great, and so decided to take the next step, modeling. Hmm, let me just say, I don’t think I was quite ready. Building that first model with the primitive cube technique, really stressed me out. It was like trying to decipher an encrypted code with pieces missing. The book got really confusing at parts, meanwhile skipping what you may consider vital, or at least, would have been super helpful.

However, as stressful as it may have been at first, I can remember everything 10x’s better, than if I were to have just blasted through it, like I did with the foundations book---well, that’s if I learned it, and not skipped past it from frustration and confusion.

While this book is obviously aimed at someone who has at least finished the Foundations book, it would also be a great idea to have practiced modeling with a more simplified body first, i.e. free internet tutorials on simplified characters (or something to that effect), and save yourself the stress of learning something beyond your current understanding.

TIP: if you get this book, and find yourself as confused as I was, opening the file the book tells you, and then importing that into your file, makes modeling and understanding from the book so much easier. Looking at the correct model in Maya, is so much more useful than the small grey pictures. Goodluck.

good modeling book for starting off

This book is good for those who know very little about Maya. I prefer another book, the Maya Bible 4.5 which includes more tuturials and more advanced modeling. Don’t get discouraged but the 4.5 it still applies to many of the functions of Maya 6. The disk that is provided with this book is nice, giving you the ability to see some real life maya using.

Usefull, well explained

This book is very down to earh and practicall. It is not going to teach you art, but trade and although examples are mundane, one discovers lots of techniques that would be not available in ordinary manuals.

On the top of everything, there is fantastic instruction on how to draw 3D head. For me book was worth buying, just for that example.

Usefull, well explained

This book is very down to earh and practicall. It is not going to teach you art, but trade and although examples are mundane, one discovers lots of techniques that would be not available in ordinary manuals.

On the top of everything, there is fantastic instruction on how to draw 3D head. For me book was worth buying, just for that example.

Maya`s modeling moulds new ways.

Maya 3d is one of the most powerful and intuitive applications in the industry, as many studious throughout the world vigorously use it to create production graphics and a like.
This efficient book will lead you through all of maya`s modeling capabilities, from simple polygonal modeling to complex NURBS(Non-Uniform Rational B-splines)and sub-divisional modeling. With this book, your dreams will soon come true, allowing you to create your very own creations.
Tutorials throughout the book, gradually get harder as you progress, giving you time to get used to the many aspects of the modeling processes shown in the book.

Maya`s modeling moulds new ways.

Maya 3d is one of the most powerful and intuitive applications in the industry, as many studious throughout the world vigorously use it to create production graphics and a like.
This efficient book will lead you through all of maya`s modeling capabilities, from simple polygonal modeling to complex NURBS(Non-Uniform Rational B-splines)and sub-divisional modeling. With this book, your dreams will soon come true, allowing you to create your very own creations.
Tutorials throughout the book, gradually get harder as you progress, giving you time to get used to the many aspects of the modeling processes shown in the book.

You need this!!! Don’t be Mislead by the 1st Poster!!!

Well seeing that it only recieve one review and a negative one....i might as well add my review for people who wants to buy this book.....well i have ALL Learning Maya 6 books and this is the second best of the series (The First is the character Rigging book)...I bought the Character Creation by Chris Maraffi and Maya Character Animation by Jae-Jin Choi and they’re all great modeling books but where could you get a book that teaches how to model a Human Character from Head to Toe USING POLYGONS AND NURBS COMPLETE!!! (except for the hair) This book has it all!! Human Modeling USING POLYGONS and NURBS, Car Modeling using NURBS CURVES AND SURFACES, SUBDIVISION MODELLING!!! An Ultimate Modeling Book!!! BUT......this book is not for newbies or beginners, get this book only if you had a good understanding of modeling or proffesional training like me because it has no chapter by chapter QUICKTIME MOVIES (which irritates me coz all 5 learning maya books has these tutorials)...it confuses readers a lot because you could easily get lost.. BUT it has a HOW TO MODEL A NURBS HEAD PATCH DVD which helps a lot....Hope this review helps....oh dont believe the last post because it has a lot of pics in the book!!

Same "glossed over" instruction as usual

I bought Learning Maya 5: Foundation about a year ago and was really disappointed. The book was basically a step-by-step approach to learning with little to no explanation about the concepts underlying the processes.

About six months later, I took a week-long Maya training class at Oregon 3D, and we used Maya 5: Foundation as the textbook. While the book hadn’t changed, I was amazed at how useful it was! What was the difference? I had an excellent instructor (Jason Busby) pausing to explain concepts and point out idiosyncrasies. What a difference the human touch makes!

So when I saw that this book, Maya 6: Modeling was coming out, I had mixed feelings. I picked it up at Barnes & Noble and thumbed through it. Sure enough, there were some improvements. Discussion of relevant concepts was interwoven with the step-by-step tutorials and the progression of concepts made more sense. Even though it was $60 (no Amazon discount at B&N), I went ahead and bought it.

After working through the first two chapters, I’ve decided to return it.

Although it is a slight improvement over the Foundation book, it still glosses over important details. Because there aren’t screenshots accompanying every step, it’s easy to get lost, and since you don’t have a firm grasp on where you’re going or why you’re doing things, you can’t find your way back.

The accompanying DVD is nearly worthless (although Alias claims it’s a $129.99 value). It steps you through the process of modeling a human head, but what I WANTED on the DVD was video of an instructor performing the tutorials in the book. That kind of instruction is truly effective. Paper-based instruction for something as complex and dynamic as Maya is inadequate and often misleading.