This exceptional, full?color Maya Press title ? produced by Alias, the software?s creators ? is a comprehensive mid?cycle revision that uses the award?winning short film Blue as the basis for the book?s all?new hands?on tutorials. Artists, students, educators, and hobbyists will appreciate this book?s comprehensible coverage of 3D and Maya basics. Project?focused lessons use actual production files from the film Blue to teach you most of the tools available in Maya Complete. The companion DVD includes instructor?led tutorials, scene files, artist interviews, and Maya PLE. Also includes Alias?s Sketchbook Pro Version 1.1.1, $129.99 value.

This exceptional, full?color Maya Press title ? produced by Alias, the software?s creators ? is a comprehensive mid?cycle revision that uses the award?winning short film Blue as the basis for the book?s all?new hands?on tutorials. Artists, students, educators, and hobbyists will appreciate this book?s comprehensible coverage of 3D and Maya basics. Project?focused lessons use actual production files from the film Blue to teach you most of the tools available in Maya Complete. The companion DVD includes instructor?led tutorials, scene files, artist interviews, and Maya PLE. Also includes Alias?s Sketchbook Pro Version 1.1.1, $129.99 value.

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

This exceptional, full-color Maya Press title - produced by Alias, the software’s creators - is a comprehensive mid-cycle revision that uses the award-winning short film Blue as the basis for the book’s all-new hands-on tutorials. Artists, students, educators, and hobbyists will appreciate this book’s comprehensible coverage of 3D and Maya basics. Project-focused lessons use actual production files from the film Blue to teach you most of the tools available in Maya Complete. The companion DVD includes instructor-led tutorials, scene files, artist interviews, and Maya PLE. Also includes Alias’s Sketchbook Pro Version 1.1.1, $129.99 value.

This exceptional, full-color Maya Press title – produced by Alias, the software’s creators – is a comprehensive mid-cycle revision that uses the award-winning short film Blue as the basis for the book’s all-new hands-on tutorials. Artists, students, educators, and hobbyists will appreciate this book’s comprehensible coverage of 3D and Maya basics. Project-focused lessons use actual production files from the film Blue to teach you most of the tools available in Maya Complete. The companion DVD includes instructor-led tutorials, scene files, artist interviews, and Maya PLE. Also includes Alias’s Sketchbook Pro Version 1.1.1, $129.99 value.

This exceptional, full-color Maya Press title -- produced by Alias, the software’s creators -- is a comprehensive mid-cycle revision that uses the award-winning short film Blue as the basis for the book’s all-new hands-on tutorials. Artists, students, educators, and hobbyists will appreciate this book’s comprehensible coverage of 3D and Maya basics. Project-focused lessons use actual production files from the film Blue to teach you most of the tools available in Maya Complete. The companion DVD includes instructor-led tutorials, scene files, artist interviews, and Maya PLE. Also includes Alias’s Sketchbook Pro Version 1.1.1, $129.99 value.

This book is Crap!!!!!!!!

before purchasing this book, I thought this was going to be a very good book because it was by Alias, I was totaly disappointed and wrong; mostly because of errors and lack of explanations on some of the tutorials. This book freaking sucks!!!!! The author is not clear on some things and does not give very clear examples of what to do. (lesson 02 pg.75). It seems he assumes you know what to do even though this book states it is for the novice too.
Oh well,I’m going to think twice about ordering another alias publised book.

Maya 7.0

i am pleased with my new book. It has every subject that i was expecting and is a high quality product

Definitely for Beginners

If your goal is to design a basic character and a simple environment, then this book is definitely for you. It covers all the basics and helps you to get familiar with where the tools are located.

However, if you are already familiar with MAYA, then you’d be better off just going online and finding some tutorials.

Good for students

Im a teacher computer, and recomend this book for new students of animation and modeling 3D.

Not what was advertised

The book description stated that the accompanying DVD contained Maya PLE. This is false. It contains a link to the Maya website where you can download the program. This is nice if you have the bandwidth to download (which I don’t, which is why I purchased this particular book); it’s also particularly nice if you can travel back in time to when the website actually carried the version that goes with the book so you can download the software needed to make the projects from the book. While I’m sure it would have been a good deal a couple years ago (assuming again that a couple years ago you had high bandwidth), this book is not worth buying now unless you already own Maya 7 or have downloaded Maya 7 PLE.

perfect book to learn maya 7

This book is the best one I have bought because it explains to you every detail step by step. It also comes with videos explaining how to do each lesson.The best part is that in bonus it brings the software = alias sketchbook pro.

FANTASTIC

This book is straight forward, easy to read, and a joy to follow along on the screen to. I am quite impressed with the attention to detail on each of the steps in this book. "Foundation" will give anybody who hasnt used a 3d package before the nessacary skills and information needed to follow on and create their own models.

6 out of 5 stars for such a good book.

(real name is my mothers, i am the one actually working through the book)

Excellent beginners book

I have gotten through several chapters of this book and am already finding it extremely helpful in learning this complex program. There are movie lessons on the CD to augment each chapter and they are very helpful in making the lesson material familiar. If the book continues to be as helpful as it has been so far I will be a very satisfied customer.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be writing a review so soon, but I am excited that the program is becoming accessible to me.

Start from here.

Great book. Lessons are detailed and give you a good grasp of what a complicated program like Maya can do. Of course some effort is needed from the reader, it simply not possible to master (or simply work) with such a sophisticated tool with no effort. So, following these instructions, the reader will discover first (most important thing imho) if he or she is really interested in the topic. Having this interest he/she will have good (wotking) time to discover Maya capabilities with these detailed step-by-step lessons. For THE starting book of Maya discovery, look around no further. This should be the first book to own and practice on.
Highly recommended. The Sketchbook Pro included is a great gift also.

Very good

This is a very good primer for those new to Maya but certain areas of the book expect more knowledge from the reader than they should and as a result certain stumbling blocks can occur without third party help, once explained these huge problems soon become very obvious, in quick order.
Perhaps the tutorials might be further simplified and proof read by newbies with no previous knowledge.
The Maya 8 series may have come to grips with these problems.

Love this book to review the Maya class I just took

This book is awesome for me as I just finished a beginning Maya 3D modeling and animation class this past semester. I was afraid that I would forget a lot of what I learned and also that I wanted to review to enhance my understanding so I looked for a book that would take me step by step, through several different types of projects. And I’m happy to say that I’m one third into this very thick, but easy to follow book and it does just that. It really leads you by the hand, better than my instructor in the classroom, because I can go at my own pace (which is very slow). A great book for the beginner and soon to be intermediate Maya practitioner. Please note, however, that I also bought the Visual Quickstart Guide to Maya 6 previously, which has been a great cross-reference book to this particular Learning Maya 7: Foundation book. I guess no one book will answer or be clear enough on every little nuance of a topic; that is why it helps to have another book or two on the same topic as a cross-reference just in case you get stuck on an interpretation of the textual meaning or intention.

Love this book to review the Maya class I just took

This book is awesome for me as I just finished a beginning Maya 3D modeling and animation class this past semester. I was afraid that I would forget a lot of what I learned and also that I wanted to review to enhance my understanding so I looked for a book that would take me step by step, through several different types of projects. And I’m happy to say that I’m one third into this very thick, but easy to follow book and it does just that. It really leads you by the hand, better than my instructor in the classroom, because I can go at my own pace (which is very slow). A great book for the beginner and soon to be intermediate Maya practitioner. Please note, however, that I also bought the Visual Quickstart Guide to Maya 6 previously, which has been a great cross-reference book to this particular Learning Maya 7: Foundation book. I guess no one book will answer or be clear enough on every little nuance of a topic; that is why it helps to have another book or two on the same topic as a cross-reference just in case you get stuck on an interpretation of the textual meaning or intention.

Useless

This book is weighty, full-colored and honestly, looks pretty cool when it comes in the mail. The problem starts when you go to use it. For someone like myself who has absolutely no prior 3D animation expierence, this book is horrible. It skimps on steps, the steps it tells me to do fail to work in the program, the dozens/hundred of menu options are not labeled when you’re doing the steps and then a few pages over it’ll tell you to go to visor window and you’re all, what? Visor menu? What in the world is that? Then you have to waste valueable time searching for the elusive menu.

I would not recommend this book to anyone who has no prior knowledge or expierence. It’s a fairly useless book if you need help pinpointing how to do something because the only way you’ll be able to do anything out of the book is to do every single page until you’ve worked your way up to where you need to be.

Useless

This book is weighty, full-colored and honestly, looks pretty cool when it comes in the mail. The problem starts when you go to use it. For someone like myself who has absolutely no prior 3D animation expierence, this book is horrible. It skimps on steps, the steps it tells me to do fail to work in the program, the dozens/hundred of menu options are not labeled when you’re doing the steps and then a few pages over it’ll tell you to go to visor window and you’re all, what? Visor menu? What in the world is that? Then you have to waste valueable time searching for the elusive menu.

I would not recommend this book to anyone who has no prior knowledge or expierence. It’s a fairly useless book if you need help pinpointing how to do something because the only way you’ll be able to do anything out of the book is to do every single page until you’ve worked your way up to where you need to be.

WONDERFUL INTRODUCTION TO MAYA!!

It’s pretty great for beginners, but I suggest doing the INTRODUCING MAYA 7: FOR BEGINERS. However, if you have used other 3-D packages before, then you can probably skip that book and jump right into this one. I also suggest using the previous FOUNDATION BOOKS which include Salty the Seal and the spaceship battle since they teach things that aren’t in this book. (As you can see, I’m a firm believer in grasping this program.)

As for ALIAS SKETCHBOOK PRO, yes it’s free. Granted, I figured it out after two months, but I got it!

1.Just open the "START HERE" link in the LEARNING MAYA FOLDER.
2.Click on the "ALIAS SKECTHBOOK PRO" link and copy and paste the serial number that they provide.

WONDERFUL INTRODUCTION TO MAYA!!

It’s pretty great for beginners, but if you have NEVER used a 3-D package before, I suggest doing the INTRODUCING MAYA 7: FOR BEGINERS first. I also suggest using the previous FOUNDATION BOOKS which include Salty the Seal and the spaceship battle since they teach things that aren’t in this book. (As you can see, I’m a firm believer in grasping this program.)

As for ALIAS SKETCHBOOK PRO, yes it’s free. Granted, I figured it out after two months, but I got it!

1.Just open the "START HERE" link in the LEARNING MAYA FOLDER.
2.Click on the "ALIAS SKECTHBOOK PRO" link and copy and paste the serial number that they provide.

WONDERFUL INTRODUCTION TO MAYA!!

It’s pretty great for beginners, but if you have NEVER used a 3-D package before, I suggest doing the INTRODUCING MAYA 7: FOR BEGINERS first. I also suggest using the previous FOUNDATION BOOKS which include Salty the Seal and the spaceship battle since they teach things that aren’t in this book. (As you can see, I’m a firm believer in grasping this program.)

As for ALIAS SKETCHBOOK PRO, yes it’s free. Granted, I figured it out after two months, but I got it!

1.Just open the "START HERE" link in the LEARNING MAYA FOLDER.
2.Click on the "ALIAS SKECTHBOOK PRO" link and copy and paste the serial number that they provide.

Learning Maya 7

I was required to purchase this text for an animation class, and probably would have never purchased it otherwise, but it was more than I expected, really. The book isn’t just a bunch of disconnected tutorials, it all follows the same theme and basically you’re recreating a little piece of the short film that stars the little robot guy on the cover. The four lessons in the book all come together to form a pretty neat little scene in the end. However, there are a few mistakes in the book and sometimes it isn’t really clear what they’re talking about. It’s good for learning, but surely isn’t unfallable. I’d recommend it, but if you’re going to learn by yourself, I’d find another resource or two as well.

Learning Maya 7

I was required to purchase this text for an animation class, and probably would have never purchased it otherwise, but it was more than I expected, really. The book isn’t just a bunch of disconnected tutorials, it all follows the same theme and basically you’re recreating a little piece of the short film that stars the little robot guy on the cover. The four lessons in the book all come together to form a pretty neat little scene in the end. However, there are a few mistakes in the book and sometimes it isn’t really clear what they’re talking about. It’s good for learning, but surely isn’t unfallable. I’d recommend it, but if you’re going to learn by yourself, I’d find another resource or two as well.

Execellent learners book

This book is a great resource for Maya beginners, though that should be qualified with that it is probably not the right book for someone with no computer skills.

The book covers a lot of ground very quickly quite often without a great deal of explanation, so a certain level of general computer and graphics knowledge is needed.

I have been messing with computers for 25 years, experimenting with all sorts of software and Maya is far and away the toughest piece of software I have ever tried to use.

With this book, by the 5th lesson I am starting to get the hang of it and now have a good grounding in the basics...only 28 lessons to go :o)

The only think missing is explanations of why certain things have a particular effect. The book will simply say "to create an effect, do this, that and then the other" without elaborating on what you are doing and why.

But to do that would slow down the pace and as I said, this book moves quickly.

Execellent learners book

This book is a great resource for Maya beginners, though that should be qualified with that it is probably not the right book for someone with no computer skills.

The book covers a lot of ground very quickly quite often without a great deal of explanation, so a certain level of general computer and graphics knowledge is needed.

I have been messing with computers for 25 years, experimenting with all sorts of software and Maya is far and away the toughest piece of software I have ever tried to use.

With this book, by the 5th lesson I am starting to get the hang of it and now have a good grounding in the basics...only 28 lessons to go :o)

The only think missing is explanations of why certain things have a particular effect. The book will simply say "to create an effect, do this, that and then the other" without elaborating on what you are doing and why.

But to do that would slow down the pace and as I said, this book moves quickly.

GREAT BOOK- And Alias SketchBook Pro IS FREE

This is the best book I’ve ever used. Having no previous animation experience, this book quickly got me up to speed. The examples in the book are fantastic.

Regardless of what other reviewrs are saying, Alias SketchBook Pro IS FREE! You just have to:

1) Navigate to Learning F:\Learning_Maya_7_Foundation folder
2) Open "start_here" page
3) Click on link "Alias Sketchbook Pro"
4) Copy and paste the code and put it into the installation.

It is a fantastic book.

Excellent Support from Amazon, book is good

USPS got my order losted and it was a whole big mess, Amazon corrected this very efficiently and quickly. Amazon has one of the best customer support teams. As for the book, its pretty good, wish it would go into a little more detail, as it starts off very detailed and then becomes vague assuming you already know how to do some of the stuff. Like it teaches you to make the legs and chest of a robot, you have to make the head and arms all by yourself.

One of the best tutorial books I’ve used

I’ve learned most alot of 3DMax from tutorial books so I’m grounded, but this book has a great progression that enables you to understand the program and pick details on how the interface works. Working around the movie definitly makes the activites feel more relevant. Money well spent

A Great Book

I received this book three weeks ago and went through every single page (leaving out the final section on Alias Sketchbook Pro) working out the examples shown. I am new to Maya and this was the first book I attempted using to learn it.

What can I say? First of all, the quality of the book is astonishing. Furthermore, it’s in color! The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. One gets to learn how to use Maya by creating a robot from the Short Film Blue, and getting to rig and animate it. One also learns a lot of other very important stuff - lighting, creating a skeleton, rigging, organic modeling.

Though one is often encouraged to use shortcut keys (hotkeys), this book is very focused on visual functions and menus, making it very easy for a beginner to learn Maya. The beginning of the book is pretty much very easy. The pace is quite fast and a lot of new stuff is introduced swiftly, increasing the level of difficulty quite rapidly. But one may not so much notice this, as there is so much fun following the instructions and getting things worked out.

The accompanying DVD contains the Short Film Blue, as well as an interview with Christopher Mullins, the artist who did the modeling and animation for the film. There is also a wealth of other material available on the DVD.

Downsides to the book, and there are very few of them, are:

-a few typos here and there, but these are quite few as to be insignificant.
-few of the menus referred to (especially in latter parts of the book) are wrongly spelt. But you will get to figure them out yourself.
-Alias Sketchbook Pro appears not to be free as indicated on the front cover. What I found on the DVD was a trial version, which can be used for 12 non-consecutive days.

If you’re thinking about learning Maya 7 this book is a must have. Well done Alias and kudos to the primary and contributing authors.

Great material, very easy understanding

The quality of the book is astonishing. The paper is thick, the images are colorful.

The DVD that comes with it has all the lessons files AND video tutorials of almost all lessons in the book.

The Alias Sketchbook Pro is really something. But I didn’t found the serial number anywere, they say it’s a complete software, but I can only use the trial version for now.

Five stars for this great learning material. Now I want the other two books of this series!

The Best Maya Book Ever made for beginners/ 2 Thumbs UP

Truly a great beginner book!

Marc (Primary Author) Has really stepped out into the minds of beginner Maya learners.I have purchased many Maya books with hopes of at least picking up the concept of learning Maya. However all these books expect you to already know and have an understanding of Maya.

The downside of many other books is they give you the intrustions how to make your art in maya but they don’t explain the complex functions,defintions,terminology and all the shortcuts to the functions in Maya.

If most teachers and book editors of Maya would understand that beginners do not know the short cuts. So when they instruct you to do a function and if you don’t know how to get to that function, learning Maya become a very fustrating and makes you want to quit.I think this is the number one factor for people who fail to learn Maya and many other complex software applications.

Alot of teachers don’t teach you to use the visual functions rather they use short cut terminology. So for a beginner your lost. Maya is filled with complex menus and if you can’t figure how to get to them, a Maya project can never be made.So if your learning Maya for the first time and your reading a book that doesn’t show you how to get to certain menu function, then your chances of learning Maya becomes pointless and waste of time. Even if you have a detailed book full of the short cuts and terminology, deciding how to use them and where to use them becomes a big scrammbles nightmere.
I felt like my brain had a computer virus in it.

The formula of working on a project step by step while instructing you in detail how to find all the keyboard functions and terminology is a winning combination.

Learning Maya 7 takes you through hands on learning. Its almost like being in a class room. You work your way through each project which is designed to help you learn each function of Maya. By the time you finish the book and its projects not only will you have a detailed project but you will also have a detailed understanding of Maya.When done with Learning Maya 7, you will be ready and equipped to go on to many other Advanced Alias and third party learnng Books with ease.

I am a visual learner so by reading instructional books , things go in ear and out the other. However with this book it explaines Maya by making you work through each lesson.

This book has allowed me to get a grip on Maya and learn what was impossible for me.
My eyes launcehd wide open when 3D sprang into film and my desire to learn became a passion. I tried Gnomon videos and many other Maya books but it wasn’t until Learning Maya 7 helped me go where I could learn before.

Thanks a Bunch for a great Book Alias. If I can do it anyone can do it. Don’t give up trying because usually it’s the teaching method that makes the difference.If you have the passion then thats 99% of what you need the other 1% is the right teaching material that suits your learning style. Not everone learns the same way. Learning Maya 7 is designed for all those visual and hands on learners! So finally with this easy to use book has turned Maya 7 from Rocket Science to 8th grade learning material. If you can pass the 8th grade, you can learn Maya.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn Maya and has has difficulty with other training materials. This book will not disappoint you and will only excel.

This is also a great book to go over before entering any college or technical school for learning 3D. This book will launch you and give you ahead start on your studies. However in my opionion and many other artist I have talked to, if you don’t need the degree (which in CGI a protfolio is more important than a degree) save the $80,000 and learn it on your own. This book has opened the door for me to get into deeper Alias books for deeper learning and advancement. Without it I was a lost soul, no joking!!!

It also comes with a DVD with Alias Sketchbook valued at $200.00 which has been a real time saver in my art work.So how can you go wrong. Plus the DVD is loaded with all the project files and a finished mini movie of the project Blue which is taught through each lesson in the book.

2 THUMBS UP ALIAS---> Thanks for your best learning book ever

My first 5 stars

I just recieved this book on Friday January, 6th, i have already read the entire book, i’m new to 3d animation in the world of maya, so i wanted to start from scratch since i’m stepping away from 3ds Max 8. This book by far is better than anything i have ever seen for 3ds max. It walks you through everything step by step with details and it’s in color! The training videos are rather nice but what sucks about them is that they are in .mov format and i hate quicktime so i had to search for something to play them in (Althernative Quicktime player) so no harm done. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is interested in 3d Animations, you can make your characters nearly lifelike Maya is a very powerful tool and is used widly in the film industry specifically ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) And was used in filming the last chapter in the star wars saga Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I feel this is what truly drew me to start using maya. And this is the book for anybody who has those same intrests!

I’ve never given a 5 star to any book, until now!

The only real how-to manual you’ll need to learn Maya effectively

Learning Maya 7/Foundation is the only real how-to manual you’ll need to learn Maya effectively: it covers all the key techniques Maya holds and uses real-life project-based lessons as the teaching model, making it easy to take on step-by-step projects which can easily apply to one’s own. Chapters move quickly into advanced functions, and Maya owners will be pleased at the progress and the sense of production gained from working on the sample project robot Blue.

Excellent way to learn Maya

This is one of the best tutorial books that I have used with any product before. Not only does the author provide an award winning animated short film on the included DVD to inspire you, the book takes you through 5 interesting step by step projects to recreate the sets and characters from the film. The book covers all the basics and more and also includes introductionary movie clips for almost every chapter. The tutorials are interesting, getting progressively challenging as the more complex features are explored. You also get a copy of Sketchbook Pro 1.1 included, although not the latest version, functional all the same and the final chapter goes into transfering your storyboard sketches from Sketchbook Pro to Maya to use as a modelling guide.

Alias has stepped up to bat with this one!

Finally, a good way to learn Maya at home. I think this is a great book for many reasons. Though not for everyone, I will try and elaborate on my experiences with the book, and my perspective on how to best use it.

First off, a bit about where I come from, so you can gauge how useful this review will be: I am a former graphic designer turned filmmaker (and film graduate student) whose main strengths lie in programs like photoshop, flash, illustrator, etc. I do some VFX work in After Effects and Shake as well. I am fairly knowledgeable, good with computers, and a pretty quick learner. I am, by no means, however, a math wiz or 3d guru.

I’ve finished the first Unit of the book, and skimmed the rest of the book. I’d say I have a fairly strong understanding of most of the topics covered by this book.

So about a year ago I decided I wanted to learn Maya. First I got the Peachpit Press Visual Quick Start guide for Maya. This was a cute little intro to about 1% of the vastness of the Maya universe. Wanting to step it up, I got "Maya 6: The complete reference." Wow, what a painful experience that was. Unfortunately, while it’s quite detailed, it’s also quite un-proofread. Many of the examples are convoluted and flat our wrong... so now I am on to Learning Maya 7: Foundation.

First good point: Through line. As mentioned in other reviews, for most of the chapters, this book works you through creating a scene from an animated movie (which is also included on the disk). This allows you to explore basics, modeling, texturing, animation, and Rigging (quite some detail on rigging). These are the main focuses of this book. There are some other chapters on the Trax Editor, using sketchbook, etc. But the gist is, go through this book and you will be able to model, texture, and animate. The best thing is, working through one scene, you really feel a sense of accomplishment, like you are using all of the different elements of Maya together in harmony. It’s so easy to get discouraged and just quit, but this through line approach really gives you more self-confidence.

Second good point: Clarity. This may be debatable. Some people want a vivid personality, some comedian to write funny lines and keep them awake with humor. I personally, like technical books to get to the point. And that’s what this book does. The writing is clear, concise, not unfriendly or overwritten. You get stuff done! If you feel like you’re doing too much too fast, you can always do it again. But very seldom do you stop and scratch your head going, "huh?" The book has a very clear way of explaining what’s important and not important. It also focuses on training you to use hotkeys and hot boxes as much as possible.

In saying that, I did note a few typos in the book. For example, they refer to the Macintosh location of the Maya Documents folder incorrectly. Also, sometimes they tell you to go to a menu and you have to look around for which specific menu that is. Nevertheless, these errors are few and far between.

My last point relates to you, the user. If you are new to the world of computer design and animation altogether, then I think this book may not be for you. In fact, learning Maya may not be the best approach. I used to teach a graphic design class and I always started with Photoshop. I think that’s the quintessential design core. There are a lot of concepts, both technical and artistic, that should be covered before even getting into Maya if you really want to use it for all it is worth. For example, a knowledge of film lighting will greatly GREATLY help you light your scenes dramatically. A knowledge of vector vs raster imagery will help you understand the differences between hardware and software rendering. And so on. So please, don’t get ahead of yourself. This book is the foundation of Maya, not the foundation of computers.

Ok, that being said, this book is fantastic. I just wish I had more time right now so I could dive into it for a week.

The Learning Maya Overhaul is Complete . . . .

From the days of Maya 1 all the way to 6.5, Alias has used basically the same tutorials every single time: Bouncing Ball, Jack-in-the-Box, Space Battle, Primitive Man, and Salty the Seal have been included in every foundation book, and while there will always be a special place for ol’ Salty, a change was much needed. In this series, we finally get everything we wanted.

The entire Foundation book is based on the short film Blue, which means that you learn step by step how to create a very basic and simplified scene from the movie (including Blue himself, which I thought was pretty cool to say the least). All the basics are covered just as well as in the previous Foundation books, from Polygons to NURBS to dynamics and animation to MEL, all important topics are covered in detail. What makes this book stand out is how it will tell you step by step how to do something once, then cut you loose and let you experience it all by yourself, which is an excellent way to understand the material.

Finally, the icing on the cake, the extras. Not only does the CD contain videos of the more important lessons demonstrated plus all the saved completed projects and images, it comes with:

*Alias Sketchbook Pro (yes you have it forever, not a trial)
*The Short Film Blue and interview with the creator
*Extra lessons in both Sketchbook and basic texturing in Adobe Photoshop (or whatever paint program you have).

If you have get this book, then there is nothing to do but to go out and buy a tablet and stylus also. The basics of Sketchbook are taught in the very last chaper, something that is a must for storyboarding and sketching ideas, plus how to make your own textures and incorporate them back into Maya (something that was sorely lacking in previous books). If you are serious about taking on the beast that is Maya, then this book is a huge step in the right direction, you will come out with a thorough understanding of the basics of Maya, plus other tools to get you started making your own projects. This is a must have.

A Must Buy...

I am going through the Maya 7 Fundatmentals book, and I must say, I like the changes thus far (refering to ver. 6). Not only are there different examples this time around, but also, more features with better coverage.
It starts off the same, holding your hand through the first few examples, slowly pushing you to rely on yourself, then gearing you toward exploration, preparing you for harder, more studio like quality.
Not that I have anything against ’primitive man’, or ’salty the seal’, but I find modeling/rigging/animating the Blue Robot and the Red Alien to be all so much better. There seems to be more detail/coverage put into each one, such as: more indepth rigging and texturing (taking it beyond Maya), which are much welcomed improvements.
The end of the book even walks you through designing the character, during the sketch/storyboard stages, using SketchBook Pro (included), completing the book even more.
While you can still learn much from the previous versions of the Maya Fundamental books, this one, in my opinion, out does the rest, and is certainly worth the buy. This will be one those books you are able to refer back to, time and time again, throughout your carrer. Definitely a must buy for beginners, or even intermediates, such as myself.


*side note* -- if you are using Maya 6, or perhaps an older version, you can/should still buy the new Maya 7 book. The tutorial files on the DVD’s come in .ma format, meaning you can open the file in ’notepad’ and change the parts that say 6.5 or 7.0, to 6.0, then just save it & voila, its that easy. (the number indicating which version, should occur several times all together, and will be located on the the first and maybe the second line).

outstanding update

Hello & thank you for taking a peek at Maya Foundation. Well, im sure your aware Maya is a 3D modeling software & if your sitting there scratching your head on what the heck the fever is all about & why you should toss a penney in the pond & go wow!!! then my friend, lets journey together.
Ok the book is called "Learning Maya 7 Foundation" & let me tell ya! theres a foundation we should always stand on. Im sure by now your going ok guy, enough of the chit chat, tell me about this foundation. Ok but first pick up the phone & give Pizza Hut a call & enjoy cause thats as good as the Foundation gets.
Here we go, are you ready ? I picked up this book just to have the update. The previous version of this book in all honesty was good in one hand but in the other lacked some Nebraskan Love. This new version is state of the art, I read the first few chapters & went WOW oh WOW. I know Maya, worked with the software about a year now so why did I pick up another Foundation ? I was curious. You will learn of course the basics, yep! you cant run from the basics. Seriously, you should get this book. Its that good but let me say that no book will teach you any software program. My advice to those early maya users, start small. You may think big but I advice all of you to start small. Good things come to those who wait & yes!!! you must wait for jack is up in the bean stalk & lucy is going wow!!!! luv that old Pizza Hut Pizza. Best of luck to all you aspiring models, I smile at ya! Till next time, read on.

The Interactive Manual

So you wanna learn maya. Well this is the right book to do it with. However realize your not going to get anything insightful, all it tells you is how to use the program, like reading a manual.

To start off, it holds your hand too much. it is a beginner book but after it teaches you a feature/technique/doodad it will repeat itself multiple times, until you reach the middle of the book where it will let you finally apply what you learned previously in the chapter.
The instructor lead videos that it comes with are a joke. it seems to be done by someone who is reading the book as they do the video and only in the first chapters covers alternatives to the methods presented in the book. At one point the book said a joint rotation was wrong and how the head was not turning correctly, i couldnt understand it, cuz it looked the same to me, so i thought maybe the videos would clarify; nope.
Some of the pictures are too small to really see what it was they wanted, or it was on another page, or have vague markings; but thats like 10%. so its not a major problem.
BE AWARE Maya PLE does not come on the disc as stated above and the files will not work with maya 6(kind of a nobrainer) and as of Sept 2005 there is no maya PLE 7, but they are the same files you should be making anyway.

Even with all of the bad you will get a foundation knowledge of Maya. I do like how the projects interrelate with each other to make one entire scene(except the fourth); eg you make a room in the first section, second- animated orb that flys around the room, third- animated biped charater that reacts to the orb and room.

there is nothing noticeably new in this book thats not in foundation 5 or 6[so if you find an older edition(nothing older than maya5) for significantly cheaper than go for it, otherwise stick with 7]. Its just presented in a different(better) way but at the core its the same information in full color.

I recommend this book if you have no experience with maya, and if youre not paying full price(69.99)[*note this book also comes with student ed. of Maya]. its a great way to get started with maya but lacks the why of things; so get a book that focuses on the pricinples of 3D graphics and animation to complement this book.

excellent for beginners

i’ve read a bunch of beginner maya books and this one is by far my favorite. the book teaches you by projects so you learn by doing. the projects will teach you nurbs and polygon modeling, basic modeling, texturing, rigging, and animation. the instructions are clear and so are the graphics. all in all, i recommend this book for any aspiring beginner.