Introducing Maya 2008 will show you how Maya works and introduce you to every part of
the toolset to give you a glimpse of the possibilities available with Maya.
You’ll learn the basic concepts underlying animation and 3D and how to work with the
Maya interface. You’ll then learn the basic methods of modeling—creating objects and
characters that appear to exist in three-dimensional space and that can be animated.
You’ll also explore shading and texturing—the techniques of applying surfaces to the
objects you create—and you’ll learn how to create lights and shadows in a scene. Animation
is an enormously rich topic, but the practice and theory provided here will give you a
solid footing. Then you’ll learn how to control the process of rendering, turning your
images into files that can be viewed. Perhaps Maya’s most dazzling capability is its dynamics
engine, software that allows you to make objects behave as if controlled by the realworld
laws of physics.
Once you’ve finished this book and its exercises, you will have some experience in
almost everything Maya offers, giving you a solid foundation on which to base the rest of
your Maya and CGI experience.
The goal of this book is to get you familiar enough with all the parts of Maya to get you
working on your own and to start a long, healthy education in a powerful and flexible tool.
You will, however, learn the most from yourself.