Getting Started (help)
 

I'm definitely new to the Maya scene, and to this website. I have been doing some serious research on modeling and developing different things using the program, and have successfully come across some good help. So to my question...I was just wondering what some of you "pros" did when you first started? What type of books did you read / what website did you use for tutorials? I'm especially interested in character modeling. Any help at all would be very appreciate.
Thanks Alot! :)

Don't know how much of a "pro" I am, but I figured I'd give you an answer. :p

I went to school for it. Learned the basics and then taught myself the complex stuff while I taught it for another year. I never really did much from books, except for the first books I got for classes.

After that, it was all just a matter of practicing!

Good luck!

I'm not a pro, still learning (self & at college).

I just followed tutorials (there some excellent video tutorials on the right side of the home page of this site) and i get help from people on these fourms when i'm stuck. Look at the 'tutorial links' section of the fourm. You can also search over at google. And there are some good tutorials at 3dcafe.com and highend3d.com

It's all about trial-and-error. You will make mistakes and get stuck. You just learn from these.

I would take it slow and learn simple things (from tutorials). You really dont want to do things that are to advance, you'll just end up in a mess. For example: I've been using Maya since september, and i'm only really just getting into modelling.

I dont have any Maya books, although you can download infomation similar to what is in most maya books in .pdf format. There everywhere over the net and when Kevin see this post, he should know where you should go.

hope this helps....and welcome to SM :)

btw...do you have Maya cos if not you can download Maya PLE (personal learning edition) for free over at aliaswavefront.com

:)

Thanks for the replys guys...I have been searching for tutorials and came across some very helpful ones. I actually just got Maya 4.5 a few days ago, and I've seen the work it can produce and I just want to get better and better at it.
Thanks Again.