Very Basic Newbie Questions
 

Hey Everyone,

I have recently become really interested in MAYA and I have started working with the software about 2-3 weeks ago. I am learning somewhat quickly but I have some basic questions that the books I bought haven't touched on:

(I know I'm jumping way ahead in what I should be learning)

- The best way I learn is looking at something and reverse engineering it. Is there a site where I can say download a project that has a person and its joints all set up? What about other items (anything) that I use. Is there a depositorary of these types of items that people share (much like people share VB/Winbatch code).

- If I wanted to create a scene that was say 5 minutes long, how long should I have the time line? Would I split the scene into smaller scenes or would it all be just one big scene?

- How do I finalize a scene so I can export it as an AVI or something to be imported into a Video Studio program like Studio 8.

Thanks in advance everyone. Hopefully in several months, I can start doing some good projects.

Chris, Baltimore.

For information on finalizing the scene to make an avi check the video tutorials i think there is one on the subject.

As for a place you can download scenes, i know one but can't tell you as the moderators will have a go at me for putting up a burger king poster in McDonalds again (u know the site) so try searching for "*.mb download" or something.

Thanks for the responses!!!! I'll give your suggestions a try.

Chris

PS, why would the moderators mind? Are there places I can download something on this page or am I just making a fo paux (sp?)

Because i advertised the site when asking a question before and they didn't like it becuase it's like saying "here's a great site go spend your money there not here" as they also did video tutorials you could buy. You can see what they're saying, i know i wouldn't like it if i was running a site like this and someone started advertising our biggest rival site. I just wasn't thinking when i posted my question.

If they want to give you the address i suggest you check it out as it has some great scene files you can download, but i'm not giving the link on this site again or they'll get pissed off.

1. There are sample projects you can download on the main Alias website. You'll need to create a user account first, then go to the Downloads section and search for sample projects.

2. You could create one single scene for your 5 minute animation, but I think it would be a pain to manage that many frames all at once. IMHO, several smaller scenes would be easier to work with.

3. You should look up information on Rendering for final output. That will have been covered in one of the first tutorials that come with Maya.

Thanks!!!!! I didn't realize the Alias main site had downloads like that.

I'll look at some of the rendering tutorials as well.

There is just too much to learn!!!

Thanks again.

Chris

If your animation was 5 minutes long, your timeline would extend to 7200 frames if you were to do 24 frames per second. 5(minutes)x60(seconds in every minute)x24(frames)=7200

I would split the animation up, however.

www.highend3d.com has many shaders for maya that you can reverse engineer and learn about it's hypershade.

I don't mind telling people other resources for learning....that's what we are all here for.....just as long as you check us out first....of course we want you to stay here....and if there is something you would like to see in a training video....make a suggestion.....

If you feel that one of your posts may anger the gods (David and Goliath (Kevin)), then send me a private message....or send them a private message stating what you want to post....we'll figure it out:bgreen: :bgreen: :bgreen:

The only downsid I've seen with maya seems to be that it can't create a AVI, MOV etc. without an add on prog like renderman. You could use BINK and render all your frames seperately and then splice tham in...but if you have the case getting renderman or a similar prog would be a better option

Wow....I really appreciate all the responses I got on this. It's great to see a user community come out and help a newbie like me.

What I am looking to do after I am guessing will be about 1-2 years of hard work, is create a short 5 minute movie (music video actually) totally in MAYA to import into Studio8. Hopefully, with the help of this user group, I can accomplish this.

Thanks everyone.

Chris

Actually Maya is very capable of producing an AVI out of the frames you wish rendered. Yet, the best way to accomplish a sequence is the way lot´s of studios do it. By rendering in layers and then composing them in a compositing applet such as Aftereffects, Combustion, or the more expensive seats of Inferno and Flame solutions.

Kudos from new kid
 

Another newbie here.
I am a member of several other sites, and just joined you folks yesterday.
This site is by far the best for new kids! Lots more tuts and as a new user, I don't feel like my questions would be too basic for the forum.
Thanks for being here!