ok..

i am also a newbie..
i am from canada (yup!), and i have only recently been able to sign up on these forums because of my age.
Now, I have got Maya Unlimited (yes, the legal version), (u people have no idea for how long i have saved money to get this and how much work i have done to earn this much money to but this program!)
and i absolutely know nothing...
all i have done is opened the prog up once and click on those premade shapes on the top...
Now, i actually wanted to learn from a book...
i have Maya 4.0, 200105302318

Please, recommend me a really nice and economic book for my version. for i was able to borrow a book from a friend of mine and it doesnt work. the version the books covers it outdated or updated or something...
if my version if old, can i update..for free? without saving money for like the next hundred years?

thanks..
-dpv

welcome to SM dpvtank... :p
you can purchase Maya Foundamentals 4.. it's a good book, starts from the total basic and works it's way up with a pleasant way..
hope to be seein' you around the boards.. :D

what about the documentation that comes with the program ??

I usually do not prefer documentations and e-books.
something i hate is e-books.
i hate opening up the program and keeping the e-book open at the same time. i have one monitor so i have to switch back and forth to one thing to another. I hate that soooo much.
Documentations, well, i think they are bad. i started my multimedia career with Flash 5, and today, i have flash mx (i am really good at that, though nothing compared to 3d)..
i read the documentation of it when i was a total newbie. It covered things like actionscripts which were not meant to be for a newbie.
I then got a book called Foundation Flash 5 and Foundation Actionscript of which i learned a heck lot of stuff starting from the basic.

so, now u see why i hate documentations and e-books.
something solid to work on is better. A book.
Thanks Roman, i will definately look into that!
more book recomendations are welcome.

i am particulary interested in Maya Bible.
Although it is not yet published, i have heard good things about these books. But, i just want to study the foundations...
so......

please keep that in mind.
thanks
-dpv.

Hmmm ..
 

Well .. looks like you haven´t seen Maya´s docs yet...

I´m sure you actually made some of the tutorials Macromedia embedded in Flash right? .. well .. you might actually get the same feeling reading some of Wavefront´s tutorials (at least to get you started) Then move on to some of the tutorials around here ...

Never underestimate the power of the documents the manufacturer provides you, reading through some of those you could actually get little gems of info you won´t find nowhere else.

Just my 2 cents.

Bye

hmm...
ok...lemme try it.
but i am going to go to my local chapters bookstore and read it a bit and see how it goes.

thanks.
-dpv.

to be honest the books are great. Because you read something and then stumble into something else, and then you read that part en little by little you will learn how to use things in maya.

Do not expect to learn it in 1 day. Maya is to big to learn in a day. Play with it.

What I do is I make a project scene. and each time add something else example: Create a torso first (learn how to model with nurbs and poly) whenthe torso is ready animate it (with bones and rigging) and when that is done apply texture ! and so on... each step brings you a little closer on how to do stuff !

But this is how I do thing. It is up to you to learn the way you do it ! :) But remember, Practice make perfect !! :)