Maya 7 Visual QuickStart Guide

Description

Adding tools that allow users to realize the 2D Toon look of comic books, cartoons, manga and anime; create spectacular clothing, fur or long hair for characters; and move data quickly back and forth between Maya and Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, an already cool program just got even cooler. Here to take budding animators and modelers from 0 to 60 fast in Maya 7 is the eagerly anticipated update to everybody's favorite Maya tome: Maya 7: Visual QuickStart Guide! In these pages, best-selling authors Danny Riddell and Steve Anzovin use a combination of task-based instruction and strong visual aids to take readers step by step through all of Maya's essentials: unsurpassed character rigging and posing, integration with essential production tolls such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and more. Both beginning users, who want a thorough introduction to the topic, and more advanced users, who are looking for a convenient reference, will find what they need here in straightforward language and through readily accessible examples, peppered with tons of timesaving tips and tricks. By the end of the volume, users will be creating their own alternate universes in Maya 7!

CONTENTS:

Maya basics
Navigating & changing the interface
Creating primitives & text
Transforming objects
Selection modes
Grouping
NURBS curves
Polygons
Subdiv surfaces
Skeletons & rigging
Animation
Deformers
Shaders
Creating lights
Cameras
MEL
Dynamics