Maya 3D animation, effects, and compositing software is a top choice for film and video creators, game artists, and 3D design professionals. Now you can learn to build and animate your own digital models and scenes, and begin developing professional-level Maya skills, with Introducing Autodesk Maya 2012.

This new edition of the perennial favorite and bestseller is a perfect introduction to 3D and Maya. Starting with the basics, the book builds from the ground up, combining straightforward text with fun and practical examples to make it easy to learn Maya's core tools. Follow clear, step-by-step lessons while you learn by doing, using the hands-on project files available for download from the Web. The book includes a full-color insert with striking examples from talented new Maya users to inspire you.

• Learn CG and 3D core concepts and production workflows
• Get a fast, but thorough primer on Maya 2012's user interface
• Build a simple animation of the planets in the solar system, right away
• Explore the basics of NURBS, polygons, and subdivision surfaces modeling
• Create an alien hand, a steam locomotive, a toy wagon, and more
• Rig for animation and get the most out of Maya's powerful Graph Editor tool
• Master HDRI lighting, mental ray rendering, dynamics, visualization, and effects
• Use mental ray Sun & Sky to light a wagon
• HDRI lighting increases fidelity

Take your animations to the next level with this essential guide to Maya 2010. Packed with character animation techniques and the secrets of professional animators, How to Cheat in Maya 2010 provides the tips and tools to help you create high quality animation in the most efficient way possible. This comprehensive guide to animating with Maya contains gold-mine coverage, including animation techniques, using Maya's tools with the 12 animation principles, working with constraints, and even foolproof lighting tricks to show off your work.

Autodesk Maya 2010: A Comprehensive Guide textbook covers all features of Autodesk Maya 2010 in a simple, lucid, and comprehensive manner. It aims at harnessing the power of Autodesk Maya 2010 for the 3D artists and designers. This textbook will help you transform your imagination into reality with ease. Also, it will unleash your creativity, thus helping you create realistic 3D models, animation, and sci-fi effects. It caters to the needs of both the novice and advanced users of Maya 2010 and is ideally suited for learning at your convenience and at your pace.

Boasting full-color coverage and detailed, step-by-step lessons, the book uses real movie footage from the Yash Raj Films and Walt Disney Pictures feature film Roadside Romeo. Youll learn the Maya interface and basics of modeling, texturing, animating, and visual effects while the DVD provides further reinforcement with its instructor-led tutorial videos.

Learn how to produce desired design techniques with the how-to, detailed instructions in Learning Autodesk Maya The Special Effects Handbook (Official Autodesk Training Guide, includes DVD). This book uses actual production files from an animated short film in tutorials that will get you familiar with Mayas tools, options and capabilities. Follow the clear, step-by-step instructions to understand the rendering and dynamic stages of productions. You can explore lighting, texturing and visual effects and become familiar with the latest features through the books new tutorials and art.

Maya is one of the top 2 software tools available today for 3D game and film development - 600,000 registered users. This is a MUST-HAVE book for game artists interested in proficiency with Maya. If you can only afford one 3D modeling book, this is the one to have!

Learning Autodesk Maya 2008 I Foundation is your key to unlocking the power of Autodesk Maya software, directly from the creators of one of the world's most powerful 3D animation and effects software products. Get hands-on experience with the innovative tools and powerful techniques available in Autodesk Maya 2008. You'll gain a sense of the entire production process as you work on creating and animating characters from Sony Pictures Animation's feature film, Surf's Up. You'll even learn about compositing your characters into alternate environments in a bonus chapter on Autodesk Combustion software. Explore the Maya user interface, create organic structures with NURBS, apply forward and inverse kinematics, deform surfaces, learn to use Trax non-linear animation, discover rendering techniques, and so much more with this easy to follow guide to Maya. Includes bonus DVD with scene files, instructor-led podcasts, and other reference guides to give you a solid foundation in the art of animating with Maya.

This spectacular full-color guide takes a brand-new approach to Maya special effects, using characters and effects from the Oscar-winning short film The ChubbChubbs to teach rendering and dynamics * Covers the whole range of special effects topics, including lighting, camera rigging, effects, particles, and rigid bodies. Allows animators to compare effects they create with the effects found in the final film. Packed with great content from Alias, creators of Maya. The DVD includes instructor-led tutorials on Quicktime video as well as scene files, artist interviews, and Maya Personal Learning Edition

Develop out of this world modeling and animation skills with Learning Maya 7 | The Modeling and Animation Handbook. Based on artwork from the Academy Award®-winning Sony Pictures Imageworks’ The ChubbChubbs!, this book will allow you to follow clear step-by-step tutorials to understand the modeling and animation stages of production. Learn to refine models with a variety of surface types and then make them move with a wide range of animation techniques directly from the makers of Alias software. This intermediate-level book will help you make sound decisions from the beginning, to save yourself unnecessary challenges further down the pipeline. As a bonus feature, this hands-on book will also introduce you to animation in Alias MotionBuilder. Bonus Material:Includes free models from Turbo Squid (retail value $460.00)!

This exceptional, full-color Maya Press title -- produced by Alias, the software's creators -- is a comprehensive mid-cycle revision that uses the award-winning short film Blue as the basis for the book's all-new hands-on tutorials. Artists, students, educators, and hobbyists will appreciate this book's comprehensible coverage of 3D and Maya basics. Project-focused lessons use actual production files from the film Blue to teach you most of the tools available in Maya Complete. The companion DVD includes instructor-led tutorials, scene files, artist interviews, and Maya PLE. Also includes Alias's Sketchbook Pro Version 1.1.1, $129.99 value.