Good Intro to Maya?

I've just gotten Maya installed and started trying to learn it. Tutorials and things that I've been able to find so far all seem to assume that you have a basic knowledge of the software already, which I don't... Can anyone recommend a good, REALLY basic intro to Maya? If there happens to be anything written specifically for someone coming to Maya from AutoCAD, that would be even better... I've been using AutoCAD for several years, so I'm struggling to change the way I think. (How can I draw two straight lines joined at 90 degrees and not have it interpolate a curve??)

The best thing you can do to learn Maya for the first time is the following:

1. Watch the movies that come with it to learn quickly how the interface works. Maya should prompt you to watch them the first time you start the program. If it doesn't, you'll find them under Help -> Learning Movies.

2. Follow the tutorials (in order) in the help file. Everything you need to know to get started is right there. You'll find that Maya has the best included help of any program you've ever used. It's really good.

3. Follow up with a good book (there are hundreds), and/or take a class at your local community college if one is offered, and/or subscribe to a good online learning site such as gnomononline.com.


Keep in mind, Maya is not just a program but a full platform. It can do literally millions of different things. You'll never ever learn them all, so don't try. Go through the help tutorials to learn the basics, and from there, concentrate on what's important for your specific projects.

Listen to Chosen...the man speaks the truth, and is always enlightening.

A few good resources are:

www.highend3d.com

www.3dcafe.com (mostly a pay site though)