The best Maya manual? + one question!

Yes yes I'm here AGAIN.
I've recently got more into rl 3d design so I'm trying to learn things ' OUT ' of Maya and since sl is so limited as to what to use , there's alot of information I'm probably missing.

What is the best Maya manual book or so out there by opinion?

Andd I'm currently modelling a character in Maya , create new isoparms , insert them via the nurbs menu , then I go to edit them like everything else but they don't move.THEN when I restart Maya and reopen the file you can see the shape moved :/.

Am I missing something?


Edit : Seems it works after resetting the insert isoparms settings so hopefully it stays that way!

Maybe not getting stuck again

The best introductory information is the tutorials in the Help file, which you already have. If you haven't been through them all yet, do that now.

As for followup material, the Maya Press books are pretty good, or at least they were back when I was first learning. I've got no reason to suspect the updated versions wouldn't be just as good, but it's been a while. There's a pretty good listing of them here: http://www.sybex.com/WileyCDA/Section/Autodesk-Maya-Press-Series.id-290940.html

I can also atest that the training videos from gnomononline.com are very good. You might want to consider subscribing. Just be aware that not every video will have been made with YOUR version of Maya. Some of the information will be outdated. It will all still work, but in some cases there will be better ways to do things now than there used to be. This is par for the course with graphics training, so don't sweat it. It's just something to keep in mind.

Really, though, the best teacher is practice, practice, practice. This is not a small subject. Tools can work against each other. Not every technique is compatible with every other. With experience, you get a feel for what will work with what, and you develop your own work style. But in the beginning it can seem a little daunting. Just keep taking it one step at a time, don't expect too much too fast, and you'll be fine. It comes quicker than you'd think, as long as you don't try to force it, if that makes sense.




You're making a character model out of NURBS? What are you planning on using it for? Unless you plan on bringing it into SL as a collection of sculpted attachments for an avatar, I wouldn't recommend continuing. If the model is intended to be used in a game or something, make it out of polygons. If it's for film, NURBS are an option, sure, but I probably wouldn't recommend it.

There was a time when NURBS patch models were the way to go for film, but that's not very common anymore. Since the advent of programs like Zbrush and Mudbox that work in conjunction with larger platforms like Maya, that can handle tens of millions of polys with total ease, and that offer such great sculpting and painting tools, polys are really the most felxible way to go.

Subdivs are a good option as well, as they offer kind of the best of both worlds, the open-endedness of polys plus the infinite resolution of NURBS. But they're not so easily transferrable from program to program as polys.

In any case, regarding your isoparm problem, let's first make sure we're both talking about the same thing. You're not supposed to be able to move isoparms themselves directly. Notice when you select one with any of the transformation tools, you get a purple warning at the bottom right of the sreen, "//Warning: Some items cannot be moved in the 3D view."

To move an isoparm, you move the row or column of control vertices (called a hull) that controls it. You can't directly move the isoparm itself.

If moving the hulls or CV's is what you're talking about, then we're on the same page. If it's something else, then please explain.

Now, assuming you are indeed talking about CV's and/or hulls, I just did a little Googling, and I found this: http://forum.simplymaya.com/showthread.php?threadid=30773

At least two people are reporting the same problem you described. Create a new isoparm, try to move its CV's, and it appears not to work. But save and restart, and you see the changes you made. So the editing is actually working, but the display is just not updating.

I've never experienced that problem, myself (knock on wood), and there's no solution posted in that link. So I'm afraid I don't know where to steer you. Assuming you're running a licensed copy, try calling Autodesk tech support.


For whatever it's worth, my best guess is it's probably an instability caused by running Maya on unsupported hardware. Unless you've got a workstation graphics card, Maya isn't guaranteed to work on your system. It usually will be mostly stable with high end gaming cards, but it will suffer the occasional glitch. With midrange or low end cards, all bets are off.

You can find out if your graphics card has been tested to work with Maya by reading the information at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?id=13583898&siteID=123112

If you're running a GeForce card, if it's older than the 8 series, and if its second digit is lower than a 6, you're lucky Maya even works with it at all. If you're an ATI user, I'm not sure off hand what the direct equivalents are, but the same philosophy applies. It's gotta be from a relatively recent series, and it must be high end, or at the very least, upper midrange.

And of course, make sure you're using the most recent drivers, and that they've been properly installed. That means never letting Windows Update touch your drivers, and never ever installing a new driver on top of an old one. This is a subject I often harp about over on the Technical Issues forum. Improper driver installation is a common cause of graphics glitches in many programs, and Maya is among the more sensitive.

If it's not a graphics issue, then I might suggest you uninstall and reinstall Maya. If that doesn't do it, then I'm out of ideas. Good luck.

Hey chosen,
Thanks for the reply , Yeah I've come across a few books on amazon to maybe help me along modelling with NOT having sl in mind.
This character I'm trying to build ( or anything really) is for my website I'm creating for my rl portfolio ( will be a flash website most likely)
So I'm finally getting around to using maya for something other than SL , but now there are alot of things in maya that can be used that I haven't had any look into haha.

So I was just wondering if a book would help me.
Also the Isoparms , Yes its exactly the issue of creating then not being able to move but I have figured out ( I hope) that when I keep deleting transform history it works.

So you are saying I CAN use subdivides instead of polys? and that I'm better of using polys to create my objects? I mean I probably will try to learn how to animate etc so what would be the best to use?

Thanks

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Maya-2009-Collection-Foundation/dp/0470474432/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259607527&sr=8-3
was contemplating getting this ? or can i get the same amount of info online ? :/

Poly modeling is always the best place to start.

For the project you're working on now, I'd recommend three DVD's from Gnomon: Head Modeling For Games, Body Modeling For Games, and UV Mapping For Games. They're a little outdated in that they tell you to use some third party plugins that are no longer needed (equivalent tools are now built right into Maya), but they do an excellent job of covering the basic foundations of character modeling. After going through them, you'll have a good handle on how to create low-poly characters, and you'll be in a good position expand toward more detailed characters if you want to go that route. The videos are a little pricey (around $60 each, last time I looked), but they're well worth it. I learned a ton from them way back when.



Now, on to the overlying subject. I don't want to scare you or discourage you, but I should give you a realistic idea of what you're likely in for as you try to expand outward, having started with sculpties. I apologize in advance if any of what I'm about to say is out of place, but from this and other threads of yours, I get the impression that most, if not all, of your experience with Maya so far has been just sculpties, not much else, correct?

If that's the case, you have until now put the cart before the horse in a lot of ways, so you're in for some frustration as you begin to turn it around. Your first impressions of "normality" with Maya have been just a few very specialized habits that won't directly be applicable to most everything else you'll ever do in 3D. Your perceptions are a likely a bit bass ackwards at present. Some things that should feel routine and comfortable will seem alien, and some things that would otherwise be strange are what you know well. Keep that in mind as you go forward, and try not to let it discourage you. Just recognize it for what it is, and keep going.

It's a bit like asking someone to learn to sing after he's been fronting a death metal band for 20 years. He may be a very experienced vocalist, but all his experience has only been aimed at one thing. No mater how good a screamer or growler he may be, those sounds just don't have any place in any other style of music. His muscle memory is programmed for grating, not singing, so producing pure tone will be harder for him at first than for someone who's never done either.

By the same token, no matter how good a sculpty maker you might be, many of the habits you've developed don't have much if any place in any other medium. So some things will be harder for you right now than for a total beginner. Again, don't let it discourage you.

This, by the way, is why I always tell people to forget about sculpties in the beginning, and concentrate on learning Maya itself first, without regard to any specific project types. One who has mastered the basics, can easily apply the full gamut of that acquired knowledge to any specific kind of project one will ever want to make, sculpties included. But someone who has started only with sculpties, or with any other narrowly specific kind of project, will inevitably have skewed perceptions. It's then an uphill battle to expand outward from there. It's harder to change habits than to form them, if you know what I mean.

I offer that advice all the time, but not everyone chooses to take it, which is understandable. So you're certainly not alone, if that makes you feel any better. It's not going to be the easiest thing in the world for you to turn that cart around, but people do get through it, and so will you. Good luck, and have fun with it.

I have heard alot of good things about 3dbuzz training videos and dvds.

I brought an excellent book called "Mastering Maya 7". I am very pleased with it and would recommend it for people learning maya or with limited experience( I think there are updated versions). Before this I had borrowed alot of rubbish maya books from libraries, that I would have been very disjointed if I had wasted money on.

Everyone has their favourites, but I'll put a pitch in for "Maya at a Glance" and "The Art of Maya", both official Autodesk books if that matters. They won't teach you all you need to know by any means, but At a Glance will give you a few basic tutorials that will get your feet wet in the various menus, and The Art is a great overview of all the various techniques and tools that Maya offers.

I get that a fair bit, I usually find going edit>delete by type> history for the object, gets me good to go again. That or rebuilding surfaces after every new inserted Isoparm, however lots of settings in there to understand.