Mastering Maya 8.5 - John Kundert–Gibbs

Take your Maya skills to new levels with the sophisticated coverage you'll find in this authoritative Autodesk Maya Press reference and tutorial. From key basics through advanced techniques, our Maya experts provide the very latest professional–level instruction on Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited.

Early chapters offer a practical overview of Maya's interface. A "Quick Start" exercise lets novices create an animation the first day and covers the basics of node structure, keyframes, and basic lighting. Advanced users will broaden their skills with pertinent coverage for nCloth, mental ray integration, volume Fur rendering, advanced texturing tools, and enhanced MEL scripting. Practical tutorials reinforce learning with hands–on practice.

If you've been looking for a professional–quality and complete Maya resource to turn to again and again, this is the book.

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  Render and store stills through the Render View window
  


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  Learn techniques with nCloth's powerful cloth simulation
  


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  Tweak and add drag–and–drop Fluid Effects for real–world effects
  

The CD provides tutorial files, images, and scene files that let you complete the hands–on exercises and compare your work to the pros. See the Introduction for details and complete system requirements.