I suppose you are not going to like the obvious answer, which is: depends. But knowing that you're already well versed with modeling, I'd say it might take a day or two to pick up the basics. Maya is I think fairly intuitive, so once you find where different tools are and how they are organized, you will be able to figure out how to apply your modeling knowledge from other package fairly easily. To get really efficient and get the most out of Maya will take some time, and some digging under the hood, such as getting to know how node based system works and how to use it to your advantage. The basic modeling tools are pretty similar to what Max has - some of them work a bit differently, but the result is mostly the same. For just modeling and unwrapping, you'll really only need to familiarize yourself with two editors: hypershade (materials) and UV editor.
There used to be on alias (I suppose it's now on Autodesk's) site a document that compares Maya to other apps, making it easy for people to find which Maya tools correspond to those in other packages, so I'd suggest going through that first.
As for relax UV tool, it works well, but I personally prefer to use Unfold UVs tool better, which works in a similar way. It's pretty cool, as it lets you iron out UV distortion based on distance of UVs in 3D space, and you can also constrain it to U or V direction, so that way you can keep the UV edges straight and be able to pack the textures more efficiently, and still get the least amount of distortion. I guess that is the closest to what Headus UV or Roadkill do. I think Maya UV tools are fiarly robust, there's even a smudge UV tool, and a lattice (like a FFD, but applied to UVs). Hope you like Maya, but beware it can crash without you ever finding out what the hell happened (so make sure to save often).
Well another thing to consider is whether you will have to make yourself comfy with the program in a studio environment, or by yourself.
My personal experience was to never worry about 'the other program' for my personal stuff since polygons are polygons anyways. I you 'need' to know Maya because you will have to use it at a new job I'd say don't worry over that too much - if the guys hiring you are smart enough they will take the time and do their best to answer all your basic questions and you'll be surprised by how fast you will be able to translate your knowledge of polygonal modeling in general to a new package in particular. Well maybe I've just been lucky but that's how it went for me ; first guy gave me a quick tour of an hour or so, then I just asked the extra advanced questions to the more technically versed guy over a week. I'd say that maybe the most important thing is to take notes of the commonly used shortcuts to avoiding asking for them over and over.
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There used to be on alias (I suppose it's now on Autodesk's) site a document that compares Maya to other apps, making it easy for people to find which Maya tools correspond to those in other packages, so I'd suggest going through that first.
Basically those are some of the ones you should get used to first.
fogmann, very informative. by the way, that sam model on your site kicks alot of ass.
As for relax UV tool, it works well, but I personally prefer to use Unfold UVs tool better, which works in a similar way. It's pretty cool, as it lets you iron out UV distortion based on distance of UVs in 3D space, and you can also constrain it to U or V direction, so that way you can keep the UV edges straight and be able to pack the textures more efficiently, and still get the least amount of distortion. I guess that is the closest to what Headus UV or Roadkill do. I think Maya UV tools are fiarly robust, there's even a smudge UV tool, and a lattice (like a FFD, but applied to UVs). Hope you like Maya, but beware it can crash without you ever finding out what the hell happened (so make sure to save often).
My personal experience was to never worry about 'the other program' for my personal stuff since polygons are polygons anyways. I you 'need' to know Maya because you will have to use it at a new job I'd say don't worry over that too much - if the guys hiring you are smart enough they will take the time and do their best to answer all your basic questions and you'll be surprised by how fast you will be able to translate your knowledge of polygonal modeling in general to a new package in particular. Well maybe I've just been lucky but that's how it went for me ; first guy gave me a quick tour of an hour or so, then I just asked the extra advanced questions to the more technically versed guy over a week. I'd say that maybe the most important thing is to take notes of the commonly used shortcuts to avoiding asking for them over and over.
In any case, good luck!
pior, yeah it's for a potential job, so there is some added motivation to learn at least.