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Advanced Maya texturing and rendering

Dastan
Dastan
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Dastan
I found this book on amazon, but it is a 2008 book, Is it worth buying it? Do you know it?

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Maya-Texturing-Lighting-Lanier/dp/0470292733/ref=pd_sim_b_3[/ame]
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  • Stromberg90
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    Stromberg90 polycounter lvl 11
    I would mostly look around the internett for free tutorials or search the forum for information, but it's completly up to you.
    It has gottn good reviews tough, so if you are going to buy a book, this isnt the worst :)
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  • Dastan
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    Dastan
    what about that Gnomon Workshop training classes? Are they good?
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  • Trevion3D
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    Trevion3D polycounter lvl 9
    Well Gnomon is amazing when it comes to learning about anything, their master class has some good stuff, I have that book it pretty good but I haven't had time to read the whole thing yet.
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  • Dastan
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    Dastan
    Trevion3D wrote: »
    Well Gnomon is amazing when it comes to learning about anything, their master class has some good stuff, I have that book it pretty good but I haven't had time to read the whole thing yet.

    There is an annual subscription of the Gnomon Workshop, but it is so expensive! Is it worth the U$500/year for everything or better buy individual trainings?? =o
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  • Trevion3D
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    Trevion3D polycounter lvl 9
    honestly i don't know the answer to that question, i think its great and yeah 500$ is expensive unless you can find another way to get it >_> <_< but anyway its all up to you mang there's also digital tutors.
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  • Autocon
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    Autocon polycounter lvl 15
    I was looking at gnomon stuff the other day for Max and Maya. Didnt see any game related vids worth it. Some looked ok but way over priced.
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  • kodde
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    kodde polycounter lvl 19
    Dastan wrote: »
    I found this book on amazon, but it is a 2008 book, Is it worth buying it? Do you know it?

    http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Maya-Texturing-Lighting-Lanier/dp/0470292733/ref=pd_sim_b_3


    What is it you want to learn? Offline rendering? Real time rendering? Just whatever rendering?

    One thing that I personally finds helpful is doing photography on my spare time. Giving your shots a thought before snapping them. Also I like to light subjects with whatever is available. A studio would be ideal, but who has one of those around right? :)
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  • Trevion3D
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    Trevion3D polycounter lvl 9
    Yeah it would be easier to know if its right for you, if we knew what you wanted the book for,

    if you just curious about maya shaders and want a lil idea on how to get started there i say check out the book, Gnomon offers some great advice that can be used anywhere, I watched some stuff that was in maya using Mental Ray that same principles of Light and color that I apply when lighting a scene in Unreal but its up to you, everyone has thier own way of getting the knowledge they want.
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  • Dastan
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    Dastan
    actually everything
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  • Dim
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    Dim polycounter lvl 10
    Honestly, Maya has barely changed since 2008, so it's not really a question of whether it's still relevant. The biggest difference is that 2011's interface looks fairly different, but that's about it. The biggest differences are that somethings are moved around but if you use Maya's help file (which is really good), then you should be able to find everything you're looking for.
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  • Firebert
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    Firebert polycounter lvl 16
    Dim wrote: »
    Honestly, Maya has barely changed since 2008, so it's not really a question of whether it's still relevant. The biggest difference is that 2011's interface looks fairly different, but that's about it. The biggest differences are that somethings are moved around but if you use Maya's help file (which is really good), then you should be able to find everything you're looking for.

    I would beg to differ here on a tremendous scale.

    There have been several developments that have changed since 2008 aside from the UI. In specifics with rendering (which is the topic at hand here), Mental Ray shaders, stability with using them in different environments, not having to connect up pesky networks manually, better stability of real-time preview updates.... HUGE differences. And not just between 2008 and 2011, just between 2008 and 2009 there are great differences along those same lines. Texturing tools have also changed, and implementation of several modeling and selection features.

    IMO, the book is out dated. You would learn more by experimenting, reading up on what specific nodes do and can help you achieve. The help file IS really good. LAMRUG is a great resource as well, and in combination with Google, you'll be just fine without it.

    If anything didn't really change between any version, it would be 2009-2010.
    Not trying to be a douche, but to say it has barely changed in the past 3 versions can be misleading to some.
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