I wouldn't be surprised if this was asked before but, do you guys know of any good books for learning 3D modeling? Preferably for Maya (and for a newbie such as myself).
I searched the web and found a book called "The Game Artist's Guide to Maya" by Michael McKinley. Do you recommend on buying it? Or should I look elsewhere?
Thanks in advance.
Replies
Get yourself a subscription to Digital Tutors... a couple of their Maya courses (namely Intro to Maya, and Intro to Modeling in Maya) and you'll be all set and well equipped to start your own projects which along with some crit on here will be the best learning experience you can get.
www.digitaltutors.com
Personally I wouldnt recommend you anything until you learn the basic tutorials that comes with Maya. (if you go to the help from the menu bar you would find the tutorials)
If you are soo eager to spend money and have a lot of time in hand to learn this tool, I would suggest you should get a month subscription of www.digitaltutors.com
EDIT: DAMN IT!!! >.<
You can find such modeling tutorials on:
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Maya/Modeling/1
http://www.3d-tutorial.com/tutorials.php?cat=17
http://www.learning-maya.com/23-0-modeling-tutorials.html
the one that'll cost you is:
digital tutors as Creation 22 have stated.
Rest assured; if you've learned Maya via Maya tutorials that comes with it. Start modeling and post here in the pimp and preview to get a good guide and critics to refine your work. But first I assume you do not know a flow of topology of modeling So the free websites will do good for you.
There is also an SDK thread on this website:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70908
You can download the model from there and follow their model to model one on your own for good practice.
There are more model sources here in pimp and preview that you can follow.
Also try http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/index.php
Good luck
Tip for anybody self teaching is just ignore the tools and u.i. tabs that don't deal directly with what you're planning to use more of. Like modelling versus rendering or fx brush tools, etc. Couple of weeks on the job you'll know better how much or how less you need to ramp up with the app.