I get to teach kids maya...

misterfasser

I teach AP Calculus and Programming at a high-school in Wisconsin. I am also the defacto 'computer guy' and when anything electronic malfunctions it is my fault. Very recently my school decided to add in classes for students wishing to learn how to 'do computer graphics' and I was chosen to develop the curriculum. This is a bit baffling because I know jack squat about proper work flow and techniques. I told them this. Several times and with much volume. I lost the argument and so here I stand.


The only thing I really have going for me is a traditional training in the visual arts. I grew up in a house where both parents are full time artists and I initially went to school for art. Eventually I realized that math and computers were what held my interest, so thats what I did.


I am a very firm believer in teaching from experience. All the curriculum options I have seen so far are very lacking and they require someone who knows their way around whatever software package is being used in the video. The only way I am going to be effective as a teacher is if I learn how to do what it is that I am teaching.


Some decisions about the course have already been made. First: it will be 2 years long. Second: it will focus on creating work suitable for use in a real time environment. Third: the packages we are going to be using is Maya 2011, Photoshop, and Mudbox. Fourth: We will be using UDK to tie projects together every semester. Fifth: I have about a year to learn what I need to learn.


I apologize in advance if I ask some really stupid questions while I try to get functionally literate inside maya. I picked up some training DVD's from the gnomon workshop and the infinite skills introduction to maya. They are really nice but diving in is going to be the best way for me to learn. I have a personal goal to put 25-40 hours a week into doing actual relevant work.


This is not going to be easy. I just watched a bit on UV mapping and got overly eager to make something. 30 minuets later I rage quit maya. I am an old man who is in way over his head. If anyone feels like sharing some hard wrought advice and wisdom I would be forever in your debt. Just trying to figure out where to start is overwhelming. I have some work to do...

TheWildHunt

This may or may not help, but when I was in HS, my video production teacher was a greenhorne too, didn't know jack squat on the subject, but he watched tutorials obsessively, and wrote his lessons less than a week ahead, just using what he had learned in the previous week as his lesson plan.

misterfasser

I feel for the guy. It sounds like he did what I am more or less planning on doing. The big change is: I get to cram for a year before having to answer questions from students. The 2012-2013 school year is going to be fun :poly142:

equil

Back when i was introduced to maya i found the included tutorials to be really helpful. Managed to breeze through them in a weekend or two. We also had cheat sheets attached to every desk, but ultimately you'll just have to learn by breaking stuff until you know how not to do things.

Also, keep a notebook at hand and write down what goes wrong for you, what functions you would like but can't find when you're doing different things, what useful functionality you've discovered and so on. In essence, I recommend you to document your own learning process so that you will have a good foundation to teach others.

chrisradsby

Well I've been a 3d-Max teacher before I went into the game industry (6 months), I pretty much taught 17-19 year olds (highschool?). Since the class was mostly guys I focused the class on video games, I showed them work from others to get them inspired and then came up with basic tasks to give them.

It's usually easier to work from a book, so consider buying some kind of material that you can learn from and that they can learn from as well. It's really hard to keep their interest mainly because most kids these days don't think about their future and don't take it seriously. It really should be focused on small , rewarding tasks, it's no way that most of them can handle a big task from the get go.

This might be good, a friend of mine created these:
http://www.focalpress.com/eresources/animation/maya_in_minutes_bundle.aspx

Brendan

How many hours contact time do you have each week - also how much homework are you allowed to dole out?

I'd say from the start, work with props - a kettle or something. Get them to learn basic edge flow, unwrapping and materials (metal, plastic, etc0.

Then something more complex - a speaker with a poly mesh mesh. Easy to make, then get them to bake and what not.

After that, a guitar and/or drum kit, get them to learn good sub-d modelling for the guitar's shape, and get them to deal with the details like screws and snares for the drum kit.


That should last a semester or so, including an intro to Maya.


Semester 2, make a rock concert scene, complete with the entire stage, backing, and instruments. Teach them lighting, smoke (etc), and rendering.

Make them a simple low-poly rig, and then have them animate it - the moonwalk is a good challenge.



The next year, start organics. A tree, with tiling texturing and leaves and what not. Then a small animal (chicken, gerbil, whatever you think), from scratch. Start sculpting bark and what not in Mudbox, and using Maya Fur to make fur textures.

Final semester, have them work on a face. Depending on how they are at Maya and ZBrosh, make it a realistic face or a stylized one.