Introducing Autodesk Maya 2015

Learn Autodesk Maya from an award-winning insider

Best-selling author, visual effects supervisor, and technical educator Dariush Derakhshani brings you a newly-updated, step-by-step guide to the most popular and complex 3D application on the market, Autodesk Maya. Introducing Autodesk Maya 2015 includes straightforward lessons, real-world examples, detailed tutorials, and downloadable project files that get you modeling and animating your own digital models and scenes right away.

The book starts you with the latest CG concepts and production workflows, and then shows you how to create a solar system to help get you acquainted with the basic tool set in Maya. From there, the books helps you:

• Learn the Maya user interface, including menus and plug-ins
• Build simple animations and 3D images right away
• Explore polygons, modeling, and NEX tools
• Get started with HDRI lighting, rendering, dynamics, simulations, and effects

Whether you’re new to 3D or migrating from another 3D application, Introducing Autodesk Maya 2015 will kick-start your creativity and get you up and running with Maya.  Author Derakhshani has worked on movies such as The Fantastic Four and Pan’s Labyrinth, the South Park TV series, and numerous commercials and music videos.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to Computer Graphics and 3D
Chapter 2: Jumping into Basic Animation Headfirst
Chapter 3: The Autodesk® Maya® 2015  Interface
Chapter 4: Beginning Polygonal Modeling
Chapter 5: Modeling with NURBS Surfaces and Deformers
Chapter 6: Practical Experience!
Chapter 7: Autodesk® Maya® Shading and Texturing
Chapter 8: Introduction to Animation
Chapter 9: More Animation!
Chapter 10: Autodesk® Maya® Lighting
Chapter 11: Autodesk® Maya® Rendering
Chapter 12: Autodesk® Maya® Dynamics and Effects