Best Maya book?

[Anonymous]

Opinions on best book.  Thanks.

[stumanchu · Accepted solution]

Check out any of the Mastering Maya books from the Cybex Press.  I have the the Mastering Maya series from 8.5 thru 2013.  They are world class reference books for all things Maya and I highly suggest you start with these.   Check out Amazon for great prices on all the older editions.  Even though a book was written for older versions of Maya they are still very much relevant to anything you will be doing on a more current version of Maya.  I use mine on a daily basis and in some cases "falling apart at the seams" from being used so much!  My Favorite is Mastering Maya 2009 (and I currently run Maya 2014)  All the best!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, stumanchu. I downloaded Maya essentials. Looks good.

[blt-liam]

And don't forget, the Mastering Maya Books are THE text books used for the Maya Certification Program. -Liam

[pmcavena]

I learned Maya from Digital tutors and have been making my living freelancing Fulltime for the past 5 years.

If you really like the sort of format a book has to offer I totally understand, but in my opinion watching tutorials is the best way to learn new software. 

Good luck!

Patrick

[generalcody]

I've read a few books on Maya through the years, and if I should pick one of them as the one I've learned most from it must be the Mastering Maya series from Sybex / Autodesk (I believe).

But if you're new to 3D, don't trap yourself in "Maya Only" books, as most topics are common across most professional 3D packages with the only difference being the user interface and some specialized tools. 

I'd reccomend "The Animators Survival Kit" for learning all there is to know ( more or less ) about classic animation principles.

Then I'd go for the "Mental Ray, for Maya 3DS Max and XSI - A 3D Artist's Guide to Rendering" by Boaz Livny. It is probably the book I've learned most of what I know about rendering from.

Start easy with some video tutorials, I'd reccomend the Gnomon Workshop, and especially the tutorials by Alex Alvarez. They are top of the line.

Here's an example I have used:

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/3/Introduction-to-Maya#.UoPLqvlWzJ8

Good Luck on your Maya Adventure. May it be a pleasant journy...  

[LawDude158]

In my opinion, Lynda.com has the best tutorials for learning Maya; and then Digital Tutors has great tutorials for practicing and learning the tools using project based tutorials.

[generalcody]

Digital Tutors have A LOT of tutorials, but the workflow they present are not top-notch.

They do things in a highly clumsy way sometimes.

I guess that having to stay updated on so many different 3D packages makes them a bit less workflow-centric in the case of Maya at least.

The Lynda tutorials are OK when you get passed the "Essentials" series. They really suck.

The guys over at Gnomon Workshop use Maya in production every day and hence deliver a whole different learning experience.

Go Gnomon!