Learning Maya6 Rendering [With CD]

by Alias Learning Tools and Alias

Learning Maya 6: Rendering is your resource for creating dazzling imagery in Maya. Get hands-on experience with the power of the Maya rendering engine and mental ray for Maya as you set lights and cameras to your scenes, apply materials and textures to your models, create shading networks, and much more Whether you are striving for photo-realism, expressionism, or anything in between, achieve the results you want with Learning Maya 6: Rendering. Get...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1894893689
• ISBN13: 9781894893688
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Sybex
• Length: 362 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very informative, in-depth coverage

It comes at a rather hefty $60 price, and it's not for novice users at all. But if you've been doing Maya for awhile now, this is definitely worth it.First, if you *are* still at a beginning/intermediate level, the included Rendering DVD has 5 or 6 lessons (if I recall) to bring you up to speed. The presenter (Bob Gundu) isn't terribly exciting, but his walkthroughs are fairly clear and presented at an understandable speed.At a higher level, the book really gets into how the software renderer works, with useful tips on how to get rid of banding in depth-map shadows, and how to use shading map nodes. There are some Mental Ray-specific chapters included as well; this renderer usually never gets decent coverage in other introductory Maya books. This isn't a comprehensive reference (i.e. it won't cover in painstaking detail *every* single texture node), but it's a pretty useful tool for learning. I'd say this product is well worth the money.Oh, and yeah, from what I recall, this book almost looks the same as Learning Maya 5, so don't expect much of an update from that volume.