Introducing Autodesk Maya 2016: Autodesk Official Press

Despite having access to Lynda.com and Pluralsight.com which both have excellent Maya courses, having a book to highlight, mark the margins and return to as reference is very helpful. I am moving from 3DS Max to Maya 2018 and I wanted a book to gel the core concepts of modeling and shading, as well as animating, rigging, constraints... in Maya.Other than changes from 2016 to 2018 Maya, primarily a change in renderer (Mental Ray to Arnold), as well as MASH (unlikely to be covered in an intro book), this book applies well to Maya 2018.I found the book very practical, with interesting projects that could be completed in a reasonable amount of time, and reinforced key concepts. I would recommend this book for anyone new to Maya or moving from another 3D software package. I would have given this book a 5 star rating, but the picture quality in the text is poor. This is likely a combination of the printing, as well as image contrast and magnification. Some of the topics are complex (e.g. UV Mapping, rigging) and poor images make the topic more difficult to follow. There had at one time been videos online to demonstrate the content, but only a few can still be found on YouTube.My only other comment relates to efficiency. I wondered why the author created a "virtual studio" of planes for modeling, instead of using the built in image plane functionality. With the image planes you simply import an image for top, front, side views (and move them back -100 in their respective planes). Instead he has you build this from scratch. In the same vein, short-cut key creation could have been introduced for some common repetitive menu tasks such as center pivot, delete history, freeze transformations.In summary, this is a very well written book and I would highly recommend it, despite its being outdated for the 2016 version of Maya. As far as I can tell, it was updated for more than a decade of revisions since 2004, and its content appears to have greatly benefited from both revisions as well as the authors own extensive experience. It would be a shame if Sybex and Autodesk let this book fall into "out of print," even when online tutorials have largely taken over. If they do print a sequel in the future, I would recommend they improve the printed image quality (which by the way, was just as poor in the Kindle versions of their Mastering Maya book).

Was looking forward to this book. BUT I found that you cannot zoom in on any kindle device or Kindle for PC app. Which is dumb. If you look at page 18 you'll find that there is a screenshot of a portion of the screen .... you cannot even make out what the author is trying to show -- the tiny fonts are illegible due to the small size and resolution. It might work on your phone..didn't try that ..but I don't want to read the book on my phone nevertheless.Beware.To Amazon: THAT WAS REALLY REALLY DUMB...What were you thinking ???

I have been interested in 3D modeling for years, but I have no artist skills and was convinced that I would never, ever be able to to this. Well, I was dead wrong. The author convinced me otherwise. You will need to work through the exercises, but you will develop basic skills. The author explains the tools and techniques, and expands the exercises to you can practice (and encourages you to keep practicing). This will get you started, and give you what you need to develop further.

Great guide to Autodesk Maya! My only thought - a Glossary in back would be very handy. I'm new to 3D work, and would've liked a "quick reference" to the many unfamiliar terms and expressions.

good

Easy to find subjects and well organized. I recommend it. Despite I am a Maya LT 2018 user, until now, I found all I needed.

I'm learning Maya 2016 and 3D modeling and this is an essential resource for anyone else doing the same. Would definitely recommend Dariush's book!

This book is the one for getting underway with learning Maya. This one will lead you to the more complete and thorough book Mastering Autodesk Mays 2016.

although books are old fashion. Not very practical for me. better in form of tutorial with another monitor or laptop.

A great book, very clear and precise with the information. Well recommended if you are new to Maya or cg and cgi. within the first few pages that I had read I learned a lot and think I will learn a lot more too. Looking forward to reading the rest.

Very useful book for a beginner xDD

Excellent book, looking forward to the 2017 edition!

it's very useful to me