Maya 5 Killer Tips: The Hottest Collection of Cool Tips and Hidden Secrets for Maya

By Eric Hanson and Hanson

Aims to reveal Maya techniques and shortcuts employed to create visual effects for films like The Day After Tomorrow, Cast Away, and more. With tips, nuggets, and productivity secrets, this book... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735713731
• ISBN13: 9780735713734
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Peachpit Pr
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.3" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Worth more then it cost...

I could not more highly recommend a book then this one, "Maya 5 Killer Tips." It truly is a killer book. I am very new to Maya, but with this book I have been able to work with some of the more powerful features of Maya 5 with greater ease thanks to this book. It is books like this one that greatly shortens the learning curve of powerful programs like Maya as well as enabling new users to enjoy the learning process at the same time. For the price of admission for two to a movie and a couple soft drinks you can have this excellent book.

A good book for both experts and beginners

This book has something for everyone. As an animation supervisor I was of course particularly interested in the sections on Character Animation and Rigging, but I was able to glean good information from the books other sections as well. Its written in a clear, concise (and sometimes witty) manner, and the book walks you through each tip and trick in a economical but thorough way. The great thing about this book IMHO is that because of its approach to each problem, it is able to fit a *lot* of different tips between the covers of its relatively slim profile. This makes it an ideal companion to larger, more pedestrian tomes on Maya, while keeping one step ahead with its insightful and often invaluable professional instruction. I recommend it for both the novice and seasoned user alike.

A Maya book worth owning!!

This little book is a worth while addition to any Maya users desktop library. It contains a collection of tips that might take hours upon hours of probing the tool set to discover. Some of the tips included in the book could save a great deal of time as well as ease the headaches associated with the everyday use of a tool as complex as Maya. I have no problems recommending this book to both beginner and experienced Maya users alike.

GREAT deskside reading

I recently got this book and keep it by my desk when I am rendering. Just thumbing through it every now and then proves to be extreemly valuable. The tips are really good, well written, with lots of useful images. Even the most advanced maya users will find some great tips to speed up productivity. A very powerful tool for the newbie as well. Most of these tips cannot be found in a standard book without being buried in a tutorial. The other thing that I really liked about these tips is that they include technical tips as well as great artistic tips from a great master, Eric Hanson.

This book rocks

This is a book that every Maya artist should have in "the little room off their master bedroom". The compact format that Hanson used in writing these tips makes it perfect for flipping through when you are sitting down for a couple of minutes in the morning... Seriously, when I saw the title I thought 'big deal, I've been using Maya for more than seven years now, why would I care about a book like this?', but it's an incredible treasure trove of quick little goodies for newbie and seasoned pro alike. Perhaps as importantly, the layout and design of the book are by far the best of any CG reference text I've ever encountered. I've probably spent many hundreds of dollars over the years on reference books that I never used because the layouts were so reader-unfriendly, and having been burned that way too many times I now put a lot of value on good design work. Hanson's Maya 5 Killer Tips just raised the book design bar to a new height. It looks good. The tips are good. It will help you make your art. Buy it.