Written for aspiring designers, modelers, animators, texture artist, and those new to 3D graphics, Introduction to 3D Graphics and Animation Using Maya explores the fundamentals of 3D. Using a variety of practical tutorials, you'll learn everything you need to know about the techniques and theory behind modeling, rendering, UV editing and layout, texturing, lighting, animation, and character animation. And you'll learn how to use Maya to put your new 3D knowledge into practice. To be a successful modeler, texture artists, or animator, you need to know when and why you should use certain tools and techniques. To help you achieve this, each chapter starts with a bit of theory, and the tutorials have frequent interludes that help explain the "why" behind what you have just done. These "whys" include some important tips on how to use a tool and explain why you used that particular tool. By using these sections, you'll be able to move beyond just following a 3D recipe, to being able to create your own masterpieces. And at the end of each chapter there are additional practice exercises to challenge you even further.
If you want to learn the fundamentals of 3D graphics and find out how to put them into practice using Maya, this is the book for you!