SO YOU WANT TO BE A MAYA EXPERT?
Well you can't just come in here prancing around pretending to be a big shot. You're going to have to the learn the basics before you can even think about entering the dark world that is Maya. It has taken me over sixth months to make a simple salt shaker and even that was hard. I am hardly an expert but don't come in here and tell me that you can just open up Maya and make anything you want it doesn't work like that. You're going to have to practice, you may not know where you are going but reading the basics I am about to tell you is a good place to start.
Wow! Curves! They don't sound that intimidating but don't get me wrong if you don't listen to what Im about to tell you'll get eaten up like a red snake on a tuesday morning. Know you may no the from Arizona and there it means that Maya will destroy everything about you. So you should really listen to what Im about to say. You can create curves easily by using the curve tool.
Now I know you are super impressed by me telling you about that fancy smancy curve tool, but know you will get a sneak peek on my very first salt shaker I made. Now please hold your enthusiasm and your criticism. It took me several days and nights to create such a fine salt shaker now if you listen to the rest of my tips you too may one day create such a fine salt shaker.
Wow isn't it amazing? Well of course it is. For my next tip I created something that salt tastes create on, ice cream.Now you're probably asking yourself what does ice cream have to do with Maya? Before you go and complain to your local congressman I have the answer. Bump maps. No not maps with bumps in them, well kinda after you have finished creating your basic shape of strawberry ice cream (because all other flavors are in-supperior) you will probably be asking yourself well that doesn't look like the almighty strawberry ice cream its all grey and it looks like something that came straight from communist China. I have the solution, bump maps just apply your favorite material such as lambert or phong. Then as soon as that is done you go to bump map then you apply a cloud trust me it looks the best.
Holy cow don't you just love ice cream along with my diamond encrusted scooper? Its now of my finest works. As you can see my ice cream is sitting in a 1950s diner. Now one of the few things Maya is good at is not melting your ice cream, Maya has a cold heart you it keeps your ice cream at a cool 0 degrees. Take my word for it Maya will not melt your ice cream mine has stayed frozen for a couple weeks now. With my ice cream i usually like to have a glass of root beer in a chalice. That is convenient because for my next tip we will be creating a lovely chalice.
Yes yes I did spell chalice wrong my first couple of times, but thats okay who doesn't make mistakes. As stated in Hannah Montanans hit single "Everybody makes mistakes". Well on to the second holy grail on which your eyes are currently feasting. Can you guess which one is the holy grail? Go ahead guess Im not going anywhere. Well you guessed wrong because they both are the famous holy grail. Haha yes only if we had a 3D printer I could create these cups and have immortality. Well I do, I will live on through my blogger posts. Sorry we are getting off topic here. Get your head in the game. Im disappointed in you. Like the salt shaker I used the curve tool. Hooray and also NURBS which made the cup itself after i outlined the cup with the curve tool.
Polything is probably the tip I should have started out with. Oh well, get over it. Creating the polishing will teach you the most basic tools about Maya. The first thing you will need to do is create a a sphere and create a cylinder, the next thing is to boolean difference two circles out of your polything. Then you will create lighting effects for your polything.
Have you ever bounced a ball and wondered, hm... I really want to go on a computer and animate those balls. Well now you can after I tell this very essential tip you will be able to animate your balls. Once you had made the basic shape and you have timed the balls in the real world. You must must set how they bounce using keyframes. Which also helps you time it very well. Once you have set your keyframes you will start to notice they they do not quite look like tight. The graph editor will smooth out your bounces.
If you were alive during the 90s and also very uncool you will probably know what hammer time is. No don't get excited we will not be animating MC Hammer. Yes I know that would be a cool project put no one can copy the slick dance moves of the parachute pants wearing MC Hammer, not even a computer. We will in fact, be animating a diamond encrusted hammer though. The bevel tool is a very important tool because it lets you extend surfaces to make even more surfaces.
Now take my very important tips into the unforgiving world and maya and try not to get yourself killed. But do not worry because as long as you memorize all of my tips and put them to good use you will be able to not only stay alive but create anything your mind can imagine, except MC Hammer because he is way too fly. Good luck and I hope to see you on the future.
