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3D Maya is not for me. Maybe Impossible?


BeastlySerenity

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Hey all,
I am new here. I am currently taking Autodesk Maya in a class at my community college. At first I felt very grateful to get this class, because I wanted to be able to learn how to create 3D art. It was also a very popular and hard to get class. But soon I learned that this was not going to be like learning photoshop (which I love). This would be a whole lot more technical. It felt maybe even a bit mathematical.

My assignments were written up via text that we had to follow step by step to create different projects (such as a bouncing ball), and then show what we could do in the actual classroom the next week. It sounds simple enough. But some how, by me trying to read the step by step description in the online instructions, it was just not sinking in. Like the technical terminology in which maya was described might as well have been written in Mandarin.

As hard as I tried to comprehend it, I could not follow all the directions, even if my life depended on it. It was now that I realized I am a true visual learner. I even learned photoshop from videos, and could not really learn it from books. It may be impossible for me to learn technical programs like Maya through text based instruction like this. And the technical terms make it all the more complicated for me to understand.

I really can only learn it if I were to be shown step by step, slowly on a screen where I can mimic every step being done, and rewind as needed. And then maybe through repetition I'd be able to learn. But since my class was not set up this way, I felt that it may just be impossible for me to learn Maya. And perhaps I should just quit and stick with photoshop.

It also was no longer fun for me to learn as well. It just seemed so complex and technical rather than artistic, it wasn't like learning photoshop at all. So I guess I'm making this thread just to vent and see if anyone else here ever had this type of experience. Did you over come it, or did you just choose not to do maya? I am close to dropping this class. As I am falling behind pretty significantly, and it's very stressful, for me to be banging my head just trying to make a bouncing ball roll across the screen.

Anyways, thanks for reading, feel free to share your thoughts with me.
 

RTContent

Power User
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I would recommend you stick with it. Nothing in regards to learning is impossible if you have the will to succeed. I can't really relate in terms of learning Maya as I'd like to think I'm pretty technically minded and never really had an issue. I'm still a beginner in terms of CGI programs as I'm focusing on Photoshop at this moment but if you feel like you're falling behind, use YouTube. It is by far the best resource for learning new software and I also recommend to join a community forum similar to this one that focuses on Maya.

Hopefully you stick with it, and hopefully you won't regret it if you don't.
 

Fatboy73

Guru
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I am by no means an "expert" on the subject, but I can tell you my experience and my view on the situation. Back in 2004 I spent a crapload of money to attend Fullsail for a degree in computer animation. Basically that meant learning Maya in addition to some traditional art, Photoshop, compositing software, video editing software, basic computer classes, some math, business and psych to round everything out.

This was all crammed into little less than 2 year program and what we learned was the basics on everything. This was only possible with the help of instructors, classroom aids, and 24 hour 7 day a week accessible computer labs. After all of that, the ones that graduated, did so still woefully behind the industry curve and qualified only for the most entry level positions if that.

After a year of sending out my completely inadequate demo reel that I had 2 months to rush through making, to dozens of companies to try and get a bite, I gave up and changed my focus. My story is not unique and the same thing happens to thousands
across the country and if I had it to do all over again, I would run as fast as I could the other way.

I guess what it comes down to is Maya is an incredibly complex, completely unintuitive, program with a learning curve the size of Mt Everest. My opinion is that anyone try to tell you, that you can learn it from a book, in a short period of time, is being dishonest and I wouldn't be giving them your money. And like any art form, unless you have the traditional art skill to apply to the 3D medium, knowing how to use Maya isn't going to do you any good anyway. The short of it is, unless you plan on attending a 4 year, top of the line, art school to at least get your Bachelors degree in computer animation, don't wast your money on shortcut.

Now that I've got all the doom and gloom out of the way the good news is there are 3d sculpting programs out there like z-brush
and others which are much more intuitive, easy to learn, and will give you a lot more bang for your buck. It all depends on what exactly you want to do, and how long you want to spend learning it.

I'm going to cut this off here, but if you have any questions please feel free to ask. :)

Best,

Chris
 

Miroslav123

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I don't know, but i think maya is very powerful program and if you think to make movies you should start learning maya every day! When i was first start maya i had strong will to learn every corner of maya, now after 2 years learning from online videos and books i have even stronger wish to learn maya. As fatboy73 said, you have other 3D programs like zbrush or mudbox, and you have modo from luxology, its very good software and its not so complex like maya.. you should research other 3d softwares and if you have wish to work with 3d programs you can probably find something interesting..
I Hope you will find something interesting..
 

Dataflow

Power User
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if your looking at a 3d package that has the feel of PS then i would suggest Cinema 4D.
alot of motion graphic studios use it but of course all these cost money so if your after a cheap option you could try "Blender" (its free).
 

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