Maya seems to be more and more do-it yourself kit.. it's price should reflect that as well.... Buy starter kit - only Maya UI, you script everything else grade 1 kit - you have modeling plugins! etc...
On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 9:45 AM, denis-jose francois <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi All > > So here's another ancient lurker suddenly rising from the depths. It's > been a while... > > Alastair, it's definitely not you! For the last 3 years I have mostly > worked in non XSI pipelines. They include Modo, Houdini and more often than > not - Maya. Every now and then I get to work in XSI again... but sadly this > is less and less. > > I had no trouble switching to Modo. I picked up Houdini very very quickly. > But Maya... its been 2 years and I am simply uncomfortable. I'm definitely > not an idiot (I tell myself this all the time) and I've been working in CG > since 1995. Interestingly, even though I started with soft3D back in the > early days I very quickly progressed to AW Power Animator. So I'm no > stranger to 'the other side'. Yet some how very simple things in Maya > allude me! And it's not helped by the shockingly poor documentation either. > > Last summer I worked for a short stint at Sky. First time back on XSI (and > Arnold) in a couple of years. It was a really hard project, yet XSI made it > feel like I was on holiday compared to what I'd been doing before that! > > I mostly work in pipeline these days and it amazes me how much work we > have to do bring functionality to Maya which is already there in XSI and > other packages. Of course, the fact that we *can* bring this functionality > to Maya is one of it's strengths, but what's the point of spending loads of > money on something that you can't really use without further modification? > If you are a small studio or a single user it just doesn't make sense. > > I shall now return to the murky depths again... > > Denis-Jose Francois > > > > > > > > > > > > * > Denis-Jose François > > Known to some as *@Hairytech* > Known to others as *+Denis-Jose* > Occasionally referred to as *Simon* > Always *The Evil Hood* > ------------------------------------ > https://soundcloud.com/infiniversemedia > > > On 19 March 2014 09:32, Alastair Hearsum <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Folks >> >> Here is a confession. I've never used Maya! Not really. I've had a >> little poke every now and again but no more than make a sphere and spin >> round it. >> >> Now, the lack of Maya knowledge may diminish the value of my comments >> in some eyes but I think that , on the contrary, it puts me in quite a good >> position to appraise the software at a certain level. Here is an example of >> the trouble I'm having that may bring a smile to people's faces. But first >> just a couple of more sentences before I reveal my difficulty. I like to >> bill myself as the sensitive artist/animator who is technically all fingers >> and thumbs, like the woman by the side of her broken down car waiting on a >> big strong man to help her out. The truth is that its not true. I do have a >> degree in Fine Art but I also studied maths and physics at university and >> programmed extensively in Lisp in my first job. So I'm not stupid BUT: >> >> *I'm on my third night trying to adjust the resolution of a sphere >> after I have applied n-cloth to it!* >> >> Isn't that incredible? Its one example plucked from many experienced >> by people I work with who can and have used Maya. Its symptomatic of the >> all encompassing interface workflow issues that Maya has that I think are >> really fundamental problems and more important in some ways than headline >> large features. Admittedly I had had a couple of glasses of wine by that >> point and it was a casual , before bedtime attempt to try something out but >> I had already twice asked my colleague at work to explain what the >> procedure was and I followed what he was doing at the time. >> >> So there you have it. Is it me.........? >> >> Alastair >> >> -- >> Alastair Hearsum >> Head of 3d >> [image: GLASSWORKS] >> 33/34 Great Pulteney Street >> London >> W1F 9NP >> +44 (0)20 7434 1182 >> glassworks.co.uk <http://www.glassworks.co.uk/> >> Glassworks Terms and Conditions of Sale can be found at glassworks.co.uk >> (Company registered in England with number 04759979. Registered office >> 25 Harley Street, London, W1G 9BR. VAT registration number: 867290000) >> Please consider the environment before you print this email. >> DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and attachments are strictly privileged, private >> and confidential and are intended solely for the stated recipient(s). Any >> views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not >> necessarily represent those of the Company. If you are not the intended >> recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that >> any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail is >> strictly prohibited. If this transmission is received in error please >> kindly return it to the sender and delete this message from your system. >> > >
