As far as scripting is concerned I'd say go for Python. You can use what you learn in pretty much any other DCC software or even stand-alone,
while MEL is a dead end.
I was tempted to buy Jeremie Passerin videos from cmiVFX and if I remember correctly I watched the tutorials by Raffaele...but to be honest I always hated coding...I know its always better to be able to script, but I really hate itWhat I want to do right now is to check if I'm able to "translate" my workflow from Softimage to Maya without too much effort, means that if Maya out of the box satisfy my needs I'll be happy enough....Let me ask you guys a couple of focused questions related to Maya:- Animation mixer: equivalent in Maya? move on the timeline a clip, stretch a clip, mix the clips together? achievable in Maya?- Modeling: which tools in Softimage are NOT available in Maya? I usually work A LOT with proportional modeling and adding edge looping ( both features shown in the new Maya videos ), bridge poligons, shrink wrapping, smooth deform with weightmap, and so on...- Corrective shapes: usually I work with the standard shape manager, but the Paul Smith tutorial on corrective shape using ICE has become my standard...and I read that shapes in Maya are a bit a pain in the ass...- Epic released UE4 and with it there a pretty good rigging system which will replace Species, but what I'll miss will be Facerobot and Gear for facial rigging. What I would like to know is if I can build a facial rig in Maya which could be reused for multiple characters. Previously I used Gear and GATOR to quickly transfer the facial rig and the tweak everything afterward, I wonder if this is possible in Maya...- Simple python scripts: as said I always hated scripting, but I was quite surprised when I just did something within Softimage, then open the script editor, copy all the content, make minor changes and then save that as a script to use for other projects...something "artist friendly python way to script" is available in Maya?- Mel and Python...well...which one to use/learn?Sorry for the long postCheersNicolas2014-03-20 10:27 GMT+01:00 Oscar Juarez <[email protected]>:Yes, scripting will make your life much easier in general. Even just a little bit here and there, and also can vouch for Raff's videos, they are great.On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 10:23 AM, Cristobal Infante <[email protected]> wrote:Learn how to script! never a bad skill to have. Get raffaels python tutorials from cgsociety...
On Thursday, 20 March 2014, Nicolas Esposito <[email protected]> wrote:
I want to have a positive attitude regarding the switch to Maya, but watching some videotutorials on modeling, rigging, texturing, and so on, and reading what you guys are saying I'm kinda scared...Because what you're saying is that Maya out of the box is kind of crappy if you don't script what you want...and thats the bad part, I don't know sh*t about scripting, so my only option is to use it as it is...and then buy plugins...It's Max all over again :(2014-03-20 10:09 GMT+01:00 Mirko Jankovic <[email protected]>:
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 elsegrade 1 kit - you have modeling plugins! etc...On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 9:45 AM, denis-jose francois <[email protected]> wrote:
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.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.Hi AllSo here's another ancient lurker suddenly rising from the depths. It's been a while...
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
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https://soundcloud.com/infiniversemediaOn 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 fundamenta
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Stefan Kubicek
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keyvis digital imagery
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Stefan Kubicek
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keyvis digital imagery
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Phone: +43/699/12614231
www.keyvis.at [email protected]
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