Maya

[hoyafilm]

Has anyone on here used Maya before to create short animated films (1-5 min)? I just started trying to learn it on my own, and it seems like it would take forever to make an animated short. I was just wondering if anyone here has taught themselves how to use the program, and if so, how long did it take until you could make a decent animation?

 

[Blkmamba]

It will take persistance- Maya is a HUGE program. I'm using an open source program Blender at the moment to start learning to do some stuff to intergrate into live action film.

 

[Evan Kubota]

I used to (and still want to) learn 3D animation correctly... however, it takes such an enormous amount of time that you have to be incredibly single-minded to pursue it to the level that's necessary. I was able to make crappy-looking models, but that means nothing, since it wouldn't look reasonable in any actual project. I'm not sure if you want realism or not, but I highly advise against attempting realistic computer animation.

 

[Chris Hurn]

It does take time, and it's something you have to dedicate a lot of time to...over a long period of time. If you keep it up, you will get results. Check out http://cgtalk.com - a huge CG community covering Maya, 3dsmax etc.

-Chris

 

[Johnus]

I'd recomment getting some reference/tutorial books. You can also look for local free or low-cost courses dealing with Maya. Many universities (and community colleges especially) offer free public training sessions for a variety of things, and I know Maya is on the list. They will at least give you enough experience to start on your own.

3D animation is very time consuming, but if you get to know the software well, you can make a decent animation in a short amount of time. Maya has a lot of dynamics simulation features which can speed up certain things, although they can be pretty temperamental at times, so sometimes the old-fashioned manual way is the best way.

If you get really detailed and involved, expect to come up with about 2 seconds of good animation every week. I wouldn't be concerned about getting that far or involved yet, it'll give you an aneurysm. I guarantee it.

Right now I can do maybe 45 seconds of okay character animation every week. If it's simpler stuff like cubes flying around smashing things or spaceships blowing stuff up, then I could do 5 minutes per week probably, if I really worked on it for long periods of time.

I just finished an animation class, and we were required to spend no less then about 6-8 hours every day of the week on our projects. People that didn't have Maya at home were forced to sneak into the lab before the building closed and spend the rest of the night in there. The lab is highly secure, so even security and maintenance don't have the codes to get in. Nice hideout.

 

[Dirty-Harry]

My friend learnt to use 3ds max in two months.