Call for Maya Syllabi

[zombiespiderman]

I'm going to a local university, and a General Computer Graphics instructor has agreed to let me do an independent study next semester. I have been doing kind of a half-hearted self-study of Maya for the last few years, reading books on my own and such. This instructor knows Maya pretty well (better than me at least) so I was thinking what I should do is really kick it up a notch and try to learn it systematically. By doing it this way, I would get course credit, I'd have someone to go to for help and, most importantly, someone would be expecting me to make progress!

Anyway, the first step in this whole process would be to come up with a syllabus/learning plan for the semester. I was hoping there might be a few students, current or former, who could show me examples of syllabi from Maya courses taught at places with really good CGI programs. Places like Savannah, Vancouver or would be ideal, but I'm interested in getting whatever info I can. I've already got a tenative plan posted here:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df7wq43b_66gffbsp *

I'm thinking I can knock out the Beginner section before the semester starts (I've got most of it done already) and then spend next semester focusing on the Intermediate section. If I get that done, I can do the Advanced over the Summer and then focus on my final project in the Fall semester. I'm just not sure if this is realistic from the standpoint of too much or too little. I would really love to get a sense of what a full-time Maya instructor would expect their students to have learned by the end of the semester or what kinds of benchmarks they would set for the class (exams, midterm projects, etc.). Any input here would be greatly appreciated.

*I know, it's for Maya 7, but that's what I've got books for!

[Seedling]

Hello zombiespiderman. I want to warn you away from a few things. One, is be cautious about assuming that existing class plans for Maya (or any 3D program) are any good. I took three classes in 3D programs, and all three were awful.

The second is to decide what you want to learn and not get distracted with extraneous stuff. Do you want to learn the 3D program from top to bottom? Do you want to learn how to model and texture at a professional level? Do you want to learn to animate at a professional level? Pick just one of these things, because any one of these things could keep you busy for *years*. Don’t split your time between nurbs and polygons – after you acquaint yourself a little with each, pick one and go with it. Learn to identify what you don’t need so that you don’t waste your time on it.

The last thing I want to warn you about is picking overly ambitious projects. Do a series of bite-sized projects instead of committing to one massive project.

I think I may have pointed you to my games industry thread already, but if not, the link is there for you in my sig. The stuff there is hardly a proper syllabus, I’m afraid, but it still might be useful to you.

Best of luck in your endeavors! And have fun! :)

[zombiespiderman]

That's good advice. Mainly what I want right now is to come up with an "intro" program before I commit to any sort of area of focus. Like, when you take an intro to painting course, you get a sampling of acrylics, oils, watercolors, etc. After that, you pick a medium that you really like and run with it. I just want to make sure I'm getting a taste of everything before I say I'm definitely going to focus on modeling/texturing/animation/whatever. If there is no such class, then I'll just mess around using my own best judgment, but I thought I'd at least see if there was anything out there.