Inside Maya 5 can help develop a functional understanding of many of Maya's tools through solid examples and-proved methods of production. From the back cover Are you familiar with basic Maya tools? Are your questions about Maya center on how to put all the pieces together and use the software in production settings? Industry professionals who have worked for houses like Digital Domain, ILM, PDI / DreamWorks, and Pixar provide insights into the major production decisions that take advantage of the power of Maya without compromising production quality - real-world solutions to the challenges of the real world! You'll get coverage: Using Maya in the studio digital pipelineMEL and Maya APIModeling techniques NURBS, modeling polygonal, and the division of surfacesModeling characters, sets, and architectureParticles propsMaya's node-based and animated dynamicsCharacter and rigging interviews Lighting, shading and renderingBonus with Scott Clark (Pixar) and Paul Thuriot (Studios Tippett) Companion CD contains the source files you need to complete the exercises in each chapter.