Learning Maya 5

"This book will teach you what you need to know about Dynamics from an introductory level and will also allow you to explore advanced concepts in a comfortable format."
--Ian Cairns, Editor, MAYA Association
Learning Maya 5: Dynamics is your solution to creating stunning effects in Maya.
New for Maya 5!
If your animations don't follow the laws of physics, this book is the tool you've been looking for. You'll approach Maya Dynamics from an introductory level and explore advanced concepts in a comfortable format. You'll work with both Rigid and Soft Body dynamics, particle animation and rendering, emitters, and much more. Helpful step-by-step exercises guide you as you build smoke, dust, fire, and water. Maya's Dynamics engine will allow you to add realism to you animations and create realistic effects without having to go back to school. Learning Maya 5 Dynamics will help you prove that you don't need to be a rocket scientist to make one fly!
Features:

Each chapter included a theoretical discussion to help you understand the concepts at play, as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorials so that you can start working right away. This book also includes a DVD-ROM featuring chapter-by-chapter overviews offered by the book's writer, John Patton, an Alias Wavefront(TM) Certified Instructor. Gain additional insight and assistance from these valuable bonus discussions.
With this book you will:

* Create and animate Rigid Body Objects.
* Create and animate particles using fields, goals, ramps and expressions.
* Render particles with hardware graphics and software techniques.
* Dynamically animate NURBS and polygonal surfaces using Soft Bodies.
* Instance geometry with particle motion.
* Use Rigid Body constraints sand Soft Body springs
And much more.