Downloaded Maya; Now what?

[EBM5555]

 

Does anyone have suggestions on how to get started? Maybe an online class? A good set of online videos? 

Also, to anyone able to use Maya or similar programs to create mesh : how did you get started? 

I feel kinda lucky to have the program to play with for free, and I will have it for free for the next few years. 

I am am looking into courses at my college but running into trouble. I would be willing to pay for online courses if other though they were helpful. I am not sure what is my end goal . Just a long term SL resident that is curious. 

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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EBM5555 wrote:

 

I feel kinda lucky to have the program to play with for free, and I will have it for free for the next few years. 

I am am looking into courses at my college but running into trouble.

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I take it that means you have an educational licence.... That means you are not allowed to use your copy of Maya for SL.

Anyway, as far as getting started with Maya, if I'm not mistaken, it has excellent "in-app" tutorials. (Autodesk has them for/in 3ds Max) Just follow them from the start. I have no experience with online courses, but my experience is that using a tutorial book helped me a great deal, even after using 3ds Max for years. I would stay away from random (youtube) tutorials at first, in my experience their quality ranges from terrible to excellent and as a beginner you wouldn't know how to seperate the two.

If you don't know what your end goal is, just try a bit of everything; start with making models that work well in SL (looks/lag/landimpact wise), end with animating/rigging them.

[Cathy Foil]

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Kwakkelde Kwak wrote:

I take it that means you have an educational licence.... That means you are not allowed to use your copy of Maya for SL.

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I am not sure you have that quite right Kwakkelde.  From what I understand you can not sell things for money with educational licence for Maya.  So as long as you don't sell the things you upload to SL Autodesk doesn't prohibit this.

I always suggest to people just starting out in Maya who also want to sell the things they make with Maya to rent off steam Maya LT for $30 USD a month.  With Maya LT you can make up to $10,000 a year before Autodesk requires you to buy the full version of Maya.

One can still take Maya classes and use the educational copy for practicing and making mesh they don't intend to sell and then only use files and mesh created on Maya LT to upload things to SL to sell.

YouTube is a great place to learn Maya.  I particularly like Cannedmushroom's channel https://www.youtube.com/user/cannedmushrooms

Hope that helps you EVM5555.

Cathy

[Chic Aeon]

Apparently there are beginner step by step classes on the autodesk website. I followed a link and it took me here"

http://academy.autodesk.com/

 

I checked that link twice and it DID say it was for MAYA. Kinda confusing though.

 

And when you get to the upload part, the best spot for that is the beta grid where you will not have to pay upload fees.  You will also need to complete the mesh test (for each grid) and have payment info on file in order to upload mesh.

 

And this is a quote from the Autodesk website download page:

 

**Free software available through the Academic Resource Center (ARC) program is limited to Autodesk approved education institutions in certain markets and subject to the applicable Terms of Use, software license agreement and eligibility requirements. Any software provided through ARC may only be used for purposes directly related to learning, teaching, training, research and development that are part of the instructional functions performed by a qualified educational institution and may not be used for commercial, professional or any other for-profit purposes. Autodesk software license agreements can be found online at http://usa.autodesk.com/legal-notices-trademarks/.

 

It certainly sounds like you NEED to be taking a class to use the free version. My bold and underlining.

 

Good luck.

 

Blender is of course free and you can upload to your heart's content .  Hence the large user base. But I do have to say that "Maya Bake" is a glorious thing *wink*.

 

 

 

 

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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Cathy Foil wrote:

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Kwakkelde Kwak wrote:

I take it that means you have an educational licence.... That means you are not allowed to use your copy of Maya for SL.

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I am not sure you have that quite right Kwakkelde.  From what I understand you can not sell things for money with educational licence for Maya.  So as long as you don't sell the things you upload to SL Autodesk doesn't prohibit this.

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I'm not a lawyer but to me the SL TOS seems pretty clear.

Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest’s official rules) which will govern the submission of your User Content, you hereby grant to Linden Lab, and you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and sell, re-sell or sublicense (through multiple levels)(with respect to Second Life, Inworld or otherwise on the Service as permitted by you through your interactions with the Service), and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same. You agree that the license includes the right to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing, or providing support or development services in connection with the Service and future improvements to the Service. The license granted in this Section 2.3 is referred to as the "Service Content License."

How can you allow Linden Lab to sell your items if you aren't allowed to do so yourself?

[Cathy Foil]

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Kwakkelde Kwak wrote:

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Cathy Foil wrote:

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Kwakkelde Kwak wrote:

I take it that means you have an educational licence.... That means you are not allowed to use your copy of Maya for SL.

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I am not sure you have that quite right Kwakkelde.  From what I understand you can not sell things for money with educational licence for Maya.  So as long as you don't sell the things you upload to SL Autodesk doesn't prohibit this.

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I'm not a lawyer but to me the

SL TOS

seems pretty clear.

Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest’s official rules) which will govern the submission of your User Content,

you hereby grant to Linden Lab, and you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and sell, re-sell or sublicense

(through multiple levels)(with respect to Second Life, Inworld or otherwise on the Service as permitted by you through your interactions with the Service), and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same. You agree that the license includes the right to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing, or providing support or development services in connection with the Service and future improvements to the Service. The license granted in this Section 2.3 is referred to as the "Service Content License."

How can you allow Linden Lab to sell your items if you aren't allowed to do so yourself?

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Kwakkelde you bring up a fair point with LL TOS but I was only responding to Autodesks TOS for using the Student Version.  LL's TOS really isn't completely enforceable under all circumstances.  There is no such thing as an iron clad TOS.

I highly doubt the few little things the original poster might make for their own personal use in SL even if by some miracle LL were to sell the items for profit at a later date that for a couple of dollars that Autodesk would go after LL or the original poster.  Chances of Autodesk even being able to determine that the mesh objects LL sold were indeed made with a student version are about a billion to one.

Battle Star Galactica and Star Trek have both said officially it is fine with them for SL residents to make BSG and Star Trek items in SL as long as people don't sell the things they make.  I doubt LL would be foolish enough to try and sell those types of items and try to justify their TOS to get away with it.

I am sure that the current TOS was written to try and keep residents from sueing LL because LL inadvertently used something they made or a design of something that was similar.  I highly doubt LL will ever actually sell content made by residents to other companies for use outside of SL.

You bring up a good point and it shows that LL really needs to go back to the original TOS or rewrite the current TOS in such a way that they will never sell any item made by residents outside SL.

If LL is hoping to get Indy game developers to use Sansar as a game development platform then Sansar can not use the current TOS.  No game developer would ever give LL such sweeping rights to their work.  It would make any Indy Game developed on Sansar impossible to sell.  No company like EA Sports or Google would buy such a game if they couldn't have exclusive rights to it.

I still stand by my original advice to the original poster.  Take some classes.  Use the student version to practice with and upload them to SL for your own personal use but do not sell them.  Rent Maya LT and make things to sell on SL with it not your student version.  Your more likely to get hit by lightning ten times than to get in trouble with Autodesk for LL selling any of the stuff uploaded for personal use.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

So partially based on the chances of getting caught, your advice is to break the rules?

I agree the chances are slim, but the chance is real and the penalty is huge, especially for a student. (Think tens of thousands of US dollars)

My advice would be to contact Autodesk before using an educational licenced version of Maya/3ds Max/Mudbox etc. to build content for SL. Explain what your educational goals are and how SL fits into the picture, make clear you will not sell the items and explain the LL TOS. Of course that puts you on the radar, but it will eliminate any unknowns completely. Autodesk is always looking for future customers, so they might agree. As much as I enjoy using their products, I despise how they operate. They have proved over and over that they are a power and money hungry company, you as a user should be well aware of that. Then again I also despise people who illegally use products I pay dearly for

PS If anyone is interested in a licence for any Autodesk products, they are changing their business model next year from perpetual licences to subscriptions.

[Cathy Foil]

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Kwakkelde Kwak wrote:

So partially based on the chances of getting caught, your advice is to break the rules?

I agree the chances are slim, but the chance is real and the penalty is huge, especially for a student. (Think tens of thousands of US dollars)

My advice would be to contact Autodesk before using an educational licenced version of Maya/3ds Max/Mudbox etc. to build content for SL. Explain what your educational goals are and how SL fits into the picture, make clear you will not sell the items and explain the LL TOS. Of course that puts you on the radar, but it will eliminate any unknowns completely. Autodesk is always looking for future customers, so they might agree. As much as I enjoy using their products, I despise how they operate. They have proved over and over that they are a power and money hungry company, you as a user should be well aware of that. Then again I also despise people who illegally use products I pay dearly for

PS If anyone is interested in a licence for any Autodesk products, they are changing their business model next year from perpetual licences to subscriptions.

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I lived long enough and am too old to worry about the small stuff anymore.  I have learned long ago that worrying about something that the chances of happening are so minute that worrying about it will paralyze you from doing anything.

Do you own a cell phone?  Is it wifi compatible?  If so then most likely you have committed a felony every time you drove in a car with it and no I am not talking about talking or sending text on it.  If you have it set to connect to wifi networks automatically your phone connects to many wiki wireless routers as you drive down the street and no it is not the routers owners responsibility to secure their network with a password.  It is the cell phones owners legal responsibility to keep their phone from connecting illegally to unsecured networks.  I have had police officers state that they can pull anyone over they wish.  All they have to do is follow them and within 10 minutes the person they are following will commit a traffic violation because no one is a perfect driver and follow ever single rule and law of the road because there are just too many rules for anyone to be able to follow perfectly.  On average studies show every American citizen commits one or two felonies a day wether intentional or not.

I can predict what most likely would happen if the original poster contacted Autodesk as you suggest.  Nothing.  I doubt Autodesk would even reply.  Why?  Because it wouldn't be worth Autodesks time to bother paying their lawyers to get involved in answering a question of something that they could get so little compensation for and for something that might only happen if LL were to sell the mesh that is if LL even were able to dig through the millions of items residents made and decided that the original posters mesh was worth selling.  An event that will most likely never happen.

I mean there is a point of worrying about breaking rules which become rediculous.  Do you search the Internet after you make an original design in mesh to make sure that no one ever had made something in mesh or RL that is so similar that you are in copyright violations?  My guess is not.  Why would you?  Worrying that to that much of an extreme would be ridiculous.  I have looked at your stuff on the Marketplace and I can tell you that you are probably in copyright violations for a number of things you sell there and I am sure that stuff is only a small fraction of the stuff you have made and uploaded to SL.

Despising people for breaking rules when one themselves breaks rules is a bit hypocritical.  Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

 

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

Wow, what an opinionated post.

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Cathy Foil wrote:

I lived long enough and am too old to worry about the small stuff anymore.  I have learned long ago that worrying about something that the chances of happening are so minute that worrying about it will paralyze you from doing anything.

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I don't see how that applies here. I am not suggesting to stay indoors because you could get hit by a car or by lightning.

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The entire part about the cell phone...I can tell you I do not connect to any WiFi networks automatically. On top of that, your (US?) law doesn't apply everywhere. In Germany for example it is mandatory to set a password to your router. Over here it is prohibited to deliberately and illegitimately connect to an open network. So when you connect to such a network with your phone just passing by, you could in theory be arrested, but chances are no court would sentence you for it.

Traffic violations, now that is a bunch of nonsense. Everybody, including me, makes those. That doesn't mean one does so on purpose. Traffic laws are here for everybody's safety. Getting a fine for driving 4 km/h over the speed limit is done for two reasons: generating money for the government and trying to keep you from driving 40 km/h over the speed limit, which is dangerous.

Does your study (which I can believe to be accurate) make a distinction between a) people committing felony crimes on purpose because they know the chance of being caught is small, b) people who think the law is flawed and c) people committing these crimes without knowing they do so?

As long as you don't contact Autodesk, you can predict anything you like. My entire point was that as long as you do not, you never know for sure. I still think suggesting to break the rules deliberately when you have a chance to find out if you can do something legitimately is not good advice, at all. The OP can decide which advice to take.

PS

Despise might be a too strong word, I don't despise anyone, but insinuating I am hypocritical is out of line if you ask me, happy new year to you as well.

 

[Cathy Foil]

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Kwakkelde Kwak wrote:

 

PS

Despise

might be a too strong word, I don't despise anyone, but insinuating I am hypocritical is out of line if you ask me, happy new year to you as well.

 

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I apologise if you felt I was out of line.  The whole point I was trying to make was that worrying about a rule being broke especially when the rule would only be broken if LL were to sell mesh created by a particular resident is over exaggerating the situation.  The chances of LL actually selling mesh outside SL is so remote that it is not worth worrying about.

I am glad that you realized that despise was too strong of a word.  I have a fairly good idea that there are people out there with pirated copies of my MayaStar and MayaFit though I can't say for sure.  I have worked over a year full time on MayaStar yet I would not despise these people.  Don't get me wrong I don't have warm cuddly feelings towards them if they exist and would hope if they liked my work would eventually end up buying a copy.

Let's just agree to disagree.  

Hope you are having a very happy new year.

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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Cathy Foil wrote:

Don't get me wrong I don't have warm cuddly feelings towards them if they exist and would hope if they liked my work would eventually end up buying a copy.

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Actually that's how Autodesk operates too. If I'm not mistaken, they will give you a 100% discount on the software that was illegally used along with the fine .

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Hope you are having a very happy new year.

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So far so good!