dvGarage teams up with the Gnomon School of Visual Effects up to make Maya more accessible to new users. THE MAYA LAB: VOLUME 1 provides a visual step-by-step introduction to the powerful but sometimes complicated application.
"We get requests for step-by-step training," explained Gnomon founder Alex Alvarez, "but we wouldn't be able to cover everything that we do if we built this kind of training day to day. It's really a daunting task to get it right."
The disk contains training that takes users through the basics of modeling, surfacing and lighting a pill bottle. Each tutorial provides video and illustrated acrobat files that carefully cover every step necessary to be successful.
"We wanted to make sure that anyone could get started and at the same time, make sure that what they were learning was high-end," explained dvGarage founder Alex Lindsay
THE MAYA LAB: VOLUME 1 is compatible with both the Full and PLE versions of Maya 4.5 and 5.0. It is normally priced at $59 but available for $39 until Dec. 5, 2003 at www.dvgarage.com. VOLUME 2 is due January, 2004.
Founded by Lindsay, former member of Industrial Light & Magic's "RebelUnit," dvGarage is dedicated to building training and tools for the "NextGeneration of Visual Artists."
Gnomon School of Visual Effects (www.gnomon3d.com) is a professional institute specializing in training of vfx for film, television and games. Gnomon offers a full curriculum for individuals wanting careers in 3D, professionals in need of specialized training and custom training for production studios. Courses include introductory to advanced digital 3D and traditional art classes geared toward 3D production The Gnomon curriculum has been approved by the Alliance for Digital Production Trainers (ADEPT) whose members include training managers from such studios as Rhythm & Hues Studios, Cinesite, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Founded by Alex Alvarez in 1997, Gnomon is located at 1015 North Cahuenga Blvd, Suite 5430i, Hollywood, California 90038. On Additional training DVDs are available from The Gnomon Workshop at www.thegnomonworkshop.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
