Maya...

Twice a week I go to class a 5:30 in the evening. I sit in a dark lab and try to teach myself, with some aid from the teacher, Maya. To most of the educated world this means nothing. It should sound very hard, intimidating and confusing. Maya is a 3D modeling program. The end from the program can be anything from a video game, a mock up of a new product, or fully animated feature film. I have been trying to make a product. Sounds simple. It's not.

Maya is an intense program. It was made by tech nerds for design nerds. Because of this, the interface has limitless options. Sounds nice and helpful. Its not. What this really means is that where there is usually one or two ways to do something there are about 10 in Maya. Let me explain. In a normal program you will have 5 to 8 menu choices on your tool bar. In Maya there are 7 that are there all of the time. Then there are anywhere from 7 to 12 more depending on what section you are in. I believe there are 8 sections. Do the math, it equals confusion.

Despite this I have learned to use some of the program. I can do some basic modeling, lighting and texturing. Here are some screen captures of my progress and frustration.

These two are close up of my efforts to have detail. Again, much harder than it sounds.

This is the whole interface. Here you can see my objects, lights, and countless options.
This is a render of the scene previous. It shows that making glass is super hard. Getting the transparency, reflection, refraction, and lights to all agree, is a very long trial and error process.

Still I am hopeful. The end is in sight. (Wednesday to be exact) I will find success. Maybe.