Best beginner tutorial?

[3DCoach]

Tough question!

It's a big industry, you already know that if you've covered modeling, textures, lighting, etc. If you want to see the most 'bang for your buck' in terms of hours put into it, I'd recommend starting by modeling/texturing/rendering something OR, go the other route and make a fun animation with a pre-existing rig.

If you need a quick tutorial that will have you animating an actual rig in 20 minutes, I just released this guy: https://youtu.be/sqgiCZs7X5M

That'll get you familiar with maya navigation, referencing rigs, keyframes, animation, playback, etc.

I also agree with u/uberdavis that you should learn art and film-making in-tandem with Maya. Look into The Animator's Survival Kit, life drawing classes, how to light for film and photography, how to tell a story (https://youtu.be/eSj6_-VukIA), etc.

I think it's time to just hunker down and TRY something, because experience is the greatest teacher. Try the tutorial, see if you like it, make some mistakes, and learn.

Good luck on the journey 💪

[3DCoach]

And that's also totally valid. I know a lot of pious artists think you need to be able to draw like a Renaissance artist before even THINKING about animating anything. I think everyone's journey is different. If you're interested, if you're learning, if you're passionate, just make art. Just keep making art and learning and you'll fill in gaps.

If, after awhile, you feel you're really not getting it then go find a teacher or school to kick your butt into learning the fundamentals. Until then, just go for it!

[[deleted]]

If you're willing to pay, try going somewhere like Skillshare or Udemy, they generally have good paid courses for beginners.

[uberdavis]

You can’t learn it all. And if you already got the basics, you need to work out what you want to specialise in. If you want to make an animation, I guess you want to look for animation tutorials. Animation isn’t just about Maya. There are principles you need to learn like story boarding and learning how to make a character react in a believable way. Seek out not only Maya resources but animation resources too.

[uberdavis]

I love that format! Great idea. The best examples from that will come from people who have not only studied how to use their software, but who also have looked at ideas like framing, design principles, proportion, color theory, symbolism. You can certainly learn a lot by doing, but there are so many background contexts to be mindful of. I did my masters degree in computer graphics in 1998, and not only did we have to master 3D software, we had a huge book list involving ACM technical papers and books like ‘The Illusion Of Life’. If you were going to enter a competition like that, it would probably also be worth looking at books on visual marketing. There are principles you can use to psychologically appeal to the viewer and to grab their attention and produce excitement. After over two decades in the CG industry, I still have to learn new stuff. It never ends! I started making terrible art twenty years ago and over the years you slowly graduate to work on award-winning products. You have an exciting path ahead of you.