ISBN:1584502754Book Description
The Maya Embedded Language, or MEL, is the very foundation of the Maya application: it's what makes it so powerful. And, if you know MEL, you can make Maya work more efficiently for your own projects. Whether customizing the workspace, modifying the tools that already exist, or creating new tools, an artist versed in MEL is ready to exploit the true power of Maya. The problem is that MEL can be very intimidating to artists and other non-programmers. To an artist, MEL represents a whole other world filled with words like variable, conditional statements, and vector cross-product. Like any other programming language, MEL has its own vocabulary and rules of grammar. To master it, you simply need to learn the rules: you don't have to become a programmer. The MEL Companion helps artists do this. In the first part of the book, you'll learn about the syntax, vocabulary, and structure of MEL - its grammar. You'll learn some basic math concepts, such as types of numbers and simple math equations, and at the end of part one you'll explore concepts for building and constructing programs. The second part covers the construction of scripts that detail some of the ways you can use MEL. You'll learn about expressions, primitive objects, lighting and rendering, tool creation, interface customization, and reading and writing files in and out of Maya. The MEL Companion was written by an artist for artists. To get the most out of this book, you should have a fundamental knowledge of working in 3D and the Maya program. In addition, although you might not have an extensive knowledge and understanding of mathematics, you should have some willingness to learn the basics of working with numbers. Other than that, everything else is explained in language that is hopefully as clear as it is entertaining/p>
Reviews From AMAZON.COM
How did the editor of this book keep his job?
While this book was VERY hard to follow ( I'm a pretty technical guy when it comes to 3D) i WAS able to follow it most of the time. What really pisses me off is that it is a programming book and just about every page has a syntax error of some kind or another. Really mad about the fact that just as you think you're getting it there's a not always so obvious syntax error that the author and the editor and the publisher all missed!I spent more time troubleshooting the authors oversights then i did learning anything - WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? nobody buy this book until they fix all their little screw ups.
Its very Good
I am shocked at the bad reviews this book has received. Make no mistake -> THIS ONE IS A REALLY GOOD ONE . This book is not for rank beginners in mel . Its more for someone who understands the Mel Language adequately.
Definetely the most advanced of books available on Mel. Beginners can take a look at Marks Book. Once you know mel reasonably well this is the book to go for. Yes few printing mistakes are there but that cant take away much from what is a nice book with some thought provoking examples. 5 stars.