The DVD is divided into sections for your ease of use. These directories are Projects, Video, and Images. You will find all the files for completing the tutorials and understanding concepts in this book in the Projects directory. You can access the incrementally saved Maya scene files and textures for each project in the book in their respective chapter folders within the Projects directory.

In the Video directory you will find complete video captures of each project being created from start to finish. You can watch these in tandem with reading the lessons to help you follow along with any steps in the book where the example imagery may be hard to understand in print. The videos can also be very useful in showing you exactly what was done to create the projects, in the event that the explanation is difficult to grasp or understand.

In the Images directory are two folders: Textures and Gallery. The Textures directory contains texture sources that are generously donated from www.cgtextures.com as well as others from my personal collection. Some of these are used in the book as sources for project textures. Others are there simply for your own personal use.

In the Gallery folder are images from the book's gallery at high resolution for your viewing pleasure. There are also images that didn't make it into the printed gallery due to space constraints, but I wanted to share them anyway!

Don't work with Maya project files directly from the DVD. Maya scenes link to external files such as texture maps and dynamic caches, so it's better to copy the entire project for each chapter to your local drive, including the empty folders, to ensure that the example scenes function properly.

To fully use all the files on the DVD, you will need to be running Maya 2010 or Maya 2009 Unlimited (the software is not included on the DVD). Earlier versions of Maya should be capable of following along with the lessons in this book, but many of the menu commands and tools used may not be present or may be found in different menu locations. See the sidebar below for instructions on how to open the DVD's Maya files in earlier software iterations.

Make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements shown in the following list. If your computer doesn't match up to these requirements, you may have problems using the files on the companion DVD.

For the latest information on system requirements for Maya, go to www.autodesk.com/maya. Although you can find specific hardware recommendations on these web pages, there is some general information that will help you determine if you're already set up to run Maya: You need a fast processor, a minimum 2GB of RAM, and a "workstation graphics card" for the best compatibility (rather than a consumer-grade gaming video card).

OPENING MAYA FILES IN EARLIER VERSIONS

You can save Maya files into two major formats that Maya understands—Maya binary files (.mb) and Maya ASCII files (.ma). If a file is saved in the binary format, it must be opened within the same version that it was saved or a later version. In other words, a Maya binary file saved in Maya 2010 can only be opened in Maya 2010 and later versions of the software. If you opened a .mb file within a text editor, such as Microsoft's native Notepad application, you would see something like this:

Looks pretty unintelligible, right? This is a file written in a coding language that Maya understands but that (more than likely) you and (definitely) I cannot make any sense of.

On the other hand, a Maya ASCII file opened in a text editor looks like this:

At first glance, this perhaps looks just as confusing. Upon closer inspection, however, you may notice that the words are actually written in English! That's because .ma files are written in ASCII language, which is much more intelligible to those with no programming knowledge (such as myself!).

In the first few paragraphs, you can see some entries like

requires maya "2010";

or

fileInfo "product" "Maya Unlimited 2010";

As you may infer from the wording, simply by changing these lines to read "2009" instead of "2010" allows Maya 2009 to open .ma files that were saved from Maya 2010! And this works for other versions of Maya as well.

Before you run off, a few words of warning. If a .ma file you are trying to open uses a feature that is not present in an earlier version of Maya, then this version-renaming trick will not work. Also, if you don't carefully look through the entire first page of the ASCII text document for all references to the software version and you miss one, the file may not open. And just to cover all the bases, even if you do everything right, there is no guarantee that the file will open correctly, just due to the finicky nature of manipulating code. With these caveats in mind, I recommend saving a copy of the .ma file you wish to adjust so that your original file isn't permanently mangled by your edits.

All of the Maya files on this book's DVD are saved in Maya ASCII format to allow you the opportunity to use the files in your version of the software. I hope they all work for you!

To access the files from the DVD, follow these steps.

The DVD interface appears. The interface allows you to access the content with just one or two clicks.

Alternately, you can access the files at the root directory of your computer and copy them to your hard drive from there.

Wiley has attempted to provide programs that work on most computers with the minimum system requirements. Your computer may differ, and some programs may not work properly for some reason.

The two likeliest problems are that you don't have enough memory (RAM) for the programs you want to use, or you have other programs running that are affecting the installation or running of a program. If you get an error message such as "Not enough memory" or "Setup cannot continue," try one or more of the following suggestions and then try using the software again:

If you have trouble with the book's companion DVD-ROM, please call the Wiley Product Technical Support phone number at (800) 762-2974. Outside the United States, call +1(317) 572-3994. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at http://sybex.custhelp.com. John Wiley & Sons will provide technical support only for installation and other general quality control items. For technical support on the applications themselves, consult the program's vendor or author.

To place additional orders or to request information about other Wiley products, please call (877) 762-2974.

Please check the book's website www.sybex.com/go/mspgame, where we'll post additional content and updates that supplement this book should the need arise.