Re: Reccomendations for an Intro to Maya class

What are your current ideas? Are you looking to focus on a specific area or is it a brief overview of each section that leads to another course e.g. Intro to Maya then Maya Modeling, Maya Animation etc..
If it is a brief overview here are a couple of thoughts. Keep in mind that you shouldn't overload your students too much in depth content. Maya is very complex and you will only confuse them ;).

Maya interface and context and submenus
Intro to Polygonal, NURBS and Subdiv Modeling
UV Mapping, Materials and Lighting Techniques
Character Rigging and Binding
Key frame Animation
Walk Cycles
Trax Editor Animation


I recently received Mastering Maya 2009 by Eric Keller and its pretty good. It is quite a large book and it addresses all of the tools and utilities found in the Maya Package. Try contacting the publishers and they may send you a evaluation copy. There are a lot of good foundation books around so your bound to pick up something useful. If you post a little more about the expectations of the course e.g. duration, does the class lead into another one or any other facts I'd be more than happy to give you a few more ideas. Good luck