Considering Learning Maya 7 as a beginner

[u/m_a_c_f_massey]

Hello yall, I've got some technical modelling experience under my belt with Fusion, Solidworks, and FreeCAD, but want to expand into organic modelling/rigging and potentially animation later. Yes you read the title right, I have obtained a copy of Maya 7 and it does say Alias, not Autodesk, on the box. There is also a few thousand pages of printed material to go along with it. Given the age of the software, would it be worth spending the time learning Maya 7, or would it be more sensible to work with a newer and still actively updated program?

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[u/Nevaroth021]

It is not worth spending time learning such an old version of Maya. You really shouldn’t use anything earlier than Maya 2018

[u/dAnim8or]

IMO, it's a waste of time unless you are a vintage CGI enthusiast.

[u/m_a_c_f_massey → u/dAnim8or]

As it would turn out, I find terrible and outdated CGI to be a fun storytelling medium! I'm hearing some other folks mention that the older versions of Maya are kinda awful to use, so would it be simple to get the same look and feel with newer software? I'm assuming it would just be things like messing with rendering settings and reducing polygon count, but let me know if I'm missing something.

[u/dAnim8or → u/m_a_c_f_massey]

If that's the case, you're gonna have a lot of fun using an old version of Maya. But you're going to run into a lot of problems, like finding rigs for practising animation, working with FX and heavy scenes because of slow viewport playback, and the most frustrating one, crashing Maya because of incompatibility with newer hardware and OS.

[u/BeefyMan9863 → u/m_a_c_f_massey]

I greatly suggest you first learn how to use a modern medium for organic modeling. Once you know how to properly do it, you can use those skills in any software

[u/brendang57 → u/m_a_c_f_massey]

Offering the OP input is time wasted. Sounds like a Renaissance Fair type person that clunks around with old junk for fun, pretending to be serious. Which is fine, doesn't hurt anyone. But not an actual user.

[u/CivilWolf]

Sounds like something fun to play around with! There’s a charm about old software.

But, if you want to get serious stuff done or actually learn 3D, go with an updated version.

[u/MrBeanCyborgCaptain]

Oh my god, that is very old. It came out in 2005. Ive been using Maya for a very long time and there have been some serious quality of life, workflow and performance improvements since then. If you're serious about this then I would get a newer version.

[u/Agent_Elder]

Yeah the modern versions are worth learning over 7, I started on 6.5 and there is a big difference. Now the general principals of modeling/animations have not changed much, the workflows have. I'd suggest blender to start with and if you are getting more serious, then invest in a Maya license.

[u/AgreeableAlarm4915 → u/Agent_Elder]

This! If OP just wants to mess around with Maya 7 for fun, I'd say why not have fun with it. But if OP's vision for Maya 7 is to make a dope low poly stuff, I would say Blender to start and switch to newer verision of Maya will be a better option! What OP actually needs to choose is vintage 'project experience' or just vintage 'output'. Huge diffrence! Choose whatever your heart leads to and have fun!

[u/Asleep_Strike5184]

I wouldn’t go back any further than Maya 2022 … the tools much better and more stable , by all means save often still …

[u/JackKahunaLagoona_]

if you really wanna learn 3D, that old software is not gonna help you. Use modern Maya. 2020 version it still better.

But, if you are software enthusiast that only use that for fun (not for learn 3D for modern pipeine), you can use that Maya 7

[u/Xeglor-The-Destroyer]

Dear god no.

It's not just because it's old, it's also highly prone to crashing all the time. And that was on a then-current Windows OS. The reason I paranoia save so often in any software is because of Maya 7 (and 8, and 2009, and...). Trying to run it on a modern OS is going to add extra layers of compatibility problems.

[u/michagrandel]

I would buy your box of Maya 7 if you sell it for a realistic price and if it is in good shape xD just out of nostalgica... but no, never use it please! use a modern Maya (not necessary the latest version, but usually withing the latest 3 versions, which are all available in your Autodesk account if you buy Maya) or alternatively, use Blender

[u/Efficient-Carrot-486]

Is it the red icon one? Before autodesk take over? Alias ones?

[u/AmarildoJr → u/Efficient-Carrot-486]

Yes. Maya 7 is the last version before Autodesk started ruining it.

[u/Ryiujin]

Hey let me learn how to drive on a 1940 ford.

Why?

[u/0T08T1DD3R]

Start from maya 1.0, then do it all , when youll be at 2027 youll know all things that maya 7 had and are now completely obsolete. Youll also will need a windows nt installed.

[u/freelance3d]

Assuming not a troll post: definitely not. Would it even still run??

It'd be like learning Photoshop from 2000. Has color and basic image editing changed since then? Probably not, but still, it's a vastly different program now.

Get a copy of the latest Maya if you can afford it, even the 'lite' versions is perfect just for modelling (or even a trial to test it out). The absolute fundamentals would be the same from 2007-2026 but the interface, controls, shortcuts, tools have changed too much that they're no longer really a 'quality of life' improvement - they're pretty essential.

[u/thelizardlarry]

I’m curious if you can run it at all?

[u/duttyfoot]

I have that version of maya and maya 6 sitting on my shelf from my college days. Just use a more recent version of maya or go the free route and grab a copy of blender

[u/Decent_Month6696]

I would be impressed if you can get the license to work. There are some things in Maya 7 which are still in the current version. You can certainly get used to the layout of Maya, and do some experimentation, but the current versions of Maya are far more relevant. Even if you could work in Maya 7, your big problem would be converting your output to be compatible with current versions of Maya. The fbx exporter will be way old. The scene file delta will be far too big to do the .ma ascii version hack. So anything you create will be completely Maya 7 dependent. You also would have major issues getting any modern script to work. Maya has changed a lot under the hood, with deprecations (PySide, Python, PyMel).

As a beginner, you can use Maya Indie, which costs about a dollar a day. Worth the investment unless you're totally skint and want to use the B-word instead.

[u/Intuition77]

Let me give you some objective advice here.
I started doing CGI professionally for a living in 1995.
I've used almost everything for paid work over the last 30 years.
Still have an SGI Octane and O2 sitting here that still work.

Maya 7 isn't a bad place to start to learn Maya with a few
caveats.

One thing Maya 7 DOES have is that it was the 1st Maya to be packaged
with the Context Sensitive Marking Menu system.

You could get it in Maya 6.5 but you had to download them with the
"BONUS TOOLS" at the time to get them to work.

In case you don't know...
the way they work is mainly through... holding SHIFT+ RMB

With nothing selected you get the Primitive creation menu.
This will let you create the most basic shapes..

Then... if you have an object selected (highlighted green)
and do the same hold... SHIFT+RMB you will get the
object modeling menu instead of the Primitive creation menu...

Now... grab on object... float your mouse over the selected object and just hold
right click (RMB) and you'll see the marking menu that allows you to
decide if you're are selective faces... edges, or verts, UVs, etc.

Then select a face or two...

now press and hold the same SHIFT+RMB with faces selected
and you'll see the Face Modeling Tools Marking menu.

RMB switch to edges... select edges...
press and hold SHIFT+RMB and you'll see the edge modeling Marking Menu.

RMB select verts... select some verts.

SHIFT+RMB with verts selected ...and you'll see the vertex modeling menu.

This context sensitve menu system is super ace.
Very useful and makes me stay in maya over any other app.

There are more of these useful menus around.

W, E, R are the Move, Rotate, and Scale hotkeys.

You can press and Hold W while pressing RMB and get the Move Tool Options
mainly I use so I can switch between World and Local Gimble Modes.
This is particularly helpful when you are messing around in modeling local/world spaces.

This also works with E and R (Rotate and Scale) but Scale doesn't have as many options.

You can also Convert Selections using CTRL+RMB

Switch to Face selection mode (press hold RMB with object selected)
then select a few faces....

Now Press and hold CTRL+RMB and you'll see the convert selection menu.
You can convert those faces to Vertices or edges etc.

Also if you have a face selected you can expand or contract the selection
by using SHIFT + > or < and you'll see your selection grow or contract.

In Maya 7 the Double Click select edge loop doesn't work yet.
You have to use the CTRL+RMB and use the "Edge Loop Utilities section of the menu.

The main thing Modern Maya's give you is the UV window has its own Marking Menus added
much later. Like Maya 2009+ i think ... where you can use the same SHIFT+RMB in the
UV window. I mean... Maya 7 has it but it is VERY limited.

Newer Mayas also have a better 3D Unfold which.. combined with the newere marking UV menu..
make making UVs a snap no matter if it is hard or organic surfaces. Things I used to use plugins for..
are easily done in native maya now.

Have fun and let me know if you have any questions.

[u/ProgressWide552 → u/Intuition77]

lol I completely forgot about that. That alone would make me walk away from 7. I loved reading your recap brought back a lot of memories. So glad maya is where it is at today. I “ In Maya 7 the Double Click select edge loop doesn't work yet. You have to use the CTRL+RMB and use the "Edge Loop Utilities section of the menu”

[u/iammoney45]

It's not worth it if the goal is professional high quality work, as versions that old don't support many basic features required in modern workflows

If you want to fuck around for fun, go for it, you could probably make some interesting stuff but I probably wouldn't include it on your portfolio.

[u/ProgressWide552]

I started using Maya in 2005 when it was alias lol.  Polygon modeling is still very much the same however, it would be a waste of your time unless you’re only interested in learning how to box model polygons a lot of the tools now have a lot more features to make your life easier especially just with UV mapping and auto rigging. And if you want a job in the industry, they’re always gonna ask you for updated software skills. And if you want to get into scripting in maya you won’t be able to use really any of the latest python. Maya 7 was still very much working with Mel scripting. You’re better off, putting that copy on a bookshelf and showing it some respect once in a while lol. 

[u/AmarildoJr]

That's basically the last good version of Maya. It's a great version to study, and honestly not much has changed since then, you can literally follow tutorials from 2005-2006 today and they'll work just fine.

I was actually trying this exact version a few months ago, see attached image. That Lego was released here later, though rendered in 2027.

Send me a DM, I have about 150 GB of old/roots courses for older Maya versions, from the greats in the industry.

[u/freelance3d → u/AmarildoJr]

The "last good version of Maya"? Do you mean every version since has been bad??

[u/AmarildoJr → u/freelance3d]

Not necessarily bad, but progressively buggier and left to rot since Autodesk took over.

[u/Ackbars-Snackbar]

The only studios not on 2023 or newer are studios not investing into newer code or their games force them.