I was going through the Harvard extension school and I saw this listing

CSCI E-21 Introduction to 3 -D Modeling and Animation with Maya (12982)
Fall term
Tereza Flaxman, MFA, 3 -D Animator and Author.
Class times: Tuesdays beginning Sept. 1, 5:30-7:30 pm. Required sections Tuesdays, 7:35-9:35 pm.
Course tuition: noncredit and graduate credit $1,975.
Limited enrollment.
Printable version
This course is an introduction to three-dimensional computer modeling and animation. The industry standard Maya package is used throughout, although the techniques taught in this course should work in most other 3 -D animation packages. Topics include modeling using polygons and NURBS surfaces. Basic texture mapping, lighting, and rendering are also discussed. Students learn how to rig 3 -D models and how to animate them using forward and inverse kinematics and path animation. Prerequisite: familiarity with Adobe Photoshop. (4 credits)

But I've never heard of Maya and I'm still very new with any sort of art based software, photoshop has been it for me. Anyone have an opinion on Maya?

Skytower

I learned it on my own. Not hard, but it is time consuming.

I am a professional 3d art student by day, and Maya is pretty much the big cheese throughout the 3d Art world. Its relatively simple to use compared to more advanced and more expensive programs (3dS Max, Soft/Image, others) and its common enough that its a good base for most 3d animation studios in-house 3d software packages.

Make no mistake tho, there IS a learning curve for beginners, and many people prefer to use other, more simplistic software. but as someone who has been taught pretty much all the early 2000's 3d software, i was pleasantly relieved when i learned Maya, due to its ease of use, compared to those other programs.

Personally, i think the BEST way to learn Maya or really ANY art program, IS to take a class, so i would give it some serious thought.

a parting note:

Once i learned Maya for modelling, i never went back to those other programs.

i've been to several seminars and self taught myself Maya...class is HIGHLY recommended (books are good, but no substitute for an actual teacher). it's better to have a support structure of students with you who might be experiencing the same difficulties that you are. as with any app, once you learn the core basics of the app and building on those skills from there.

I paid $1500 for a week seminar at Gnomon School of Design...you are getting a deal for $2,000.

Take the class...3D is a huge field...very hot right now and won't be cooling down for a while.

Thanks, still mulling it over. The Harvard extension school doesn't offer a distance learning option for this and getting into Cambridge is hard.

Skytower