Just a Newbie

Ok, I just aquired a copy of the software (maya 4.0) , and am very interested in knowing the basics.  I have learned 3ds max and am eager for the challenge of MAYA :) .  However upon opening it I have found that the layout is way different, even to the extent that I cant find the zoom out option.  If anyone has any resources that they know of that would assist me in figuring out the basics, I would be really appreciative.  You can email me or AIM msg me, or of course posting here is great too...

email = chris@sparkstudio.com
aim = ph13x

There are a lot of tutorials in the cd about the basics in Maya.There are in pdf format with the title "instant maya".If you dont have that then you have to download tutorials.here are some links

http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Tmpl/Maya/html/index.jhtml?page=/en/Community/Learn/how_tos/how_tos_m.html

http://www.3dlinks.com/tutorials_alias.cfm

Also to move into your scene you use your 3 mouse buttons.Experiment with that and you ll see what movement eatch combination of buttons represent.
Use your main menu like the create menu to create primitives.Right click on the created primitive and asign materials.
Just for begining.
Good luck

i really appreciate your response.... thanks a ton

-canavan

This is how I learned the basic of Maya... still a complete newbie ;). just in the maya window press F1 and then click on instant maya and do those lessons. You can find most anything you need by pressing F1.

the maya's layout  is different, yes.
as oh_what_a_night and ResQBen said
you should check the introduction tutorials
on that. once you get to know the interface
better, there are milions of possibilities with
che maya GUI. you could set up your hotkeys
and a lot of different stuff.
have fun exploring maya's interface
cheers,
moor

Thanks all... ;)

as my colegues said earlier, just check out the documentation within maya, pressing F1.
It should all be in the "Essentials" section.
I'd like to recomend just a tip here. Learn well the interface. I find my workflow very fast using custom marking menues, shelves etc.