5 Fundamental Skills Every Artist Should Master

1. COMPOSITION
2. PERSPECTIVE
3. VALUE
4. COLOR
5. LIGHTING

http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/theory/fundamental-skills/

MAYA: Face-Scan Pipeline

AUTODESK 123D Catch > FBX > MAYA >

Make the mesh LIVE, then draw poly and edit verts.  With surface in LIVE state, verts will stick to the surface of the model.

Model away, then TRANSFER MAPS.

MAYA: Polygon Face Extrude

1. Select CURVE and shift+click POLY-FACE.
2. EXTRUDE FACE and make sure "Use selected curve for extrusion" is checked.

MAYA: Curve CV Navigation

Tapping the arrow keys LEFT or RIGHT will let you navigate the spans on a curve.  Saves a crapload of time when you're modifying a path curve for an extruded rope.

Basic Lighting Setup

Use an IBL node with a 0.700 Value (HSV) texture instead of an image for a basic, all around, even white fill.

MAYA: 3D Paint

For quick surface map painting, Right Click > PAINT > 3D PAINT.  Before you start, you have to Assign / Edit Textures.

MAYA: Render Optimization from Autodesk

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=7641552