I've been to a few of these in the past, for both Maya and 3ds Max. Its a great way to see whats going on with the programs and how studios are utilizing the software. Last night Ryan from Buck gave a nice presentation on a spot not yet released. The breakdown was pretty impressive and the layers/renders used were pure eye candy deliciousness. That doesn't mean that they were pretty with no brains. On the contrary. It seemed like a very complex process on getting the correct look for the spot, without being overly complicated that I couldn't understand what was going on. The end result was amazing renders with a great story.
After Ryan presented, we all took a little break and caught up with friends, colleagues, and met some new faces. Then Stephen Mann took the front and went over some changes with some Maya tools. Always good to know. If your interested in the NY Maya Users Group, check out the blog: http://nymayausersgroup.blogspot.com/
Thank you, Ryan, for presenting. It takes a good amount of courage and certainty to present to a group as large as we were last night. And thank you, Stephen, for putting this all together.