Maya artists and animators face complex problems that are not easily solved with the built-in capabilities of the program. MEL (Maya Embedded Language), the scripting language included with Maya, enables users to automate and customize their work. Programming in MEL is often the first programming task of any kind attempted by an artist or animator. However, learning to program is hard for many artists, and it is very hard to learn how to program MEL by just reading the Maya documentation. In the first edition of MEL Scripting for Maya Animators, Mark Wilkins and Chris Kazmier provided very clear explanations of basic programming concepts to an audience without programming experience. That book earned the reputation as the best introductory book on MEL. Since that edition, Maya has released two new major version upgrades and its user base has continued to grow. Now in a second edition, the book is fully updated to Maya 6 and includes a number of brand new features, such as a discussion of global procedures, new chapters on fixing programming bottlenecks, advanced user interface techniques, and optimizing character rigs.