Modelling with Maya

About two years ago I took a digital graphics design course.  The professor "provided" software relevant to the course so we could work at home.  The course was mainly about learning Photoshop, but we also did a very little bit with Maya, and I haven't touched it since.  But since /po/ has appeared, I was interested in doing some 3d model -> papercraft stuff, so I loaded it up.

0_o

Apparently it's God's own 3D Modelling Program. I tinkered with Rhino several years ago, but I can't make heads or tails of Maya.  What I'm trying to do is load Homeworld ships, which are in .raw format (converted from .peo), edit them, then use Pepakura to make them into papercraft.  Can someone give me some pointers?

Why Maya for spaceships? Maya's forte is character animation.

/irrelevant

>>2
Forgot to add: Should I just get rid of Maya altogether and use something else?

If you're on windows, I'd suggest XSI. If you're on Mac... Cinema 4D or Lightwave?

Actually, I'd suggest simply warezing the five biggies (Maya, XSI, MAX, Lightwave, Cinema 4D), and deciding which you like most. Try out modo and ZBrush too. I know it's a cop-out, but there's so much fanboyism in the CG community that the only way for you to know is to try them out for yourself.

BTW, a very general and oversimplified metric is:

Maya = character animation
MAX = architectural visualisation
Lightwave = space
XSI = everything?
modo = modelling
c4d = cel animation

you forgot about blender.

if you experienced people had to choose one program to learn with the eventual goal of character/mech modelling which would you pick?

xsi interests me since a lot of japanese sites seem to talk about it (mgs3 models made in it for example) but there seems to be less tutorials and things for it compared to say 3ds max or maya

Modelling? modo, ZBrush, or Lightwave (for hard-body).

A lot of people mix'n'match. Gone are the days where you did everything in one app. Do your modelling, texturing, rigging, animation, and rendering all in different apps.

If you're starting off, and need an all-round solution, I'd recommend Lightwave, but that's just personal preference.