i don't know much about Maya, but i use blender which is free, and ventilator wrote a perfect exporter that allows you to export your model, texture, and animations straight out of blender into ur game project.
www.blender.orgi recommend starting with some AUM projects. check the Acknex User Magazine forum for more details on it, but its a monthly magazine with loads of useful tips and tutorials, especially for beginners. also, as you browse all these forums and someone mentions a feature u didn't know about, be sure to look it up in the manual!
julz