Effects get Special with the release of Maya 5

by News Editor
Published on Apr 27, 2003 12:00 AM



Maya 5 is said to gain enhancements to rendering, workflow and modeling functionality. For rendering, Maya 5 includes four primary render options: the Maya software renderer, mental ray for Maya, Vector Renderer and Hardware Renderer. Each addition has it's own function that will add to smoother 3D creation. The Vector Renderer adds the capability of outputting cartoon-shaded images for Macromedia Flash, Adobe Illustrator, EPS and SVG. The Hardware Renderer, according to Alias, speeds up rendering by as much as 2,000 percent. The mental ray renderer for Maya has also been update to version 3.2.

According to the press release, Maya 5 offers an enhanced toolset, such as a new polygon reduction facility, new UV editing and extrusion tools, including a graph-based profile curve for taper control. And with Artisan, users can brush Face Vertices.

Alias says Maya 5 has been fine-tuned based on input from professional users, including enhancements to animation constraints. It also introduces a new form of Foreward Kinematics/Inverse Kinematics (FK/IK) blending, along with new ghosting and channel muting options for speeding up animation tasks.

Other new features include:

* Enhancements to the Maya API, including a node/attribute callback mechanism, more detailed exposure of light data and high-level polygon operations;
* A new MEL "renderer" command for hooking into third-party renderers;
* Ability to use Maya Paint Effects to draw polygons;
* A new Thin Line brush mode in Maya Paint Effects for creating multi-streaked hair;
* More than 100 new preset brushes for Maya Paint Effects;
* New features in Maya Fluid Effects in Maya Unlimited, including dynamic computation of wakes and simulation of ponds and lakes;
* New and enhanced data exchanges with Macromedia Flash, DWG, DXF, Adobe Illustrator, Encapsulated PostScript, Scalable Vector Graphics, IGES, OpenFlight, StudioTools and OBJ.

The press release also says the new version of Maya will also includes a free 'Maya Learning Tool' DVD. Maya Complete for the Mac OS X, Windows, Irix and Linux sells for $1,999 and includes modeling, rendering, animation, dynamics, Maya Artisan, Maya Paint Effects, mental ray for Maya and Maya Embedded Language (MEL).

Maya Unlimited for the Windows, Irix and Linux sells for $6,999 and includes Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Fur, Maya Cloth and Maya Live, in addition to the features available in Maya Complete.

Upgrades run $899 for Maya Complete and $1,249 for Maya Unlimited for node-locked licenses. Those with full annual maintenance and registered eSupport can download the new version now. For more information, visit www.aliaswavefront.com.