is a high-end
3D Computer Graphics and
3D Modelling software package by Alias but now owned by
Autodesk Media & Entertainment used in the
Film and
TV Industry , as well as for
Computer And Video Games .
Autodesk Media & Entertainment acquired the software in October 2005 upon purchasing
Alias Systems Corporation .
Maya, used in most films today, is named for the
Sanskrit word meaning "Illusion" and is a popular,
Proprietary integrated 3D software suite, evolved from Alias
PowerAnimator . Maya comes in two main versions, Maya Complete (the less powerful package) and Maya Unlimited. Maya Unlimited is now priced similarly to other proprietary 3D programs, but used to be considerably more expensive. Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) is available for non-commercial use, and is available at no cost. Images rendered with Maya PLE are watermarked.
Maya was developed by
Alias and is released for the
Microsoft Windows ,
Linux ,
IRIX , and
Mac OS X operating systems. The latest version of Maya, version 7.0, was released in
2005 . 6.5 was the last version that supported IRIX, due to the platform's declining popularity in recent years. When
Autodesk acquired Alias in October 2005, they agreed to continue the product line.
The most important feature of Maya is its openness to third-party software, which can strip Maya completely of its standard appearance and, using only the Maya kernel, can transform it into a highly customized version of the software. Apart from its intrinsic power and flexibility, this feature in itself made Maya appealing to large studios which tend to write quite a lot of custom code for their productions using the provided software development kit.
Maya also features a powerful, interpreted, cross-platform scripting language called ''
Maya Embedded Language '' (''MEL''), which is similar to
Tcl . It is not only provided as a scripting language, but as means to customize Maya's core functionality (much of Maya's environment and tools are written in the language). Additionally, user interactions are implemented and recorded as MEL scripting code which users can view and drag onto a toolbar to create new 'macro' tools instantly. This provides animators with the power to add functionality to Maya without experience in C or C++ programming and compilers, though that option is provided with the software development kit.
Project files, including all geometry and animation data, are stored as sequences of MEL operations which can be optionally saved as a 'human readable' file (.ma, for Maya ASCII), editable in any text editor outside of the Maya environment and allows for a tremendous level of flexibility when working with external tools. It can also be edited to allow the file to be opened on previous versions of the software.
- Powerful tools to build objects using Polygonal , Nurbs , or Subdivision modeling and, in the current version, tools to freely convert objects between the geometry formats.
- Simulation of particle effects (effective for smoke, water droplets etc.)
- A realistic fluid simulator (effective for smoke, fire, clouds and explosions, added in Maya 4.5)
- Inverse kinematics (to realistically simulate human limb movement, for example)
- Cloth simulation (to automatically simulate clothing and fabrics moving realistically over an animated character, for example)
- PaintEffects integrates 2D painting tools into a 3D rendering environment. Libraries include numerous trees, grasses, and plants which can be painted to 'grow' off the surface of an object. (Also effective for volumetric effects.)
- Fur (good for simulating fur and short hair).
- Hair, a simulator for realistic-looking human hair implemented using curves and PaintEffects.
- Physical effects (simulating colliding objects, object deforming under pressure etc).
- Matching CG to live footage via Maya Live
- Native '' Mental Ray '' renderer.
- Fully reconfigurable user interface (dragging snippets of script code onto a shelf creates a new icon that executes that code)
- Hotbox provides instant access to the majority of features in Maya via a large menu that surrounds the mouse pointer at any time when a user holds down the space bar.
