When the Best Gets Even Better: The Release of Maya 6.5
by: Jelaine Macaraeg
No one would have thought that it is possible – I mean, how could the best possibly get better? But I guess for those who have a vision, it is possible. And vision is exactly what the people in Alias Systems Corp. have.
February 2005 marks the release of Maya 6.5. Yes, Alias’ award-winning Maya software, which prides itself for being at the forefront of technological innovation has gone a step further. Maya 6.5 is hailed by Alias to be a “performance-driven release packed with new features and feature enhancements motivated by next generation production requirements for massive dataset handling.”
Maya artists will definitely love the significant improvements made with regard to interactivity in such areas as modeling, UV manipulation, deformations and 3D painting. It also provides high-performance Computer-Aided Design or CAD data import through the new STEP translator, allowing artists to quickly import large data sets from major CAD packages for the creation of high-quality images and animations directly from CAD data. Maya 6.5 also has such new features like scene segmentation tools for reference locking, reference editing, proxies and enhancement to nested references, which gives artists more control to focus on specific sections of massive data sets, managing scene load times, parallel and collaborative workflows, scene sharing and overall scene performance, as well as the mental ray for Maya network rendering – a functionality that supports interactive, batch and command-line rendering and pre-lighting.
Maya 6.5 comes in two versions – Maya Complete 6.5 and Maya Unlimited 6.5. Some of the features of the Complete edition are the user-friendly tools, which include marking menus and 3D manipulators speed and workflow, a full suite of advanced Polygon, NURBS and Subdivision Surface modeling tools, a comprehensive range of keyframe, non-linear and advanced character animation editing tools for the creation, animation, adaptation and repurposing of animation data and editing realistic digital characters. Meanwhile, the Unlimited edition has everything Maya Complete has plus Maya Fluid Effects for the simulation and rendering of a vast variety of atmospheric, pyrotechnic, viscous liquid and open ocean effects, Maya Cloth, which claims to be the world’s most accurate software solution for simulating a wide variety of digital clothing and other fabric objects, Maya Fur for incredibly realistic styling and rendering of short hair and fur through the help of the Maya Artisan brush interface for painting fur attributes, Maya Live to match original live-action footage with the 3D elements rendered in Maya and Maya Hair, which includes various tools for the creation, styling and rendering of fully dynamic long hair in NURBS or polygon objects. With Maya hair, artists can also create any NURBS curve dynamic for advanced character rigging and effects.
So whatever your projects are – whether it’s for blockbuster films, 3D gaming, print, broadcast, product design or any other professional arts application, Maya 6.5 promises the most powerful and superior tools and enhancements in the industry today to empower you to be as creative as you can be and to bring your very own visions to life.
About The Author
Jelaine Macaraeg
I like to read anything that contains words in the old English form, though I can’t understand it. You know, the King James Version of the Bible with words like thou, thy, thine, wilst, etc. The words used are different. The construction of the sentence is different, too, which makes sentences sound artistic. I also like gothic metal, a music genre, because most of the lyrics contain such words. It is not only the words that fascinate me; it’s the hidden meaning it contains. It’s like an abstract painting; you don’t get the real picture until you see through it.
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