About the Projectcompsci02.snc.edu/cs225/2003/projects/maya/mayaproje… · Web viewthe...
Transcript of About the Projectcompsci02.snc.edu/cs225/2003/projects/maya/mayaproje… · Web viewthe...
Maya: Behind the Scenes of 3D Imaging
Presented by:
Kami Harris
Dave Dahlquist
Brandon Pufall
Introduction
My oh Maya! What can you do with it? Take a peek behind the scenes. Find out how 3D
images and models are created for games and films using Maya. Considering Maya has
a vast array of functions and features it was difficult for us to cover everything. This
project just scratches the surface of Maya's capabilities. After you are finished looking at
our project, take a look at what Maya's full potential really is by viewing a 5 minute short
animated film called The Chubbchubbs!, this piece won an Oscar for best short
animated film in 2003.
About the Project
We decided to do our CS225 Project on Maya Unlimited 5. The reason for this was to
show the workings behind 3D imaging. We have been consumed by this technology
through movies and games and we thought it was time to see how it really works. Maya
is a program that allows a user to create and edit 3D images. This program is used by
such companies as ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) and Pixar. Many people are familiar
with these companies because of their extensive work in the film industry. Maya is just
one of many programs that provide tools to create the powerful graphics you witness
today.
Basics of Maya
Academy Award® winning Maya® 3D animation and effects software is at the forefront
of technological innovation. Its development has been inspired by the film and video
artists, computer game developers and design professionals who use it daily to create
engaging digital imagery, animation and visual effects. There are several versions of
Maya that currently exist. A summary of those versions are listed below. Our project,
however, specifically targets features in the Unlimited and Complete package.
The Maya Family
Maya Unlimited:
The world's most powerful 3D animation and visual effects software and the
ultimate version of Maya Software. Experience industry-leading innovations for
the creation of advanced digital content.
Maya Unlimited includes everything in Maya Complete, plus:
Maya Fluid Effects™
o Simulate and render a huge variety of atmospheric,
pyrotechnic, viscous liquid, and open ocean effects. This
technology overcomes one of the greatest barriers in
computer animation.
Maya Fur™
o Easy creation of realistic fur, short hair, wool and grass on
NURBS or polygonal models. Incredibly realistic styling and
rendering of short hair and fur, with Maya Artisan™ brush
interface for painting fur attributes.
Maya Cloth™
o The world’s fastest and most accurate software solution for
simulating a wide variety of digital clothing and other fabric
objects. Any cloth object can be animated including sails,
skins, tents, drapery, bedding etc.
Maya Live Match Moving™
o Sophisticated matchmoving combines 2D live-action with 3D
elements. Maya Live Matchmoving lets you Match 3D
elements with live action shots, provides greater flexibilty, a
fast integrated 2D tracker and a interactive root frame solver.
Maya Live Matchmoving also allows you to reconstruct live-
action elements as 3D geometry plus output to external
applications.
Maya Complete™
Maya Complete makes the foremost 3D content creation tools accessible to a
broad range of computer graphics professionals in the film, broadcast, industrial
design, visualization, game development and web design industries. It is the
leading full 3D production solution. Maya Complete is available for Windows
2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, Mac® OS X, SGI IRIX® and Linux
operating systems.
Intuitive User Interface
o Ease-of-use tools such as marking menus and 3D
manipulators speed up workflow.
Modeling
o A full suite of advanced polygon, NURBS and subdivision
Surface modeling tools.
Animation
o A comprehensive range of keyframe, non-linear and
advanced character animation editing tools. A range of
sophisticated deformation tools for modeling and animation.
Visual Effects
o High-speed, dynamic interaction of hard and organic objects
determined by physical rules. Industry-leading particle tools
acknowledged as the standard in visual effects.
Brush-Based Technologies
o Maya Artisan™, Maya Paint Effects™ and 3D Paint™ offer
an award-winning suite of integrated pressure-sensitive
brush tools for modeling, creating 2D and 3D effects, and
painting on geometry and textures.
Rendering
o A unified rendering workflow provides easy and consistent
access to software, hardware, mental ray and vector
renderers through a common interface.
Maya API/SDK and MEL™
o Development resources that expand Maya software’s
capabilities and allow developers to add in-house tools via
the renowned Maya embedded scripting language and a full
Application Programmers’ Interface.
Maya Personal Learning Edition
Maya Personal Learning Edition is a special version of Maya® software, which
provides free access to Maya for non-commercial use. It will give 3D graphics
and animation students, industry professionals, and those interested in breaking
into the world of computer graphics (CG) an opportunity to explore all aspects of
the award winning Maya Complete™ software in a non-commercial capacity.
Maya Personal Learning Edition 5 Offers:
o A new hardware rendering option using the power of next-
generation graphics cards. Get near software-quality images
at often dramatically faster speeds.
o A unified rendering workflow for easy and consistent access
through a common interface.
o Animation enhancements to constraints, forward/inverse
kinematics and ghosting for added flexibility.
o Maya Paint Effects™ to polygon conversion for a whole new
range of looks plus more editing and output options.
o An improved polygon reduction method for making
lightweight game models and MODs.
Maya® System Requirements
Software Requirements
Maya requires one of the following operating systems:
o Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional,
o Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (Service Pack 2 or
higher)
o SGI® IRIX® 6.2.15
o RedHat™ Linux® 7.3 or 8.0
o Apple® Mac® OS X 10.2.4 or higher (Maya Complete
ONLY)
Maya requires one of the following browsers:
o Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 4.0 or higher
o Netscape® 7.0 or higher
Hardware Requirements
o At a minimum, Maya requires a system with:
o Intel® Pentium® II or higher,
o AMD Athlon™ processor
o 512 MB RAM
o CD-ROM Drive
o Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
o 3-button mouse with mouse driver software
o 450 MB of hard disk space
Maya® Pricing
o Maya Unlimited™ 5 U.S. $6999.00
o Maya Complete™ 5 U.S. $1999.00 USD
History of Maya
Maya version 1.0. The idea was great, but actually using the software was a bit painful,
a lot of the tools hadn't been implemented properly and it crashed on a regular basis.
Version 1.5 was a great improvement and quashed any industry doubts about Maya.
Tools had been implemented a lot better and the software was a well rounded product.
Then came version 2.0, which saw Maya introduced into the game development market.
Alias introduced IPR rendering, increased functionality in polygon modeling and
texturing as well as its revolutionary Paint Effects technology.
Maya 2.5 saw many improvements in the game development area although the polygon
architecture was lacking certain functionality necessary for creating games. So, along
came Maya 3, the definitive Maya for games. Maya 3 included a tirade of new tools, a
brand new polygon architecture that supported non-manifold geometry, a 40 percent
faster renderer, the new Trax non-linear animation editor, a Paint Textures Tool - which
allowed you to paint textures directly on to a surface in the Maya view port, fully-
functional subdivision surfaces and a number of polygon texturing improvements. Maya
3 was really the first release of Maya that the games industry accepted as a serious tool
and was able to compete effectively against its main rival 3DS MAX. (see software for
comparisons)
Now, with its sixth major release in three years, Maya has come of age. Although it isn't
as packed with new super-dooper features as some of the previous releases, it is faster,
more stable and easier to use than ever before. Alias claims this release is 'the easiest
to learn version of Maya ever', due to a drastically improved user interface and workflow
enhancements in poly modeling, sub-division modeling, animation, rendering and
dynamics.
Some of Maya’s accomplishments include:
Maya was honored with an Oscar® statuette in 2003 - the highest award the
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences can bestow.
Maya was used to create six of the top 10 best-selling PlayStation 2 titles in
the 2002 holiday season.
Alias software has been used in almost every film nominated by the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the category of Best Visual Effects,
since its inception.
Maya played a role in eight films nominated at the 2003 Academy Awards.
The Custom Development Center in California provides custom Maya
development services to film and game development customers.
Maya was created by Alias Wave Front. Alias Research was founded in 1983
and Wavefront Technologies was founded in 1984. In 1995, the two
companies merged under SGI. In July 2003 the company changed its name
to Alias®.
As the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology, Alias® develops award-
winning software, support, custom development and training solutions for the film,
video, game development, interactive media, industrial design and visualization
markets. These solutions include the Maya® software product line for the entertainment
industry, StudioTools™ and PortfolioWall™ software product lines for the design
industry, and Alias SketchBook Pro™ a sketching, annotating and presentation software
application for the Tablet PC and Wacom Tablet.
Maya customers include: Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., CNN, Core Design
Limited, Digital Domain, Disney, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic, Factor
5 LLC, Midway Games, Nintendo, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Pixar, Sega, Sony
Pictures Imageworks, Square Co., Ltd., Warner Feature Animation and Weta Ltd.
StudioTools customers include: AT&T, BMW, Boeing, Fiat, Fisher-Price, Ford,
General Motors, Honda, Italdesign, Kodak, Mattel, Rollerblade, Trek Bicycle,
Teague and Timex.
The Maya Embedded Language (MEL)
The Maya Embedded Language (MEL) is a virtual scripting language that provides the
foundation for Maya operation. MEL commands and scripts can be used from creating
custom effects to full animations. MEL provides the user with two distinctly different
ways to create commands. In the visual display or procedure mode the user uses the
mouse to create commands that are then displayed on the screen. In the script mode
the user has complete control by writing their own code necessary for the commands. It
is this code and how it compares and contrasts with other major languages like C++,
Pearl and Java.
Maya Embedded Language (MEL) has many of the same basic foundations or
principles that are found in C++. Most of these similarities can be observed by simply
looking at MEL code. Take this section of code for example:
global proc stair(float $numberofsteps){//create a function called 'stair()' that will perform the loop//this function will take the argument 'numberofsteps'//loop through while $i is less that $numberofsteps and create some cubes$i = 0;//change the < to be less that $numberofstepswhile($i < $numberofsteps){polyCube;scale 10 .1 1;move 0 $i $i;$i++;}}
In this section of code the similarities between MEL and C++ are definite. The most
obvious of the similarities is each line ending with a semicolon. Like C++, regardless of
how you enter the commands, all MEL commands must be terminated with a semicolon.
The next obvious similarity is the structure or arrangement of the code into function
form. Like C++, functions makeup the groundwork or structure of the code in MEL.
Which makes is easy to create and understand the MEL code. The next two similarities
can be seen in the first line of code. First is the existence and structure of the function
header in MEL. Like C++, each function must provide the names of all variables and
their data types in the function header. Second, is that data types themselves. MEL
recognizes many of the same basic data types as C++ including float (Floating point
number, like 2.3756 or 0.0002876), int (Integer, like 2 or 35267) and string (Text string,
like?Hello? or ?My name is??). This makes writing in MEL compatible with writing any
other major languages. However, MEL and C++ do have some distinct differences. The
first major difference is the usage of parenthesis or commas. The function HelloValue,
below, requires an integer and a string in order to be called successfully.
helloValue( 1, "Jake" );// Result: Hello Jake, number 1 //
However, the usage of parentheses or commas is not required for the function to be
called successfully. This allows us to legally write the same function as follows:
helloValue 7 "Torq";// Result: Hello Torq, number 7 //
Another major difference is the overloading of functions. If you use the same name for
procedures with different argument lists or return types, the last procedure will overwrite
the previous one. Although this can be helpful for making changes to a function, this can
also be troublesome and require you to pay close attention to preexisting functions. The
final major difference is, in C++ you are allowed to assign a value to a variable in the
function header. This is not allowed in MEL. For example you cannot declare a function
as follows:
proc int splat (int $value, bool = true)
Things to come: Compare and contrast Maya and Pearl, Compare and contrast Maya and Java, Interface (Does it and if so with what?)
Abilities of Maya
Everyone has probably seen a movie or a short film that was made by Alias Wavefront’s
Maya 3D software. But I’ll bet that when you turn on your PS2 or boot up your
computer that you never even gave a second thought that your favorite game could very
well have been made with the same software that your favorite animated movie was
made in. Maya is more than just a 3D animation tool, it is a graphics-operating
environment
Some of the game studios that use Maya to make some of their games are Acclaim
Entertainment Inc., Polyphony Digital Inc., Disney, Electronic Arts, Midway Games,
Nintendo, Pixar, and Sega. Now just because some of the big studios use this software
in their games doesn’t mean that Maya is used on any of the games that you like to play
right? I’d be willing to bet that you have played many games that used Maya. Some of
these games include Command and Conquer (PC), Gran Turismo 3 (PS2), Unreal
Tournament 2003, Final fantasy X, The Getaway, and Madden (PS2 and PC). So no
matter what your particular gaming taste is chances are that Maya was involved
somehow in your gaming experience.
Now, why do gaming companies use Maya when programming games rather than other
3D animation programs? First Maya is pretty much fully integrated. Meaning that all the
tools that you are probably going to need are already at hand. While many of the other
3D programming suites require plug-ins, which although is good for expandability, but
when using multiple plug-ins it is possible that they won’t be compatible with each other.
Now just because Maya is an integrated packaged doesn’t mean that it cannot be
expanded. Maya has included with it its own programming language MEL (Maya
Imbedded Language) this feature allows programmers to create new tools and features
that can be added into Maya so that Maya can be constantly changed and transformed
into a program that is most useful to the person using it.
How do games use Maya? While different games use Maya in different ways, but one
thing that it is pretty safe to say is that when you turn on your game the animations and
intro’s were probably made using Maya. For example the cut scanned in Final Fantasy
X were all created in Maya. Character models, such as the players in Madden football,
the Cars and backgrounds in Gran Turismo 3, and the game pieces in Command and
Conquer as well as cut scenes, were made using Maya and then the 3D models were
used in the games themselves. In Gran Turismo for the PS2 more than just 3D wire
frame models were made with Maya. Even the Menus and replay camera angels were
made using Maya. An example of this would be where you are in the purchase car area
of GT3 and there is a car revolving so you can see the car you can also make color
changes. Just about the only thing that wasn’t made using Maya was the textures used
on the models.
Unreal tournament 2003 uses Maya for character models and even includes a copy of
Maya personal learning edition with the game software so that gamers who like to make
mods can more easily create different looking characters. In Madden (PS2) many of
Maya’s tools such as skeletal binding, NURBS, and polygon tools were used to create
the characters used in the game and in the animation.
The skeletal binding feature becomes apparent in madden when you go into the create
character feature. In this feature you can change the height and weight of the character
and by changing these features it changes the body stature of the character. Skeletal
binding is also used in the game unreal tournament 2003. Creating a character in UT
2003 is more difficult, but there are also more options. In UT 2003 you can download a
skeletal structure for the character and build on the character from their using Maya to
modify the character and then import the character into UT 2003. NURBS are used to
create a three dimensional object from another already pre-existing three-dimensional
prototype object a box for example.
This is a basic box created using create polygon primitive
Then you can select a face of the box or other three-dimensional object and extend the
face, which will create other faces connecting the face you extended and the original
outlined area of the box face. You can also manipulate the scale size of the face you
are extruding as well as the scale on the different axis of the face.
This is a box with a face extended using NURBS
The NURBS tool in Maya is a unique tool in Maya because it includes both a scale tool,
the box on the screen, and a move tool, the arrow on the screen, at the same time
where other tool in Maya will usually only contain one of the tools. Once you have
created the basic shape of the model that you wish to have you can use the smooth tool
to smooth the sharp edges of the object so that it looks more realistic.
This is a smoothed version of the box with the extended face
You can repeat this process until satisfied with how smooth the object is, but beware the
more you smooth the more polygons there are and the more processing power that will
be required to render the image.
Unreal tournament background with wire frame shown
Maya vs. Other Software
Maya is a tool used to create 3D animations and images, as we've discussed. Maya is
not the only tool out there. There are many other programs that have the capabilities to
create 3D images as well. The top 3 programs in the industry are Maya, 3D Studio Max
and Lighwave. These are the most powerful programs on the market right now and they
are the programs being used by the big companies.
So how do the 3 stack up to each other? Let’s take a look:
Maya
Maya is a high-end animation package that runs on Windows NT/2000/XP
and Silicon Graphics Workstations. Maya is a very complete system, and is
targetted towards professional users. The user interface is designed to be
useful for someone who uses it a lot, and is not necessarily designed to be
easy to learn. Maya is used for lots of blockbuster movies such as 'Star Wars:
Episode I', 'The Perfect Storm' and 'The Mummy Resturns'. One of the
coolest features of Maya is the Paint FX tool. You can paint curves onto
surfaces which are dynamically animated. Select from a wealth of preset
brushes such as fire, smoke, grass or make your own. Maya is also known for
its superb character animation abilities. Skeleton & weight map setup is very
quick and effecient. Maya also has several impressive animation editors that
sets it apart from other software such as the dope sheet and trax editor. In the
trax editor you can create an animation clip from a set of key frames and then
copy, paste, mix & match that clip with other clips in your scene which makes
for amazing productivity.
o The downside to Maya is it's a fairly tough software to learn and the
price is rather hefty.
3D Studio MAX
3D Studio MAX is a very complete 3D animation system for Windows
NT/2000/98. It is difficult to compare it with Maya - except to note that MAX is
an order of magnitude less expensive than Maya. Maya has a more "industrial
strength" pedigree, does better at doing complex operations on curved
surfaces, some fancier features, and a more highly evolved user interface. On
the other hand, 3D Studio MAX seems easier to learn, and since it is so
popular, there are lots of books and tutorials available for it. The software has
been applied to bestselling PC games like 'Age of Empires II: The Age of
Kings' and 'Max Payne'. Movies include the recent Stallone-movie 'Driven'.
Lightwave 3D
Lightwave 3D is a powerful 3D package used by Computer Graphics (CG)
professionals around the world. It runs on Windows 98/Me/2000/NT. I think
it's safe to say that Lightwave is easily the best value for your money. With a
few plugins, Lightwave's functionality can match up against such high end
software packages as Maya at only a fraction of the cost. Lightwave is known
for its rendering engine - try it out versus other 3D programs and you'll find
out why. The quality is very good and it is one of the fastest engines
available.
Lightwave 3D has been used in many feature films such as the #1 best seller
of all time - Titanic. Other projects include the recent 'BlackHawk Down', last
year's 'A.I.', and sci-fi favorite 'Babylon 5'. The user interface is
straightforward and easy to learn while offering a powerful array of options to
do whatever you can dream of. Lightwave also comes with many inherent
plugins that comparably priced software (like 3D Studio Max) doesn't. Many
people debate that LightWave3D is the best 3D product for the PC
Note: For users who are switching from Lightwave or 3D Studio Max to Maya, Maya has created several
tutorials on how to import files from other 3D rendering software so you can use them as you normally
would with Maya.
Combatability
Maya works with an array of programs. One of the best is Abode Photoshop. This
program was found to be used frequently when creating textures. When necessary to
create a texture that Maya doesn't already have, many users will go with Photoshop.
Basically, you can use Photoshop as you normally would. Maya allows you to import
your textures quickly and easily so they are ready to use for your objects.
In the statements above there was breif discussion about plug-ins. Maya has a vast
selection of plug-ins available to it in order to increase its functionality and power. Below
is a list of some of the options available that will make Maya easier to use.
AI.implant 1 for Maya
o The world's first commercial AI animation software solution for Maya 3D
animation and visual effect professionals. 3D professionals can now
create AI animations-from a flock of birds to a massive battle royal-with
unparalleled ease.
Arete Image Software
o Digital NatureTools: Digital NatureTools for Maya creates spectacular
imagery of animated oceans, skies and clouds.
o NatureFX : Ocenas and Atmospheres.
o NatureFX Render: Ocenas and Atmospheres.
o Psyclone & Psyclone Render: Psyclone is an interactive tool that allows
the user to combine the strengths of the particles and dynamics of the
Maya FX module, with Arete 3D volumetric cloud rendering technology.
o Psunami & Psunami Render
BioGraphic Technologies
o Autonomous Character Plug-in V1.0 for Maya 3.0
o The Autonomous Character Plug-in by BioGraphic Technologies allows
animators to harness a sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) engine to
create natural looking animations of large groups of interacting intelligent
characters such as F1 drivers passing at high speeds, sharks hunting
schools of fish, or disciplined Roman legions crushing hordes of
barbarians.
Bionatics NatFX
o natFX is a revolutionary Maya plug-in for easy plant modeling and
animation based on CIRAD AMAP™ technology. Using natFX, you can
easily and quickly animate all aspects of a plant. Botanic parameters are
automatically calculated for each particular model meaning that its wood
flexibility, leaf attachment strength and stem strengths are faithfully
reproduced for each individual plant. Bend branches, bend a trunk, watch
a sapling spring back to shape after a strong gust of wind. A few clicks, an
autumn breeze, and watch a couple of maple leaves detach themselves
and float gracefully away. Perhaps the user wants to bypass the botanical
constraints of her plant and animate it the way she wants, click one button.
BodyStudio 2.0 Maya
o BodyStudio seamlessly integrates Poser 3D character animation
technology into Alias|Wavefront’s Maya. This innovative plug-in allows
Maya users to render and playback Poser
THE CONDUCTORS PROGAM
o Conductors™ is Alias|Wavefront's third-party developer/partner program.
The Conductors program is designed to extend the functionality of your
software with market-specific tools to help you optimize your workflow so
you can be more creative.
Creature Creator: from: FxRealms
o Creating humanoids, aliens, monsters, bugs, and other things that go
bump in the night is an easy experience with Creature Creator. Make one-
of-a-kind characters for cartoons, fantasy and sci-fi in minutes - by using
any of the plugin's library of over 500 pre-defined body parts, which can be
tweeked or combined in endless ways for genuine originality. Of course
you can also add your own modifications and models to the library to
make the possibilities with this plugin endless. If you're serious about your
animations, you'll want to add Creature Creator to your toolbox.
Cult3D for Maya
o Cycore Cult3D, the first real-time interactive 3D software for the web and
beyond, now let¹s you incorporate any of your Maya models into Web
pages, Adobe Acrobat PDF documents or Microsoft Office presentations.
System Requirements: Maya 2.x or Maya 3.0 is required.
CySlice
o Translator -- Polygons to Slices Cyslice v2.0 maintains Cyslice v1.5's
ability to extract splices from very large polygonal data sets. In addition to
this slicing ability, v2.0 allows you to now create NURBS patches with
guaranteed tangency, using the simple point and click Network Tool.
DressingSim
o DressingSim PatternMaker for Maya is a tool set with digital fashion
contents collection by which real fashion becomes available in Maya and
Maya Cloth.
EzCurve
o The EzCurve tool is an creation and editing feature for NURBS curves
with the advantage of an interface that allows the user to create and edit a
NURBS curve and polygons in the same manner as a bezier curve ( like
Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator etc.). It combines the power of a NURBS
curve with the ease of editing a bezier curve containing the same
elements: tangents, smooth points, break points etc.Basicly it is a method
that gives the user the same intuitive steps to follow that is usual in a
Bezier curve creation program.
glu3D
o glu3D is a liquid animation system that allow user to automatically animate
water, fountains, rivers and other. Easy to use and free to try.
Maya Caustics
o updated for Maya 4 - NT - Allows Maya 4 ability to accurately simulate
more of the ways real light can move through a scene.
MELANIE
o MELANIE is a FREE powerful tool to help you build your own User
Interfaces for Maya. Until now, you had to program them with MEL
commands. Now, you can easily do the same with only a few mouse clicks
Mesh Project
o Plugins Maya MESH is a product line of 5 independent but complementary
software tools (Maya Plug-ins) bringing innovative technologies and
rationalizing the production of ultra-realistic 3D virtual characters
dedicated to entert ainment markets such as the Internet, video games,
television and cinema.
o This project of R&D joined together of the professional and university
partners of the world of the 3D. The site presents various information on
the course of the project and many links towards sites related to research
in the field of the 3D.
o FaceGenerator is a Maya plug-in allowing the swift and intuitive
generation of 3D bare human faces hardly distinguishable from real ones,
through the choice of specified morphologic attributes defined by the
computer graphic artist himself, such as gender, age, morphology, skin
color, etc.
o Hairstyler is a Maya plug-in allowing the swift and intuitive creation of
realist hairstyles.
o HeadIntegrator is a Maya plug-in allowing the composition of a whole
parametrable 3D character based on a bare face (FaceGenerator) and
additional elements.
o TargetShapesGenerator is a Maya plug-in allowing the automatic
definition of a set of deformation / displacement fields corresponding to
visemes and emotional expressions adapted to the morphology of the
considered face
o CharacterAnimator is a Maya plug-in allowing to facilitate the definition of
highly realist animations of a complete characterl - resulting from
HeadIntegrator
Next Limit
o Real Flow: Standalone physically-based particle system built upon
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques.
o RealWave: Standalone physically-based system which is able to track the
propagation of gravitational waves on a mesh, simulating aquatic
surfaces.
ntaraRPC
o Integration of People and Plants in a 3D Environment. ntara™RPC™ is an
RPC reader plug-in for Maya NT that allows seamless integration of actual
people and plants within 3D environments. The plug-in utilizes
ArchVision's award winning RPC file format to represent complex objects
with an adaptive plane and texture that is linked to the camera. This
provides rich environments without the computational overhead of dense
models.
PolyTrans Plug-in System for Maya
o The PolyTrans plug-ins for Maya provide seamless and dependable
import/export of the most popular 3D file formats: 3DS MAX (via natve
MAX plug-in), SoftImage, Lightwave, IGES 5.3, OpenFlight, ACIS SAT,
3DMF, 3DSr4, Cinema-4D, DEM, DXF, DirectX, Electric Image FACT,
GameExchange-2, Imagine, Lightscape, Metastream3, Op enFlight, PDB,
POV, Pro/E SLP, STL, Strata, RIB, Renderware, SolidEdge/SolidWorks,
trueSpace, VRML 1+2, Wavefront (+NURBS) and dozens more. Proven,
feature rich & affordable! Creates "Render Ready" scenes. Over 12 years
development. Demos on WEB site. $790.
Skin Shader
o Produces photorealistic human skin tones based on the natural behavior
of light interacting with skin. updated for Maya 4 - NT
Syflex
o Syflex is the latest in cloth simulation. It features an incredibly fast and
stable simulator that allows to create highly realistic cloth animations.
Stageware
o Stageware AnimPath for Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimatorTM : AnimPath is
an advanced modeling tool that significantly improves the use of the Alias
Animation Sweep tool to skin and build surfaces. The artist uses the
AnimPath plug-in to automatically build animated curves that are then
used in Sweep Surfaces -> Anim sweep to build a resultant surface.
o Stageware Cluster Editor for Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimatorTM : Cluster
editing can be an extremely time consuming part of the modeling and
animation process. The Stageware Cluster Editor can improve the speed
of this workflow up to 3 or 4 times.
o Stageware Ghostwriter for Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimatorTM
What We Thought of Maya
After using the product for quit some time now we decided to rate it according to 7
categories that we thought were important. Note: Scale is 1-10, 10 being really good.
We also rated it compared to the top 2 programs by looking at the 3 basic things of a
program. Of the 3 animation packages - Maya, Lightwave and 3D Studio Max - Maya
emerges as the industry leader. It is also the most expensive for the full version. It is
also tough to learn. 3D Studio Max is the mid-range software, not as expensive as
Maya, but not as powerful either. Lightwave is the cheapest of the three, and certainly
the easiest to learn for the beginner.
Special thanks to the following people/software for helping us along on this project:Maya AssociationAlias Wavefront Maya Unlimited 5
Flash FXDreamweaver MX
Photoshop 7Dr. Pankratz
All product descriptions have been taken directly from Maya's website in order to maintain consistency and eliminate confusion.