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Award-winning Autodesk® Maya® software

Autodesk® Maya® software is a powerful, integrated 3D modeling, animation, effects and rendering solution. Because Maya is based on an open architecture, all your work can be scripted or programmed using a well-documented and comprehensive API (Application Program Interface), or one of two integrated scripting languages. This, combined with an industry-leading suite of 3D tools, means Maya enables you to realize your creative ideas.

Maya is a popular, integrated node-based 3D software suite, evolved from Wavefront Explorer and Alias PowerAnimator using technologies from both. The software is released in two versions: Maya Complete (the less powerful package) and Maya Unlimited. Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) is available at no cost for non-commercial use, although rendered images are watermarked.

General information

Autodesk® Maya® was originally released for the IRIX operating system, and subsequently ported to the Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. IRIX support was discontinued after the release of version 6.5. When Autodesk acquired Alias in October 2005, they continued Maya development. The latest version, 2008 (9.0), was released in September 2007. An important feature of Maya is its openness to third-party software, which can strip the software completely of its standard appearance and, using only the 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 custom code for their productions using the provided software development kit. A Tcl-like cross-platform scripting language called Maya Embedded Language (MEL) is provided not only as a scripting language, but as means to customize Maya's core functionality (much of the environment and tools are written in the language). Additionally, user interactions are implemented and recorded as MEL scripting code which users can store on a toolbar, allowing animators to add functionality without experience in C or C++ programming and compilers, though that option is provided with the software development kit. Support for Python scripting was added in version 8.5. The core of Maya itself is written in C++.

Visor Library

Autodesk® Maya® have an huge database of stuff, the visor. It is a place that Maya uses to store presets of various mel scripts, pfx brushes, dynamic caches/setups etc. With the visor that is accessible from menu WINDOW \ GENERAL EDITORS \ VISOR
If you right click on one of the images in the visor it will give you options along the lines of 'import whatever.mel/ma' or 'apply brush' (eg. import an example file/preset or use a paintFX brush) for render this paint effects with mental ray,  just convert it in polygons or nurbs with the option MODIFY / CONVERT / PAINT EFFECTS TO POLYGONS, that will have a pretty good shader too. Watch the tutorial

Dynamics and Simulation

Autodesk® Maya® features a particle system for handling masses like steam and water drops. Dynamic fields allow adding gravity, wind and vortexes, allowing for effects such as blowing leaves or even tornados. Special tools give artists the ability to brush and style particles like hair and fur. This module is a direct evolution of Wavefront Dynamation. An artist may create rigid body geometric objects which collide automatically without explicit animation, as well as soft body objects which can ripple and bend, like flags and cloth. Maya effects are built-in programs that make it easy for users to create complex animation effects such as smoke, fire and realistic water effects, with many options and attributes for tuning the results. The realtime render inside the maya viewport with the new Viewport 2.0 of Autodesk maya 2012 is very impressive and helpfull, that's why you can see the animation with realtime light shadows, motion blur, ambient occlusion, reflection, inside the maya viewport.

Materials

Like most 3D programs, Autodesk® Maya® includes a number of parameterized shading models to define an object's visual properties, including Lambert, Blinn, Phong, and anisotropic shaders. Depending on which shading model is used, the parameters affect attributes such as the surface's color, reflective properties, and transparency, with the goal of simulating the appearance of real-life materials such as metal, stone, wood, and skin. Shaders can also incorporate bump maps, which create the illusion of surface textures.

Ncloth Simulation

Maya nCloth provides artists with the ability to quickly direct and control their cloth and other material simulations in entirely new ways. Learn how create cloth soft body with Maya nCloth, this videotutorial show techniques for realistic results, and creative practices for a multitude of cloth simulations. Contains a very simply shot to training and guides artists step-by-step through the powerful capabilities of the Maya Nucleus technology. Perfect for archmodels modeller new to nCloth. Watch nCloth video tutorial.

Supported render engines

Maya has an open render API, and allows for third party render integration. There is a large number of renders supported, here is a list of a few:

• Holomatix Rendition
• Chaos Group, Vray
• Cebas, FinalRender
• DNA Research, 3Delight
• Illuminate Labs, Turtle
• NextLimit, Maxwell Render
• Nvidia, Gelato
• Mental Images, Mental ray
• Physically Based Rendering, PBRT for Maya (openSource )
• Pixar, RendermanForMaya
• Pixar, Renderman Studio ( which replaces RAT ) and works with PhotoRealistic Renderman
• Sitex Graphics, Air ( With RIB translation software like Liquid or MayaMan )
• Sunflow ( openSource )

System Requirements

For 64-bit Autodesk Maya 2012

• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, Microsoft Windows Vista Business x64 Edition (SP2), Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (SP2), Apple® Mac OS® X 10.6.5, Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 5.5 WS, or Fedora™ 14 operating systems
• Windows and Linux: Intel Pentium 4, AMD Athlon processor with SSE3 instruction set support (or higher)
• Macintosh® computer: Macintosh computer with Intel-based 64-bit processor
• 4 GB RAM
• 10 GB free hard drive space
• Qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card
• Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
• DVD-ROM drive
• HDD: IDE, SATA, SATA 2, SAS, SCSI
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, Apple Safari, or Mozilla Firefox web browsers

For 32-bit Autodesk Maya 2012

• Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional, Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business (SP2), or Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP3) operating systems
• Windows: Intel® Pentium® 4, AMD Athlon™ processor with SSE3 instruction set support (or higher)
• 2 GB RAM
• 10 GB free hard drive space
• Qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL® graphics card
• Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
• DVD-ROM drive
• HDD: IDE, SATA, SATA 2, SAS, SCSI
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, Apple Safari, or Mozilla Firefox web browsers

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