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.