New features for Maya 2012 announced

Autodesk has unveiled Maya 2012, adding new tools for pre-viz, games prototyping, extended simulation capabilities and better pipeline integration

Viewport enhancements: now offers a range of full-screen effects

3D software giant Autodesk has announced a range of new features for leading 3D animation tool Maya.
Alongside enhancements to the Viewport and the addition of editable motion trails, is a focus on interoperability with other software including MotionBuilder, Mudbox and Softimage.
Maya 2012 contains single-step workflows, enabling users to move 3D data directly between the latest versions of Autodesk’s 3D product line.

Do more with less

Speaking to Autodesk prior to the announcement, 3D World was given a preview to a number of new features. It was said that a significant amount of the new features were implemented as a result of what senior product marketing manager Rob Hoffman labelled “The Avatar Effect”.
“Artists need to do more with less,” he says. “They are being asked to do a huge amount of work for less time and money. It’s something all artists are struggling with today.”
Hoffman went on to note that Autodesk recognised that users were using more than one piece of software, and that efficiency between different platforms has become a key focus.

Summary of new features:

• Viewport 2.0 Enhancements — now includes full-screen effects: motion blur, depth-of-field and ambient occlusion, component and manipulator displays, batch rendering capabilities and a high-performance API
• Node-Based Render Passes — create and edit node-based representations of render passes and render the composited output directly using the mental ray renderer
• Editable Motion Trails — Edit animation directly in the viewport, without needing to switch context to the graph editor
• Sequencer Enhancements — A Sequencer Playlist with a configurable spreadsheet view to reorder clips, edit In and Out points and change camera assignments; as well as support for multi-track audio and the ability to output multiple shots as a single sequence for easier game cinematic rendering or export to a games engine.
• Substance Smart Textures — dynamic, animatable and editable resolution-independent Substance smart textures and filters
• Craft Animation Tools — Four new camera rigs from the Craft Director Studio animation tool for creating complex camera movements. Also – four pre-rigged models
• New Simulation Options — Incorporates the multi-threaded NVIDIA PhysX engine (Windows only) for static, dynamic and kinematic rigid-body simulations in the viewport and the Digital Molecular Matter plug-in for shattering simulations from Pixelux Entertainment

“With Maya 2012, we have continued our long-term focus on improving production efficiency as well as real-time creative iteration,” says Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment.

Editable motion trails are a long overdue feature, but it's been delivered extremely well within the viewport

Pricing and availability

Autodesk has stated that it expects Maya 2012 to be available in April 2011. The software costs $3,495 for a standalone licence, and $1,795 for an upgrade from Maya 2011.
Maya is also expected to be part of the Entertainment Creation Suite Premium 2012 – together with Softimage, Mudbox, and Motion builder at a price of $6,495.

Posted in: