Datasheet

Chapter 1 ✦ An Introduction to Maya

I have always used a Mac alongside every SGI. The Mac is the place to do the “other

stuff” such as paint, composite, typography, email, audio, and video — all the things

Windows boxes offered without the 3D. But now, for the first time, Maya and Apple

have brought these two digital worlds together.

With the release of OS X, Macintosh has just entered the UNIX world. It will take

time, however, for all of the applications to catch up, including Maya. Maya 4.5 is

feature compatible with Maya Complete on other platforms. But at the time of this

writing, Maya Unlimited features are only available in one of the other solutions.

Macintosh OS X is undoubtedly the most sophisticated graphical user interface

(GUI) to ever exist on a UNIX platform. It will eventually develop into the tool of

choice for animators who prefer UNIX, an incredible GUI, and a wide selection of

mainstream software. My initial experience with OS X was like driving a Ferrari.

Very, very smooth!

Choosing an operating system

An OS choice has to be your choice, matching the kind of person you are with the

kind of work you do with the kind of funds you have available. Each operating sys-

tem has its pros and cons and you, as the end user, should try as many as possible

before investing your hard-earned cash. In our opinion, Alias|Wavefront’s Maya

doesn’t limited platform choices. In fact, it has done a wonderful job in expanding

your options and ensuring that you can create high-end animation. But we live by

the basic rules of production — use what has been proven to work in the past, and

fully test new software and hardware before committing to its use in a large

pipeline.

Overall, Maya is now more accessible and cost effective. Thus, it enables you, as an

animator-in-training, to use the same tools that major studios use to create anima-

tions. You get out of Maya what you put into it. So you still have to acquire the skills

and experience as everyone else in the art field. However, you won’t be restricted

by the software or hardware. Maya is both easy to use and powerful. It offers fea-

tures, such as cloth dynamics for clothing, as shown in Figure 1-4. It offers grass

and hair paint effects for creating 3D trees, flowers, clouds, and lightning, as seen

in Sheena. Maya tracks camera moves. It has a particle dynamics engine explosive

enough to create the blowing rain, waves, and spray, as seen in The Perfect Storm.

With a rigid body dynamics system, Maya is capable of creating the amazing pod

racer scene in Star Wars, Episode One. With character animation tools so strong,

Maya enables animators to create believable — breathing, thinking, and feeling —

beings, such as Stuart Little, Sheena, Mighty Joe Young, and Aladdin. Maya offers

you the same tools as the top animators in the world. The only limits are your imag-

ination and time.

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