Maya 6: Features and Benefits April 2004

Transcription

1 Maya 6: Features and Benefits April 2004 Copyright 2004 Alias Systems Corp. All rights reserved. All information and related content contained in this white paper (collectively, the Material ) is copyrighted 2004 Alias Systems Corp. ( Alias ). All rights reserved. THE MATERIAL IS PROVIDED AS IS. WHILE ALIAS HAS MADE EFFORTS TO ENSURE THAT THE MATERIAL IS CORRECT AT THE TIME OF PREPARATION, ALIAS DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE MATERIAL WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT THE MATERIAL IS NECESSARILY ACCURATE OR COMPLETE. ALIAS MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR ARISING BY CUSTOM OR TRADE USAGE RELATING TO THE MATERIAL, AND WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER ALIAS NOR ITS AFFILIATES, PARENT COMPANIES, LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY WHATSOEVER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE MATERIAL OR YOUR USE THEREOF. Alias is a registered trademark and the swirl logo, Trax, MEL, Fluid Effects, and Paint Effects are trademarks of Alias Systems Corp. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Adobe Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Mac OS is a registered trademark and Safari is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. in the United States and other countries. IRIX and SGI are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. mental ray is a registered trademark of mental images GmbH & CO. KG. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows and Power Mac are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Netscape is a registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation. Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. Renderman is a trademark of Pixar Corporation. Athlon is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All other products or companies mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

2 2 Table of Contents: Introduction 3 New Feature Highlights 3 Character Creation and Animation 4 Trax 4 Other Animation Features 5 Hair and Dynamic Curves (Maya Unlimited) 6 Maya Cloth (Maya Unlimited) 8 Maya Fur 8 Meeting the Challenges of Next Generation Productions 9 File Referencing and Scene Segmentation 9 Dynamics 10 Rendering 11 Extended Integration of mental ray for Maya 12 Image Viewing and Animation Playback (Fcheck) 13 Modeling 13 General Optimizations and Productivity Enhancing Features 15 Integration and Interaction with Other Production Tools 16 Texturing 16 Adobe Photoshop 16 Other Enhancements in Texturing 17 Embedded Web Browser in a Panel 17 Translators and Image Formats 17 Paint Tools 18 General 18 Maya Fluid Effects (Maya Unlimited) 19 API, MEL and Devkit 19 Documentation 21 Minimum System Requirements 21

3 3 Introduction The Academy Award winning Maya software from Alias is the world s most powerful integrated 3D modeling, animation and rendering solution. Film and video artists, game developers, multimedia (print and web), design visualization professionals and 3D enthusiasts use Maya to create engaging and lifelike digital images, realistic animation and extraordinary visual effects. Maya is the standard against which all other 3D software is judged. Two Options: Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited Maya Complete is the most comprehensive 3D software solution for producing professional-quality graphics on desktop PCs or graphics workstations. It makes the world s foremost 3D tools accessible to digital content creation artists and enthusiasts who develop 2D and 3D artwork for film, broadcast, game development, multimedia (print and web) and design visualization. This competitively priced software package makes all the functionality needed for 3D modeling, animation and rendering available in a single workflow solution. The ultimate version of Maya Maya Unlimited is the choice of digital artists who are looking to make their 3D projects stand out. Maya Unlimited includes all the functionality found in Maya Complete and provides artists and animators with additional industry leading-innovations such as Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Cloth, Maya Hair, Maya Fur and Maya Live, for the creation of superior digital content. Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited are available for IRIX, Linux, and Windowsbased platforms. Maya Complete is also available on Mac OS X. Maya 6 responds to your everyday production demands Maya 6, released May 3 rd 2004, is the product of thousands of suggestions from the worldwide Maya user community: from one-person graphic design shops to large film production facilities. As such, it is an incredibly comprehensive release packed with literally hundreds of new features and feature enhancements that respond to specific user requests. Many of these features advance the state-of-the-art : all impact user performance and productivity. New Feature Highlights The new features and enhancements of Maya 6 offer many benefits, most significantly in the areas of: Character creation and animation Maya 6 marks a significant advancement in character creation and animation technology. The software s popular, non-linear animation editor, Trax, has been re-architected to become the focal point for animation. A new user interface, editing abilities and support for expressions and constraints means Trax gives you unprecedented flexibility. Other powerful new animation tools -- including Motion Retargeting and Motion Redirection allow you to quickly edit and repurpose motion capture and other types of animation data. And if you re looking to create more advanced-level characters, improvements to Maya

4 4 Cloth, Maya Fur and new Hair and Dynamic Curve capabilities will enable you to more readily achieve highly sophisticated characters. Meeting the challenges of next generation productions As 3D projects continue to grow in complexity, Maya is advancing to allow you to overcome the challenges of working with dense geometry and animation data, along with their associated shading networks, split across multiple complex scenes. New Scene Segmentation and File Referencing features let you dynamically load objects as they are needed, saving you time when it comes to managing large 3D scenes. Plus, Maya 6 benefits from performance improvements, most notably in the areas of subdivision surface modeling and Smooth Proxy mesh modeling. Additionally, new shader organization and Hypershade filtering tools make it faster and easier to work with scenes containing large numbers of shaders and associated nodes. New levels of interaction and integration with other production tools As of Maya 6 it becomes easier than ever to integrate Maya into your production environment. Integration with Adobe Photoshop the entertainment and design industries favorite tool for creating textures results in a more intuitive, streamlined workflow for those who move back and forth frequently between the two software packages. In addition, Maya 6 now features a fully integrated Web browser that can be opened up within a panel. This allows you to instantly access helpful information as well as extend Maya software s user interface in creative ways. Support for more file formats, including PNG and DDS, is also available as of Maya 6. Add to this, significant advances in modeling, continued integration of rendering technologies and new particle systems tools and you have a software release that drives the evolution of 3D. Character Creation and Animation Maya 6 offers the most significant advances in Maya character creation and animation technology since Maya 1. Numerous, new features and feature enhancements increase user productivity and make it easier than ever to create superior digital characters. Besides animation features this section includes a look at Maya Cloth and Maya Fur, and introduces the software s new Hair and Dynamic Curve capabilities. Character Animation and Setup Trax As a leader in non-linear animation technology, Alias continues to introduce tools that advance this important area of digital content creation. With Maya 6 the Trax animation editor, introduced in Maya 3, has been re-architected to become the focal point for animation within Maya. This gives animators new ways to edit, combine and repurpose various types of animation data: from keyframes to expressions and constraints to motion capture. User Interface and Workflow Enhancements A new user interface gives Trax a completely new look and feel and makes using the system more intuitive than ever. Along with this new, streamlined user interface, animators using Trax will note improved interaction for clip grouping, scaling, trimming, cycling and blending. Additionally, high-level editing has been introduced through the new concept of summary clips.

5 5 Mute, Solo and Lock Tracks New as of Maya 6, animators can mute or solo any track in the Trax editor. These two features will prove helpful when analyzing clip transitions or fine-tuning animation as it gives the artist the ability to focus on one particular track, or disable a specific track -- removing its effect on the overall animation. The ability to lock tracks prevents animators from making any accidental changes. Support for Expressions and Constraints Maya 6 gives animators the ability to create Trax clips out of expressions and constraints: the primary advantage being that clips can be quickly and easily modified (scaling, cycling, etc.). A further advantage to being able to transform expressions and constraints into clips is that artists can group animation clips together and edit them, taking advantage of the mute, solo and lock functions of the Trax editor while they do so. Support for Sound Clips Animating against a sound track to create character lip synching, among other things is now a simple, straightforward process. Sound clips can be matched up visually with animation clips and played making it easier to keep animation and audio clips organized and in synch. Other Animation Features Motion Retargeting New in Maya 6 is a Motion Retargeting tool that enables animators to transfer animation data between skeletons as joint rotations. These skeletons can be of like or non-like hierarchies and proportions. Thus, motion capture, or other types of animation data, can be adapted and reused on different characters even completely different types of characters such as a human and a bird. This gives Maya animators a powerful new means to quickly apply general-purpose animation, from a motion library, to any character/characters of their choosing. Motion Redirection Along with Motion Retargeting, Maya 6 introduces another significant new feature that facilitates the repurposing of existing motion data: Motion Redirection. With this tool, existing animation data (motion capture and other) can be given a new direction. Thus, the animation data of a character walking in a straight line can be reworked to become animation data of a character walking around a corner. Any number of redirections can be used in sequence to build up complex adaptations. Dense Animation Data Editing Tools Manipulating motion capture, and other types of dense data sets, has become much more manageable thanks to a series of dense data editing tools introduced in Maya 6. A Lattice Deform Keys tool enables animators to use a lattice of arbitrary resolution to simultaneously manipulate a large number of selected keys in the graph editor. A Falloff on Move Keys feature gives animators the option to guard the subtle transitions between neighboring keys when transforming a large number of them. Falloff can be linear or exponential. Character Mapper User Interface Repurposing animation clips is made easier than ever with a new Character Mapper window. This intuitive user interface lets artists map animation curves from one character to another by establishing a relationship between a source character and a target character s joints or attributes.

6 6 Sculpt Deformer Offset (which can be textured or painted) Artists can now achieve more detailed, realistic deformations through the application of a texture map that will vary the offset value of a Sculpt Deformer over a surface. The map can also be edited using the 3D Paint tool. Control over Jiggle Direction As of Maya 6 the Jiggle Deformation tool has been improved to allow artists to control the direction of a jiggle deformation s movement. This will allow for more realistic character jiggle deformations; thus, preventing problems such as a belly that collapses inward when being deformed. Key-able Muting of Curves and Keys Channels in the Dopesheet and Graph Editor can now be muted -- and that muting keyframed. Muting allows artists to temporarily disable the effect of a specific animation channel in order to evaluate another channel. This ability to keyframe muting has many potential uses for example it would allow an animator who has applied a procedural or cyclic animation to a clip to turn it off for part of the sequence. Deform Outside Lattice A new Deform Lattice tool makes it easier to attain smooth deformation transitions. When an object that is being deformed leaves the confines of a lattice, the animator can choose to use this tool to extrapolate the deformation or falloff back to the nondeformed position. Delete Non-Skin History The Maya animation workflow benefits from a new menu item that allows artists to delete history while retaining skinning data. This gives animators the ability to edit UVs or topology after skinning, without suffering any loss of interactivity or running into texture swimming issues. Component Editor and Ghosting Performance/ Ghosting by Object Type Maya 6 boasts significant performance increases in the Component Editor display and the display of ghosted elements. Those using the ghosting feature will now also be able control what parts of an object are ghosted: geometry, joints, locators, etc. More Time Units / Rigid Bind to Zero Weighted Joints / Custom Curve Colors A large number of additional working units ( frames per second rates) are now available, thus enabling animators to match their animation to a variety of target platforms, or to extreme slow motion live-action shots. Additionally, a new Force All option lets artists bind all selected joints, including those with zero influence, to a specified geometry. Also new as of Maya 6, the Graph Editor workflow is more intuitive due to the ability to customize the colors used for animation curves. Hair and Dynamic Curves (Maya Unlimited) As of Maya 6, Maya Unlimited has been expanded significantly to include a new hair and dynamic curves feature set which will allow artists to quickly and easily create long hair for their characters -- hair that will react naturally to dynamic forces and can be constrained into hair styles. Because the technology underlying this feature set includes a dynamic curve simulation engine that is fully integrated into Maya, it can also be used to control regular NURBS curves, even those connected to other objects such as IK chains, surfaces, emitters and deformers. Thus, dynamic curves can be used to create a huge range of other effects such as suspension bridges,

7 7 octopi, curtains, fishing lines and much more. Hair Creation Tools Adding hair to an existing surface within Maya becomes a straightforward process with the new Hair Creation Tools. Artists can create a grid of follicles on any NURBS or polygon surface and add, delete or edit follicle attributes using the Paint Hair tool. UV linking allows animators to choose which UV set to use for polygons. Hair Constraints and Styling Constraints can be used to add hair styling effects such as pony-tails and hair clips, and Rest Curves can be modeled to influence the overall styling of the hair. Built-in Curl and Braid attributes, which can be added per follicle or globally, make intricate styles easily attainable. Collisions Realistic interaction between hair and character can be attained with the Collisions tool. Hair can not only be made to collide with arbitrary geometry, but also to selfcollide between clumps. Integrated Paint Effects Rendering The Maya 6 Hair system includes built-in Maya Paint Effects rendering a subset of the Paint Effects Thin Line brush type. Thus, there is no need for artists to create hair separately in Paint Effects and then attach it to control curves. Attach Paint Effects Brush In order to create other dynamic effects using the hair feature set - such as animated feathers, vines, or barbed wire --- just attach any Paint Effects brush to the hair system. Curve Output Maya customers have the option when creating hair to output the hair system curves. This is particularly useful for those who wish to take advantage of a curve renderer, such as the one found in Pixar s Renderman. Optimized Paint Effects to Polygons with Hair Shader Those looking to render hair in mental ray, or any other renderer that does not render Paint Effects directly, can convert their Paint Effects output to polygons. This creates optimized polygon data and a hair shader. Make Selected Curves Dynamic With the new hair system, Maya artists can make any existing NURBS curve dynamic: from Spline IK curves to Curve Deformers and Emitters. This ability means that artists can readily create an enormous variety of non-hair effects from dangling limbs and jellyfish to hammocks and particles spraying off a wet rope. Integrated Dynamic Forces While the Hair system includes built-in gravity and turbulence features, it can also be connected to Maya s existing dynamic forces.

8 8 Maya Cloth (Maya Unlimited) Maya 6 features a number of enhancements to Maya Cloth, including a new View, Edit and Blend between Caches functionality and overall improved support for Cloth Objects that makes it easier to create highly realistic clothing for characters and other cloth effects. View, Edit and Blend Between Caches Maya 6 includes support for multiple Cloth caches per node and implements primary editing functions copying, blending, interpolating, etc. In this way the new View, Edit and Blend Between Caches tools give artists an easy way to compare different cloth simulations, select the best parts of each and blend them in order to produce the best possible result. Improved Support for Cloth Objects In Maya 6 it is now equally easy to work with Cloth Objects created from modeled geometry as garments constructed from flat panels. Newly available features for Cloth Objects (previously available only on garments created from panels) include: constraints and Paint Cloth Properties, which allow artists to paint properties per vertex on Cloth Objects. Other new Cloth Object tools include Stitch Cloth Objects and multiple per vertex Property Sets, which enable artists to animate Cloth properties on Cloth Objects. Increased Solver Robustness and Improved Diagnostics Improved monitoring of the cloth simulation process makes the Maya 6 Cloth solver significantly faster and more accurate. Moreover, artists can now customize the diagnostics based upon their observations. Visual Feedback of Cloth Stress Problem areas in the cloth simulation process are now more readily identified and rectified thanks to this new attribute on the Cloth Solver node that displays cloth stress levels as color on a per vertex basis. Paint Collision Properties/Tessellation Coarseness Maya artists can now paint Priority and Depth Offset on a per vertex basis, thereby avoiding cloth tangles. Moreover, a new paintable Coarseness attribute is available that helps reduce tessellation where it is not needed. Soft Mesh Constraints More cloth animation scenarios (such as elasticity) are available to artists through the addition of Soft Mesh Constraints including paintable Damping and Stiffness attributes. These new constraints work by allowing a set of Cloth vertices to be constrained to a collision object via springs, rather than rigid bindings. Maya Fur (Maya Unlimited) Fur in mental ray Those using Maya Fur now have the option to render Fur in the integrated mental ray for Maya renderer. Fur is created using mental ray s hair primitive and renders in the main render pass. One of the major advantages to rendering fur in mental ray is that it behaves like any other object in the scene; thus, it appears in reflections and

9 9 refractions, through transparent objects, and can take advantage of global illumination and caustics. Lighting, shadows and motion blur will match the rest of the scene precisely. And since the fur is being created in the main Maya scene (rather than as a post-production process), there s no need to worry about artifacts caused by z-depth compositing. Paint Fur tool Painting Maya Fur attributes on polygons becomes markedly faster and more straightforward with the improved Paint Fur tool. This feature now takes advantage of the updated Maya Artisan architecture, which allows for non-contiguous UVs and supports color feedback on polygons. Custom Equalizer Maps Artists using Maya Fur now have full control of the distribution of fur relative to the parameterization of the object surface thanks to the new ability to create custom equalizer maps per fur description. Multiple Fur Feedbacks Those using Maya Fur can now visualize several fur descriptions on a single surface simultaneously thanks to Maya Fur s new Multiple Fur Feedbacks capability. Basic Subdivision Surface Support Fur can now be attached to, and rendered on, subdivision surfaces. Overall Workflow Improvements Numerous workflow enhancements streamline the process of working with Maya Fur. Activating the Read Equalizer Maps tool will automatically prompt Maya Fur to generate a map, if one does not already exist. Moreover, An Update Fur Maps tool allows artists to refresh all Fur maps in a scene. Hide/Show Fur has been improved to behave as other objects in Maya i.e., Hidden Fur will not render, displayed Fur will. Furthermore, fur can now be rendered independent of geometry: allowing artists to set visibility, primary visibility and shadow casting attributes on the fur feedback node as opposed to having them inherit these attributes from the underlying geometry. Additionally, it is now easier to make changes of a global nature in Maya Fur with a Select All by Type: Fur menu item. Meeting the challenges of next generation productions 3D projects are rapidly growing in complexity! Fortunately, Maya 6 contains the features artists need to overcome their production challenges: whether it s rendering or modeling performance improvements, advances in dynamics, or new scene management tools. File Referencing and Scene Segmentation New File Referencing and Scene Segmentation features save time and effort when it comes to managing complex 3D scenes. Selective Pre-Loading for References When opening any given scene file, artists now control which references, in the referencing hierarchy, will load. By saving out only the desired load settings for a particular file, or selecting them prior to opening it, artists can significantly reduce the time it takes to load complex scenes.

10 10 Load/Unload Related References in Scene View Maya 6 enables artists to create references with an associated annotated locator that is visible in the scene view. From this locator, they can dynamically load and unload the related reference. State Saving for Nested References Information pertaining to the status (loaded or unloaded) of a nested reference is now saved within the scene file. Preserve Reference Option on Scene Import and Export New as of Maya 6, customers can now choose whether or not to preserve the references in a file when that file is being imported or exported. This means that references can continue to be preserved as references, and worked on independently of the main scene. Bake Simulation on Referenced Object Animation data on referenced objects can now be baked without artists having to import the reference first. Dynamics Deformers on Particles As of Maya 6 nearly all deformers including lattices, clusters and non-linears can be used on particles, giving effects artists new levels of control over their particle simulations. Deformers on particles will prove particularly useful for creating simulations that defy physical reality: a wisp of smoke coiling around a character, for example. Per Particle Field Attributes Field attributes can now be manipulated on a per-particle level allowing for very precise control over particle simulations. This feature could be used to vary the magnitude of a turbulence field based on a particle s lifespan, for example. Per Particle UV Goal Values for Polygons In instances where particle systems need to interact with geometry, a polygon mesh can now be used to attract particles based on UV values. Textured Polygon Emission for Particles Textured polygon emission for particles allows the emission of color and opacity, as well as the emission rate itself, to be based on a texture applied to a polygon mesh. This makes it easy to achieve effects such as having an iron on an article of clothing emit particle steam only on areas which are wet. Order of Evaluating Options for Particle Runtime Expressions Whether an expression is performed before or after a dynamic simulation can greatly vary the final effect. By enabling a runtime expression to be evaluated before and/or after a dynamics calculation, artists can understand and take advantage of the different results. Interactive Playback A new Interactive Playback menu option allows customers to interact with dynamic elements while playing back a simulation. This enables them to evaluate their simulation without setting keyframes; plus, transformation tools remain active and settings can be changed during playback and take effect immediately.

11 11 Rendering At the request of many Maya customers, Maya 6 features numerous rendering enhancements: in such areas as workflow, extended integration of mental ray, enhancements to the hardware renderer and general optimizations. Shader Organization and Filtering in Hypershade Maya 6 makes complex scenes -- with large numbers of shaders and associated nodes -- easier to manage. Render nodes can be organized into sorting bins as well as filtered by name or type, with a separate filter for each Hypershade tab. Interactive High Quality Rendering Maya artists can now see high quality representations of their work in the scene views while building and modifying their models. This new capability, a function of the Maya hardware renderer, also supports plug-in shaders. In some cases, this feature may eliminate the need for preview renders altogether. Performance Improvements: Hypershade/ Hardware Renderer /mental ray LightMap and CPV Generation Maya 6 delivers rendering performance improvements in many areas including the initial display on opening Hypershade and the subsequent display of individual tabs; the off-screen output of the hardware renderer; and the generation of light maps and color per vertex through mental ray. Hardware Rendering: Support for Plug-in Shaders Including cgfx / Color Per Vertex Game developers, in particular, will be pleased to note that hardware plug-in shaders (including cgfx) are now supported by high-quality, interactive shading and batch, hardware rendering. This gives Maya artists the ability to visualize color per vertex or per pixel effects. Moreover, color per vertex can now be rendered in the hardware renderer. Test Texture and Render Texture Range As of Maya 6, customers can render any point in a shading network that uses Maya shading nodes including utility nodes that do not display in a shading swatch: the result is displayed in the Render View window. This facilitates the construction of complex shading networks by enabling artists to visualize or render out the calculated results at any point in the network. This new feature can also be used to perform simple compositing operations such as adding hardware rendered particles over a software rendered sequence using a layered texture. Ramp Remap Utilities Complex effects such as mapping object translation to color as well as color correcting within a shading network can be achieved with the Ramp Remap utilities. These tools allow artists to use graph and gradient widgets to remap color value and HSV. Nodes can be rendered directly by the Maya software renderer or baked out using Test Texture (above). Hide Shapes and Transforms in Hypershade Artists can now choose to hide shapes and transforms connected to shading nodes and groups, thus simplifying the display by hiding extraneous information.

12 12 Extended Integration of mental ray for Maya Along with its native software, hardware and vector renderers, Maya 6 ships with the latest version of mental image s renowned mental ray. Alias has furthered the integration of mental ray within Maya, adding support for Maya-specific features and making underlying functionality more accessible. Increased Interactivity through IPR mental ray for Maya artists will now be able to model and make changes interactively with instant updates in the Render View thanks to support for Interactive Photorealistic Rendering (IPR). mental ray for Maya IPR includes support for raytraced effects. Image-Based Lighting A new Image-Based Lighting feature makes the set-up and rendering of image-based lighting effects much faster and more intuitive; additionally, the new feature is more effective for creating image-based lighting based on extremely distant environments - - such as sky. The mental ray for Maya Image-Based Lighting option also enables virtual lights to be derived from the environment image -- lights which can cast shadows and contribute to final gather and global illumination simulations. Photon and Final Gather Visualization Tool A new time-saving, visualization tool is available in mental ray for Maya that enables artists to generate a three-dimensional map which shows the distribution of photons (and their energies) or final gather points (with stored irradiance) in the scene. Final Gather Tile Preview The collected color for final gather can now be previewed in the Render View before the final render is complete allowing customers to ensure that final gather color is satisfactory. Blurry Reflection and Refractions As of Maya 6 there s no longer any need to build complex shading networks to obtain blurry reflections and refractions on standard materials in mental ray for Maya: these options are now easily accessible as top-level shader attributes. Motion-Blurred Particles This added feature of mental ray for Maya means that software particles can now be motion-blurred thus enabling fast-moving particle effects to attain new levels of realism. Shader Glow Maya s post-process shader glow, which can be used to give objects the appearance of self-illumination, has been added to mental ray for Maya. Native Shader User Interface and Workflow Those accustomed to the Maya rendering workflow are now able to apply their knowledge to the creation of standard mental ray for Maya shaders, thanks to a new unified user interface and workflow. Contour Rendering Line art and cartoon-style renders can now be readily achieved, without extensive mental ray knowledge, through a new contour rendering feature that uses the standard shading and lighting workflow.

13 13 Better Support for and Display of HDR and Other Image Formats Artists can now view.ct,.st,.map and floating-point.iff image formats in Hypershade and the Viewport. Custom Shader API Extension/ Devkit / Shader Manager Developers will be pleased to note that API extensions for light-linking as well as Devkit examples have been put in place. Moreover, a new mental ray for Maya shader manager enables artists to interactively load and unload shader libraries. Fur and Fluids (Maya Unlimited) Fur and volumetric fluids can now be rendered in mental ray (see Maya Fur and Maya Fluid Effects sections for more details). Image Viewing and Animation Playback (Fcheck) New Tool Bar As of Maya 6, a control User Interface is available on supported Windows and Mac OS X systems. This intuitive UI allows artists to perform tasks such as playing, stopping and viewing alpha from a toolbar. Target Frame Rate Artists can now select a target frame rate for Fcheck playback. Synched Audio File Playback Sound files can now be imported into Fcheck, associated with an image sequence, and played back in sync with that sequence. Full Screen Mode Images can now be displayed at full screen size. Launch from File Menu Maya customers can now launch Fcheck from within Maya in order to view a single image or sequence. Support for any Padding Format Sequences with virtually any file numbering format can now be played back. Modeling Soft Modification Tool and Deformer Manipulating geometry becomes much more intuitive thanks to a new Soft Modification Tool. This feature combines selection with manipulation: enabling artists to move, scale and rotate a selection with customizable curve-based falloff. Control over the falloff allows changes to be subtly blended with surrounding geometry. When used in Deformer mode, an object history is created which can be edited after the fact and animated allowing for such animation effects as a bug crawling under a rug.

14 14 Faster Smooth Proxy and Polygon Smooth Performance Base vertex tweaking and playback for smooth proxy meshes has seen considerable performance gains in Maya 6: up to 18 times faster, with large meshes benefiting the most. Polygon Smooth performance also benefits from these gains. Faster Subdivision Surface Performance Tweaking vertices on subdivision surfaces is now up to eight times faster making this particular geometry type more appealing to work with. Polygon Mirror Cut A new polygon Mirror Cut feature creates a plane of symmetry across which geometry is mirrored thus allowing for the rapid construction of scenes that are at least somewhat symmetrical. Modelers can also continue to work on one side of the geometry and have their changes reflected on the other side, simply by leaving the meshes uncombined. Moreover, the symmetry plane can be moved or rotated after the fact. Smooth Proxy Mirroring Smooth Proxy has a new Mirror option that creates a symmetrical smooth proxy around the X,Y or Z axis. Convert Multi-Surface NURBS to Single Polygon Mesh Those converting multiple NURBS surfaces (including trimmed surfaces) to polygons now have the option of attaching the resulting polygons into a single mesh useful for creating a crack-less result which can be deformed or rendered without the appearance of seams. New Curve Editing Tools A set of new curve editing tools allows Maya artists to bend, straighten, curl, smooth and scale the curvature of any NURBS curve. The length of a curve can also be locked so that it maintains its overall length while being manipulated. Manipulator for User-Defined Normals The addition of a manipulator makes editing user-defined normals much faster and more intuitive. Also, user-defined vertex normals can now be affected by skinning. Improvements to Polygon Bevel At the request of our customers, improvements have been made to the polygon Bevel tool so that it creates cleaner-looking geometry, preserves UVs on unbeveled faces and has options for offset type, space and distance. New Rebuild Option for Rebuild Surfaces The Rebuild Surfaces for NURBS feature now has a Match Knots option that can be set to Classic or Match. The Match option can produce better quality surfaces in cases where the rebuild or reference surface is periodic, or if either surface does not contain multiple end knots. Object Pivot Mode for Components The Scale and Rotate tools now come with a Component Use Object Pivot option that lets artists scale and rotate object components about that object s pivot point. In this way the pivot point for component selections is maintained when the selections change. Workflow Improvements for Smooth Proxy and Subdivision Surfaces Hotkeys have been implemented that allow artists to toggle the display of the cage and step through smoothness levels for both Smooth Proxy and subdivision surfaces.

15 15 Moreover, artists working with the Smooth Proxy feature can now choose to have the proxy and smooth meshes share a transform node. Merge Vertices Performance As of Maya 6 merging vertices is, in the vast majority of cases, significantly faster. Single-Sided Mode for Polygons Maya artists looking to create a polygonal mesh now have the option to make the mesh single-sided -- before the mesh is generated. This speeds display and simplifies editing on large polygonal datasets such as those used in game development or design visualization. Persistence of Backface Culling/Color Per Vertex Display Settings The customized view settings Backface Culling and Color Per Vertex are now maintained when a scene is saved. General Optimizations and Productivity Enhancing Features Optimize Scene Size Improvements The Optimize Scene Size tool has itself been optimized to run faster on large scenes for those operations involving rendering nodes. A progress bar has also been added along with the ability to run individual optimizations separately, and the ability to interrupt the optimization process. Outliner Performance As of Maya 6, Outliner refreshing is significantly faster, especially for complex nodes. Default Scene for File This new feature allows artists to specify a default scene to be used as a template every time a new scene is created. This useful tool allows artists, among other things, to establish preset lighting rigs, ensure a consistent frame rate, etc. Search and Replace Node Names Multiple node names can now be instantly changed with this new feature that allows artists to rename parts of a node name to another string. Duplicate with Instanced Leaves Maya 6 artists now have the option to duplicate an entire node hierarchy, minus the leaf nodes which can remain instanced to the original hierarchy, thus maximizing scene efficiency. Custom Node Colors in Hypergraph Maya artists can now manage their scenes more efficiently by assigning specific colors to nodes displayed in the Hypergraph. Clipping Plane Options on Look Through Selected Artists can now set and preserve clipping planes on the camera created through the Look Through Selected option. Select First / Last / All CVs and Cluster Curve The ability to select first, last or all CVs on a curve (or multiple curves) and cluster these CVs on the curve greatly facilitates curve-editing operations.

16 16 Pop-up Selection and Heads-up Display Improvements Pop-up Selection a method of selecting overlapping objects has been improved so that moving the cursor over the menu highlights the underlying objects. Additionally, Selected Objects has been added to the Object Details heads-up display, and Triangle Count has been added to Poly Count heads-up display. Layer Editor / Script Editor Improvements Additions to the Layer Editor allow Maya artists to sort layers alphabetically or chronologically and delete unused layers. In the Script Editor, artists can choose to filter the output of the editor thereby removing command results and messages from view. Integration and Interaction with Other Production Tools Texturing Because a software package is never used in isolation in real-world production situations Alias has developed Maya 6 with more features that enable artists to integrate it with other popular production tools. These features included enhanced compatibility with Adobe Photoshop, a fully integrated web browser, and more support for various image formats and translators. This section will cover all these topics along with general improvements in the area of texturing. Adobe Photoshop Integration Maya 6 features tighter integration with the entertainment and design industries favorite tool for creating textures and matte paintings. The result is a more intuitive, streamlined workflow for those who move back and forth frequently between the two software packages. PSD Texture Node New as of Maya 6, texture artists can read any PSD file in Maya as a texture node and render that node directly in the Maya software or hardware renders, or in mental ray for Maya. Maya 6 allows them to read the composite Photoshop image or link to a specific layer set within the file an option which facilitates rapid experimentation. If changes are made to the file in Photoshop, such as the addition or deletion of layers, the version in Maya can be updated at any time. Convert PSD to Layered Texture PSD files with layer sets can be converted into a Maya layered texture. This enables artists to setup and edit the relationship between the layer sets within Maya without compromising their ability to add or delete any given layer/s of those sets within Photoshop. Create PSD Texture Maya artists who develop their textures in Photoshop now have an intuitive workflow for texture painting with Create PSD Texture. This tool allows artists to work on several material channels within a single manageable PSD file. An optional UV snapshot can be included as a non-rendering layer for reference. Layers can be added or deleted, as required, in Photoshop and the corresponding Maya shaders updated with a single menu click. Those who like to begin their work with a 3D rough out, can use the 3D Paint tool, and then easily convert those textures into PSD layers where the final painting is refined in 2D.

17 17 Other Enhancements in Texturing Normal Map Creation Low geometry models can be given a high quality appearance with the new Normal Map Creation tool. This feature allows artists to create normal maps for an object with a normal value written out per pixel. Specified Resolution for Software Textures Maya 6 artists can now specify the resolution to be used for textures that cannot be displayed via hardware, such as staggered textures. Option to Snap to Pixel Centers in UV Texture Editor It is now possible to snap to the corner or center of a pixel in the UV texture Editor not just the pixel corners. Disable File Load As of Maya 6 artists can disable the initial loading of file texture images from the hard-drive on a per-node basis. Automatic Image Sequence Handling An image sequence can now be easily assigned to a file texture thereby making the texturing workflow more efficient. Embedded Web Browser in a Panel (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X) A Web browser using Mozilla s Java and JavaScript compatible Gecko rendering engine is now available within a Maya panel. This browser can also execute MEL commands: thus, not only does it allow artists quick, convenient access to documentation and other online information, it enables technical artists to create web pages that contain MEL scripts in the form of MEL URLs, thereby providing an easy way to extend the Maya user interface, create interactive Maya tutorials or manage assets and scene data. Translators and Image Formats PNG Import / Export Maya 6 features bi-directional support for the popular PNG (Portable Networks Graphics) image format. DDS Import/Export (Windows, Linux and IRIX) The DDS (Direct Draw Surface) image format used in Direct X as defined by Microsoft now supported in Maya. Any of the five types of DDS encoding DXT1- DXT5 can be imported into Maya and DXT1 DDS files with full alpha information can be exported. STL Import Maya can now import Stereolithography Tessellation Language (STL) files, commonly used by rapid prototyping systems.

18 18 Improved Image Format / Translator Support Maya 6 offers enhanced support for a number of other popular image formats. This includes support on all platforms for Studio and OpenFlight, support for AutoCAD 2004 DWG files (and translator performance improvements), and IGES support which now includes support for Layers, Subfigure Definition and Instance (Part/Assembly), and Colors. Moreover, custom image formats written as IMF plugins are now readily accessible through the Maya user interface. Other Highly Requested Features Paint Tools General Paint Effects on Polygons As of Maya 6, Paint Effects can be used on polygon meshes thereby giving Paint Effects artists more options regarding geometry type. Consistent Artisan Architecture All Artisan brush tools are now based on a new, unified architecture. This architecture not only provides a consistent user interface, it allows for world-space reflection and world-space brush calculations -- thus removing dependency on symmetrical UVs and eliminating brush distortion. A further benefit of the architecture is image-based brush profiles which vastly increases the variety of available brush shapes. Sculpt Surfaces Respects Global Stitch The Maya Artisan Sculpt Surfaces tool for NURBS now respects Global Stitch enabling surfaces to stay together while being painted and deformed. New Paint Tools Three new tools now take advantage of the Maya Artisan brush interface: Paint Hair (see Hair and Dynamic Curves), Paint Collision Properties (see Maya Cloth) and Sculpt Deformer Offset (see Character Animation and Setup). Render Active for Paint Effects / Progress Indicator for Paint Effects Rendering The ability to render a specified selection of Paint Effects strokes enables artists to quickly evaluate a section of their Paint Effects scene no need to wait for an entire render. And, when it is time to do a complete Paint Effects render pass, artists can now track what percentage of the job has been completed. Mouse Wheel Support Mouse wheel support has been added throughout most areas of Maya thereby allowing artists to dolly in the 3D view and scroll and zoom in some 2D views. Support for USB Dongles (Windows ) Maya 6 licensing code supports USB dongles. Localized Installation and Licensing (Windows and Mac OS X) Japanese-speaking artists can now install and license Maya in their native tongue. see Minimum Systems Requirements for a list of platforms Maya supports.

19 19 Maya Fluid Effects (Maya Unlimited) Render in mental ray Previous to Maya 6 only the Ocean Shader could be rendered in mental ray for Maya. Now artists have the option to render all their volumetric fluids using this popular rendering option thus, ensuring that their fluids are fully integrated into the rendered scene, and eliminating the necessity of a separate Fluid Effects render pass. Cache Segmentation An addition to the Fluid Effects user interface allows artists to choose whether or not to write cache files as one single file or as one file per frame. Replace Frame in Cache As of Maya 6, artists can replace the current frame in a cache independent of the other frames thus enabling them to create or edit a fluid simulation by painting frame by frame. API, MEL and Devkit Maya 6 gives Maya tool developers access to more features and toolsets than ever before. A number of major new classes have been provided in the Maya API including increased exposure of polygon components and further access to Maya s manipulators. Exposure of Polygon Component ID renumbering As of Maya 6, there is API message support for changes to vertex, edge and face IDs, thus enabling API developers to keep track of changes to vertex, edge and face IDs if topology changes. Exposure of New Scale and Rotate Manipulators Custom functionality can now be implemented via API support for scale and rotate manipulators. Exposure of Double Index Component for Vertex Faces Vertex faces can now be accessed through the API via the double index component function set. Exposure of Progress Window API support for the MEL progress window means developers can now display progress information for plug-ins. User-Defined Messages There is now API support for user-defined messages. New Manipulator Methods It is now easier to write well-integrated Maya tools thanks to API support for press, drag and release events. Callbacks for Undo and Redo Maya 6 features API support for listening to undo and redo messages.

20 20 Callback for Instance Addition and Removal There is now API message support for listening to instance addition and removal. Attribute Affects can work with Dynamic Attributes on Custom Nodes Tool developers can now define attribute affects relationships for dynamic attributes as well as static ones. Access to Artisan Brush Direction and Center The position and direction of an Artisan brush can be used with custom scripts now that stroke direction and stamp position are accessible through the SetValueCommand. Ability to Write a PSD Layer to an Image File In workflows where the target renderer does not directly support PSD, a new MEL command psdexport allows artists to write a PSD layer or layer set to an image file. New Devkit Examples Learning about API functionality is made easier with newly added Devkit Examples. Ability to Access Particle ID Values API access to particle ID values will allow developers to keep track of particles -- thus making it easier, for example, to implement a custom motion blur routine. Methods of Offscreen Rendering Two new methods for controlling offscreen refreshes have been added to the M3Dview class for IRIX and Linux-based platforms. Additionally, the MEL playblast command has been updated to support this feature. Multiple Random Number Streams The existing MEL random functions have been enhanced to support multiple random number streams. Re-scan the Script Path A new MEL command, rehash, causes Maya to re-scan the script path to find new scripts thereby allowing script-writers to change the behavior of MEL so that in normal operation it will only read the contents of the script path once. This ability is particularly useful when the script path spans network drives. Ability to Put Array Type into Vector Type As of Maya 6 script-writers can easily convert between vector and float array types via MEL. Ability to Playblast to Non-Sequential Frames A new flag on the playblast MEL command allows developers to output to nonsequential frames. Ability to Write Out Paint Effects to a File A new MEL command pfxstrokes will loop through all the Paint Effects strokes, and while callbacks will be invoked, the scene will not be rendered.