Maya 2008, a major upgrade to Autodesk's flagship 3D creation package, marks a significant change to the company's approach to the development of the software. All images courtesy of Autodesk.

Autodesk has released a major upgrade to Maya, which drops the sequential numbering in favor of the year, so what would have been Maya 9 is now Maya 2008. The updated package is a strong one, including many new features as well as many rock solid workflow enhancements. The release marks a significant change to Autodesk's approach to Maya's development. The focus is squarely on workflow this time, and the product shines for it.

The tried and true pattern of offering two distinct versions, Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited, remains with this upgrade. Maya Complete gives users all they need for standard 3D projects such as game development, basic animation and visual effects. Maya Unlimited includes some deeper, more application specific features including Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework, nCloth, Hair, Fur, Live and Fluid Effects. There is a significant cost difference between the versions, which may not be the most popular aspect of the product with users; however, it does offer them a choice along with the possibility of saving some of their budget.

Modeling in Maya 2008 is the main beneficiary of the workflow improvements. Artists spend many, many hours on modeling tasks, no matter what their 3D application of choice. In the past, Maya users bemoaned some of the multi-step processes they had to endure while modeling. In Maya 2008, the process has been sped up with a variety of keyboard shortcut consolidations and preview functions, all of which make the work go faster. The new X-Ray highlight feature allows users to select specific objects more easily by ghosting portions of the scene or object. Edges can now be slid, making the process of adding detail to complex geometry much faster. The Boolean functions have also been sped up as well as enhanced with cleaner output. Finally, smoothed meshes can now be previewed along with the mesh cage, which remains editable while viewing the smoothed mesh underneath. This feature alone is likely to be one of the most popular amongst modelers.

Modeling in Maya 2008 is the main beneficiary of the workflow improvements. Edges can now be slid, making the process of adding detail to complex geometry move much faster. 

Autodesk, of course, now develops the two most widely used 3D apps: Maya and 3ds Max. With Maya 2008, the beginning of cross-referenced feature sets begins to show. In particular, Maya 2008 now includes accurate, realtime viewport previews, much like 3ds Max. While these interactive previews are not identical to the output of whatever renderer users may choose, they do provide a look at the work that is more detailed and advanced than previous versions of Maya's viewports were capable of displaying in realtime. Another benefit of the more robust previewing in Maya 2008 is a snappier, more responsive user interface. Selecting objects, dialog boxes, panels and general screen updates are much faster.