Universal Manipulator allows users to move, scale and rotate their geometry within one tool.

One of the most promising additions in Maya 7 is the new unfold UVs tool. Unfolding is something of an “it” feature these days. Varying implementations of this functionality has been introduced in Softimage, 3ds Max and now Maya joins the fray. Alias has done a decent job with their version, making the process fairly straightforward. For complex organic models, UV creation is often a complex process involving enormous time investment. Unfolding doesn’t cut down the time investment by a great deal, but it does have a much better feel than other methods. Look and feel is always important, especially for artists. The process involves selecting edges to pin and then literally unfolding the geometry, much like if it were cloth. The result is a natural UV layout that can be further tweaked using the standard UV tools.

Marking Menus are now context sensitive within the UV Texture Editor. If you’ve got edges selected, the Marking Menu will display only the relative available options. Once a tool is selected the process is identical to what you get from using the menu. The same is true of other selections, such as UVs or faces. This speeds UV tweaking up a great deal as it removes the necessity of choosing from the actual menu.

Full Body IK solves for the entire character, instead of IK solving using the end of the local chain.

Another new texturing feature is the UV Smudge tool. After first this may sound like a horrible idea, considering UV layouts are generally about getting things just right, while smudging is usually a more generalized endeavor. However, when working on organic objects we can sometimes go overboard. UV Smudge allows artists to push and pull on their UVs in an interactive, creative feeling manner. The tool is right at home within the UV Texture Editor and works well, although it takes some getting used to. Falloff can be adequately controlled and pressure sensitivity is available for tablet users.

Animation
Riggers will be interested in checking out the new geometry substitution functionality. Users may now transfer the skeleton and weighting from a fully setup, rigged character model to a new character model, maintaining most of the intended deformation results. This is all achieved through the Skin menu and flows well. One weakness is a lack of support for Subdivision Surface geometry, something that will hopefully be addressed soon.

Full Body IK is now available in Maya 7 using the Human IK technology from Alias’ MotionBuilder character animation software. The concept is fairly simple; instead of IK solving using the end of the local chain, it instead solves for the entire character. A good example is a character kicking a soccer ball. With standard IK solving, the character’s torso wouldn’t be effect by dragging the shoe. With Full Body IK, the torso reacts and is animated. This system doesn’t always yield perfectly usable results, but does help animators speed up their process.

The Dope Sheet Manipulator now lets users perform advanced cut and paste functions. Users may cut and paste keyframes, blank frames or any other portion of the timeline. Once a cut is made, the timeline can respond by closing the gap or making room for the keys you want to paste. This is nice functionality and sure to speed up the animation editing process.