Direct3D driver plug-ins are one of the many new features in Maya 8. All images © Autodesk.

Maya 8 is the first release to come from the software’s new owner, Autodesk. The user community has been awash in rumors and hearsay for months now: only time will tell if this first release does anything to quiet those conversations. The main thrust of this upgrade is helping Maya to play nice with other Autodesk applications as well to streamline some of Maya’s existing toolset. While these are not necessarily at the top of all users’ wish lists, they should prove useful should Autodesk continue to offer multiple apps, as they have promised to do with Maya and 3ds Max. The commitment to a continuation of both Maya and 3ds Max is the addition of the integrated FBX format, which allows users to import and export data between the two apps.

As computing power increases, users expect their software to take full advantage of whatever is the latest and greatest. Lately, 64-bit processors wore the “it” technology crown; that is until multi-core processors arrived on the scene and stole some of the thunder. LightWave was the first 3D app to take full advantage of 64-bit processing, and with this latest release, Maya becomes a 64-bit contender. The general advantage to using Maya on a 64-bit system is the ability to use more memory for complex, large scenes in combination with scalable multi-threading. There are additional specific advantages as well, such as speeding up subdivisions and skinning, two areas that always benefit from a speed boost. The 64-bit version is available for both Windows and Linux. No word on similar functionality for Mac OS X users.

The new Transfer Polygon Attributes feature is likely to be welcomed by a wide range of Maya users.

Another new feature in Maya 8 is something called Transfer Polygon Attributes. Although not the best feature name, the functionality is likely to be welcome to a wide range of Maya users. The idea is fairly straightforward; users can now transfer a host of useful information from one mesh to another, even if their topology is markedly different. A good example of how this feature could be utilized is found in game development, where the use of differing levels of detail (these objects are commonly referred to as LODs) is essential. For the big, beefy version of the game set to run on the latest video cards, artists create characters that rival those used for film effects work. The artist then needs to create multiple lower resolution LODs that will work on progressively less capable machines. Every game is different, but an average of three LODs per character or object is common. The same rule applies to objects that are less important in the scene, such as objects off in the distance. Without this Transfer Polygon Attributes feature, artists had to do it all by hand, although there were a few shortcuts. Now, artists can skip ahead and have the software help them along even more, saving valuable time. Transferring UVs and vertex position are the key elements of the Transfer Polygon Attributes functionality.

Moved buttons in the UV texture editor may not be a popular update for some users. 

The biggest issue with figuring out what is being offered for your money starts by distinguishing what is new. A few new and improved modeling tools have been included in this upgrade, including a few changes to some tool locations. On the list of new tools, users will find polygon bridge and the ability to insert multiple edge loops, both welcome, if late, additions to the Maya modeling toolset. Autodesk has emphasized many of the changes in Maya 8 in their promotional literature. While there are new features, a good deal of what is new are relocated or renamed tools. A case in point is UV layout. While the UV layout tools do offer some new functionality, the big change is that they have been rearranged. The change is part of a larger polygon menu revision, which now encompasses UV menus. Looking further, users will find additional revisions in the UV texture editor, this time in the form of moved buttons. Once again, users should review this change and decide whether moved buttons make for a worthy upgrade. One improvement that is certainly noteworthy is the new ability to reveal overlapping UVs by using color shading to show where overlaps are occurring.