SIGGRAPH travels to the U.S. East Coast for 2006.

Well, just as we expected, SIGGRAPH 2006 was much smaller and more intimate in Boston earlier this month. Even so, it was still a whirlwind of activity for the nearly 20,000 gathered at the new Boston Convention Center. Exhibitors and other attendees weren’t complaining: it was reminiscent of SIGGRAPH of old, with plenty of interest and passion from pros and students alike, and productive recruiting too.

While there were no flashy buzzwords to sum up the show this time around, two descriptions tossed around were “Matchmaking” and “Pipeline Ability”: a clear indication that the industry is still trying to contend with making production easier and more cost-efficient and artist-friendly.

The Autodesk Roadmaps
With that mind, Autodesk announced Maya 8 (to be released later this month) and 3ds Max 9 (scheduled for October) with the intent of improving productivity and interoperability while easing industry anxieties about the future of Maya since last year’s acquisition of Alias. The respective three-year roadmaps for Max and Maya remain intact, according to Autodesk, and the development teams continue to be separate, with the goal of making Max and Maya more complementary and pipeline efficient.

This went over well with the user group meeting, despite fears of the eventual demise of Maya or consolidation into one package along with Max and MotionBuilder. “We are not killing Maya and Max or combining them,” insisted Rob Hoffmann, senior Product Marketing manager, 3D Media & Ent. division.

Maya 8 offers a combination of 64-bit support, multithreading and algorithmic optimizations that enable artists to load massive datasets and interact with them more efficiently. Key areas of the software, including skinning, draw tessellation and subdivided polygon proxy meshes, have been multi-threaded to scale with the number of processors or cores available.

Maya 8 additionally offers a host of productivity advancements, particularly for modeling and texturing. The Transfer Polygon Attributes feature enables modelers to transfer UVs, color per vertex (CPV) and vertex position information between surface meshes of differing topologies. This is particularly useful when working with two different versions of an object or character, e.g. one that is high-resolution and one that is low-resolution. In addition, new and improved workflows and tools such as Polygon Bridge, multiple edge loop insertion and enhanced UV layout help maximize productivity for the most common tasks.

Maya 8 enables artists to better manage data when using multiple 2D and 3D packages within the production pipeline. This is achieved through application programming interface (API) extensions, enhancements to Autodesk FBX file exchange technology, the addition of interchangeable geometry caching between Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max animation software, and new interoperability with Autodesk Toxik collaborative compositing software.

Autodesk anticipates that Maya 8 will be available in English in August, and in additional languages in the future. The 64-bit version of Maya 8 will be supported on Windows and Linux. The 32-bit version will be supported on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Autodesk needs little effort to highlight its industry leading Maya 8 and 3ds Max 9 software. © Autodesk.

Autodesk will sell Maya 8 for $1,999 for Maya Complete (Standalone) and $6,999 for Maya Unlimited (Standalone). The upgrade price from Maya 7 Complete to Maya 8 Complete is $899, and the upgrade price from Maya 7 Unlimited to Maya 8 Unlimited is $1,249.

In regards to 3ds Max 9, Autodesk has focused on addressing the challenges of working with larger amounts of complex data, as well as scaling to bigger production teams. Digital artists using 3ds Max 9 will gain improvements in core performance, productivity and pipeline efficiency.

3ds Max 9 software’s 64-bit architecture makes it easier to work with the huge datasets required for next-generation digital content creation. Rendering is also greatly improved with the mental ray 3.5 rendering core.

3ds Max 9 features include:

• A layered blending system that can be added to custom rigs and controllers within 3ds Max.

• Optimizations in wireframe and edge display, enabling faster feedback within the viewport.

• XAF files that can be saved and loaded onto bipeds, allowing for easy transfer of information to and from custom rigs.

• Enhanced hair and cloth, including the ability to style hair in the viewport.

• Improved file referencing and tracking of work-in-progress assets.

• Point cache 2, which allows artists to bake mesh deformations into a file for faster rendering.

• Improved compatibility with Autodesk Maya via the FBX file format.

Meanwhile, to foster collaboration and networking among the Autodesk 3D community the Media & Ent. division will launch a new community portal on Aug. 22 called The Area (www.the-area.com). Autodesk will provide content as appropriate and support the ongoing development of the site, but the goal is for the community to generate and own most of the content.

Initially, the site will focus on content created using Maya, Max, MotionBuilder or VIZ used in games, film, post-production or design visualization. Membership is free.

The site will include:

• Tips & Tutorials for beginner, intermediate and advanced users.

• Downloads for product trials, textures and shaders, plug-ins and scripts.

• Showcase that will include image and movie galleries, member portfolios and “Behind the Screenz,” a section containing stories focused on artists and developers.

• Blogs from Autodesk product development as well as community members.

• Discussion forums focused on various topics beyond technical support.

Features will include advanced search capabilities, profiles and the ability to rate and comment on tips/galleries.