Autodesk Releases Maya 2009

By DE Editors

At SIGGRAPH 2008, Autodesk, Inc. (San Rafael,CA) announced Autodesk Maya 2009 3D animation and visual effects software, released in celebration of the software's 10-year anniversary. Maya 2009 includes a host of advancements in modeling, animation, rendering and effects that maximize productivity, optimize workflows, and provide new creative possibilities, says the company.

Maya 2009 supports collaborative, iterative workflows, and promotes data reuse. The software has a new animation layering paradigm as well as an updated Render Pass toolset that offers precise control over render output and optimizes integration with Autodesk Toxik procedural compositing software. Highlights of Autodesk Maya 2009 include managed complexity; accelerated modeling workflow; and collaborative, iterative projects and pipelines.

Maya 2009 offers Maya nParticles dynamic simulation module and an extensive Maya Muscle feature set. nParticles is part of the Maya Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework, a groundbreaking approach to creating complex physics simulations that interact directly with each other.

Maya 2009 will be supported on the Windows (64-bit and 32-bit versions) and Linux (64-bit version) operating systems as well as Mac OS X for Intel-based Macintosh computers (32-bit version).

For Maya 2009 pricing or features, and Maya learning tools, visit Autodesk, Inc.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.