Maya 7 Continues Alias' Tradition of 3D Innovation.LOS ANGELES Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. -- SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics, www.siggraph.org) The arm of the ACM that specializes in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Providing publications, workshops and conferences, it has served technicians and researchers as well as the artist and business community (R) (Booth #1312) Feature-packed release gives customers superior control, productivity, and creative flexibility Maya(R) 7 software builds upon the architecture and performance enhancements in Maya 6.5 to deliver a feature-packed release offering new and improved tools for fast, realistic character animation Character animation is a specialized process of the animation process, concerning the animation of one or more characters featured in an animated work. It is usually as one aspect of a larger production, and often to complement voice acting. , streamlined modeling and texturing, ground-breaking visual effects, and increased productivity. With the powerful new product features and the enhanced benefits of Maya Platinum Membership, including extended hotline access and improved response times, 3D professionals working in film, games, broadcast, digital publishing and design visualization are set to achieve more with the latest edition of this award-winning software. "Maya 7 reflects our resolve to give artists the power to create ground-breaking computer graphics that tell better stories, enhance interactive experiences, and enable people to more accurately visualize products and designs," said Jill Ramsay, senior product manager for Maya. "We involved Maya users earlier and more extensively than ever before in our development process; the features and enhancements in this release have been guided by extensive feedback from leading studios and individuals worldwide. This is a must-have release." Optimized Workflows for Rendering and Digital Publishing One such customer-driven feature is a complete re-architecture of the Maya render layers functionality, which means that multiple versions of objects, including materials, lights and cameras, as well as post processes such as Maya Fur and Maya Paint Effects(TM), can now be managed in a single scene file. "We have been an Alias customer for the past 13 years and in our opinion, Maya 7 is the biggest release we have ever seen," said Jonathan Brosseau, chief technology officer for Alpha Vision. "In the architectural visualization field, the 3D scenes tend to be very large and cumbersome, and we were truly blown away by the power and flexibility of the new Maya 7 render layer systems. Not only can we set specific attributes per layers on objects, shaders and lights, but we can also choose whatever renderer is required by a specific layer, all this within the same Maya scene. This makes it more convenient for us to use the power and continued integration of mental ray for Maya. Maya 7 is truly in another league." Render layers can be rendered with any renderer integrated in Maya, including the latest mental ray(R) for Maya technology. This new workflow not only streamlines the rendering process, but it also prepares renders for optimal output to the artists' compositor of choice, or to Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) or Macromedia(R) Flash(R). Maya 7 also boasts new functionality that streamlines the workflow between Maya and Photoshop - as well as Adobe Illustrator A full-featured drawing program for Windows and Macintosh from Adobe. It provides sophisticated tracing and text manipulation capabilities as well as color separations. Included is Adobe Type Manager and a selection of Type 1 fonts. (R), Alias MotionBuilder(R), and popular CAD applications. Animating an·i·mate tr.v. an·i·mat·ed, an·i·mat·ing, an·i·mates 1. To give life to; fill with life. 2. To impart interest or zest to; enliven: Characters is Faster, Easier and More Accurate Than Ever The integration of the industry-leading full-body IK solver from Alias MotionBuilder makes rigging and posing characters simpler and more precise, as do paintable Blend Shapes and Wire deformers. Maya 7 now also supports collaborative, parallel workflows through its ability to iteratively substitute geometry and allow modelers, animators Famous animators no longer living
New Tools Deliver Industry's Most Comprehensive Modeling and Texturing Feature Set Maya 7 introduces RenderMan(R)-compatible variable creasing crease n. 1. A line made by pressing, folding, or wrinkling. 2. Sports a. A rectangular area marked off in front of the goal in hockey and lacrosse. b. on smoothly subdivided polygon meshes, allowing precise and intuitive control between smooth and hard edges. Portions of the subdivision surface A subdivision surface, in the field of 3D computer graphics, is a method of representing a smooth surface via the specification of a coarser piecewise linear polygon mesh. The smooth surface can be calculated from the coarse mesh as the limit of an iterative process of subdividing implementation in Maya incorporate the use of Pixar Subdivision Surface Patents. "We are very pleased to see Maya 7 using Pixar's patented technology. This is very convenient for compatibility between Maya and our in-house tools, as well as a tremendous benefit for the many members of the Maya community who use Pixar's RenderMan(R), MTOR mTOR Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (a protein) MTOR Man, Technology, Organisation and Risk Management (TM) and RenderMan(R) for Maya products," said Dana Batali, director of RenderMan product development at Pixar Animation Studios. Features Requested and Refined by Leading Games Developers A host of other enhancements specifically requested by the games-development community include Edge Loop and Edge Ring tools, UV unfolding, tri-planar and multi-mesh mapping, together with the inclusion of CgFX and ASHLI plug-ins, which allow hardware shaders for next-generation consoles to be previewed within Maya. Maya 7 also helps artists optimize scenes without loss of visible detail through a new Surface Sampler sampler, sample piece of needlework or embroidery, of silk, cotton, or worsted, for the preservation of some pattern or as an example of the ability of a child or a beginner. In museums and private collections there are samplers dating from as early as 1643. , which utilizes normal mapping In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping is an application of the technique known as bump mapping. Normal mapping is sometimes referred to as "Dot3 bump mapping". While bump mapping perturbs the existing normal (the way the surface is facing) of a model, normal mapping replaces the and other data transfer methods between models of differing resolutions. "The surface sampler in Maya 7 is a major tool for us in generating next-gen console assets and the results have been outstanding," said Simon Kirk, technical artist at Eurocom, a UK-based game developer. "Not only is it handling our next-gen console requirements for high-quality normal maps, it is a great tool for baking textures back to low poly Low poly is a term used by videogame creators, players and journalists alike to describe a three-dimensional computer generated character or object that appears to be lacking in polygons. current-gen assets. Rock solid, fast and easy to use: who can ask for more?" Innovative Visual Effects and Illustration Tools Extend Maya's Leadership Developed by Alias' principal scientist Duncan Brinsmead, an incredibly powerful new Toon Shader leverages Maya's unique Paint Effects to support a wide range of non-photorealistic rendering Non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) is an area of computer graphics that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive styles for digital art. In contrast to traditional computer graphics, which has focused on photorealism, NPR is inspired by artistic styles such as painting, styles; it affords extensive control over line style, placement and width, and features interactive previews in near real-time of even the most complex scenes. Among the many enhancements in Maya Unlimited, Maya Hair can now be transplanted from one character to another, Maya Fur is now integrated with Maya's dynamic curve technology, and Maya Fluid Effects(TM) benefits from a new High Detail solve mode for dramatically increased realism. Maya Platinum Members Get the Most out of Maya The features and services of the Maya Platinum Membership program help maximize an investment in Maya. Members will experience minimal downtime with the improved delivery of hotline support. Resources have now been dedicated solely to tracking hotline cases and ensuring quick response times. Through the months of September and October 2005, Platinum members can take advantage of an interactive Web-based Maya 7 training call. This is in addition to receiving early access to the Maya 7 upgrade - a distinctive competitive advantage. Pricing and Availability Maya 7 is scheduled for release in August 2005 and pricing remains unchanged from Maya 6.5 - Maya Complete 7 is US $1999(i) and Maya Unlimited 7 is US $6999(i). Upgrade pricing from 6.5 is US $899(i) for Maya Complete and US $1249(i) for Maya Unlimited. Both Maya Complete and Unlimited are available on the Windows(R), Linux(R) and Mac OS(R) X platforms. (i) International pricing may vary. About Alias As the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology, Alias develops software for the film and video, games, web, interactive media, industrial design, automotive, architecture and visualization markets. Alias has headquarters in Toronto and a custom development center in Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. with offices worldwide. Please visit the Alias web site at www.alias.com or call 1-800-447-2542 in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . International contact numbers include: Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, +44 (0) 1494 441273; Germany, East Germany, East officially German Democratic Republic Former republic (1945–90), north-central Europe. It is now the eastern portion of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1945 occupied Germany was divided into U.S., British, French, and Soviet zones. & Southeast Europe, 0049 89 31 70 20; France, Spain and Portugal, +33 1 44 92 81 60; Italy, 39 039 6340011; Japan and other parts of Asia Pacific, 81 3 5797 3500 and Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , 770 393 1881. (C) Copyright 2005 Alias Systems Corp. All rights reserved. Alias, the swirl logo, Can You Imagine, MotionBuilder and Maya are registered trademarks, and Maya Paint Effects, Maya Fluid Effects and the Maya logo are trademarks of Alias Systems Corp. in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and/or other countries. Adobe, Photoshop and Illustrator are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Adobe Systems Incorporated (pronounced a-DOE-bee IPA: /əˈdoʊbiː/) (NASDAQ: ADBE) (LSE: ABS) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Macromedia and Flash are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc.Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation (company) Microsoft Corporation - The biggest supplier of operating systems and other software for IBM PC compatibles. Software products include MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, Microsoft Access, LAN Manager, MS Client, SQL Server, Open Data Base Connectivity (ODBC), MS Mail, in the United States and/or other countries. Mac OS is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. registered in the United States and other countries. mental ray is a registered trademark of mental images GmbH & CO. KG. in the United States and/or other countries. RenderMan is a registered trademark and MTOR is a trademark of Pixar Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Alias, 210 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5A 1J7, Tel: 416-362-9181, Fax: 416-369-6140. Editor's Note Editor's Note (foaled in 1993 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred Stallion racehorse. He was sired by 1992 U.S. Champion 2 YO Colt Forty Niner, who in turn was a son of Champion sire Mr. Prospector and out of the mare, Beware Of The Cat. Trained by D. : Supporting images can be found at www.alias.com/forthepress. |
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