1. REVIEWS - Autodesk Maya 2012 -- Includes 1 year
Autodesk Subscription
ViewUserReviews
Average Customer Rating
4.3 out of 5
Product Feature
A CG Pipeline in the Box. Autodesk Maya 2012q
software offers a comprehensive CG pipeline in the
box with powerful modeling, simulation, animation,
rendering, matchmoving, and compositing.
capabilities.
Advanced Simulation Capabilities Maya offersq
extensive simulation tools for creating high-quality,
realistic fluid, particle, cloth, fur, hair, rigid and
soft-body dynamics.
Believable Characters Used to help create villainsq
and heroes like Gollum from Lord of the Rings,
Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean and the
Na?vi from AVATAR.
3D Editorial - Maya offers 3D editorial capabilitiesq
with the Camera Sequencer, which features a
Sequencer Playlist, support for multi-track audio,
and interoperability with popular non-linear editing
(NLE) applications like Apple Final Cut Pro software
Performance- Maya is engineered to help handleq
today?s increasingly complex data sets without
slowing down the creative process.
3D animation software delivers an end-to-endq
creative workflow
Includes one year of Autodesk Subscription whichq
gives you a wide range of maintenance and
support services designed to help you minimize
costs, increase productivity, and make the most of
your investment in Autodesk software.
Sequencer enhancements; substance proceduralq
textures; craft animation tools
Tools for animation, modeling, simulation, visualq
effects, rendering, and compositing
Toolsets for previsualization and gamesq
prototyping; improved pipeline integration
Viewport 2.0 enhancements; node-based renderq
passes; editable motion trails
Read moreq

2. Product Description
Autodesk Maya 3D animation software delivers an end-to-end creative workflow with comprehensive tools for
animation, modeling, simulation, visual effects, rendering, matchmoving, and compositing on a highly
extensible production platform. Whether you work in film, games, television, or web and multimedia production,
Maya offers state-of-the-art toolsets, combined into a single affordable offering designed to meet today’s
demanding production requirements. Maya 2012 delivers new toolsets for previsualization and games
prototyping, extended simulation capabilities; and improved pipeline integration. Read more
Product Description
Autodesk Maya 2012
Autodesk Maya 3D animation software delivers an end-to-end creative workflow with comprehensive tools for
animation, modeling, simulation, visual effects, rendering, matchmoving, and compositing on a highly
extensible production platform. Whether you work in film, games, television, or web and multimedia production,
Maya offers state-of-the-art toolsets, combined into a single affordable offering designed to meet today's
demanding production requirements. Maya 2012 delivers new toolsets for previsualization and games
prototyping, extended simulation capabilities, and improved pipeline integration.
Viewport 2.0 enhancements, including
full-screen effects. View larger.
Convenient node-based render passes.
View larger.
Editable motion trails provide a faster and
easier way to fine-tune motion animation.
View larger.

3. Sequencer enhancements. View larger.
Library of 80 Substance procedural
textures. View larger.
Craft animation tools. View larger.
Enhanced workflows. View larger.
New simulation options--create compelling
dynamic effects in less time. View larger.

4. Motion capture. View larger.
Key Features and Benefits
With a high-fidelity, high-performance viewport, the new ability to create node-based representations of render
passes, an expanded camera sequencer toolset, and new camera rigs, artists gain new tools to help explore,
refine, and present their ideas prior to final production, while editable motion trails offer an enhanced
animation experience. Moreover, with new physics solvers, together with further development of the Nucleus
unified simulation framework and its modules, artists can create a wider range of convincing effects in less time.
And, with single-step interoperability and a more consistent f-curve editor with other Autodesk Entertainment
Creation Suites products; a redesigned Pythonic API; and added support for vector displacement maps, Maya
2012 is more easily integrated into production pipelines.
Viewport 2.0 Enhancements
The high-performance viewport introduced with Maya 2011 now offers full-screen effects: motion blur,
depth-of-field, and ambient occlusion, enabling artists to evaluate their work in a higher fidelity environment
and without needing to render or export to a game engine. In addition, Viewport 2.0 now provides component
and manipulator display to support modeling workflows, together with batch rendering capabilities, and a
high-performance API.
Node-Based Render Passes
Create and edit node-based representations of render passes directly within Maya 2012, and render the
composited output directly through the mental ray renderer. A powerful tool for verifying and refining render
passes prior to handing them to the compositor, node-based render passes also enable artists to perform
certain simple compositing tasks without leaving Maya.
Editable Motion Trails
Edit animation directly in the viewport without the need to switch context to the graph editor, with new editable
motion trails that provide a faster and easier method for fine-tuning motion animation. Animators can
intuitively edit the position and timing of keyframes in relation to the animated object, while viewing the path
of motion over time in 3D space, resulting in a smoother, more productive workflow.
Sequencer Enhancements
First introduced in Maya 2011, the Camera Sequencer is now extended to offer a Sequencer Playlist--enabling
artists to manage their sequences through a configurable spreadsheet view that provides the ability to reorder
clips, edit In and Out points, and change camera assignments--together with support for multi-track audio and
the new ability to output multiple shots as a single sequence for easier game cinematic rendering or export to a
game engine.
Substance Procedural Textures
Achieve a vast range of look variations with a new library of 80 Substance procedural textures. These dynamic,
resolution-independent textures have a tiny disk space footprint, and can be exported to certain game engines
via the Substance Air middleware offering (available separately from Allegorithmic SAS). Alternatively, textures

5. can be quickly converted to bitmaps for rendering. Some examples of dynamically editable and animatable
parameters are: brick distribution, surface aging, and mortar thickness in a brick wall; pupil size, eye color, and
extent of veining in an eye texture; and the age, roughness, curb borders, and lane markings of a street texture.
Craft Animation Tools
Easily create believable, complex camera movements that mimic real-world set-ups, with four new camera rigs
from the Craft Director Studio animation tool. Use a joystick to record real-time input while driving the camera;
stabilize turbulent or unnatural camera movements; add shakiness to an existing animated camera; or
smoothly transition or instantly cut between different camera views and settings. Also included are four
pre-rigged models--two cars, and two airplanes--that can be used to simulate complex vehicle motion, including
terrain recognition, for previsualization or in-game cinematics.
Enhanced, Consistent Graph Editor
An enhanced Graph Editor takes some of the best features from the f-curve editors within the products of the
Autodesk Maya Entertainment Creation Suites 2012, and combines them into a toolset that offers more
consistent functionality and terminology--enabling animators to switch more easily between products. Maya
users gain a new Auto-tangent type that automatically adjusts tangents when keys are moved, preventing
overshooting; the option to sync what's displayed in the Timeline and Graph Editor with what's selected in the
Channel Box; an Isolate Selection option that restricts the display to only the selected curves; and a Region
Tool for easier scaling of animation keys in time and value.
New Simulation Options
Create compelling dynamic effects in less time, with new simulation options that incorporate industry-leading
technology into Maya. Now artists can leverage the multi-threaded NVIDIA PhysX engine* to create static,
dynamic, and kinematic rigid-body simulations directly in the Maya viewport, and gain the ability to match a
runtime solution. And highly-realistic shattering simulations with multiple interacting materials are more easily
achievable, with the help of the newly included Digital Molecular Matter plug-in from Pixelux Entertainment.
*Available with Autodesk Maya 2012 Windows platform only.
Nucleus Enhancements
Further development of the Nucleus unified simulation framework and its associated modules delivers
improved liquids simulation with new pouring, splashing, and boiling effects; multi-threaded nParticle collisions
and nCloth self-collisions for faster performance; and a range of easy-to-use, customizable effects (fire, smoke,
bomb, dust trail, fireworks, laser, melt, snow, sparks, and tears) that can be assigned to an object as easily as
assigning a shader.
Other New Features
Autodesk Maya 2012 software also has the following key features:
Single-Step Suites Interoperability
Take better advantage of the full range of 3D tools in the Autodesk Maya Entertainment Creation Suite
Standard 2012 and the Autodesk Maya Entertainment Creation Suite Premium 2012, with new single-step
interoperability. Use Single-Step workflows to directly move 3D data between Maya 2012, Autodesk
MotionBuilder 2012 software, Autodesk Mudbox 2012 software, and the Interactive Creative Environment (ICE)
of Autodesk Softimage 2012 software.
HumanIK Enhancements
Working with characters is now easier in both Maya 2012 and MotionBuilder 2012, with an enhanced interface
and unified solver for HumanIK technology (formerly implemented as FBIK in Maya). The unified solver offers
more consistent workflows--thanks to new Character Controls and graphical Characterization UIs in Maya--and
improved interoperability between the products. In addition, customers who use the Autodesk HumanIK 4.5 or

6. 2012 middleware solution will benefit from improved animation consistency between Maya and their game
engine.
Vector Displacement Map Support
With new support for Vector Displacement Maps (VDMs) in Maya 2012, artists can use mental ray to render
complex high-resolution details created in Mudbox or certain other packages on low-resolution geometry. VDMs
can represent directional displacements that do not simply follow the surface normal: for example, forms with
appendages, undercuts, folds, and bulges, such as a human ear.
Motion Capture Samples
Leverage the advanced motion retargeting capabilities of Maya 2012, with 70 motion capture samples that
provide useful starting points for creating previsualizations and developing character animations. Utilizing the
Autodesk FBX 2012 asset exchange format, the samples can be shared between applications in the Autodesk
Entertainment Creation Suites.
Python API Enhancements
Programmers familiar with Python scripting language can now enjoy easier and more powerful ways to extend
and customize Maya, thanks to an improved Python API that offers more idiomatic (pythonic) command writing
capabilities (for example: MScriptUtils are eliminated, while the Maya array type becomes a fully functional
Python sequence), and is up to three times faster.
Top Reasons to Buy Autodesk Maya
1. A CG Pipeline in the Box
Autodesk Maya 2012 software offers a comprehensive CG pipeline in the box with powerful modeling,
simulation, animation, rendering, matchmoving, and compositing capabilities. Maya is used by leading artists to
help create innovative entertainment, and both Maya and its developers have garnered numerous awards for
technological innovation including three Academy Awards.
2. Advanced Simulation Capabilities
Maya offers extensive simulation tools for creating high-quality, realistic fluid, particle, cloth, fur, hair, rigid- and
soft-body dynamics. Engineered by leading research scientists, the Academy Award winning Maya Fluid Effects
as well as the Maya software's Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework are designed to help make simulations
more realistic. In addition, you can now leverage the multi-threaded NVIDIA PhysX engine to create static,
dynamic, and kinematic rigid-body simulations directly in the Maya viewport.
3. Believable Characters
Maya features industry-leading tools for creating compelling CG characters. Used to help create villains and
heroes like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean and the Na'vi from AVATAR,
Maya features highly customizable rigging tools, advanced muscle deformation and skinning tools, full-body
inverse kinematics (FBIK) and the ability to more smoothly blend forward and inverse kinematics.
4. 3D Editorial
Maya offers 3D editorial capabilities with the Camera Sequencer, which features a Sequencer Playlist, support
for multi-track audio, and interoperability with popular non-linear editing (NLE) applications like Apple Final Cut
Pro software. Ideal for editing 3D animation for previsualization or virtual moviemaking, the Camera Sequencer
enables you to more precisely manage framing and timing of CG shots and play them back for review.
5. Performance

7. Maya is engineered to help handle today's increasingly complex data sets without slowing down the creative
process. It does this through multi-threading, algorithmic tuning, sophisticated memory management, GPU
optimizations, tools for segmenting scenes and 64-bit support for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Apple Mac OS
X operating systems. Moreover, a high-performance viewport enables you to interact with your scene in a
higher fidelity environment, helping you make better creative decisions in context.
6. Improved Pipeline Efficiency
Maya Assets help you better manage large and complex scenes and collaborate more effectively with others.
Move 3D assets through your pipeline more efficiently with Autodesk FBX 2012 data exchange technology. And
take advantage of single-step workflows with Autodesk Mudbox 2012 software, Autodesk MotionBuilder 2012
software, and the Interactive Creation Environment (ICE) of Autodesk Softimage 2012 software.
7. Highly Customizable
Maya offers multiple avenues for customization for companies wishing to integrate 3D tools more tightly into
their pipeline, or to more easily add specialized production tools. It was built from the ground-up with the Maya
Embedded Language (MEL) and also offers Python scripting as well as an extensive, well-documented C++ API.
Developers can now, also create interface components more easily with Qt Designer.
8. Easy to Learn
From the first-class Autodesk training and documentation that comes with Maya, to the breadth of partner and
third-party books, DVDs, tutorials and training facilities, there are numerous resources to match anyone's
learning style. Tap into one of the largest online communities of 3D professionals and enthusiasts to share
information and knowledge.
9. Make the Most of Your Mac
With Maya, Mudbox and now Autodesk Smoke 2012 for Mac OS X software all optimized for Apple's 64-bit OS,
you can get the most out of your Mac. Autodesk offers a set of high-end digital production tools for creative
professionals from digital sculpting through 3D animation to high quality editorial and creative finishing.
10. A Global Community
The extensive Maya online community, including the AREA, provides an invaluable resource for everyone--from
students learning the application to artists looking for some expert advice for a challenging project. Visit AREA
at area.autodesk.com.
Read more
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