Maya 5 Now Available
Maya customers on full annual maintenance can now download Maya 5 - new and
upgrading customers can purchase software on May 1, 2003
Toronto, Ontario - April 24, 2003 - Alias|Wavefront(tm), an SGI (NYSE: SGI)
company, announced today the availability Maya® 5, the latest version of its
Oscar® award-winning 3D software package. Effective immediately, customers on
full annual maintenance and registered for eSupport can access the
industry-leading software by downloading the new version at
http://www.aliaswavefront.com/maya/support. Maya 5 for new and upgrading customers
will begin shipping on May 1, 2003. Maya 5 offers a host of innovative new
ways to create digital content along with numerous customer-suggested
productivity enhancements. Improvements added to both Maya Complete(tm) and
Maya Unlimited(tm) software will energize artist and programmer workflows in
such creative industries as game development, broadcast graphics, web content
creation, design visualization and film production.
"We're looking forward to getting our hands on Maya 5," said Stephen Venning,
3D department operation manager, The Mill. "We use Maya's animation,
lighting, modeling and rendering technology to achieve advanced effects in
all areas of high end production. Also now with rendering through mental ray,
Maya fits seamlessly into our pipeline."
"Response to our announcement of Maya 5 has been overwhelming, with huge
demand from the community to get their hands on the new release. As a result
we're delivering Maya 5 in record time and across all platforms," said Rob
Hoffmann, senior Maya product manager, Alias|Wavefront. "Today we're pleased
to demonstrate our commitment to existing customers by providing Maya 5 in a
downloadable form for those on maintenance - a full week in advance of the
shipping date. There truly is something for everyone in this new version,
both for our community of existing Maya users and for our new customers. "
Unique Image Creation Possibilities
Advances in rendering technology and workflow in Maya 5 gives users the
ability to create the right look for the job, whether it's the creation of
photo-realistic film imagery or a simple vector graphic for the web. Maya
software's new Hardware Renderer takes advantage of powerful next-generation
graphics cards to create images significantly faster than traditional
software renderers. With this new tool artists can quickly produce images for
pre-visualization and broadcast quality final output. The new Vector
Renderer readily transforms 3D content into web-ready 2D graphics or outputs
them to such popular graphics applications as Macromedia Flash® MX, Adobe®
Illustrator® and Go Live®. As of Maya 5, all four integrated renderers are
now unified through a consistent rendering user interface and workflow that
allows users to readily switch between them, as needed, for a particular job
or visual effect.
Maya 5 Propels Productivity
Maya's industry-leading modeling, animation and effects features have been
fine-tuned and expanded using customer input to make production workflows
more efficient. Numerous enhancements in areas such as character animation,
dynamics and polygonal modeling also work to make production workflows more
efficient. Programmers will benefit from deeper access to detailed shader,
particle, light and polygon data, plus further extensions to the open
rendering framework. Improved online tutorials, documentation and a free
Learning Tool(tm) in every shipment will help new customers get up and
running faster than ever.
Building on Existing Innovation
Maya has a rich history of innovation with tools such as Maya Paint
Effects(tm), Maya Fur(tm) and most recently, Maya Fluid Effects(tm). In a
commitment to support not just new features, but to build on existing unique
tools, Maya Paint Effects can now be drawn as, or converted to, polygons.
This enhancement allows Maya Paint Effects to be edited with regular polygon
tools and output to other renderers, including mental ray and the new Vector
Renderer, thereby bringing a new realm of creative possibility to web
content. Maya 5 contains well over a hundred new preset brushes that lend
further artistic possibilities to users.
Maya Fluid Effects, part of the Maya Unlimited package, has also been
enhanced so that previously unobtainable effects, including true dynamic
computation of wakes and the accurate simulation of ponds and lakes, are now
easily achieved. Among the enhancements to Maya Fur is the addition of a new
fur clumping feature that supports a range of natural looks such as wet,
matted or dirty fur that have, in the past, been impossible to achieve.
Enhanced Data Exchange
Maya 5 also improves data exchange with leading technology applications which
allows customers to interface with their choice of today's most popular data
formats including; Macromedia Flash (SWF), DWG, DXF, Adobe Illustrator (AI),
Encapsulated PostScript® (EPS), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG(tm)), IGES,
OpenFlight®, StudioTools® and OBJ (MTL).
To view all the new features and functionality of Maya 5, please visit
http://www.aliaswavefront.com.
Pricing and Availability
Maya Complete for the Windows, IRIX®, Linux® and Mac® OS X operating systems,
is priced at $1,999* and includes modeling, rendering**, animation, dynamics,
Maya Artisan, Maya Paint Effects, mental ray for Maya and Maya Embedded
Language (MEL(tm)). Maya Unlimited for the Windows, IRIX and Linux operating
systems, is priced at $6,999* and includes all features in Maya Complete
along with Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Fur, Maya Cloth(tm) and Maya Live(tm).
Maya customers on full annual maintenance programs and registered for
eSupport can now download Maya 5 at
http://www.aliaswavefront.com/maya/support.
Upgrades and new purchases of Maya 5 can be ordered through the
Alias|Wavefront network of authorized resellers or online at
http://www.aliaswavefront.com on May 1, 2003. For more information on Maya
maintenance packages or any of our support options, please visit
http://www.aliaswavefront.com/maya/support.
Version upgrades for Maya Complete are priced at $899* and for Maya Unlimited
at $1,249*.
* Prices are list prices for node-locked licenses; floating licenses for Maya
Complete and Maya Unlimited are available at an additional fee. All prices
quoted are in U.S. dollars. International pricing may vary.
** Not all rendering features available on every platform.
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