Key Features and Enhancements

Maya Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework

Maya 8.5 marks the first installment of Maya Nucleus technology within Maya. Maya Nucleus— Autodesk’s next generation unified simulation framework—is based on technology developed by award-winning Autodesk research scientist Jos Stam. The Maya Nucleus unified simulation framework is a linked particle system that interactively simulates a wide range of dynamic entities. It works with a variety of geometry types (curves, non-manifold geometry, meshes with holes, etc.) within a unified framework.

Maya nCloth

As the first Maya module built on Autodesk’s new Nucleus technology, Maya® nCloth functionality lets you quickly direct and control cloth, and other material simulations, in entirely new ways. Maya nCloth objects can be as stiff, viscous or flowing, and as tightly or loosely woven as you desire. Rapidly create cloth-on-cloth simulations – such as a shirt over pants – with believable influences and collisions. Bend, stretch, shear, dent or even tear your Maya nCloth fabrics with ease. Beyond cloth, Maya nCloth lets you create deformable plastic and metal simulations, inflatable objects, as well as rigid-body and fluidic-type effects. Maya nCloth is only available in Maya Unlimited.

Python

Python, a powerful and accessible scripting language, is now available within Maya. Not only has Python been integrated into the software at the same level as the Maya Embedded Language (MEL), its bindings to the OpenMaya API give you an alternative language for plug-in development. Plus, the Maya Python modules can be imported into an external standalone Python interpreter for batch processing. With its higher-level language constructs, Python supports developer productivity while providing easily maintainable code. The language is also highly extensible, with a broad collection of third-party tools and modules freely available.

Expanded Platform Support

Maya 8.5 gives you more platform options. Maya is the only full-function 3D animation software to run on 32-bit Windows®, Linux®, and Mac OS® X and 64-bit Windows and Linux. As of Maya 8.5, Intel®-based Macintosh® computer support is provided as a Universal binary – so you can use 32-bit Maya software on either the PowerPC- or Intel-based Macintosh computers.

mental ray Shaders

Realizing physically accurate outdoor environments has become significantly easier as of Maya 8.5. New physical sun and physical sky shaders let you create photorealistic skies based on the position of the sun – all with the power of the highly acclaimed, physically based mental ray® rendering engine. Plus, new architectural and design shaders make it easier for you to create such effects as waxy floors, frosted glass, clay and sand-blasted metals.

Transfer Polygon Attributes

Transfer Polygon Attributes allows you to transfer UV, color per vertex (CPV), and vertex position information between polygon meshes of differing topologies – even those that are separated in space or of different proportion/scale. This means that when you’re working with two different versions of an object or character (for example, one high-resolution and one low-resolution), you can quickly transfer existing UV sets that have already been laid out to the lower-resolution model. As of Maya 8.5 you can also use the paint tool to blend between source and target deformations.

mental ray Workflow

New and reorganized render attributes make the mental ray for Maya render settings significantly more intuitive. Likewise, in the Render Option and Batch Render Option editors you can now configure mental ray to automatically determine, at the start of each render, the optimal memory limit, tile size, or number of threads. New as of Maya 8.5, High Dynamic Range (HDR) images can be generated from the mental ray batch bake option, the Transfer Map feature, or the texture bakeSet node.

Japan Localization

Core-level development efforts have allowed Autodesk to deliver a powerful new Japanese version of Maya software. As of Maya 8.5, those who prefer to work in Japanese can do so while they navigate Maya, or customize their tools and user interface.