Tonight on "The Screen Savers," we'll get a sneak peek at the free Personal Learning Edition of
Maya, one of the premiere 3D graphics, animation, and effects software titles in the business.
Maya rendering tools have been used in popular films such as "Toy Story," the visually stunning "Final Fantasy," and the graphically grandiose "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring."
Maya Complete, the professional-grade software package, sells for around $1,999, and the deluxe version
Maya Unlimited, sells for $6,999. That may be cheap by industry standards, but for the average amateur animator, $6,999 could be better spent on indulgent extras like food, clothing, and shelter.
No money down
That's why the good people at Alias|Wavefront are offering a free (yes, free!) version of Maya called the Maya Personal Learning Edition, so computer graphic beginners and starving students can cut their teeth on Maya's tools and interface without shelling out the equivalent of six months' rent.
(sorry, not available for Windows Me, Windows 98, or Windows 95)
What do you get?
The Maya Personal Learning Edition offers access to the main tool sets of Maya Complete, including:
- NURBS modeling (Non-Uniform Rational Basis Spline)
- Animation
- Inverse kinematics
- Maya Artisan
- Particles
- Dynamics
- Maya's advanced rendering capabilities
TSS tutorial
Andrew Pearce, Director of Maya Technologies for Alias|Wavefront will be in the studio Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. on "The Screen Savers" to demo the Maya Personal Learning Edition with a simple animation of a bowling ball smashing some Leo pins.
Andrew gave us all the files he used to execute his bowling demo so you can recreate the magic on your own machine:
- Download the Maya Personal Learning Edition by clicking on the link above.
- Download the necessary graphics files:
- Open the "ReadMe.html" file provided with each download and follow the instructions for loading and manipulating the images.
- Have fun!
