General Enhancements
Autodesk® Maya® 8 software has been optimized to provide superior performance across many areas. Enhancements to existing tools and new features make formerly time-consuming modeling and texturing tasks easier and more streamlined. This video highlights a few examples such as a new Transfer Polygon Attributes feature that allows you to transfer UV, color per vertex (CPV), and vertex position information between polygon meshes of different topologies. Also, you now have the option of overriding Maya viewports with a propriety or third-party plug-in renderer. For example, a Microsoft® Direct3D® or game engine render can be view directly in the Maya viewport.
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Polygon Tools and Workflows
Maximize productivity for the most common tasks with new and improved tools in Maya 8 software: polygon bridge, multiple edge loop insertion, enhanced add divisions, and new workflows such as the ability to interactively create, position, and scale primitives in a single operation.
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Rendering
Maya 8 software delivers new rendering functionality focused on streamlining the rendering workflow and improving pipeline efficiency. You can now preview your mental ray® shaders directly on objects, in the interactive view. Render times can be reduced by recycling the images from the layers that do not need to be re-rendered. Also new in Maya 8, all Maya render layer information can be exported to Autodesk® Toxik™ collaborative software with versioning capabilities for final assembly and tweaking. The Maya image plane now supports real-time, z-depth compositing in the camera viewport.
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Geometry Caching
You can now cache deformations on polygon, NURBS (including curves), and subdivision surface geometry, allowing for faster playback and rendering of scenes. Caches can be edited and blended in the Trax Editor, letting you blend the results of various vertex animations together in order to form a new animation. When used with FBX® interoperability format, geometry caching allows you to exchange final animation data between other applications such as Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Autodesk® MotionBuilder™ 3D animation software products.
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Maya 7 Features
ASHLI Plug-in
Preview FX files containing HLSL (High Level Shading Language) and GLSL (OpenGL® Shading Language) shaders with the new Advanced Shader Language Interface plug-in (ASHLI). This plug-in also boosts Autodesk Maya integration with other production and game development pipeline tools.
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Beveling for Adobe Illustrator Files, with History
Now create text as beveled geometry and keep the beveling setup constant with the saved history, even if the text itself changes. Also new, the Adobe Illustrator Object menu allows you to bring in Adobe® Illustrator files into Autodesk Maya software and automatically bevels the text.
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Enhanced Character Animation Tools and Topology Propagation for Blend Shapes
Edit and create new blendshapes from existing targets, and get quick and easy updates on existing targets with the new Bake Topology to Targets feature. The new Split Edge Ring tool inserts edges in the same manner as isoparms are inserted on NURBS surfaces.
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Full Body IK
The new Full Body IK feature now affects the entire rig when you pull on one joint to depict realistic posing. Also, Floor Contacts automatically adjusts the rig so you don't have to remember the contact points when posing your character.
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Arbitrary Styling and Dynamic Guide Curves Using Hair
Dynamic hair curves can now be used to drive fur systems.
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Ability to Transplant Hair
The new Transplant Hair feature allows for quick translations of default hairstyles onto characters and surfaces. The Start Curve Attract feature gives you control over the dynamic movement of the Hair system.
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Modifier Objects for Paint Effects
Create spherical or cuboid modifier objects to control various aspects of a Paint Effects stroke.
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Surface Sampler
Modify options when outputting normal maps with the new Surface Sampler window.
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3D Paint/Photoshop Roundtrip
Convert procedural textures to image files to paint and edit later. A new Create PSD Network option lets you start up Adobe Photoshop® from within Autodesk Maya software. The new PSD layered file format will produce a .psd file with
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Render Layers to SWFT (Flash smart layers)
Export separate render passes in Autodesk MayaAutodesk Maya(r) directly to Flash MX with the new Swift3Dimporter (swft) file format.
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Render Layers
New Render Layers features include overrides applied on geometry exclusive of specific layers. Per-layer overrides and render flag overrides are also offered in Render Global settings.
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Screen Space Width Controls for Autodesk MayaAutodesk Maya Paint Effects
Correct outlines so that they remain proportional whether up-close or far away.
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Substitute Geometry
Get geometry updates on rigged surfaces, and navigate in all camera views – including an animated zoom in and zoom out – with the new View Compass feature.
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Toonshader
The new Autodesk Maya Toonshader features various styles and types of fill-colors. Preview and edit lighting, and work with shading and outlines in the Hardware Rrender Vview for immediate feedback.
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