A new toy

One of the more stringently observed rules in development is that you don’t upgrade your software during crunch or near the end of a project. You stick with what you have and what has proven to work. New versions of software packages may play havoc with your already wonky exporters, there may be problems loading older assets, there is no end of possible misery just waiting to slow development to a screeching halt. But once the project’s madness has died down and your bugs are taken care of it’s time to shop around. As such I have finally installed Maya 8.5 and have given it a whirl. I’m loving it.

My hate-hate relationship with 3D Studio Max is not something I shy away from talking, or indeed writing, about. That software is no friend of mine. I was introduced to it as a young development pup and it has caused me grief ever since. In fact, I was always convinced I was rubbish at 3D until I stopped using 3DSMax. When I started using Maya a sudden love for and skill in 3D and modeling bloomed up inside me like an oasis I never knew existed. The open-ended interface, the viewport controls, the modeling, it all felt right, and I haven’t looked back since.

Not, that is, until Autodesk bought Alias and the “Evil Creators of 3DSMax” were suddenly in control of their main rival. From that moment I feared Maya would either die or turn into Max, which is the proverbial “fate worse than”; I’d wake up in a cold sweat about it. And though some decidedly Max-y things have crept into this new version of Maya it is still my old friend.

I’ve only played around with it a little but what I’ve experimented with so far all seems neat-o. Firstly the subdivision in menu sets means I can get rid of all that Nurbs crap I never get to use, freeing up some space or at least keeping it less cluttered. Some of the most used tools are now a few steps up in the menu hierarchy, though previously custom MEL scripts had taken care of that already. An extended set of polygon editing tools, and here is where Max rubs its dirty undead corpse against my lovely clean Maya, do actually help tremendously, though I am not yet convinced of the new way shapes are created; like Max you draw them into your scene, but I kind of liked the world 0 numeric input way Maya had always allowed me to create a new cube. This is small potatoes, though.

The extended Hypershade options, especially the buckets, or container, whatever they are calling the grouping, are a Godsend, as are the improved viewport rendering options. I iwsh I could play around more with dynamics, cloth and fur/hair I never get to use those in the creation of in-game assets, though I would like to use them for texture/surface transferring. I’m not too impressed with the integration of Python; it feels a little like a usurper, making MEL look a little anemic and sad, and when I was looking for scripting/programming languages to study I didn’t end up picking Python, dammit.

Mostly, to the delight of my lazy colleagues, Maya now finally is localized in Japanese. I am not touching the option, of course. I need to learn where all the new buttons are and I don’t want to be squinting at incomprehensible kanji while I do so. Max has been localized for a while now, so I guess that is one of the good things Autodesk is doing with Maya. I may have to reconsider my opinion of them.

Sorry for this deluge of uselessness. Installing brand-spanking new software always feels a little like a treat, especially as the Maya 7.0 to 8.5 upgrade sees some significant improvements, allowing me to streamline my workflow even more. Students and those wishing to become a game artist should, by all means and post haste, download the free Personal Learning Edition. Especially in Japan Maya is fast becoming the standard 3D tool for game development, if it isn’t already. You could do a lot worse.

NOTE: If you’re a big fan of 3DSMax, I’m not interested in discussing the pros and cons of either package or, indeed, which is best. Horses for courses, and all that. Each to their own. If you think 3DSMax is better then good for you! You’re completely deluded, of course, but good for you nonetheless!