Max 9, Maya 8 and What's New

[Tami]

[attachment=2874:attachment] Last night we attended the Vancouver launch night hosted by [url=\"http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5708192\"]Autodesk[/url]. While the primary focus of the night was Max 9, Maya 8 and Motionbuilder 7.5, we were treated to the possibilities offered by the whole Media and Entertainment software family from Autodesk. The demo reels shown at launch nights is always awe-inspiring and last night's reel was no exception. To see a condensed 6 minute version of the reel, go [url=\"http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=5818856&siteID=123112\"]here[/url] The motion media file which was used for the prodution demo was the Michael the Turtle Ghostbusters reel, which was created using Autodesk software. If you've never seen it, you can view it [url=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNQ5fj9uqVo\"]here[/url] on YouTube. Warning--it's almost as "irritating" as Crazy Frog. The demonstrations began with Autodesk VIZ, which is their pre-production visualization software. We were shown how the software is used to make a storyboard for animation, and then moved into collaborative production using Maya and Max, with Autodesk FBX bridging the two. With the possibility of saving point cache work, moving between the many programmes used in motion media development is now done with ease. There have been huge improvements in the Boolean and Pro-Boolean processes of the software, with auto quads and clean-up. Booleans have never been something I understood (probably due to the math involved), but after seeing this new process, it looks so much easier. Ha-ha. There have also been many improvements to Mental Ray and creating lighting effects in a project has never been so easy. Introduce Toxik into the mix, and a studio would have a very high-powered, high-volume, efficient digital composting process which is manageable over an entire network. With file tracking, it is possible to watch real-time changes to items in Toxik, and with a simple click of the mouse the project producer can choose any number of file versions to include in the finished work. The software upgrades concentrate alot on performance and power, particularly with the onset of 64 bit graphics. It has become a priority that Autodesk's software keep up with the power of today's technology and that has been the company's main challenge and focus over the past year. Needless to say, watching Maya process a 23 million poly scene without effort was a good selling point. The demonstrators were running on HP XW6400 computers with 6gb of RAM, Intel dual core processors with an Nvidia Quadpro graphics card, and while I am not an HP fan, I have to admit that I was impressed. Once the collaborative workflow demo was over, the group was split up into two. Those who were interested more in Max 9 went off to another theatre, while those interested in Maya stayed behind for a more indepth look at what's new. Mike went to the Max 9 demo and I stayed for Maya. I'm not by any means a 3D artist, but maybe one day 3D and I will play well together. Some of the improvements to Maya include the addition of the poly split tool from Max 9, as multiple edge loops and the ability to add divisions to a poly face. Also like Max 9, you can now add bridges and modify bridges. The new Expanded Soft Modifications tool now reads the topology of a poly first when creating modifications to any poly. Artists also now have the option of using Transfer Attributes on UV, Colour Sets or Vertex Position. There are also plenty of new Bonus Tools and Scripts available for Maya. Some of the changes Mike told me about for Max 9 include new colouring and texturing techniques, and with the further development of Discreet Lustre, more will be coming in the future. All in all, there have been huge improvements to the whole Media and Entertainment software family over the past year, and it is somewhat overwhelming as the ability to create continues to show no boundaries.

[Michael]

k well Max9 was awesome with all the graphics and stuff the guy did like he took part of the far cry game were this monster thingy throws an ATV at you right, he takes that and made it look like a real life situation were it looked soooo real like w0w. When he went to play it the movie he did in like 10 mins when he played it it looked soooo cool like amazing kinda thing right.

With the new Max9 some of the mental ray and new wickedly fast stuff they did that you just couldnt do in max8 is unbelieveable its insane i jus loved it and he was doing this segment on the new hair styling part and he made such weird hair then he took it off coloured on the guyes bald head and put the hair back and BOOM the guys head was now neon green

[Josh]

Michael the Turtle short film has a very unique modeling style imo that I really like. It wasn't as annoying as The Crazy Frog, though /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

Sounds like the event was a lot of fun. I've tried to run 3DSMax9 on my system and it just didn't want to run very smoothly, unfortunately. I'll have to upgrade before I get that. Now why didn't you swipe that computer they were using at the event, Tami? /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

[Tami]

Because that's just it ... they were [i]using[/i] it /animatedfear.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'(fear)\' />

[Josh]

HELLO?! Like they would have noticed! Sheesh.

[Vercz]

very nice ada. sounds like you and mike had a fun time /biggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' />

now wheres the staff purchase of these 6gb machines? thatd be awesome for gaming /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

[Tami]

/lmfao.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':lmfao:\' /> I wish