136 MacDirectory
FEATURE REVIEW
AUTODESK MAYA 2010 & MUDBOX 2010 >
CREATING 3D EXCELLENCE
Watch professional dancers flow through
their fluid choreography. With effortless
ease, they transition from a two-step, or
waltz into a strenuous, eye-popping break
dance routine or saucy tango. Artists using
Autodesk Maya 2010 and Autodesk
Mudbox 2010 can apply similar prowess to
create realistic and futuristic scenes for
dynamic prints, videos and films.
Both Maya 2010 and Mudbox 2010 require
Apple Mac OS X 10.5.7 or higher
operating system, 2 GB RAM or more,
2 GB free hard drive space, an ethernet
adapter or wireless Internet card, a
qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL
graphics card and a three-button mouse.
For Mudbox 2010, a qualified Wacom
Drawing Tablet is recommended. For this
review, both programs were installed on a
Macbook Pro with a 2.33 GHz Intel Core
2 Duo Processor, and the author utilized a
Wacom Bamboo Fun Drawing Tablet. For
the latest list of qualified hardware,
including graphics cards, refer to
Autodesk's qualified hardware chart at
.
Autodesk Maya 2010 >
Supercharged Simulation Engine
Memorable movies and animated video
games include numerous scenes and
special effects incorporating Maya
Unlimited tools: Maya nParticles, Maya
nCloth, Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Hair, and
Maya Fur. With these powerful tools,
Maya 2010 adds Maya Composite (based
on Autodesk Toxik technology) and
Autodesk MatchMover for a complete
workflow producing futuristic digital
images, realistic animations, and stunning
visual effects. Maya 2010 provides
enhanced creative control and a
supercharged, simulation engine.
New for Maya 2010
These highlights identify some new
features within Autodesk Maya 2010:
• Maya Unlimited toolset
• Maya Composite – high dynamic
range composting
• Autodesk MatchMover – camera tracker
• Five mental ray batch rendering nodes
• Autodesk Backburner network
render manager
Maya Unlimited Toolset
The Maya Unlimited Toolset incorporates
Maya nCloth and Maya nParticles, plus
Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Hair, and Maya
Fur. Whether it's a graceful tablecloth
floating over a dining table, a brisk wind
coursing through dawn soaked sails, or the
fluid aspects of hair or water, the Maya
Unlimited Toolset provides powerful tools
to create realistic animations.
Maya Composite
Maya Composite (based on Toxik) is a high
performance, high dynamic range (HDR)
composting tool included in Maya 2010.
Whereas Toxik 2009 was available for
Windows, Maya Composite is now
available for Mac users. Maya Composite
provides tools to connect passes and
renders created in Maya into a final
composition. The properties of each tool
can be changed, and to obtain the right
look, these properties can be adjusted.
If desired, adjustments can also be key-
framed. Maya Composite's toolset allows
for keying, tracking, color correction,
paint, rotoscoping, warping, and advanced
filters (motion blur and depth of field).
In short, Maya 2010 offers a full 3D
compositing environment with support for
stereoscopic production pipelines.
Whether the artist is adding CG to film or
video, or creating a sophisticated
multilayer animation, Maya has the chops.
WORDS BY LISA P. HILL
