Maya is the first choice of digital content creators producing award-winning games, 3D animation and visual effects. Maya offers a unique, affordable combination of ground-breaking tools and features, important workflow improvements, and platform choice. Academy Award winning Maya 3D animation and effects software is at the forefront of technological innovation. Its development has been inspired by the film and video artists, computer game developers and design professionals who use it daily to create engaging digital imagery, animation and visual effects.

Numerous fine-tuned features throughout Maya software make production workflows more efficient whether you are modeling a design image, animating a character or rendering scenes for a feature film. Because of enhanced character animation tools including improved constraints, forward and inverse kinematics (FK/IK) and ghosting for more control and flexibility when creating your characters. Plus the software provides improved performance of up to 90 percent on the Windows operating system so you can interact more freely with complex dynamic simulations. Get the best possible results in less time! Then with the help of online tutorials and user documentation to kick-start you’re learning new or unfamiliar features. Besides bonus tools and scripts, a learning tools DVD is included with new purchases or upgrades to newer versions of Maya. Whether you are new to Maya or are an expert Maya artist, you will find this to be a valuable resource.

Manufacturer, vendor and/or retailer information--Where would you buy it? The best method to purchasing the software Maya would be to go to this website below which provides location of a reseller, the ability to order on line or by phone.

http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/howtobuy/howtobuy.shtml

Technical specifications:

  CPU REQUIREMENTS: 2 ghz or dual processors of equivalent speed

  RAM REQUIREMENTS:  256 MB of RAM, but more is better (512+)

  DISK REQUIREMENTS: for operating system 856 mb, for produced data as much hard drive space as possible (200 gb)

  CACHE REQUIREMENTS: N/A but I would assume large amounts

  IS IT A MEMORY RESIDENT PROGRAM: N/A  

  DISPLAY REQUIREMENTS: go for quality and size

  MOUSE AND OTHER POINTING DEVICES SUPPORTED: A three button mouse is required.

  PRINTERS SUPPORTED: N/A

  OTHER DEVICES SUPPORTED--E.G., SCANNERS: N/A

  AND: Maya like many visual effects software packages are compatible with multiple file formats, meaning other applications can interact or cause changes to the rendered final product, during animating creation, or pre-animating production. Ex: Software’s – Photoshop, Composer, Quicktime, etc.

Compatibility and flexibility concerns:                                                        

  WORKS ON WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION, WORKS ON WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL EDITION, WORKS ON APPLE MAC OS PLATFORMS: Yes to all mentioned platforms

  HOW ABOUT UNIX AND LINUX PLATFORMS: Unix but not Linux (not yet anyway)

  IS IT NETWORK COMPATIBLE: Yes

  HOW ABOUT FILE COMPATIBILITY INCLUDING ASCII/DOS, MAC, GRAPHICS, VOICE, AND VIDEO FILE FORMATS: Maya is compatible with most file formats, but with file format          converters Maya is almost compatible with any file format.

Setup, installation, configuration, and customization concerns:

  IS A TECHNICAL PERSON NEEDED: No, but a novice to computers and this level of software is not recommended.

  WHAT'S INVOLVED (WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO): After hardware requirements are met just installing the software.

  HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE: 30 minutes or less

  HOW IS HELP PROVIDED (IN DOCUMENTATION FORM): Depends what you pay for, it could v         vary from online to in person technical support.

  ON-LINE (MAYBE ON THE WEB): yes

  TELEPHONE SUPPORT: yes

  WHAT IMPACT DOES IT HAVE ON SYSTEMS FILES--E.G., SYSTEM REGISTRY AND/OR SYSTEM.INI FILES IN WINDOWS: no impact

  WHAT IMPACT DOES IT HAVE ON OTHER PROGRAMS: Depends of the capabilities of the computer.

  HOW ABOUT UNINSTALL: Just the matter of clicking uninstall.

  AND ...  Maya is a very elaborate software package but installation has gotten easier through the growth of the application.

Implementation, training, and integrations into operations:

  TRAINING MATERIAL INCLUDED IN REFERENCE MANUAL: Tutorials are provided if paid for and training till you’re a master of the Maya software is available but does cost a pretty penny.

  COMPUTER BASED TUTORIAL INCLUDED INCLUDING CD-ROM TRAINING: New or upgraded versions of Maya come with a DVD tutorial.

  ANY ON-LINE TUTORIAL:  yes

  HOW ABOUT TRAINING WORKSHOPS: yes all info on this webpage http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/education/training/index.shtml

Documentation:

  HOW MANY PAGES:  7 volumes with an average of 300 pages each

  HOW'S THE INDEX:  long and very in-depth

  IS THERE A GLOSSARY: yes

  IS THERE A QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE: yes

  IS THERE A TROUBLE SHOOTING SECTION: yes

  IS THERE ANY ONLINE DOCUMENTATION: yes

  IS A TEMPLATE FOR THE KEYBOARD INCLUDED: yes

User interface and user friendly:

  COMMAND LINE DRIVEN: yes, there is a Mel Script coding

  MENU DRIVEN: yes

  PULL DOWN MENUS USED: yes

  POINT AND CLICK MOUSE:  yes

  ICONS, BUTTONS, TOOLBARS, LEFT MOUSE CLICKING: yes

  GUI: yes

  ANYTHING ELSE SPECIAL ABOUT THE USER INTERFACE, E.G., VOICE RECOGNITION: no

Security, back-up and recovery concerns:

  PASSWORD SECURITY (PROGRAM LEVEL AND/OR FILE LEVEL): No

  IS A BACK-UP PROCEDURE INCLUDED: yes

  CAN BACK-UP BE SET TO BE AUTOMATIC: yes

  ANY RECOVERY FEATURES (FOR EXAMPLE, IF LOSS OF POWER): Yes, data is saved at last none data saving cycle.

  HOW ABOUT ENCRYPTION OF FILES: n/a

Warranty including support and servicing information:

  MONEY BACK GUARANTEE, E.G., (30 DAYS, 60 DAYS, 90 DAYS, ETC.: All sales are final.

  EXTENDED SUPPORT POLICY (HOW LONG AND HOW MUCH): there is an e-support but the levels of support depend on an extra support package purchased by the customer

  THIRD PARTY SUPPORT: No                                                                                                 

  800 NUMBER SUPPORT (DID YOU TRY IT): yes, and never had the need to because the e-support is faster on the internet

Upgrading concerns (for next product release): No concerns, just more to learn about the newer versions.

Add-in/add-on products to enhance the capabilities of the product: Plugins - Compositing, Camera Tracking & Paint, Hair & Cloth, Toon Shading & Shader Collections, Rendering Shaders & Distributed Rendering, Motion Capture & Animation Editing, and Modeling, Digitizing & Content Generators.

All costs including costs of any supplies: US$6999 for Maya Unlimited

Did you try the product (how did it perform): yes, I work with Maya software at work and it is an amazing software.

How do others feel about the product (two brief summaries required):

Juan Nouche, technical director of "The Living Forest", explains that from the outset Maya was a technical breakthrough for the production. "With Maya, we had everything in one package, without any need to bring in other external tools, since dealing with a completely open software allowed us to personalize and adapt its functions to our requirements," he states. "Also, Maya's tools and user interface are highly intuitive, which meant in just a few days our artists felt at ease working with the software, and could work with Maya in the same way as when they were working with traditional animation."

Nick Mynott, a math sculptor for General Motors Design, says that now is the first time in the history of the automaking business that a designer can sit down in a chair with a small tablet and a stylus and generate an inspired sketch directly over engineering data and see it full size instantly. “No running back and forth with tape in our hands, trying to work the math into the artistic equation. Having a common platform in place for discussions and data flow both ways – between design and engineering – makes us a stronger organization. That is a very powerful change for our business,” says Mynott.

Summary and general recommendations:  

I love using the software Maya. It is a challenge everyday to figure out how to make something you create on the computer look more real. Maya is one of those applications that you learn something new about it every time you use it. My recommendations for this software would first be to have extreme patience when first learning the software. As for the demand the application has on computer hardware and costs of the software and its hardware demands, Maya is an extreme computer graphics software. This product is not for novice users in the computer software industry.