Maya LT

[Hirazi Blue]

That TomsHardware page is down right now.

Yet another fine example of Autodesk marketing and PR...
PS - I do understand, WHY the page probably got pulled, but that's besides the point IMHO.

[Lord Futzi Voldemort]

Is this a joke? With such restrictions Maya LT should be free.

Must be. Without everything that makes maya halfway usable, that would be fun to watch

This shows how far AD marketing is from reality.

One tip for AD: Make a product, that everyone is desperate to spent money for. Basic principle in a free economy.

[luceric]

And the 25K poly limit is absurd. It would have been fine for games 10 or 15 years ago. You would need a full Maya to import MLT files and export them in FBX right?

of course not, that 25k poly limit is in its fbx export, so it obviously has it.

the polygon limit should be fine, the target is characters for mobile gaming.

[myara]

I see, I was thinking in creating 25K+ poly MLT files, import them in Maya (asuming MLT files are importable) and then export them in 25K+ FBX files to have a cheap workflow, but I guess that the 25K polygon limit should be fine for the amateur mobile market. A professional market would need custom tools.

I'll wait for more details in an official announcement.

[luceric]

I see, I was thinking in creating 25K+ poly MLT files, import them in Maya (asuming MLT files are importable) and then export them in 25K+ FBX files to have a cheap workflow, but I guess that the 25K polygon limit should be fine for the amateur mobile market. A professional market would need custom tools.

I'll wait for more details in an official announcement.

there is no polygon limit in the app or in the mlt file. It's in the FBX exporter that there is a limit PER MESH (you could export many meshes). you cannot load mlt files in maya. but maya lt loads maya file and fbx files of any size.

[Bellsey]

Yep, you can load .ma and .mb files in Maya LT, however any unsupported nodes/elements are removed. If you load scenes that include file references, then the referenced objects are automatically loaded into the LT scene.

[luceric]

official press release
web site

[Nizar]

suspect we'll not see nothing similar for softimage (but now is pretty clear what is the winner application)

can be a game cage, this move can clip wings to blender (and modo) aspirations in the indie game industries. This plus the strong presence inside courses/schools (practically a monopolies) and the big studios make Maya something very close to becoming standard.

[Falam]

Maya LT, is the former, Softimage Foundation. The big question remains, will Autodesk bring back Softimage Foundation, with a lower subscription fee ? If they are smart, they will, foundation was a success, sure some things make be removed, I would guess a slimmed down version of ICE, with less ICE nodes, for example.

[Nizar]

I don't think they lost time and resource for promoting softimage. Is clear the application they want push is maya for games and freelance (with this LT version the aim is clear the freelancer, a field where LW, Modo, Cinema and Blender are a real competitor), so better don't have any competitor in house

[Bellsey]

Maya LT, is the former, Softimage Foundation. The big question remains, will Autodesk bring back Softimage Foundation, with a lower subscription fee ? If they are smart, they will, foundation was a success, sure some things make be removed, I would guess a slimmed down version of ICE, with less ICE nodes, for example.

I believe (if memory serves) that it was shown from various posts here, that the old XSI Foundation wasn't perhaps the roaring success many might of thought it was.

[Bullit]

Not suprisingly since it did not have global ilumination when everyone else had.

[ojo3D]

I'm sorry, but in no way this Maya LT is better then Modo or Lightwave by any stretch of the imagination.

You may have the animation capabilities of Maya, but no dynamics and rendering engine. For a freelancer is more smart to buy Modo or LW. For games, in a pipeline, it will have its value.

I don't think that game developers would prefer to buy this version with it's limitations if they are freelancers. Now, if the goal is to someday work in a game studio, than perhaps.

[Bellsey]

I'm sorry, but in no way this Maya LT is better then Modo or Lightwave by any stretch of the imagination.

You may have the animation capabilities of Maya, but no dynamics and rendering engine. For a freelancer is more smart to buy Modo or LW. For games, in a pipeline, it will have its value.

I don't think that game developers would prefer to buy this version with it's limitations if they are freelancers. Now, if the goal is to someday work in a game studio, than perhaps.

I think you're missing the point of MayaLT. We're not trying to beat the likes of Modo or Lightwave.
The main reason for launching Maya LT was the requirement of mobile game developers. These guys can be very small indie studios who often require multiple/cross platform support for Mac and PC. Many develop for iOS on a mac.
They're not really interested in things like dynamics and rendering engines.

Gamesutra article

Game from scratch Q&A

[Daniel Brassard]

@Administrator

Can we separate the OT/Maya LT information to a separate thread so that it does not get diluted within the Autodesk/Adobe thread?

Thanks.

Done - HB

[SreckoM]

Honestly I do not see who can be interested into MayaLT except people already familiar with Maya. Why would anyone choose this instead of Blender for example? It has much better cost/benefit ratio (most important thing for indie devs). Or just buy Modo for few bucks more (if you are in EU). If I am making indie team or doing project myself, only plus would be Maya viewport. But without scripting possibilities I would not even consider it. I mean why giving 1200 usd for something with so many restrictions, really do not see point of that.