Animation: Maya

Maya - editor of three-dimensional graphics. At present, it has become the standard 3D graphics in film and television. Originally developed for OS Irix (Platform SGI), then it was ported under OS GNU / Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Currently, there are both 32, and 64-bit systems.

Maya was developed by Alias \u200b\u200bSystems Corporation and released for the operating systems Microsoft Windows, GNU / Linux, IRIX and Mac OS X. In September 2007, it was released a new version, named Maya 2008. For the IRIX platform, the latest version 6.5, due to the declining popularity of the OS in recent years. In October 2005, the company joined the Alias \u200b\u200bAutodesk. Company officials confirmed in interviews that they would not merge Maya and 3ds Max into one product.

An important feature of Maya - its openness to third-party developers that can convert it to a version that is more than meets the requirements of the big studios, who prefer to write code that is specific to their needs. Even in spite of the inherent power of the Maya and the flexibility of this feature is enough to influence the choice.

The Maya built a powerful cross-platform interpreted language: Maya Embedded Language (MEL), very similar to Tcl. This is not just a scripting language, it's a way to customize the basic functionality of Maya (Maya most of the environment and related instruments written on it). In particular, the user can record your actions as a script in the MEL, from which you can quickly make a user-friendly macro. So animators can add functionality to the Maya did not even speak the language C or C ++, if necessary, leaving the possibility.

The project files, including all the data about the geometry and animation are stored as a sequence of operations MEL. These files can be saved in a text file (.ma - Maya ASCII), which can be edited in any text editor. It provides unparalleled flexibility when working with external tools.

Maya was the result of combining three software products: Wavefront The Advanced Visualizer (California, USA), Thomson Digital Image (TDI) Explore (France) and Alias \u200b\u200bPower Animator (Toronto, Canada). In 1993 Wavefront purchased TDI, and then in 1995 the company Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) purchased both companies and Alias \u200b\u200bWavefront. The combined company was renamed Alias \u200b\u200b| Wavefront. Later, Alias \u200b\u200b| Wavefront was renamed Alias. In 2003, Alias \u200b\u200bwas sold SGI private investment firm Accel-KKR. In October 2005, Alias \u200b\u200bwas resold again, this time by the company Autodesk. January 10, 2006 Autodesk completed the merger and Alias \u200b\u200bMaya is now known as Autodesk Maya.