Even for those of us who lack the skill and money to dive head-first into Alias|Wavefront’s Maya Complete 3D animation and effects software, it’s hard not to be awestruck by this amazing software. On September 25, the shipping date announced this week at Macworld, OS X will get a killer app like none other.
Even for those of us who lack the skill and money to dive head-first into Alias|Wavefront’s Maya Complete 3D animation and effects software, it’s hard not to be awestruck by this amazing software. On September 25, the shipping date announced this week at Macworld, OS X will get a killer app like none other.
If you’ve seen Final Fantasy, you’ve already seen Alias|Wavefront software hard at work. The Toronto-based wholly-owned software company of SGI has also worked with Cinesite, CNN, Digital Domain, Disney, ILM, Sega, and Sony Pictures, among others. Another of their customers just happens to be Pixar. But forget expensive, obscure OS’s: thanks to its Open GL support and other features, Richard Krevis, Former Director at Alias|Wavefront called our own Mac OS X the “best OS for 3D.” And the Mac version is no slouch, either: Alias|Wavefront promises core features in the OS X version will be identical to those in other platforms
If you want this very cool, absurdly powerful application on your own desktop, just pull out US$7,500 and you’re set. That price includes 12 months of maintenance, including upgrades and support. You’ll get some nice extras, too, if you order before the September ship date: a voucher for a free Wacom tablet, the coffee table book “The Art of Maya”, a limited edition Maya jacket, and a Maya training DVD. (Anyone reading this at Alias|Wavefront, feel free to send this package over to Go2Mac. I promise we will spend so much time with the training DVD that we’ll miraculously become brilliant 3D animators. Or . . . uh . . . well, maybe we’ll at least look really sexy in that jacket.)
Maya features include state-of-the-art textures, bump map rendering, and character animation. And, in fairness, Maya says it’s not just aiming for 3D artists: the 2D artists so common on the Mac are welcome, too. “We want to ensure that professional 2D graphics artists find all the tools they require to transition smoothly to the world of professional 3D graphics,” says Andrew Pearce, Director of Maya Technologies.
I have a feeling that the for certain Go2Mac writers, the transition from no artistic ability whatsoever to 3D animation may be a little harder. So, in all seriousness, if you are a 3D artist, we want to hear what you think of Maya — especially if you have a Maya box on course to your doorstep September 25.
After all, this is clearly the Mac’s latest killer app.
