Autodesk Maya 8.5 software wins Macworld Award
4 July 2007 - Autodesk Maya 8.5 3D animation, modelling and rendering software has won the award for best animation and 3D product in the Pro Creative category at the prestigious Macworld Awards held in London on Thursday 28 June. Maya is widely used for games development and film and television visual effects production.
Products nominated for the Macworld Awards represent the 'best in kind' of Mac software and technology over the last 12 months. Each product is selected by the team of editors at Macworld UK, and represents a breakthrough in quality and performance. Now in their 12th year, the awards are considered a benchmark throughout the industry.
"Winning this award is a testament to the truly innovative technology developed by the Autodesk Image Science Group over the past two years," said Paul Hellyer, strategic account manager - UK & Ireland, Autodesk media and entertainment, who collected the award last night. "The technology in Maya 8.5 is set to have a huge impact on the computer graphics industry and the way 3D artists work."
Maya 8.5 features Maya Nucleus, a technology developed by Autodesk's Academy Award-winning Principal Research Scientist Jos Stam. This unified simulation framework allows artists to create elements that interact in a 3D animation with other dynamic objects such as fluids, cloth and rigid bodies.
Maya 8.5 includes Maya nCloth, the first module of Maya Nucleus. With Maya nCloth, artists can quickly direct and control a range of simulations, including cloth, plastic, metal and other materials. Believable cloth-on-cloth simulations with complex cloth collisions, such as a cape over a jacket, can be created more easily. A unique air-pressure model enables artists to use any geometry - whether a closed, sealed volume such as an inner tube, or an open volume such as a balloon - to create an inflatable object with internal and external pressure.
Maya 8.5 supports Python scripting, a popular open-source programming language, and is a universal application release for Intel- and PowerPC-based Macintosh computers, as well as on the Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms. For a complete list of features please visit www.autodesk.com/maya.