Autodesk has released Maya 2022, introducing a new USD plugin. This development has been anticipated for some time, initially unveiled at SIGGRAPH 2018 as a collaborative project with Pixar, Animal Logic, Luma Pictures, and Blue Sky Studios. Autodesk states that with the Maya 2022 release, “USD is now seamlessly integrated in Maya, enabling artists to load and edit massive datasets at lightning speed.” Other key features include:
- New animation tools, including a new Ghosting Editor that allows artists to visualize animation spacing over time quickly, enhancements to the Time Editor, and new filters within the Graph Editor.
- Several procedural, topology-independent rigging workflows are available. Component Tags and Deformer Falloffs introduce contemporary methods for defining membership and weighting, while also providing seamless data sharing between geometry and deformers. Maya’s deformation toolkit is also expanded with new Solidify and Morph deformers.
- A novel Sweep Mesh tool has been added to procedurally create geometry and adjust attributes with a single click.
- A new Game Vertex Count plugin, along with other improvements to the modeling experience. These enhancements include pivot improvements, an upgraded extrude thickness tool, and a faster lasso selection, among others.
- Arnold 6.2 with new imagers for light mixing, bloom effects, and denoising. Additional changes include GPU improvements, enhanced USD support, and integration with OpenColorIO v2.
- Python 3 is now the default for Maya on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.
- A faster and more modern user experience is provided, featuring reduced startup time, customizable preferences, splash screen improvements, and enhancements to the script editor for increased intuitiveness.
For detailed information, see Autodesk’s Maya blog.
See Also:
- 3ds Max 2022 Released
- Modo 15 Released