Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 27, 2017. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The indie variant of Autodesk Maya for game developers has received an update: Maya LT receives improvements in the Graph Editor, as well as new tools in the UV Editor and a Baking Deformer tool. In addition, the 64-bit counting system now also makes frame rates such as 23.976 fps selectable. The update arrives in time for the upcoming Game Developer Conference 2017.
Important Feature Updates
- The UV Editor is now equipped with a new toolkit. The new “Cut and Sew” tool allows UVs to be edited directly in the viewport. In general, when working with UVs you can now switch dynamically between the UV Editor and the viewport. You can find a complete overview of the UV Editor improvements here.
- Support for Pixar’s OpenSubdiv 3.1 has been added to Viewport 2.0, enabling a better real-time preview for models with subdivisions. The calculation of transparency and displacement maps has also been improved.
- With the new Bake Deformer tool, you can now bake rigs from your character via “bind weights.” Anyone who wants to use the tool can currently only call it via the “BakeDeformerTool” command.
You can read the official list of new features here.
Costs and Download
The tool starts at €30 per month. But anyone who first wants a clear comparison table with Maya can view it here. Price, compatibility and all software features are compared. If you want to test the tool, Autodesk offers you a free 30-day version.
