(Updated) Autodesk has made available a press release and more information on Maya LT on its website.
(Updated) Page removed from Autodesk’s site. We’ll update the link when it becomes available again.
Autodesk has released Maya LT, a cut-down version of Maya for game developers (cannot render scenes or animations, no scripting/plugin support) available for $795 outright or $50/month $400/year rental. The company tried a similar strategy with Max/GMax in the year 2000 (though GMax was free) and it was EOLd in 2005.
Autodesk offers GMax-style Maya
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For those interested.
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/autodesk-maya-lt-software-launches-for-indie-developers-27-08-2013/
Hmmm, they gave GMax years ago just to spend more resources building something similar in Maya and crippling it to 25.000 polygons… well, now it’s really time to chancel the subscription since AD is getting more and more senile…
Thanks for the tips, folks. We actually published an April Fools’ news item a while back on the subject, after GMax was EOLd…
More versions of Max in the works
http://cgpress.com/archives/3849_more_versions_of_max_in_the_works.html
Hehe, missed that first time around.
Many a true word is spoken in jest.
Glad you liked it.
WOW, that got my attention!
so only avaiable in USA dollars and aud dollars for now on the store.
and no MAYA LT information site as yet.
Original article on tomshardware.com appears to have been yanked. It showed a list of features LT includes as well as what’s not included.
According to the article it will NOT have MEL, plugin or full scene render support.
The product was showing at the All Products page and it’s not anymore. Should have saved an print of it.
Now, if that is any indication, Maya is the future and the rest is dead in the game market.
What other reason they would have to have a thing similar to GMax again?
If we compared this new Maya LT version with the old Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 (http://www.renderosity.com/autodesk-announces-softimage-mod-tool-7-5-cms-14520) …
I would say this new version is crap and expensive. Okay, maybe we won’t have the latest modeling tools, but Softimage was a great modeler even in the v7.5 and you got ICE and no apparent no export limitations.
Hell … XSI 6.0 Mod Tool from how many years ago have an 64000 restriction!! And from then to now I may say the graphics and resolution improved. Go figure …
Autodesk seem to have some sort of weird inverse Moore’s Law where their products devolve over time.
there used to be a game version of Maya many years ago along with “complete” and “unlimited” so it’s nothing new as such
“If we compared this new Maya LT version with the old Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 … I would say this new version is crap and expensive. Okay, maybe we won’t have the latest modeling tools, but Softimage was a great modeler even in the v7.5 and you got ICE and no apparent no export limitation”
there were tons of limitations in mod tool 7.5!
*Mod Tool can only be used for non-commercial games. Only the Pro can be used for commercial games, and that’s only XBox Live games
*Exported geometry is limited to 64,000 triangles (not polygons) per object.
*Uses .exp file format which cannot be opened in a commercial version of Autodesk Softimage.
* No SDK, plug-in support
etc, etc, etc
It doesn’t matter if you could use ICE, you could not render any fx out since there is no mental ray, and all mental ray shaders were blocked, and you would not have been able to bake deformers to anything.
@frederic
Thanks for pointing that out. I was unable to find that information.
But in face of the limitations and price tag, I would prefer to buy Lightwave, witch is a little more expensive, but do not have any limitations.
So this is how you want to go after Modo and the likes of it, and you don’t mind casualties on your own side along the way, even if it’s one of your toughest soldiers, this was pretty much the coup de grace for Max, what is the matter with you Autodesk? who makes these decisions over there? what is going on in there??
Maya for gamedev and without scripting? that’s like having one hand tied behind your back. The UV tools are same as they were from Alias times. Modeling tools are linear and destructive. I’m not sure it can even AUTO-RELOAD a texture that has been changed? Sorry but are we going in reverse? Same time a very powerful message is sent. It’s hard to believe anyone would neglect maya as the best/cheapest entry solution as well as the best/most popular highend solution. Then again who knows, maybe we’ll see certain other LT ports?
Its obvious that the blind are leading the lunatics to take over the Asylum at AD. It really seems like they have no clue what to do with themselves. So you cripple the least able 3d package you have and sell it as a game dev tool, when the other two packages are leaps and bounds ahead…
Offical Press Release here
http://news.autodesk.com/press-release/media-and-entertainment/autodesk-unveils-maya-lt-indie-and-mobile-game-developers-star
http://area.autodesk.com/mayalt
$775 in usa
$1248 in UK when you convert what we’re charged from £ into $
Autodesk is supposed to be rub by accountants..wow they cannot convert currencies to save their lives!
@Steve & Duttyfoot: Thanks for the links.
Oh my god, there goes ShaderFX (Ex-Max’s visual Shader creation tool), my head is honestly spinning a bit right now(I knew this would happen eventually but it’s still shocking to me), hope you are happy Frank Delise(the person who pushed for this to go to Maya), and also Mr. Rijnen.
Disappointed and betrayed are understatements for me right now, this situation just keeps getting worst as far as I can see it, and seeing this didn’t help a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRPizhU_oi0
DAngel, please, no personal arguments against people here. Do not take things to a personal level. Thank you.
My apologies, you can certainly remove those names if you think I’m being unfair here, I honestly don’t think I am.
Apologies are of course accepted. Fairness is not the matter, it’s keeping civility and not turning this into a battleground.
Criticism is welcome, just don’t express it through personal attacks.
@steve gilbert
It’s worth noting that non-US pricing hasn’t been announced yet.
$795 for a perpetual license might seem expensive to some, but you also have the flexibility of the rental options. $400 for the year might be interesting to some, maybe even quarterly.
so your saying the option to buy it online in the store is wrong?…it asks for my region and i select UK it say’s £700 plus VAT.
Sorry, my mistake. For some reason when I checked I couldn’t see any pricing. But yes, you are correct for the UK it does say £700 +VAT, that’s without Subscription.
As for Shader FX, we are designing it in a way that its product agnostic. I’ll take the comment as a suggestion that you would also like to see it in Max as well. I think its a great tool and while I cant give a roadmap, I would also love to see it in all our tools and possibly standalone. Its not in Maya either at the moment, its only in LT.
and what about max ?! what are you want doing with max ? all news only about maya !! you can’t telling only about max’s roadmap ?! in blender site you can see roadmap for future versions and comment to developers and ….
http://code.blender.org/index.php/2013/06/blender-roadmap-2-7-2-8-and-beyond/
compare with autodesk , all the things are secrets !
I need information about future of max until if i see this not appropriate for me then changing my software (after 12 years)
What I would like to see Mr. Delise, is that at the least, a product that was designed for Max, appears first and foremost in that product and then in others, not the other way around(and that is if you do port it back to Max), and more importantly while you are here, what I personally don’t like to see is Max being taken out of this market as well, because that seem to be the direction you(your company) are going to, and may I say, probably have been going to for a while now behind your closed doors.
Frank, if you read this please think about offering 3dsmax users on subscription a migration option to Maya subs full (Maya version) next year if 3dsmax continues to be sub par development in comparison. I’d like an option to move over to where Autodesk is shoving all the development money to.
The biggest thing Maya LT has going for it are the number of students learning “maya” and so the potential workforce market that are upto speed with the industry standard toolset.
Much like how people offer jobs for photoshop…they want someone who can run photoshop , not gimp or painter…
That’s the key here for indie developers on a tight budget…they can pull from the pool of students in college, just leaving college with no need to re train.
It’s the photoshop elements of 3d !
nice shaders in Maya LT
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125197
Limited MEL support in Maya LT means no ability to author new MEL scripts or write MEL code within the application. Executing of MEL is still entirely possible as the entire Maya interface is built on MEL (no command input bar means having to be done via say shelf buttons). The caveat here is if your scripts tap into a feature or something that was removed it will likely cause errors because that code no longer exists (say you had something using follicles for example).
Still, being able to RUN mel scripts from the shelf is a big plus to what we understood before we knew about this.
Link here: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1909576&postcount=188
Well, you can at least run already script MEL’s or script a new one in a full Maya app and than use it on LT.
Only MEL, as python is “sandboxed” as quoted.
You do realize that once an AD person bothers to post here, asking ANYTHING about Max will make them vanish into the shadows, right?
I want a migration to Maya as well, but it is increasingly clear that AD isn’t going to do it, and based on how many AD people have popped in, made flowery statements, and then completely vanished it is clear they are trying to stall until the final Maxscrew happens officially.
@Jim: I wouldn’t want to migrate to Maya, the situation there doesn’t look much better. If everybody is migrated why should they put more into development, with subscription we pay anyway? After many years of waiting I have no trust in ADSK anymore… It’s like giving a broken relationship a second chance, knowing by heat it won’t get any better…
The only solution is looking for an alternative outside their portfolio, which, for me, is a hard decision…
I just think that since I have remaining time on my Max subscription, the right thing for AD to do would be allow me to just switch it to Maya.
If they then let Maya die, I move from 50% AD shop to zero percent (with max dying I have already diversified to a non-AD competitor).
So a migration to Maya might not keep me with AD forever, but it is about the last chance they have to keep our business at all.
Without a major step forward with 3dsmax 2015 i’d want a migration option to Maya subs. It’s in autodesk’s court now, If they try and hoodwink us was another crappy release of 3dsmax with marketing “spin” NOT to put in industry standards found in modo and maya then i’m off…
3dsmax 2015 needs to deliver.
If it doesn’t they HAVE to offer a pathway to maya if they are honest about making Maya the “one” or they can stand and watch long time users walk away from autodesk altogether.
Currently my alternative migration will be to Modo ( i already have it) plus supplemented by possibly cinema4d and blender…and running the older 3dsmax until it’s out of date o/s wise.
your choice autodesk.
1. deliver
2. give me options
3. wave bye bye
Hey Steve,
you spoke it straight out of my heart!
The same I am thinking of.
We are working already with Cinema 4D Studio (subscription) and 3DS Max ECS Premium (subscription) at our company.
If Max is really running dead, we will definetly jump completely to C4D.
If AD wants us to stay, they have to offer a one time switch to Maya ECS Premium.