MAYA software is a well-known 3D modeling and animation software under Autodesk. Autodesk Maya can greatly improve the workflow efficiency of development, design, and creation in the fields of film, television, and games. Maya is the top 3D animation software. Maya is used in most visual design fields abroad, and it is becoming more and more popular even in China. Recently Autodesk announced the latest version of Maya 2024, let's take a look at the new features and improvements.
Modeling update
Updates to the Retopologize, Make Live, Quad Draw, Boolean, and Unsmooth workflows include interface and usability improvements to enable modelers to achieve better results.
New Graph Editor Curve Sculpting Tool
Example of modifying an animation using the Graph Editor's curve sculpting tools
Instinctively and intuitively sculpt keyframe groups with the Graph Editor's Grab, Smooth, and Smear curve sculpting tools, allowing you to easily make adjustments on the fly. For example, using the above animation as an example, you could gently offset keyframes on the Y axis to add arcs for character jumps, or smooth jerky motion capture animations.
The Curve Sculptor brush radius and strength can be configured using Maya's standard brush hotkeys: B for size and M for pressure.
USD 0.22 plugin for Maya
This release provides important stability fixes and feature updates for several workflows such as specifying relative paths and using display layers with the updated Maya Universal Scene Description (USD) plugin.
USD v0.22.0 for Maya is a new version installed with Maya 2024 and is compatible with Maya 2024. This updated version of the plugin includes important bug fixes and stability updates, as well as new feature releases for workflows
What is LookdevX ?
LookdevX for Maya is a new look development tool for creating USD shading charts and authoring custom materials in Maya.
What sets LookdevX apart from the Hypershade tool is its ability to work across multiple content creation tools. Thanks to the tight integration with USD, you can specify, tune and create materials directly in the LookdevX graph editor using USD data. The LookdevX material will then be automatically saved to the USD layer.
Another major difference is that LookdevX can support multiple formats and creation tools, such as Arnold and MaterialX.
USD files are portable and you can use the same USD file throughout the process. With LookdevX, you can develop consistent looks across products, platforms, and game engines.
What's New in Character Animation
Several updates have been made to the character animation workflow, including tools for changing rotation order, support for multiple skin clusters, and a new way to view skin weights numerically.
Graph Editor Improvements
New tools have been added based on customer feedback to improve common Graph Editor workflows.
Animation performance improvements
This release significantly improves animation performance, especially when playing animations with complex rigs applied.
This release includes several improvements to the GPU warping workflow. One of these improvements addresses the frequent rebuilding (or rescaling) of graphs when doing GPU solves, which can sometimes break large scenes when changes are made. Creating and deleting keyframes now no longer causes unnecessary redivisions. In addition, a new scheduling mode can greatly reduce redlining when hiding or showing objects using Display Layers or Isolate Select.
Another important improvement is that the evaluation manager is now able to schedule nodes against GPUs in a finer-grained fashion rather than in a few large clusters. This allows for better pruning of the graph.
The solver now declares nodes that may potentially be solved using the GPU, instead of only declaring nodes that have been fully checked and verified to be solved using the GPU. Now, when GPU evaluation is enabled, the solver dynamically determines which nodes to evaluate with GPU or CPU after a remesh, allowing for faster response to dynamic changes and greatly reducing the need for remesh.
Time slider redesign
The Maya Time Slider and Range Slider updates introduce several changes, from how audio is displayed to new color defaults for keyframes, and more.
Bifrost 2.7.0.0 ( new features in Maya 2024 )
Bifrost 2.7.0.0 introduces MPM gel simulations, improved volume rendering in the viewport, and many other new features and improvements.
Arnold for Maya 5.3.0
Maya 2024 ships with MtoA 5.3.0, which introduces Arnold 7.2.0.0, a major feature release that improves volume shading and viewport rendering, supports Apple Silicon, and provides a more flexible physical sky that allows for separate sky and sun lights.
Substance 2.3.2
Maya 2024 includes Substance 3D version 2.3.2, which runs natively on Intel and Apple Silicon architectures.
Maya 2024 devkit new features
The Maya 2024 devkit includes new supported operating systems, minimum compiler and IDE versions, new locations for samples, new commands and command options, and many API changes.
New Apple Silicon support
Maya 2024 runs natively on Intel and Apple Silicon architectures.
Plug-ins can be built to run on Apple Silicon or Intel architecture.
Local installation environment
installation steps:
1. Download the software and decompress it. The machine is downloaded to the E disk. The download link address is in the following article
2. Enter the decompressed folder Maya 2024, select the file Setup icon, right-click and select "Run as Administrator"
3. Preparation for installation
4. Check "I agree to the terms of use" and click "Next"
5. You can change the installation location. Click the browse path to set it. The path cannot contain Chinese characters. It is installed to the C drive by default. After setting, click "Install"
6. Click Install
7. Installing
8. After the installation is complete, click the fork in the upper right corner to close.
9. Enter the decompressed folder Maya 2024 again, double-click to enter the folder "Crack"
10. Select the file AdskNLM icon, right-click and select "Run as Administrator"
11. The following window will flash back and forth several times. This is a normal phenomenon. Do not close this window manually. After a while, the window will automatically close
12. When the following prompt appears, click "OK", and the activation is successful.
13. Return to the desktop, double-click the "Maya 2024" icon, or click the icon in the start menu to run the program
14. Select "Use Network License" and click "Select"
15. If the following window appears, fill in "127.0.0.1" or "localhost" or "[email protected]", and click "Finish". Otherwise ignore this step.
16. The editing window has been entered, and the installation is successful.
