The following features have been added or updated to the Maya modeling tools for this release.

Smooth Mesh Preview for polygons

Smooth Mesh Preview lets you preview how a polygonal mesh will appear when smoothed. Press either the 2 or 3 keys whenever a mesh is selected to change the preview mode (original mesh + smooth, or smoothed only). Use the Page Up and Page Down keys to increase or decrease the amount of smoothing in the preview.

You can edit the mesh while working in either preview mode and then convert it to a fully smoothed polygonal mesh using Modify > Convert > Smooth Mesh Preview to Polygons feature.

Crease Tool now creases vertices

The Crease Tool (Edit Mesh > Crease Tool) now creases polygon vertices as well as edges.

A new heads-up display appears in the viewport when using the tool to let you easily determine the crease mode, current creasing value, and the maximum crease value possible for the current subdivision level.

This tool was previously called Crease Proxy Edge Tool.

Crease sets

It’s now possible to manage your creased components using the new Crease Set feature (Edit Mesh > Crease Sets > Create Crease Set...).

Crease sets can easily be selected via a marking menu and also managed using the Outliner or via the Relationship Editor.

User-defined vertex and UV display sizes

You can now edit the size that vertices and UVs display within the scene view with the new Display > Polygons > Vertex size and UV size menu items. You can also set the size of vertices and UVs in your scene from the Polygons category of the Preferences window.

Slide Edge Tool

You can now drag or slide edge loops along, or normal to, the paths of their neighboring edges by selecting an edge loop using the Select Edge Loop Tool, and then translating its edges with the new Slide Edge Tool.

Bridge now supports face selections

The Bridge feature (Edit Mesh > Bridge) now can use face selections to construct a bridging mesh between border edges. This simplifies the process for selecting border edges.

Pick walk available for Edge Loops

It is now possible to quickly change an existing edge selection to a full edge loop and then translate the selected loop across the mesh using the left and right hotkeys.

Reduce feature improvements

The Mesh > Reduce feature has been improved to include an option for locking the vertex positions when reducing the number of polygons on mesh. This eliminates the possibility of the mesh changing shape when it is reduced.

It also has a new option for preserving four-sided (quad) topology as part of the reduction process.

Extract and Duplicate Face features improved

The Extract (Mesh > Extract) and Duplicate Face (Edit Mesh > Duplicate Face) have been improved so that the extracted or duplicated faces are now the only items separated into their own separate objects. That is, any pre-existing shells in the original mesh are no longer separated.

Improvements to the Separate feature

The Separate command (Mesh > Separate) now lets you separate specific shells without affecting any pre-existing shells on the mesh. You indicate the shells to be separated by first selecting any faces on the shells you want separated.

Position objects along a curve

You can now position objects evenly along irregularly shaped features in your scene using a curve as a reference. The new Position Along Curve feature (Modify > Snap Align Objects > Position Along Curve) spaces your selection of objects evenly along a selected curve based on the curve’s parameterization.

Keep Faces Together option

The Keep Faces Together option (Edit Mesh > Keep Faces Together) can now be turned on or off using a marking-menu whenever the Show Manipulator Tool is displayed by Ctrl+Shift+right-clicking the object.

Improved polygon beveling

UV assignment options now exist for the Bevel feature (Edit Mesh > Bevel).

In addition, for meshes containing color per vertex data, the vertex color for any new vertices is derived from the original vertices and color interpolation occurs as required.

Color Set enhancements

Color sets can now be specified as RGB, RGB+Alpha, or Alpha only. Color > Create Empty Color Set now has an option dialog box to support these types.

Color sets can hold any value, not just the 0–1 range. Apply Color and the Paint Vertex Color Tool now support values outside the 0–1 range. When you create a color set, you can choose to have it clamped (values cannot be outside the 0–1 range).

If a color set is alpha only, you can change its display style in the polygon shape’s Attribute editor (Display Alpha as Grey Scale). There is also a preference that applies to all polygon objects in the Polygon section of the Preferences dialog box.

Only the required data is stored as specified when a color set is created. As well, only the controls that the color set is allowed to paint are enabled; that is, if a color set has only alpha, the Apply Color and Paint Vertex Color Tool only enable alpha channel to be painted.

Polygon boolean enhancements

New threshold tolerances on the polyBoolean node now aid in producing better results when booleans are performed on polygon meshes that contain zero length edges and zero area faces.

Collapse enhancements

The Collapse feature (Edit Mesh > Collapse) now includes a new threshold attribute on the polyCollapse node that lets you collapse only small faces on an area of the mesh.

Enhanced Sculpt Geometry Tool for NURBS

The following features have been added to the Sculpt Geometry Tool for NURBS:

You can now move CVs in any arbitrary UV direction with the new UV Vector reference vector. For example, you can now push NURBS surface CVs in a direction diagonal to the U or V reference vector.