Qualification of Maya 5 for Mac OS X and
Maya Personal Learning Edition for Mac OS X
Last updated:  Dec 18 2003

Products Version Software Date
Maya Complete 5.0 April 1, 2003 01:25
Maya Complete 5.0.1 Sept 22, 2003 00:58
 

File Compatibility
Maya

Maya 5.0 can read Maya 5.0, 4.5, 4.0.x and 3.x format files. Some conversion may be necessary for the transfer of Maya ASCII (.ma) and MEL files between operating systems. Maya Unlimited data from other platforms will not be included. Maya 5.0 for Mac OS X files can be read into Maya 5.0 on any platform.
Others* Maya 5.0 imports Adobe Illustrator, EPS (level 2), OBJ, DXF, DWG (AutoCAD 1 to 2000), IGES, AIFF (win32/mac), Maya's image file format on Mac OS X is based on QuickTime 5; File formats supported by QuickTime 5 can be imported into Maya. See Apple's QuickTime specification page for more details.
VRML2 files can be read via a standalone translator.
Maya 5.0 exports OBJ, DXF, DWG, IGES, MOV, VRML2, RTG and GE2.
*Not all file formats are supported on all platforms.

Information for specific Mac OS X versions
Maya 5.0 (and Personal Learning Edition) on Mac OS X 10.3
Maya 5.0 has been tested on Mac OS X 10.3 (panther) as indicated below. .
Maya 5.0 (and Personal Learning Edition) on Mac OS X 10.2.6, 10.2.7, 10.2.8
Maya 5.0 has only been formally tested on Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later as indicated below. However, 10.2.6 does solve the problem occurring on 10.2.5 (see next).
Maya 5.0 (and Personal Learning Edition) on Mac OS X 10.2.5
Maya 5.0 has not been formally tested on Mac OS X 10.2.5 however at time of press, we are aware of one severe problem running Maya 5.0 on 10.2.5:
Maya will crash when attempting to use 2D Paint Effects brushes (brushes without tubes) when in scene painting mode. Since it may not be obvious which brushes are affected, we strongly recommend that you do not use Maya on 10.2.5 if you intend using Paint Effects.
Alias is providing all possible assistance to Apple to devise a solution to this issue.
Maya 5.0 (and Personal Learning Edition) on Mac OS X 10.2.4
Maya 5.0 is qualified to run on Mac OS X 10.2.4 on all system configurations indicated below. Maya 5.0 has not been significantly tested on Mac OS X prior to 10.2.4 and  while it may be possible to use Maya successfully on earlier versions of Mac OS X, Alias cannot guarantee the performance or behaviour.
Maya 5.0 (and Personal Learning Edition) on Mac OS X 10.2.3 and earlier
Maya 5.0 has not been significantly tested on Mac OS X prior to 10.2.4 and  while it may be possible to use Maya successfully on earlier versions of Mac OS X, Alias cannot guarantee the performance or behaviour. Please refer to the Maya 4.5 qualification chart for general guidance, but we cannot guarantee that Maya 5.0 will behave identically.
System and Graphics

Maya 5.0 is qualified on any of the systems identified below using the specified version of Mac OS X. Do not assume that newer versions of Mac OS X will be suitable for use with Maya.
You may need to refer to Apple's documents:
Power Mac G4: How to Differentiate Between Models and
Power Mac G4: How to Differentiate Between Models, Part 2 to identify your System.

If you intend running dual monitors, see note below.

All qualifications are performed using only the official Apple default drivers that are included with a particular version of an OS (e.g. 10.2) or OS update (e.g. 10.2.4). Drivers acquired via any other means, e.g. directly from a graphics vendor are considered unsupported and therefore not qualified. We cannot guarantee the stability of Maya using unsupported drivers. We have received numerous reports of problems with drivers other than those released by Apple as part of the OS.
System


System Processor(s) Graphics Card               OS X Known Problems

Information regarding Maya Hardware Rendering

Any Dual Monitor System
Any G3 Any Any - Not Qualified [2]+[3][4]
Power Mac G4
(PCI Graphics)		 Single 350MHz
Single 400MHz		 ATI Rage 128 PCI - Not Qualified [1][15]
Power Mac G4
(AGP Graphics)		 Single 350MHz
Single 400MHz
Single 450MHz		 ATI Rage128 - Not Qualified [1][15]
ATI Rage128 Pro   [1][3][4][15]
Power Mac G4
(Gigabit Ethernet)		 Single 400MHz
Dual 450MHz
Dual 500MHz		 ATI Rage128 Pro   [1][3][4][15]
ATI Radeon   [1][3][5][15]
Power Mac G4
(Digital Audio)		 Single 466MHz
Single 533MHz
Single 667MHz
Single 733MHz
Dual 533MHz		 ATI Rage128 Pro   [1][3][4][15]
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][12][15]
ATI Radeon   [1][3][5][15]
Power Mac G4
(QuickSilver)		 Single 733MHz
Single 867MHz
Dual 800MHz		 NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][12][15]
NVIDIA GeForce3 10.2.4 [3]
Power Mac G4
(QuickSilver 2002)		 Single 800MHz
Single 933MHz
Dual 1.0 GHz		 ATI Radeon 7500   Not Qualified [1][15]
NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX 10.2.4
 [3]
NVIDIA GeForce 4 Titanium 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][6][15]
Power Mac G4
(Mirrored Drive Doors)		 Dual 867MHz
Dual 1.0 GHz
Dual 1.25 GHz		 NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX 10.2.4 [3]
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][9][15]
NVIDIA GeForce 4 Titanium 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][6][15]
Power Mac G4 (FW 800) Single 1.0 GHz
Dual 1.25 GHz
Dual 1.42 GHz		 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX
 10.2.4 [3]
NVIDIA GeForce4 Titanium 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][6][15]
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][9][15]
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 10.2.4 [3][15]
PowerBook G4
(Titanium)		 400MHz
500MHz		 ATI Mobility Radeon M3 10.2.4 [3][5][8][15]
PowerBook G4
(Gigabit Ethernet)		 550MHz
667MHz		 ATI Mobility Radeon M6   Not Qualified [1]
PowerBook G4
(DVI)		 667MHz
800MHz
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500		   Not Qualified [1]
PowerBook G4 12" 867MHz NVIDIA
GeForce4 420 Go		 10.2.4 Not Qualified [10]
PowerBook G4 17" 1.0GHz NVIDIA
GeForce4 440 Go		 10.2.4 Not Supported [3][5][13][14]
iMac
(15-inch Flat Panel)		 Single 700MHz
Single 800MHz		 NVIDIA Geforce 2 MX 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][7][12][15]
iMac
(17-inch Flat Panel)		 Single 700MHz
Single 800MHz		 NVIDIA Geforce 2 MX 10.2.4
10.3
 [3][12][15]
NVIDIA Geforce 4 MX
 10.2.4 [3]
eMac Single 700MHz NVIDIA Geforce 2 MX 10.2.4
10.3
 Not Qualified [1]
Xserve Single 1.0 GHz
Dual 1.0 GHz		 ATI PCI graphics   Not Qualified [3][5][6][11]
ATI Radeon 8500 10.2.4 [3][15]
Power Mac G5 Single 1.6 GHz
Single 1.8 GHz
Dual 2.0 GHz		 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 10.2.8 [3][15]
10.3
 [3]
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 10.2.8
10.3
 [3][15]
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 10.2.8
10.3
 [3][15]
         
[1] The functioning of Maya on this system has not been tested.
It may be possible to successfully use Maya but Support and maintenance programs will be subject to the Alias Support services guidelines. We are not aware of any issues other than those mentioned for similar systems but this does not mean that issues do not exist.
[2] Although G3 systems are not specifically qualified to run Maya, these systems may be acceptable for some Maya use. However we may not be able to provide Support for any issues you encounter.
G3 and some early G4 systems are not qualified to act as license servers.
[3] For all systems, see: Information regarding Maya Hardware Rendering

You may encounter the following on Jaguar systems (10.2.x):
  • The texture placement manipulator is not displayed. The manipulator can be forced to display by clicking the middle mouse button anywhere in the same window.
  • The Alpha Gain Slider in the attribute editor for an image plane does not alter the transparency of the image plane, or the alpha gain is displayed incorrectly
  • The outline of the Paint Effects brushes or artisan brushes (e.g. sculpt) may remain on screen on the completion of a stroke, or may not be drawn at all, or may draw incorrectly.
  • Refresh of scenes containing Paint Effects can be very slow, or may 'flash' during redraw.
  • Hardware shadows cannot be displayed (Lighting->Shadows in pane menus)
You may additionally encounter the following on Panther systems (10.3):
  • 16 bit sound files do not load into the timeline and will not playback
  • Information displayed in the command feedback area is unreadable as it is offset from the display area
[4] Wireframes drawn over shaded surfaces may not be visible or may be badly drawn.
[5] Specular highlights are not displayed correctly in shaded mode or in shaded mode on surfaces with mapped textures.
[6] Hardware Renderable particles are not rendered by the hardware render buffer.
[7] Due to the limited resolution (maximum 1024x768) this machine may not be suitable for all uses of Maya and some dialogs do not fit comfortably on screen.
[8] Limited VRAM adversely affects Maya's ability to display full screen. Panel views might appear corrupted if window settings allow single panels to become too large. Textures applied to surfaces and image planes might also appear corrupted. Avoid layouts which make individual panel views too large. For example, a single perspective view maximized with all Maya UI elements hidden may perform quite slowly, while the same scene with all UI elements present might perform quite quickly.
Depending on your task, the performance on Titanium Laptops may not be acceptable.
[9] Hardware lighting does not work while lights are moved via manipulators. When you release the mouse lighting is restored.
[10] Some menus and items cannot be seen due to the resolution of the screen. This is particularly noticeable when using paint effects, trying to modify a ramp, or using a plug-in or mel script that extends any of the existing menus. When using an external monitor, mirroring should not be used, as this uses video ram for unneeded screen display and will cause some refresh issues. 1280x1024 is the optimal resolution when using an external monitor, as no refresh issues are seen and all menus and items are visible. 1600 x 1200 is usable, but you will have refresh issues. Additionally, be aware that specular highlights are not displayed on geometry on this system.
[11] Due to the general interactive performance and number of problems exhibited on this system we cannot recommend its use for Maya. For example:
  • Manipulators are frequently incorrectly drawn.
  • Hardware Shaded mode is not displayed correctly.
  • Colour per Vertex information does not display properly
  • No sound available.
[12] Specular highlights are not displayed on geometry in the modelling views.
[13] This system has been tested by Alias and found to be acceptable (with caveats as noted), but Alias may be unable to provide Support or advice if you encounter problems found to be specific to this machine.
[14] When using on an external monitor, mirroring should not be used, as you use video RAM for unneeded screen display causing some refresh issues. 1280 x 1024 is the optimal resolution when using an external monitor, as no refresh issues are seen and all menus and items are visible. 1600 x 1200 is usable as well, but will tax the GPU more and video performance slowdowns will be noticeable.
[15] Line smoothing does not work in the hardware render buffer

General
  • A three button mouse is strongly recommended.
  • At least 512 MB of RAM is required.
  • Customers should not license Alias software with a Macintosh based external network card as the software may not run at all or may not operate correctly.
  • The configurations shown are subject to change, and additional qualified configurations may be added after qualification testing has been carried out.
  • Where Graphics Controllers are configurable, you must have at least 32MB of video memory (VRAM). Due to the differences in the manner in which hardware vendors approach display memory, we suggest that you consult your hardware vendor to ensure that your configuration will support your required resolution. (See ATI Rage 128 Mobility Limitations)
  • The operating system specified is the OS used for the qualification process. While it may be possible to use Maya successfully on earlier or later versions of Mac OS X, Alias cannot guarantee the performance or behavior. It may be possible to successfully use Maya with a non-qualified or partially qualified configuration, but support and maintenance programs will be subject to the Alias Support services guidelines.
  • We do not recommend saving data directly from Maya to NFS or Novell Netware or other remote mounted file systems. We have received several reports of data corruption when saving in this method although we have been unable to reproduce this. We strongly recommend that you save the files locally and then copy the data to the mounted storage system.
  • When texture images are stored on systems remote from the rendering process; depending on network speed, specifications and load it is possible that the renderer may be unable to access a texture file on demand and may 'drop' individual textures on a frame by frame basis. To reduce this occurrence store textures on a system local to the rendering process.
  • Due to the many Operating System and Architecture differences between the supported platforms, you should be aware that the results of some operations will differ on different platforms. This is most noticeable with operations which iterate to reach their results - leading to cumulatively large difference - e.g. dynamics, some rendering. Be aware that that you may not be able to "mix and match" renderings on different platforms.
  • Standard pen pressure sensitivity with Wacom tablets is now supported. However, Wacom mice which are used with tablets have significant limitations and cannot be fully integrated with standard navigation in Maya. We recommend using a standard mouse with Maya, and limiting pen usage to Maya's Paint Effects and Sculpting tools. Alias is working with Wacom to achieve full support for Wacom products.
  • Apple systems can be run in Dual Monitor configuration in one of two ways - either a single graphics card which supports dual output (e.g. nVidia GeForce 4 Ti or ATI Radeon 9000), or by using a second PCI based graphics card for the second display.
    Limitation: Apple systems running Mac OS X 10.2.x dual monitors, with the support for the second monitor provided by a PCI graphics card will kernel panic when running Maya. We are working with Apple to resolve the system driver problem causing this, but currently we have no workaround.

How to tell which version of Mac OS X is installed:
Select "About this Mac" in the Apple menu. The general OS version number will be just below the logo e.g. Version 10.2.
To find the precise build number, click the version text - it will change to the build number e.g. Build 6C115. (Occasionally Apple will release slightly different Versions with the same version number but which may behave differently. It may only be possible to identify the OS version by the build number.)
How to verify which version of a video driver is installed on your Mac OS X system:
In a finder window, navigate to /System/Library/Extensions/(vendor extension file). With this file selected, choose File -> Info to view the version information.

For example, to determine the version of the video driver installed for the ATI Radeon 8500, one would select the /System/Library/Extensions/ATIRadeon8500.kext file and then choose File -> Info.