Introduction
 
 
 

Welcome to Autodesk® Maya®, one of the world’s leading software applications for 3D digital animation and visual effects. Maya provides a comprehensive suite of tools for your 3D content creation work ranging from modeling, animation, and dynamics through to painting and rendering to name but a few.

With Maya, you can create and edit 3D models in a variety of modeling formats and animate your models using Maya’s suite of animation tools. Maya also provides a range of tools to allow you to render your animated 3D scenes to achieve photo realistic imagery and animated visual effects.

You can create convincing visual simulations using Maya dynamics and nDynamics tools. Using Maya® Fluid EffectsTM, you can simulate and render viscous fluids, atmospheric, pyrotechnic, and ocean effects. Maya® nClothTM lets you create simulations of fabric and clothing, while Maya® nParticlesTM can be used to simulate a wide range of effects including liquids, clouds, smoke, spray, and dust. Other Maya dynamic simulation tools include Maya® FurTM, Maya® HairTM, and Maya® ArtisanTM brush tools.

The Maya software interface is fully customizable for those users who require the ability to maximize their productivity. Maya allows users to extend their functionality within Maya by providing access to MELTM (Maya Embedded Language). With MEL, you can customize the user interface and write scripts and macros. In addition, a full Application Programmers Interface (API) is available to enhance the power and functionality of Maya. Maya also provides a Python-based Maya API for those users wishing to use it.

The content creation power of Maya is provided to users in an integrated software application that is designed to enhance user productivity and ease of use.

This section provides the following information: