Maya is the
premier application for creating compelling 3D digital content, including
models, animation, visual effects, games, and simulations.
The work you do in Maya
generally falls into these categories:
- Creating models. Polygons, NURBS, and
subdivision surfaces are different object types with different ways
of modeling. Each has its own strengths, and different artists prefer
working with different types.
- Polygons let you model a surface by building
up and reshaping a number of simple surface facets.
- NURBS let you easily create smooth, curving
surfaces with high-level control.
- Subdivision surfaces let you edit surfaces
at a high level with minimum overhead data, while still letting
you work with subsections of the surface as if they were made from
polygons.
- Character rigging. Most animations involve
“characters,” articulated models such as a person, an animal, robot,
or anything else that moves by articulation. Maya lets you define
internal skeletons for characters and bind skin to them to create
realistic movement with deformation.
- Animation. Just about everything you
can think of in Maya is keyable or able to be animated.
- Dynamics, fluids, and other simulated
effects. Maya includes a comprehensive suite of tools for simulating
real world effects such as fire, explosions, fluids, hair and fur,
the physics of colliding objects, and more.
- Painting and paint effects. Maya includes
an incredible system for using a graphics tablet (or the mouse)
to paint 2D canvases, paint directly on 3D models, paint to create
geometry, scriptable paint, and virtually limitless other possibilities.
- Lighting, Shading, and Rendering. When
you want to render a still image or movie of you scene or animation,
you can create them using your choice of renderers.