Autodesk ships Maya 2020.1 and Maya LT 2020.1
Autodesk has released Maya 2020.1, the latest version of its 3D animation software, adding a plugin for accessing Rokoko‘s motion-capture library inside Maya, and making 50 new mocap assets available free.
The release also improves performance in Bifrost for Maya, the software’s new fluid simulation toolset, and improves workflow when using the Time Slider.
Both Maya and Maya LT, the cut-down edition of the software for games artists, version 2020.1 of which has also been released, now support texture sizes of up to 16,384 x 16,384 when painting 3D models.
Maya 2020.1: new integration plugin for the Rokoko Motion Library
The main feature in Maya 2020.1 is the new integration plugin for Rokoko’s Motion Library.
Launched in 2018, Motion Library is a set of mocap moves recorded by studios including the UK’s Audiomotion and Centroid, whose collective work includes Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Wonder Woman.
The collection was originally available for Unity users via an integration with the Unity editor, with individual moves priced at $3 or $6 each.
The new plugin provides similar functionality within Maya, with users able to preview or buy moves from the Motion Library panel inside the software.
The data is provided in FBX format, and is compatible with Maya’s Human IK system. Dragging a character rig from Maya’s Outliner to the preview panel shows the move applied to that character.
Maya users get access to 50 new mocap assets created in partnership with SuperAlloy Interactive‘s Eric Jacobus, best known for his stunt work as Kratos in God of War. The moves are provided free.
Rokoko has also made the library accessible via Rokoko Studio, its own free-to-use software.
Maya 2020.1: improvements to the Timeline and to Bifrost fluid simulation
Other changes in Maya 2020.1 include new commands for repositioning or scaling bookmarks within the Time Slider, and for stepping through bookmarks.
In the Bookmark Manager, bookmarks are also now ordered according to their position in the time sequence, not the order in which they were created.
Outside the core software, Bifrost for Maya, the new fluid simulation plugin introduced with Maya 2019.2 gets a number of performance and workflow improvements.
In particular, simulation graphs now compile “3-4 times faster” and the Aero solver, used for mist, smoke and other gaseous fluids, sees a “38% raw speed performance improvement in some cases”.
Maya and Maya LT 2020.1: higher maximum resolution for textures created by 3D painting
Both Maya 2020.1 and Maya LT 2020.1 increase the size at which textures can be created when painting 3D objects to 16,384 x 16,384px, although “textures larger than 4,096 x 4,096 may yield slower performance”.
In addition, Substance for Maya, Adobe’s third-party plugin enabling Maya and Maya LT users to create and edit Substance shading networks, has been updated to support the 2020.x releases.
Pricing and availability
Maya 2020.1 is available for Windows 7/10, RHEL/CentOS 7.3-7.7 Linux and macOS 10.13+ on a rental-only basis, with subscriptions costing $195/month or $1,545/year.
Maya LT 2020.1 is available for Windows 7+ and macOS 10.13+ on a rental-only basis, with subscriptions costing $30/month or $250/year.
Read a full list of new features in Maya 2020.1 in the online release notes
Read a full list of new features in Maya LT 2020.1 in the online release notes