MAYA 2.5 REVIEW
By David Nerlich

The starring addition to Maya with version 2.5 is the new Paint Effects module. Paint Effects is something of a paradigm buster in that you are able to create complex organic forms and surfaces complete with dynamics, which is nothing new in itself except that now you can do it without any modelling. Yes, no geometry, just paint strokes in 3d space with editable brushes carrying texture, form and dynamic information.

This is similar to working in a 'natural media' paint program like Metacreations Painter, including its image hose tools. But instead of a 2D image you are building 3 dimensional forms from brush strokes of stone, metals or flesh - or carving lines on the earth which magically sprout rows of cornflowers, wheat, grass, trees and so on. Different brushes can be applied to strokes after the fact. The range of preset or user definable brushes means a stroke can alternatively be the birth point for water bubbles or fire, or the target of falling rain. The shading and shape of separate brushes can also be blended.

You build your scene by painting strokes on a ground plane, onto the surface of an object or painting parallel to the camera plane, tumbling the camera to the desired angle. Strokes remain editable by dragging control vertices. You can also convert nurbs curves to Paint Effects strokes.

Once your Paint Effects forms are in place more can be done in terms of applying dynamics specific to your stroke or via Maya's environmental forces like wind, turbulence, inertia and gravity. Branching, sub-branching and leaves are separately editable and exhibit secondary motion in response to forces.

Most of the preset brushes are designed for creating natural scenes and this is just the kind of thing that geometry based modeling isn't best at achieving. On the other hand geometric or architectural scenes may be possible by creating your own brushes, particularly if first building nurbs structures and then converting them to Paint Effects strokes. Your finished work renders complete with depth and raytracing information.

Paint Effects also presents an interesting if less specialised alternative to Maya's hair and cloth features and general surfacing. You can use it in a 2D mode to build tileable surface maps, seeing the results update on your object in another window as you work.

Other features new to Maya 2.5 include fireworks, lightning and object-shatter effects and particle flow along surfaces. There are also refinements to modelling and rendering, fogs and cloth.

Maya comes in several different configurations aimed at varying user needs. For more info and pricing contact Future Reality on 02 9906 5455