Autodesk Announces Maya 2016, Significantly Faster and Easier To Use

Autodesk announced what is in store for Maya 2016, showing off some of the features for the entertainment and creation suite tools. Maya 2016 comes with the new look that was first revealed in Maya 2016 LT.

Maya 2016 will feature a fresh new look, a new delta mush deformer, and a new parallel evaluation system. This is in addition to some changes and additions to the Bifrost Visual Effects engine.

New Look and Feel.

The interface is more than just lipstick in some cases, where workflow and user experience has been taken to task. It is all part of the drive to better Maya as a user-friendly tool.

Under this new premise the aging HyperShade window has been beefed up. The HyperShade window is now a comprehensive look development tool.

HyperShade in Maya 2016 adds the node editor and attribute windows as part of the entire schema. A new large and real time swatch preview rounds out the additions that make the new HyperShade environment much more useful with todays workflows.

The HyperShade can be customized to a higher degree. Adding the ability to add and dock entire sections as panels or tabs will be a welcome addition to the new environment.

Delta Mush Deformer.

Maya 2016 adds a new Delta Mush animation deformer. Delta Mush will smooth arbitrary deformations that are applied to a mesh. It does this without smoothing the details of the model.

Bifrost Guided Sims, Adaptive Foam & New Aero Solver.

Bifrost has undergone some changes with the ability to add froth, foam, and bubbles to liquid simulations. The foam model has camera adaptivity. This means that you can create high resolution simulations that are closer to the camera and drop the resolution of areas farther away. This results in much shorter simulation times.

The new Aero Solver gives you the ability to create atmospheric effects like smoke and mist. The Areo Solver is also adaptive. This makes the new Aero solver better suited for air type of effects than the standard Maya 3D Fluid containers.

Bifrost in Maya 2016 offers new guided simulations. This puts the control in the artists hands by giving you ability to art-direct the behavior of the effects. This can be done by either using a cached simulation or an animated mesh object. Bifrost guided simulation can also run adaptively.

 

New Sculpting Toolset

Maya 2016 includes a new sculpting toolset that was first introduced in Maya 2016 LT. The sculpting tools within Maya now offer Mudbox-like tools featuring volume and surface falloff, stamp images, sculpting UVs, and support for vector displacement.

 

New Presets Workflow With Xgen

XGen arbitrary primitive generator in Maya 2016 adds a new presets workflow, additions to the preset library, a new guide-sculpting tool, width control on splines, and more.

 

Parallel Rig Evaluation

Maya 2016 goes under the hood to make the application work better with multiple core machines. A new parallel evaluation system will take advantage of the both the CPU and GPU of the computer. This is built to speed up playback and interaction of complex character rigs in the viewport.