Autodesk today announced Maya version 8.5. One of the main attractions inside Autodesk’s 8.5 upgrade to Maya, shipping now, is nCloth, a module designed to simulate the interactions between cloth, liquid and rigid bodies. Thanks to a new unified dynamic solver, called Nucleus, nCloth and other tools inside Maya 8.5 will give animators and modelers faster setups and renders of complex simulations and animations. Though nCloth will premiere inside Maya, Autodesk has plans to extend the independent library to all of its software, including 3ds Max, AutoCAD and VIZ.

Maya 8.5 will also feature integrated Python scripting, a dynamic object-oriented programming language that runs on Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, OS/2 and Amiga, and will be optimized for Intel-based Macintosh computers.

Press Release: Autodesk Releases Maya 8.5
Autodesk, Inc. today
announced Autodesk Maya 8.5, the latest version of its Maya 3D animation,
modeling and rendering software. Maya is widely used for games development,
as well as film and television visual effects production. Now shipping,
Maya 8.5 gives artists enhanced creative control, enabling faster
completion of complex animations and simulations.

"Autodesk is committed to making Maya the foundation for modern production
pipelines. Maya 8.5 supports industry-standard Python scripting, offering
improved workflows and development productivity," said Marc Petit,
Autodesk's Media & Entertainment vice president. "We're excited to offer
Maya 8.5 as a Universal application for both Intel-based and PowerPC-based
Macintosh computers. As well, the software features innovative new
capabilities for character animation; the new Maya Nucleus unified
simulation framework enables interactive simulations while keeping artists
in full control of the animation."

Maya Nucleus features technology developed by Autodesk's Academy
Award-winning Principal Research Scientist Jos Stam. This unified
simulation framework allows artists to create elements that interact, in a
3D animation, with other dynamic objects such as fluids, cloth and rigid
bodies.

Maya 8.5 includes Maya nCloth, which is the first module of Maya Nucleus.
With Maya nCloth, artists can quickly direct and control a range of
simulations, including cloth, plastic, metal and other materials.
Believable cloth-on-cloth simulations with complex cloth collisions, such
as a cape over a jacket, can be created more easily. A unique air-pressure
model enables artists to use any geometry – whether a closed, sealed volume
such as an inner tube, or an open volume such as a balloon – to create an
inflatable object with internal and external pressure.

Python scripting is also new in Maya 8.5. This popular open-source
programming language helps accelerate facility-specific custom script
development and plug-in prototyping, extending and automating Maya
production pipelines. Python scripting offers a powerful alternative to
Maya software's native scripting language, MEL, while featuring the same
deep level of integration with the Maya command engine. Python scripting
further augments the creative control gained with Maya Nucleus, giving
scriptwriters the ability to efficiently manipulate, customize and automate
the software.

Anders Langlands, R&D lead at The Moving Picture Company (MPC) and Maya 8.5
beta tester, commented: "Having Python support available in Autodesk Maya
means we can leverage many of our existing tools directly within Maya,
rather than having to write glue code to bind Maya to our pipeline. This
allows us to develop new node and command plug-ins in a fraction of the
time it would normally take using other solutions." London, UK-based MPC
offers visual effects and post-production services for advertising,
television and feature film.

Maya 8.5 is available as a Universal application release for Intel- and
PowerPC-based Macintosh computers (announced separately), as well as on the
Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms. The software includes a number of
new artist-driven features and performance optimizations. For a complete
list of features in Maya 8.5, please visit www.autodesk.com/maya