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Alias|Wavefront Releases Free Version of Maya
Gribflex writes "There's good news today for those of us who are heavy into 3D modelling and animation. Alias|Wavefront has released a free version of their popular software Maya. That's right, free." Maya Personal Learning Edition, for Windows and Mac OS X, offers unrestricted access to the features of Maya, but displays a watermark on images, uses a special non-commercial file format, and plug-ins are not supported.
What a lot of bitching going on in here. Get some coffee, eat a twinkie and lets break this down.
A full version can cost over $6,000. How many of us are going to legally purchase a full copy of Maya for home use? Only those who are serious about getting into the field of 3D would consider that. Now, how many of us are interested in production quality 3D and would like to play with the toys the pros use? I certainly am, and I bet there are a lot of others.
So Alias|Wavefront makes a killer move and covers a lot of ground by making this free version available. First, it makes available to us a close-to-the-original free copy of Maya for home/non-commercial use. More people than ever will be able to see what Maya is all about and perhaps become interested in a career in 3D. Second, they keep it far enough away from their full version to keep their customers happy. If you were a paying customer who just bought Maya for >$6,000 and suddenly it was free, wouldn't you be a bit upset? Third, they kill any legit reason for Maya to hit the warez circuit. The usual excuse is "If it wasn't so expensive we wouldn't have to pirate it!" and now it no longer works. If you're that serious about 3D you either have an employer who uses Maya or you will get it yourself. If you're just a home hobbyist now you've got your version too.
Yes, it's cripled, and no, there's no Linux version (WTF are you thinking A|W?). But before now it was either the full version or nothing. Just because they didn't release it under the GPL (yeah, right), or they left out some features doesn't give anyone here much right to bitch-n-moan.
I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.
http://www.dvgarage.com For US$200, you get a full copy of Electric Image 2.9 (no time limits, no dumb file formats, no BS) Modeler and Animator. While that's worth the price of admission for most people, DV Garage's coolest trick are the few hours of video walkthroughs, tutorials, training and other goodies. DVG will soon be offering Electric Image Universe 3 with full OS X compatability. While Electric Image isn't exactly Maya (though EI does have plenty of big time movie credits to it's name), the DV Garage package's training is nothing short of excellent. Maya's 'Learning' edition comes with NO training.