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Maya for Mac OS X
drc writes "I http://www.macnn.com/feature.php?id=344noticed on MacNN that 'Maya 4.5 for Mac OS X was announced this morning when Steve Jobs revealed that the Maya update would offer feature parity in OS X when compared to other platforms. Jobs also mentioned that Alias|Wavefront has seen the Mac OS X version of Maya grow to 25% of their total market. I'm suprised that the Mac OS X version has such a market share in such a short period of time."
I do not see 3D going the same route as video editing & 2D editing, simply because of the current road that most 3D studios are following. Increasingly linux is being used instead of NT or SGIs in these studios. Why? Because they're cheap. No licensing for the OS, great remote administration support, amongst other things. Macs do not succeed at the efficientcy vs money contest anywhere as well as a linux box would. Another issue is that Macintosh has yet to get a highend 3D development card where as the selection is quite large for PC. I am not talking about GF4's here, but about Wildcats, Quadros, Glorias, etc. Only recently did Apple finally get a real GF4 and not the hobbled GF4 MX, and a GF4 is far from a highend 3D development card. I will be surprised if Apple takes over the 3D development market unless they start trying a new strategy.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
Good comment. I just sent Apple a comment off their website requesting a few improvements and my logic for my requests. It was tasteful, not harsh or angry, and *hopefully* will be implemented (I also mentioned that my wife is dead set on not upgrading until she sees a G5 processor - hopefully Apple will take notice and put the heat on Motorola, or switch to IBM).
Everyone who knows something Apple is falling down on, please contact them and let your voice be heard. You're the only one who can stop them from becoming another Microsoft, and you're the only one who can explain your point of view.
Let's flood Apple with "things to do" lists so they can gauge what their customers REALLY want.
Let's make Apple better.
Zoober
Testimony of an OS X Maya user:
Got Maya running on a dual G4 gig box. It renders lots faster than a 2 GHz Win2K box, for identical models..... Spawning batch render jobs to other G4s in the lab is a straignt shot.
Making educational videos and VR, so I need a cost effective setup..... Wouldn't try to do these projects on our budget with Win2K, Linux, or SGI boxes (time wasted hardware/software hacking far exceeds Linux/Intel cost savings)....,
OS X Maya is fast and cost effective, and fits into the integrated digital video/multimedia stream, from Final Cut Pro, through DVD Studio Pro. Gee, and it also goes out on the cluster's OS X QuickTime Streaming Server....
The point: It sure looks like Apple has a cost-effective environment in OS X that makes high-end, Unix-based visualization/video production a high-speed snap.
(Memories of the mid-80's and publishing the first scientific jounal produced entirely with DTP [Quark] on a hybrid AT/Mac system.... Remember hearing that DTP MADE the Mac.... The hardware is SO much more bitchin' now....)
Then there's digital multimedia production: Pretty interesting market, eh?
OS X: How I got my weekends back.