Slashdot Mirror
Maya now Free for Personal Use
TeknoBilim writes "Alias
announced today that their leading software, Maya has become a free download for non-commercial applications. Thanks a lot, Alias. Now I can record the video for my next game. :)" This makes me wish I had talent. At least now I (and many like me) won't have to pay any money just to dabble with Maya.
I've had the watermarked version for quite some time. I don't think this is anything new. I checked out the link and this seems to be the same "learning edition" they've been offering. Did I miss something?
Alias has offered this personal learning edition version of Maya for years now; they're just announcing that the latest release of Maya, 5.0, is also available in the PLE form.
Don't get me wrong--it's great that they do this. There's just no real news here.
The PLE version has a few limitations compared to the version you pay for, but they're really amazingly small in the grand scheme of things.
I've always wondered why high end software shouldn't be free for personal use. It's a win-win situation: Free advertising for the provider, free education for the user.
The truth is that companies who use pirated software for commercial use will do so in any case. Software which is used for content creation should be free to learn for all.
Now then... when will the music software industry start catching on?
.: Max Romantschuk
What happened with the linux version? AFAIK Maya have a version for Linux, but don't seem to be included in the "for free" offer.
It watermarks all your images, and even some of the UI panels, making it next to useless.
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
"At least now I (and many like me) won't have to pay any money just to dabble with Maya. "
Like you ever paid for Maya just to dabble with it. That's the biggest crock of shit I've heard in.....
Well, since that 24 hours for Windows patches article.
Apparently they are only giving the Windows and OSX versions away, even though linux versions exist.
True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
At least several months ago, I downloaded Maya PLE... the free version, for those who want to learn how to use this powerful tool. Basically, the only thing that has changed in the past several months - aside from the upgrade from 4.5 to 5.0 - is that there's a neato newspaper article about it!
:D
Strangely enough, I downloaded v5.0 last night from the kind folks at Alias... no slashdot effect for me
-agent oranje.
It's not the full version of their software that's free, just the Personal Learning Esition of the software that they've been giving away since Feb. of 2002
Slashdot's already been there, in fact
Now if only we could have the same for POV-Ray! Oh wait...
Well how about Blender! Oh yeah..
Oh well, woo hoo for Maya!
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Check out my blackbox styles
Bizarrely it was only this morning that I thought, I wish there was a free or cut-down version of Maya available. It would be a huge help for a small, non-commercial game that I'm working on as a hobby. And now my hopes have been answered! Sort of...
The trouble is that it's so cut-down that it can't really be described as "free for personal use". The watermarks prevent you from doing anything useful with what you create, even non-commercially. The lack of SDK and plug-in support prevent it from being used for non-commercial game development. It even uses a different, non-standard file format.
In my opinion, this is nothing more than an advert for the full version. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but please let's not give credit where it isn't due. There's no community spirit here. No generosity for non-commercial game developers who could really benefit from a free version of Maya. This is a 133Mb advert and the download is even set-up in such a way that you can't use a download manager without some tweaking.
Could have been great. Isn't.
I think some other features are missing too, but those are the two biggest that I can remember seeing. The other biggest "feature" you lose is the ability to render without a "watermark" or to model without a "watermark" on the screen at all times.
Basically, this edition is exactly what it says it is: a version for learning Maya on. It's "shareware" in the commercial world - try it before you decide to buy it. Learn on it and then convince your boss to buy it, I guess.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Linux is primarily used on headless RENDER FARMS, clustered or network computers that simply do the number crunching. The editing/compositing is still usually done on an OS X or Windows platform (or, less often, Sun or SGI).
That isn't to say that Maya, which is available for Linux as a complete compositing workstation, isn't available for Linux -- it is. But, as a percentage of licenses, Maya for Linux is probably tiny. It doesn't make sense for them to develop the PLE version for Linux as well.
Statistically speaking, there's a 99.998% chance that my IQ is higher than yours. Get over it.
It will pay off. They're giving away nothing substantial - it's a crippled piece of software, and in return they'll get publicity from the watermarking, and more users because people can learn Maya at home now.
:)
Tinkering with an array of apps is cool, but I'd tinker with Blender instead of this piece of cripple-ware. Blender is Free Software (GPL), so you get the full version, no loaded marketing tactics. It works on all major platforms (M$, GNU, MAC, and others).
The diference between Maya and Blender, is that you can give someone a complete copy of Blender, rather than just recommending it. OpenOffice.org is a similarly cool thing to give to people. M$ users always think there must be a catch
Ciaran O'Riordan
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
Even talented people like to use applications with actual undo/redo, which Blender does not have.
Glad to hear a friendly voice.
e =documentation&file=index
Although Blender was always available zero-cost, it only became Free Software in September 2002. Since then, the new developer community have improved the documentation along with the code.
The interface is indeed quite unusual, but when you get used to it, it's very efficient with key bindings for most tasks.
You'll what you're looking for at:
http://www.blender3d.org/Education/
And there's more tutorials, articles, and docs linked from:
http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=modload&nam
Ciaran O'Riordan
Expert in software patents or patent law? Contribute to the ESP wiki!
This is only a bit more open version of what many companies have done for years.
Ever notice how Dreamweaver and Photoshop never really came with much anti-piracy measures beyond the basic serial-number?
The idea is self-training specialization. A million people pirate Photoshop, and train themselves in it's use. They then get hired by companies for those skills. the company is then obligated to go with Photoshop because "Everyone knows how to use it". Ka-ching. Instant secured licenses.
Sure, you're not gonna make Cash off of the end-users who can't afford the triple-digit licensing fee, but you have companies who will order a seperate license for Each user on the Graphic Arts team, their laptops, their desktop computers, and a few extra in case they want to hire a few more people.
It's a beautiful business plan that involves the users, sets a standard and guarentees a secured market for -years-, and in the end, makes everyone happy!
Useless? Its called PERSONAL LEARNING EDITION, Not the personal profit edition. There is absoltely nothing preventing an interested user from learning the basics and beyond of Maya. It's not like a nag box pops up EVERY time you want to open hypershade or outliner.
Watermarking is annoying of course but if this product is intended to give users a free method to LEARN, a watermark isnt going to interfere with that. You will still see accurate results of your render.
If you claim it is useless I really need to ask what it is you are trying to do with it? If you want to use it for billable hours, yes it is uselss and this product is not for you.
On the other hand, If you are trying to put together some work for a demo reel to get a real job in the business this PLE will do just fine.
As someone who receives and views artist reels every week, the watermark does NOT bother us. We are judging the quality of your work which will shine even through a watermark. In fact If I saw a reel come through that was watermarked to shit, it would tell me that this artist chooses to use legal software rather than cracked copies like everyone else. I would admire that kind of integrity in a prospective employee.
When I was teaching myself 3d animation it was with an educational edition of 3dsmax which I actually had to pay for from the University bookstore. When I later got into the business and I expanded our CG dept, we stuck with 3dsmax because it was what I knew. Had Maya Personal Learning Edition been around during my self teaching days, I would have given it a shot. If that were the case perhaps I would have a shelf full of Alias software now where all our Discreet boxes are.
Alias knows that the future 3d artists of tomorrow are young kids with no money. They choose to embrace them and provide free software and tutorials and learning resources. They are expecting a return on that investment and will probably get it. It also stregthens the community, now many more people can write "maya for beginners" books or publish online tutorials because maya is available to everyone, the audience grows.
Brilliant scheme that is so simple. Try before you buy, get em hooked while they're young. Win their loyalty now and they will come back as paying customers in the future.
Everyone wins in this situation.
Do you think all those great marble statues of the Ancient World and the Renaissance were made with undo enabled? :) Undo is for wimps!
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
Trust me, they don't. I bought 3 licenses for Maya 5. and had a ton of work done in PLE. I spent 3 days trying to get them to convert them for me. I'd have paid a lot for that, but no dice...
My
You know what? When you buy the licensed version, I bet you can just reopen the file you have saved.
As far as I know the watermark is dynamically created everytime you render, NOT in the Maya scene description files themselves - otherwise you can edit them away easily, because it's format is so well understood.
So your concern is a non-concern.
So you'll be giving your game away free, right? Lets try not to bite the hand that feeds too publically, lest they take it back, eh.