Telling Tales// Brief Maya History and Definition

Autodesk Maya ( or simply 'Maya' ) markets itself as a '3D computer graphic software' and is used frequently within the film and game industry. Released in 1997 the software was one of the first to be developed that focused on computer 3D modelling. The software was developed by Alias systems corporation which later became part of the Autodesk company in 2006, when three software companies  merged together to form Maya. At the time of release Autodesk was competing with Windows, against their software 'Softimage' which forced on animation rather then modelling. Apparently Maya was the leading commercial modelling software at the time, along side 'Softimage' for animation and 'RenderMan' for rendering. Maya has been used to create many popular and best selling products within it's release in the 90's. The successful American video game company Crystal Dynamics' also used Maya as its software of choice when working on the popular Tomb Raider games. The original 'The Sims' by EA Maxis was also entirely modelled within the software. Maya has also been merged with Pixar's 'Renderman' to produce animated movies such as Finding Nemo (2003), The Matrix (1999) and Avatar (2009). 'Renderman' isn't the only software however to be paired with the modelling software. For example the program collaborated with the software 'CorelDRAW' to animate the popular animated television show 'South Park'.

But what can Maya do?
Maya is a fantastic and versatile modelling tool used for 3D computer animation, focusing on 3D sculpting and special effects. Maya uses 'polygons' to craft the models, within it's virtual workspace which can be adapted and modified as much as the user requires. Although I am fairly new to the software, after my most recent yet small task involving the software I really have fallen in love with it; despite the fact the random crashes do frustrate me from time to time. To me Maya is much like a tool in which to craft a character to later position in order to give the illusion of movement, in much the same way a stop-motion puppet is crafted to later position between image captures to give the illusion of movement also.

But how has Maya affected the animation industry?
Autodesk Maya isn't the only 3D animation software existing out there, but it was one of the first softwares of its kind to be marketed. 3D animation was developed in the 80s and only became commercial to the common creative 10 years later when software like Maya was released to the public; by then 'the Pixar computer' had already created beautiful computer animated films like toy story, bugs life and cars. The software didn't change the animation industry by itself, but rather opened up the opportunity for more and more studios to experiment and invest in 3D computer animation.