Maya 8 - Let the insanity ensue!!!

Ah yes, it is that time again when Maya (my 3D app of choice) comes out with a new version. This release, however, seems to be sparking a lot more speculation and nit picking than a major release of the program normally would. This is because between version 7 and 8, Alias was bought out by Autodesk, and Maya was integrated into their product line. So, version 8 is the first release with Autodesk's name on it and people are just itching to find a reason to bash this latest iteration. What really tickles me are the people who are basing all of their speculation, concern and hate towards Autodesk on the fact that the initial announcement only listed five or six major changes to the software. It was by no means a comprehensive list of every new little tool or function, but something to get people to take notice of a few of the significant enhancements that had been made.

I have been getting info from people who have gotten the latest version via the Web upgrade, and there is a lot of new and cool stuff for us to use that I feel will make our lives much easier as 3D artists. If what they are saying is true, this release will be a significant improvement over what we have been using and our workflow will be much more streamlined.

While I hope that Maya succeeds in living up to the expectations of the general user community and provides us with a much more stable and reliable tool to creating great 3D art, I really hope it does something to squelch the jabbing posts and comments I am seeing on CGTalk and Highend3d. Stupidity in anonymous online forum posting just irritates the heck out of me, and I hope these jokers get what is coming to them.