Features

Powerful character creation, animation, and VFX tools

From fantastic creatures to sweeping landscapes and explosive battle sequences, the Academy Award-winning Maya® toolset is a top choice for creating believable characters and the worlds around them.

Dynamics and effects

  • Video: Bifrost overview video

    Bifrost visual programming environment

    Create physically accurate and incredibly detailed simulations in a single visual programming environment. (video: 4:49 min.)

  • Mountain scenery created in Bifrost

    Ready-to-use graphs

    Create great-looking effects, such as snow and dust storms, right out of the box with prebuilt graphs.

  • Hair grooming in Maya

    Interactive hair grooming

    Use powerful interactive groom tools to create realistic hair and fur for your characters.

  • Bifrost Fluids

    Simulate and render photorealistic liquid effects.

  • Bifrost Ocean Simulation System

    Create realistic ocean surfaces with waves, ripples, and wakes.

  • Physics and effects

    Create highly realistic rigid, soft-body, cloth, and particle simulations.

3D animation

  • Animated clip of a lion

    Fast playback

    Review animations faster and produce fewer playblasts with cached playback in Viewport 2.0. (video: 12 sec.)

  • User interface of Time Editor in Maya featuring 3D animation of a guy making the sign of the horns, standing next to a motorcycle

    Time Editor

    Make high-level animation edits with a nondestructive, clip-based, nonlinear editor.

  • Rendering of octopus

    Graph Editor

    Create, view, and modify animation curves using a graphical representation of scene animation.

  • New | Ghosting Editor

    Precisely visualize movement and the position of animated objects over time.

  • Deformation effects

    Enhance character and object animation with powerful deformation effects.

  • Native Motion Library plug-in

    Access high-quality motion capture data right in Maya. 

Rigging

  • Character setup

    Create sophisticated skeletons, IK handles, and deformers for characters that deliver lifelike performances.

  • Skinning

    Seamlessly bind any modeled surface to a skeleton using skinning.

  • Retargeting

    Easily transfer animation between skeletons that have the same or different skeletal structures.

3D rendering and shading

  • Bubbles rendering in Arnold

    Integrated Arnold renderer

    Use Arnold Render View to view scene changes in real time, including lighting, materials, and cameras.

  • Female model rendered in Arnold

    GPU and CPU rendering

    Use Arnold for production rendering on both the CPU and GPU.

  • Robot rendered in Arnold

    Standard Surface Shader

    Model materials such as car paint, frosted glass, and plastic, and preview renders in the viewport.

  • Look development with Hypershade

    Build shading networks by creating and connecting rendering nodes, such as textures, materials, and lights.

  • Color management

    See accurate previews of final colors in the viewport and Render View.

3D modeling

  • Polygon modeling

    Create 3D models using geometry based on vertices, edges, and faces.

  • Macaw modeled in Maya

    NURBS modeling

    Construct 3D models from geometric primitives and drawn curves.

  • Boy with dogs, modeled in Maya

    UV editing and toolkit

    View and edit the UV texture coordinates for polygon, NURBS, and subdivision surfaces in a 2D view.

  • Sculpting toolset

    Sculpt and shape models more artistically and intuitively.

  • OpenSubdiv support

    Accelerate performance with interactive workflows.

Motion graphics

  • MASH procedural effects

    Use MASH to create versatile motion design animations with procedural node networks.

  • 3D Type

    Create branding, flying logos, title sequences, and other projects that require text.

  • Adobe Live link

    View a scene in both Maya and Adobe After Effects at the same time.

Pipeline integration

  • New | Python 3

    Create Maya scripts and write plug-ins using Python 3.

  • Customization

    Customize how Maya looks and works to suit your pipeline.

  • Scene Assembly tools

    Create large, complex worlds more easily and manage production assets as discrete elements.