Maya and Mudbox 2016 Review

Jahirul Amin takes the latest releases of Maya and Mudbox for a spin to see what all the fuss is about...

Product: Maya 2016, Mudbox 2016

Company: Autodesk

Website: www.autodesk.com

Another year gone by and another release of Maya and Mudbox to play with. This time, however, it seems as though a bit of Mudbox has been injected into Maya and vice-versa. Read on to find out more...

A new year, a new look

Let's kick off with Maya, and where I would usually jump in and start playing with the new tools and features to see if they are any good, on this occasion, I had to take a step back and digest the new UI. Not only have they revamped all the icons, creating a cleaner, fresher look, they've also moved bits around, added new menus, shelves, and so on, to improve the artist workflow. I must say, I prefer this new ‘skin'; it gives Maya more than just a new look. If you are a Maya user, you'll need some time to readjust to the new UI, but after 30 minutes or so, you should be good to go, and the sound thinking behind the new layout should start to make sense. For the Softimage users out there who have had to transition to Maya, you'll find that you can now middle-mouse button click any menu to get back to the last tool used within that menu. And for Maya users who never experienced the benefits of this simple yet very handy shortcut, now's your chance.

Comparing the UI of Maya 2016 to 2015

Modeling and sculpting

Okay, so once I was accustomed to the new look, I wanted to test out the new sculpting brushes that have been implemented into Maya from Mudbox. I think they are a great addition and should really help in a multitude of areas, from creating base meshes, to making shot fixes and corrective blendshapes. Most notably, they should allow artists to block out initial concepts before dropping them into a dedicated sculpting package.

You've also got a selection of base meshes that you can import into Maya from the Visor, and the usual selection of Mudbox Stamps and Alphas at your disposal. This is all very positive indeed, but I would have loved the ability to jump up and down the subdivision levels of an object; this would have really been useful. Also, when sculpting on meshes that are around 1 million faces or more, it does start to have a general effect on the performance of Maya, and things become a little sluggish. This of course could be down to my machine, but again in a dedicated sculpting package, I could hack away at a model at that resolution and much higher (say 15 million faces or so) with no bother. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh here though, as this is the first incarnation of the sculpting tools in Maya, which I'm really happy for, and it does kick the Sculpt Geometry Tool straight out the box. Having said that, I'm still left yearning for just that little bit more.

Taking advantage of the new sculpting tools in Maya

So sculpting tools aside, the Modeling Toolkit (MT) is now fully jacked up and good to go. It may have taken a few years but it is now the toolset to use when modeling assets in Maya. This is a big positive and I think if you used the MT back in Maya 2014 and compared it to this version, you really would see and feel a difference. You no longer have to jump between the tools in the MT and the standard shelves because all the key tools are within the UI, and additionally the tools themselves feel a little mature and more able.

The Modeling Toolkit now feels fully integrated

The new Hypershade

Now the big thing that feels like it has not got the applause it deserves has to be the updates to the Hypershade. It really does feel like this is the star of the show here. Huge improvements have been added that should bring plenty of pleasure for those tackling look development in Maya. You now have a fantastic Material Viewer embedded into the Hypershade window, allowing you to preview your shading networks in real-time. You can also edit the object in the Material Viewer and switch between a default set of IBLs to see how your shaders react under different lighting conditions. The Work Area has also been replaced with the Node Editor, and you can now add additional tabs, making the process of working on multiple shaders a much easier affair. Another plus among the many is the fact that the Hypershade UI is very customizable. You can add and dock new windows such as the Render View, the Outliner, and so on, into the Hypershade, and therefore create an interface that suits your working style.

The updates to the Hypershade will make a huge difference when it comes to creating shaders

Animation and rigging

Moving on, we come to animation and rigging. A big push has been made to really speed up the performance of rigs in Maya. Through Parallel Rig evaluation and by utilizing the power of the GPU and the CPU, you can now get rigs that would defy being played back in real-time to do just that, if not faster. This really does make a difference; one of the major benefits is that animators will no longer need to create as many Playblast as they may have done in the past to get a sense of how their animation is flowing. This is a huge plus, especially in a day and age where shots need to be churned out left, right and center, and when constant revisions are demanded.

Rigs can now perform faster than ever by taking advantage of both the CPU and the GPU

From the UI updates, animators and riggers will now find that they each have a menu set, each one catered to their needs. There is also a set of extra Keying tools that should aid the animators out there, and for the riggers, we have the extremely useful Delta Mush tool added to the roster. The latter is a fantastic addition, and not only is it easy to setup and use, it really did a great job of fixing those troublesome deformation areas, such as under the arms and around the hips.

Bifrost and XGen

On top of everything else, we have further updates to Bifrost and XGen. For the fluid fans, you'll be glad to hear that a new Aero solver has been included, so you can create all the atmospheric effects your fluid-loving hearts desire. You'll also find that Bifrost has been ‘opened up' so you can dive into each compound and start editing the parameters at a more granular level. By no means is this ICE in Maya yet, but bit by bit, it's starting to move in that direction. For the Fur fans, there is now a library of fur styles for you to pick from (based off the original Fur styles) and tackling feathers has also been made much easier with the ability to use ramps to define the shape of feathers.

The new Aero solver will help fluid fans create all things smoky and more

To conclude on Maya, it does feel like there has been a huge heap of goodies added. Some of them I personally feel need refining, but there are plenty of well thought out ideas and well implemented tools that have gone into this version. So overall, I cannot complain and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands dirtier with this release.

Further updates to XGen allow for quick generation of hair and feathers

Mudbox updates

So we'll move on to Mudbox, where, unfortunately, there really is not much to discuss. We now have new falloff options to the brushes, a twist feature added to the Grab brush (useful for putting noses out of shape), and they've also included the Relax tool (which I've always had a love for in Maya). Everything else seems to be pretty much the same. I enjoy using Mudbox and it is cheap as chips to purchase, so for newcomers who want to get their hands on a sculpting package, or for those looking for an accompanying package to Maya, it's there for the taking. However, I really would like to see a bit more development going into it. ZBrush, without a doubt, has taken over the sculpting stage and is a fantastic beast, but there is no reason why some simple additions to Mudbox (for example, being able to combine meshes) couldn't be added to improve the workflow for those that use it. It really is sad to see another year go by with very little improvement made to Mudbox.

Still, hey-ho, let's end on a high: it's a good year for Maya fans and I'm sure there'll be plenty more to come.

The new Twist feature allows you to put noses out of shape very fast

Maya Score (out of 5): 4.5/5

Mudbox Score (out of 5): 3/5

Key features:

Maya 2016

- New UI
- Sculpting Tools
- Modeling Toolkit Updates
- Hypershade Updates
- Parallel Rig Evaluation
- Aero Solver
- XGen Updates

Mudbox 2016

- New Falloff Settings
- Twist Feature to Grab Brush
- Relax Tool

System requirements:

- Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 (SP1) and Windows® 8.1, Apple® Mac OS® X 10.9.5 and 10.10.x, Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 6.5 WS, CentOS 6.5 Linux
- CPU: 64-bit Intel® or AMD® multi-core processor
- RAM: 4 GB of RAM (8GB recommended)
- Disk Space: 4 GB of free disk space for install (Maya), 1 GB of free disk space for install (Mudbox)

Price:

Maya 2016 - Available from £145 per month, or £1,160 per year
Mudbox 2016 - £10 per month

Related links

Autodesk summarise the new features in Maya 2016
The new features in Mudbox
Take a look at Autodesk's videos on YouTube
To see more by Jahirul Amin, check out Beginner's Guide to Character Creation in Maya
and 3ds Max Projects