#Autodesk maya 2016 extension 2 update#

We discussed them in our original story on Maya LT 2016 Extension 3, so we won’t cover them here. Those include a new blendshape workflow and a semi-automated Quick Rig tool based on the HumanIK solver.

#Autodesk maya 2016 extension 2 update#

In addition, the update adds a number of character rigging features previously rolled out in Maya LT, the cut-down version of Maya intended for indie game artists. Collections can then be assigned to render layers and toggled on and off at willĪ templating system enables users to export complex scene setups as JSON files that can be shared with other artists, or reused between productions. “ isn’t as deep as some out there for motion graphics, but it’s a sign of where we’re taking this.”īetter shot-based render management for VFX artistsĪnother significant new feature in Extension 2 is the new render-management system, designed to simplify the process of setting up shot-based overrides for the lighting and shading in a scene during VFX work.Īrtists can group scene assets into Collections, either manually or by writing expressions based on asset names. “We tried to look at what people do in motion graphics and reflect that,” he said. The company’s director of industry marketing, Marc Hamaker, described the toolset as a “pretty nice start-to-finish workflow” suitable for “motion graphics and a whole lot more”, including titles and UI design.Īccording to Hamaker, the tools are intended to be accessible to artists who don’t primarily work in 3D. See them in action here, or watch the video in the comments below. Updated 27 April: Mainframe North MD Chris Hardcastle has been in touch to say that there are new features in the integrated version of the toolset. Mash provided a set of 27 nodes that could be ‘daisy chained’ together to generate a huge range of customisable motion graphics effects, controllable from both Maya’s Attribute and Node Editors.Īutodesk’s initial integration makes a number of UI changes, but doesn’t add any new functionality.

The biggest single addition in Maya 2016 Extension 2 is the new motion graphics toolset, derived from Mainframe North’s Mash add-on, which Autodesk acquired last September. The Extension release is one of several announcements made by Autodesk at NAB 2016, along with Flame 2017 and 3ds Max 2017, and its acquisition of Solid Angle, developer of the Arnold renderer. The subscriber-only update adds a complete new motion graphics toolset derived from Mainframe North’s old Mash add-on, new render management and character rigging options, and updates to Bifrost and XGen. Autodesk has released its annual spring update to Maya – but in a break with convention, the new release it announced at NAB this year was not Maya 2017, but Maya 2016 Extension 2.