Attention computer animators! Maya is now free!

Buck-Beaver

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This isn't a hoax! Just got back home from New York and found this news waiting for me, which is pretty darn cool...hats off to Alias for doing this:

Alias Systems: Maya Personal Learning Edition 5 Now Available for Free Download

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 2003--Alias Systems, a Silicon Graphics Inc. (NYSE: SGI) company, announced today that the highly anticipated Maya Personal Learning Edition(TM) 5 software is now available for free download from www.alias.com/mayaple. Maya Personal Learning Edition 5 offers almost every feature found in the full commercial version of Maya Complete(TM) 5 including an industry-leading set of modeling, animation, rendering and effects tools.
Alias is a leader in providing free non-commercial use software to the 3D community. The Maya Personal Learning Edition software program, first announced in January 2002, brought the 3D tool widely used in feature films and the game development industry to the masses. To date, more than half a million 3D enthusiasts and professionals around the world have downloaded Maya Personal Learning Edition.

The Maya Community

The Maya Personal Learning Edition is more than software. Central to the experience is a web-based community center that provides access to enhanced video tutorials, discussion forums, a 3D 101 section which covers the basic concepts of 3D computer graphics and Maya(R), plus an area where users can download free sample files, shaders, scripts, models and more. The Maya community center can be accessed at www.alias.com/community.

Availability

Free download of Maya Personal Learning Edition 5 is available immediately at www.alias.com/mayaple.

The Maya Personal Learning Edition is for Mac OS(R) X and Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 2000 Professional and Windows XP operating systems and is available with online documentation. Japanese online documentation can be obtained at the Alias Japan web site, www.alias.co.jp/mayaple.

For those new to 3D, the Learning Maya(TM) | Beginner's Guide package can be purchased for $19.99(1) at the Alias online store at http://store.alias.com. The Beginner's Guide contains a one-hour DVD learning guide with English, French, German, Japanese and Korean language tracks, an Introduction to Maya booklet and a bonus Maya Personal Learning Edition 5 CD.


Keep in mind Maya is not exactly a program for beginners, but if you're in to CGI as a hobby and have always wanted to learn Maya but couldn't afford it here's your chance!
 

Fozzie Bear

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You always find the coolest stuff and have the best information. Gosh, I wish you lived here in Memphis!! We'd be dangerous!
 

Chilly Down

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Very clever of them. The software is free, but to learn how to USE it, you have to pay 20 bucks.

Still, take what you can get, I suppose. :cool:
 

NikZane

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That's excellent BB, thanks for posting that. :smile:

(Maya™ Complete is normally USD$1,999 - I think can absorb 20 bucks :wink:)
 

Chilly Down

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OK, it looks like I spoke too soon. They have some tutorials and a FAQ, so I should be okay.

However, I just downloaded the stuff, then ran the installation wizard. Now I go to the "Maya" folder that I created. And, umm...where's the file to just RUN the thing? There are about a dozen folders here, all with a hundred items in them, most of which seem to be regarding specific graphics or applications. I just want to run it! Where's the icon?

I looked in a folder labeled "bin" and found a file marked "Maya.exe". I clicked to run that one, and here are the error messages I got: "The MAYARES.DLL file appears to be corrupt. Reinstall the file, and then try again." And "Windows cannot run this program because it is in an invalid format."

Before I reinstall it (I'm not sure what good that would do, anyway), I want to make sure I'm not just clicking on the wrong thing. Help, anyone?

(And don't take this personally, Buck-Beaver. I appreciate your pointing this out to us. I'm frustrated with the program, not you.)
 

NikZane

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I'm running mine on a Mac and everything went fine, so I don't know if this will help:

Is there an 'Alias', 'AliasWavefront' or 'Maya' directory in your Programs menu (Start>All Programs)? The installer *should* have installed a Program Group for the application there for easy access, which *should* have a shortcut to the program itself, probably just called Maya (and pointing to Maya.exe).

Mine is simply called Maya.app (ie: your Maya.exe) and resides in ~/Applications/AliasWavefront/Maya 5.0 Personal Learning Ed/Maya.app. Try looking in C:/Program Files, for a similar structure.

Also, did you restart your computer after the install?

Again, I don't know if this will help, I'm trying to translate my Mac install assuming the general directory structure is similar for Windows (as they tend to be).

Anywho, just some thoughts, goodluck! :smile:

If you still have trouble and nobody else can help, I'll try install a copy on the Windows machine here and see what I come up with... I'm not sure if it'll have the power tho, the Mac version was pretty RAM hungry and the PC box here is a little old - do u remember what the min. requirements were for the PC version?

(Incidentally, the Maya interface looks pretty nice... a little less complicated than Lightwave, which itself wasn't too troublesome to learn after a tutorial or three)
 

Chilly Down

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Thanks for your suggestions, Nik. I tried those, plus a few other things. I guess my machine just doesn't have the right capabilities for this thing. Maybe I'll figure it out someday.
 
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