Autodesk Launched Maya 2024.2 & Maya Creative 2024.2

Autodesk released Maya 2024.2 and Maya Creative 2024.2, introducing improvements to retopology, rigging, and other workflows.

Maya 2024.2 sees improvements for deformers and performance customization. A new Snap option in the Proximity Wrap deformer will help you fix unwanted deformations with the surface bind mode.

The GPU Cache plug-in now lets you start the GPU cache at a specific frame, which you can specify for existing cache files. 

In addition, Autodesk added new rigging math nodes:

• axisFromMatrix
• columnFromMatrix
• crossProduct
• divide
• dotProduct
• multiplyVectorByMatrix
• multiplyPointByMatrix
• rotationFromMatrix
• rowFromMatrix
• scaleFromMatrix
• subtract
• translationFromMatrix

You will also find changes with Retopologize, Maya’s automated retopology system. Just like with 3ds Max 2024.2, its base algorithm, ReForm, is now up to 30% faster. Additionally, Retopologize's Symmetry can be used with the Feature Preservation options (Hard Edges, Edges by Angle, Edge Component Tags).

Other changes include Time Slider enhancements, better Bake Deformer performance, Bifrost 2.7.1.1 support, and the USD for Maya v0.25.0 plug-in. LookdevX, Maya’s tool for creating USD shading graphs, has been updated as well, here are its latest features:

• All color management operations are controlled by the DCC's color manager
• You can now enable the relative path workflow, which is automated with a single click
• A USD interface has been updated to send messages to third-party renderers, instructing them not to restart rendering while moving nodes or backdrops
• Perform copy, paste, and duplicate operations using the Outliner and LookdevX toolsets
• Work with a streamlined shader creation workflow by using one unified shader instead of multiple separate shaders
• Delve into advanced graphing using the integrated component workflow
• Assign materials to native USD Geometry subsets with confidence. When USD geometry is converted into Maya geometry and vice versa, any material changes made on either data model will be accurately preserved
• Drag and drop files from an external file browser

Finally, Maya's Graph Editor received an Affects Time option to let you modify curves on both the Time and Value axis, a Curve Select tool, and a new List view option.

Maya Creative, the pay-as-you-go version of the software, received the same updates except for the Bifrost plug-in.

Maya 2024.2 is available for $235/month or $1,875/year. There are also Indie subscriptions for $305/year. Maya Creative will cost you $3/day.

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