Autodesk rolls out its 2008 DCC line.(PRODUCTS: MODELING * ANIMATION)

Autodesk made quite a splash at S1GGRAPH, introducing its latest product versions, as well announcing its intention to purchase Skymatter, makers of the Mudbox 3D brush-based modeling software.

The company anuounced Maya 2008 modeling, animation, visual effects, and rendering software, including a Mac OS X version, with a focus on improved workflow efficiency. Designed for multi-core workstations, the 2008 release provides new creative tools for faster and easier modeling and animation. It offers increased polygon modeling efficiency through a streamlined Mesh Smooth workflow, a new Slide Edge feature, and improvements to Booleans, Bridge, Bevel, and other tools.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In the gaming arena, Maya 2008 is now better equipped to create and display content destined for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 consoles with support for DirectX HLSL shaders in the Maya viewport, a new hardware shader API, enhancements to the render view, accelerated Mental Ray texture-baking performance, and more.

The software also delivers improved skinning and rigging tool sets, including new, non-destructive skin editing capabilities so animators and TDs can efficiently explore ideas through iterations. Maya 2008 is expected to be released this month at $1999 for Maya ...