Maya LT Game design software for indie game makers

Features and Benefits

Although it’s not packed with features like its more powerful counterpart, Maya LT is still versatile enough to ensure rich game-making experience and let you create high-quality 3D assets in no time. Here are some of the most important features:

Modeling Tools

Maya LT offers all kinds of tools that make polygonal modeling simple to artists, while at the same time making sure you get the desired results. It provides the tools every game artist needs, such as bevels, Booleans, and bridging. Thanks to the Quad Draw and Multi-Cut tools, you can model shapes with great accuracy.
Modeling is also symmetry-enabled, so it will save you a lot of time, since you can get high detail on both sides at the same time.

Sculpting Tools

You can sculpt polygonal shapes in any way you want thanks to the variety of sculpting tools. You can create life-like 3D models, whether you’re using a graphics tablet or your standard mouse.

Improved UV Editing Toolkit

Maya LT makes UV mapping as easy as it should be. You can add textures to your mesh surfaces quickly and easily. UV pinning tools use a something similar to a paintbrush that allows you to fix UVs in place in no time. Same as for modeling, there are symmetry tools included that will ensure fast UV texture creation.

Materials and Shaders

You no longer have to be a pro to create materials in high detail, thanks to a wide range of tools that Maya LT offers. You can create custom materials and tweak them however you want. The shader effects let you create shaders without the need for the complicated process of writing them in HLSL or GLSL. There are also pre-built shader graphs available to less experienced artists who want to get great results as simple as possible.

3D Animation Tools

After you’ve put in a lot of work into creating your characters, you wouldn’t want them to just stand there. Maya LT offers all the tools you need to create motion and give life to your assets. Keyframe-based timeline editor lets you create life-like animations, and the graph editor lets you tweak them easily.
You can also add different animation layers that let you create new animations that share similar motions. With the time editor, you can merge different animation clips into a full composition.

Rigging Tools

You can rig characters for animation in a number of different ways that the rigging tools provide. You can rig your character in a matter of minutes with the Quick Rig tool, which is mainly used for simple rigging. For more complex tasks, there’s the HumanIK tool that allows you to create realistic motion for your characters.

Shape Editor

If you want to add more detail to your animations, the shape editor is an effective way to do it. It lets you create and tweak detailed animations without hassle. For added precision, you can also correct animations easily with shape authoring tools.

Game Engine Workflows

Exporting your assets to game engines is a process that requires no more than a couple of clicks with Maya LT. You can easily export your work to a specific Unreal or Unity project using the ‘Send to Unity’ or ‘Send to Unreal’ option. The project is then permanently connected to the Maya LT file. There are no poly count or texture size caps, so you don’t have to worry about limitations.

Stingray

Autodesk wants you to be able to take your game creation one step further by providing access to the Stingray engine. You can import all the assets you created in Maya LT to Stingray in just one click. You can customize your assets in Maya LT, and then see how they behave in Stingray.
This engine will let you manipulate how virtually anything works and looks, and provide an easy way to create an entirely new world. One thing to keep in mind is that this feature is currently available only to Windows users.

MEL Scripting

MEL stands for Maya Embedded Language. It lets you make complex or repetitive tasks simple. You can write new scripts in the MEL editor, or copy the commands associated with certain actions to the script and customize it. You can then save the scripts to disk, turn them into shelf buttons or assign them to hotkeys. All of this lets you have more time for the creative part of the game creation process.

System Requirements

Before you decide to go with Maya LT, you need to make sure your device can support it. Here are what you need in order to run it:
Operating system:

• Microsoft: Windows 7 (SP1) or Windows 10 Professional
• Apple: Mac OS X 10.10.5, 10.11.x, 10.12.x

Browser:

• Google Chrome
• Safari
• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox

Hardware:

• Multi-core 64-bit Intel or AMD processor
• Graphics card: Click here for the latest update
• 8 GB of RAM (16 or more recommended)
• 4 GB of free disk space

Subscription Benefits

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons to use Maya LT if you’re passionate about 3D game development. You can get a 30-day free trial to check it out yourself. After that, the subscriptions plan starts and you can get a lot out of it for a reasonable price.
First of all, you can use the Autodesk app to get the latest software versions, so you will be up to date with the newest technologies available. You can also bring this software with you no matter where you go, so you can access it anytime.
You can store your or your team’s data securely on the Autodesk drive. The security system is continuously updated, so rest assured your assets will stay safe.
For important insights on your projects, use the Autodesk Account. It will let you share your work with your team or clients, and provide information about every important aspect of your project and the Maya LT software itself.

If you encounter any issues, you can contact support by phone, online chat, e-mail, or desktop assistance.

 

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