Autodesk targets mobile developers, offering Maya LT 2014 from $35 per month
Time to sharp your 3D skills?
A lot of successful mobile game developers are happily using 2D graphics.
But that may be because they don't have access to the best tools at a reasonable price.
That's what Autodesk reckons and the art tool giant is looking to remedy the situation with its latest product.
Called Maya LT 2014, it's a stripped out version of the industry-standard art and animation package used across film, TV and game development that's been honed for indie and mobile games.
In this context, out go high-end features such as the renderer, scripting and the ability to use plug-ins. There's also a 25,000 polygon hard cap in terms of art asset exporting.
Of course, it still supports engines such as Unity and Unreal out-of-the-box.
But with rental pricing from as low as $35 per month (for a 12-month package), up to a one-off cost of $795 for a perpetual licence, who's complaining?
In contrast, a full version of Maya 2014 starts from $3,675.
A new way to play"We're extremely interested in indie and mobile developers, so we've been thinking hard about how we can support them," explains Autodesk's marketing manager Greg Castle.
"We looked at our product line and Maya provided a good starting point in terms of being on PC and Mac.
"Then we thought about how we could provide proven tools, and strong community, and flexible pricing."
And demonstrating its commitment to the cause, Autodesk says it will soon be rolling out its Turtle rendering plug-in (used for lighting and texture baking) as a native part of Maya LT before this feature comes to the full Maya product.
Maya LT is available now, and you can find out more about it via its website.
