it is still in beta but will be final around end of the year, from what a|w told me. then it's going to be part of maya "at no additional charge".

from what I read, the new 1.5 will be using the latest mental ray plus making all the built in features accessible from within maya. Which sounds good to a render engine addict like me.

get the beta here:

https://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Tmp...l&style=normal