Maya in new (and shiny) clothing..

# 1 17-11-2004 , 04:16 AM

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Some inspiration for all of you who always thought that Maya's interface was designed by some boring old fart...

Take a look at this:

https://www.pixtur.de/text_maya_redesign.ger.html

(The Hypershade rocks!)

And here:

https://3cube.3dup.net/photo.html

Subdivide and conquer!

Free your mind, and your ass will follow!

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# 2 17-11-2004 , 10:27 AM

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the hypershade looks like the one in xsi. I don't have any problem with the maya interface. It just takes getting used to. What i do car e about is the reliabililty and the general flakiness I experience with it on linux user added image

Alan

Technical Director - Framestore

Currently working on: Your Highness

IMDB

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# 3 17-11-2004 , 02:18 PM

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I don't have a problem with Maya's UI either, but I'd love to have an improved Hypershade, just like the one from XSI, where you can gather a whole lot of information with one look.

But I also love the rest of his redesign too. Look at the improved Outliner, Channelbox and Timeline - he gave the whole idea more than just one thought or too.

I wish this was available to the public.

One question: if Maya on Linux is so shaky - why does practically every major studio use it in production? I thought reliability is the one single most important aspect of a software?

Subdivide and conquer!

Free your mind, and your ass will follow!

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# 4 17-11-2004 , 02:39 PM

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I really like the design job the guy did on the interface. Maya interface is notorious for its waste of space and this is amplified by the windows GUI.

One of these days, I will have to customize the marking menu to suite my need and then work full screen. I just wished the property box could be a 'flying' windows that we could throw in another screen in a multi-screen setup.

My guess is that Alias is aware of the interface problem and will try to fix it in the next version (in a year or two.. or three...). Until then, we are stuck with it.

Probably the screen that need the biggest redesign is the hypershade. Its horrible and non user friendly.

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# 5 17-11-2004 , 03:04 PM

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Yeah, that resdesigned Hypershade offers much more information. I'd love to have this.

But to think of all the tedious work he put into this...he really had to rewrite the whole GUI from ground up...too much time or too much talent?

Subdivide and conquer!

Free your mind, and your ass will follow!

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# 6 17-11-2004 , 03:10 PM

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Probably all done in photoshop is my guess...

No need to make it, if you can fake it!

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# 7 17-11-2004 , 03:23 PM

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You think that he's cheating?

Subdivide and conquer!

Free your mind, and your ass will follow!

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# 8 17-11-2004 , 03:40 PM

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Its not cheating, he wants to make a proof of concept. There is no reason to waste time to redesign the whole interface.

I have done in the past similar work to show redesign of websites. I simply photoshoped every page and put them in powerpoint. Then when I did the presentation, I only had to 'simulate' the navigation by clicking on the image representing the buttons on the slide.

I used this trick a few times and no one ever noticed it. Actually, it can backfire if the client start to think that you can make a whole site in a night, he will find it suspicious that you ask for a 2 week pay...

This concept can also be applied to 3D: when you model something that will stay in the background, you can fake many of the details with texture. This is why scene planing/story board are so important.

Anyways, in case of doupts, I guess we can email the guy and ask him!

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