Rick, Maya PLE is free so they put the watermark in the renders so you can't use the same software for commercial work that others are buying for X amount of dollars.
but the maya watermark is so over the top! Houdini has one as well but it is a small thing in the bottom of the pic saying "non commercial version" or something along those lines with a small logo. That's a sensible watermark. I've never seen PLE so I cant' comment on the viewports but it would drive me mad if it had that sort of stuff in there as well.
Watermarking is a good idea and I'm all for it but not in the ridiculous way that Alias do it.
Alan
Technical Director - Framestore
Currently working on: Your Highness
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