Which studios use The Beaver Project?
Axis AnimationBarbed Wire FX
Beau Cameron FX
Colorado FX
Computer Cafe
DNA Productions
Digital Light Factory
Duck Soup LA
Duran Duboi
dxd
Eden FX
Exploria Productions
Frag-Ment
FuzzyGoat
Gray Matter FX
Lost Pencil
Midway Games
Naughty Dog
Pixel Magic FX
Post Logic
Rainbow Studios
Rainmaker
Rhythm & Hues
RustMonkey
Threshold Digital
Vinton Studios
Zoic
filmakademie.de
vTorque
What features does it support?
- The initial release will be compatible with Maya 4.5 and higher for Windows 2000/XP, LightWave 6.5 and higher for Windows, Mac OS and Linux- Motion curves for cameras, lights, geometry and nulls
- Deforming geometry such as softbodies or clusters
- Camera properties such as resolution, pixel aspect, frame aspect, lens, focal length
- Light properties such as color, intensity, falloff, spotlight cone and penumbra, shadow mapping
- Polygonal geometry export with UVs and textures
- Rigid and softbody dynamics, particles
- Import of LW scenes and objects into Maya. LW curves are baked on a per frame basis
Why is there no support for Maya versions earlier than 4.5?
Earlier versions of the Maya SDK would hold back some features that users asked for, so it was decided that v4.5 was the earliest version we should support.Are subdivision surfaces supported?
Any piece of polygonal geometry can directly be exported as a subdivision LWO. Maya's subvision surfaces are not supported.What about NURBS support?
Since LW does not natively support NURBS this is not directly possible. However, BP provides functionality to automatically convert NURBS surfaces to polygonal surfaces that will translate correctly to LW.What about Maya particles?
Maya particles are exported as LW PFX formatted files.What about Paint FX and Fur?
Since both of these features work solely based on the Maya renderer, this will not translate over. However, it's easy to render these as separate passes in Maya and composite them together with the LW renders.What about Maya Cloth?
Since cloth is a polygonal mesh it's exported to LW without problems.Will it work on Mac/Linux LW?
The Maya plugins are only compatible with Windows. However, all data is written as standard LW files, so it's perfectly compatible with Mac/Linux LW. There is also the option of writing out data using the LW content directory scheme or explicit paths, so LW scenes and geometry will load correctly under Mac LW.What is included in the beta?
It buys you a full usage license of the Beaver Project's Maya/LightWave Translation module and you are free to use it as much and on as many projects as you wish. It does not, however, come with support. We will release updates periodically and send it off to the users. This does not mean we won’t listen to problems, etc encountered by our users. We will have email addresses available for bug reporting, etc.
Some of you will want support and demand it because of your production situation.
This is dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Please get in touch with us at
.