Our industry is craving increased flexibility and affordability across entertainment content creation with VFX and animation required for almost all content produced, whether it’s for a film, a game, or a commercial.

VFX facilities, as an example, are being pressured to create high quality content, quickly, for streaming services working to delight their subscribers. Eight in 10 people used video on-demand services in the last two years according to a recent Statista survey.

At the same time, although production budgets are increasing, they are not keeping pace with consumer demand. This puts pressure on companies to do more for less. As larger facilities enlist freelance artists and boutique VFX houses to scale workload capacity, there is more demand for affordable industry-standard tools. For studios to compete, creativity and efficiency are paramount.

Young dragon created in Maya by artist Gabriel Richaud.

We’re launching Maya Creative to make content creation more accessible by lowering the barrier to entry for artists at smaller facilities. This more affordable and flexible version of Maya is a great option for anyone looking to scale capacity or access professional 3D tools.

It features powerful modeling, animation, rigging, and rendering tools for film, television, and game development. This includes Maya’s full industry-standard creative toolset: high-end 3D modeling; UV, lookdev, and texturing; motion graphics; animation deformation; camera sequencing; rendering and imaging; and data and scene assembly. Maya Creative also offers Arnold renderer to meet the demands of complex and photoreal VFX and animation workflows.

Maya Creative is available on both Windows and Mac. Artists can use it as it makes sense for their work through Flex, our pay-as-you-go option for daily product use. Our goal was to introduce a cost-efficient option for freelancers, boutique facilities, or small business creative teams, who don’t need the same API access or extensibility required for larger production workflows.

One independent creator, Clifford Paul, said the best thing about Maya Creative is the flexibility it gives him as a freelancer working on diverse projects. He is required to use a variety of programs across client work, and he can access and pay for Maya whenever he needs it.

We’re excited that Maya Creative will make it easier for smaller teams and individual creators like Clifford to compete and create content alongside larger facilities.

 Learn more about Maya Creative, access the product with Flex, or download a free trial here.