MA

Title(s): MA format

Version ID: Maya 10.0

Date released: 2009 (10.0) / October 06, 2008

Creator(s): Alias Systems Corporation now owned by Autodesk

Contributor(s): see history

Relationships: - Culmination of three 3D software lines: Wavefront's The Advanced Visualizer (in California), Thomson Digital Image (TDI) Explore (in France) and Alias' Power Animator (in Canada). In 1993 Wavefront purchased TDI, and in 1995

• Previous Version(s): Not Available

• Contains: None

• Syntax Format(s): Binary Hexidecimal

• Family Format(s): None

Description:

A node based format, where a node is an such as camera angles, lighting descriptions, meshes, transformations, NURBS, polys, and SubDivs, etc. Subset of the MEL (Maya Embedded Language) format used for scripting in Maya.

History: In 1993 Wavefront purchased TDI, and in 1995 Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) purchased both Alias and Wavefront, producing a single product line, used for films such as Jurassic Park, The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Alias' "Maya" architecture,was merge Wavefront's code with it, and upon its release in 1998, Alias|Wavefront discontinued all previous animation-based software lines including Alias Power Animator, encouraging consumers to upgrade to Maya. Alias|Wavefront was renamed Alias. In 2003, Alias was sold by SGI to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and the private equity investment firm Accel-KKR. In October 2005, Alias was sold again, this time to Autodesk, and on January 10, 2006, Autodesk completed the acquisition and Alias Maya is now known as Autodesk Maya.

Example(s):

createNode transform -n "sphere";
        setAttr ".s" -type "double3" 2.44 2.44 2.44;
        setAttr ".t" -type "double3" -6.96 0 6.9;

createNode nurbsSurface -n "sphereShape" -p "sphere";
        setAttr ".tw" yes;
        setAttr ".rtw" yes;
        setAttr ".ipo" no

Identifier:

Documentation: Robust modeling format with support for NURBS, polys, and SubDivs. Also, incoporates a scirpting language MEL, and has support for dynamics, and simulations.

File Extensions: .ma, .mb for binary

Applications:

• Native application(s): Autodesk Maya

• Interoperable applications:

Magic numbers:

Format(s): .ma ASCII human readable, .mb compressed binary version of .ma

Rights: Proprietary license

Sustainability Factors:

• Standardization: Proprietary but well documented

• Adoption:

• • Licensing and patent claims: None

• Self-documentation: None

• External dependencies: None.

• Technical protection considerations: None

Typical use: 3D rendering, animation, simulation

File classification:

• Type {Binary, Text}: ASCII
• Raster data:
  • Raster data 2D:
    • Is Supported: true
  • Raster data 3D:
    • Is Supported: true
• Geometric representation:
  • Implicit representation:
    • Implicit surfaces:
      • Is Supported: true
    • Implicit curves:
      • Is Supported: ture
    • Point set:
      • Is Supported: true
  • Mesh:
    • Manifold surface meshes:
      • Is Supported: true
    • Manifold volume meshes:
      • Is Supported: true
    • Non-manifold meshes:

• • Parametric representation:
    • Parametric surfaces:
      • Is Supported: true
    • Parametric curves:
      • Is Supported: true
  • Contour sets:
    • Is Supported: true
  • NURBS:
    • Is Supported: true
  • SubDivs:
    • Is Supported: true
• Multi-resolution models:
  • Is Supported: true
• Dynamics:
  • Kinematics:
    • Is Supported: true
  • Assembly:
    • Is Supported: Not sure
  • Force(s):
    • Is Supported: true
• Boundary representation
  • Manifold surface boundary representations:
    • Is Supported: true
  • Manifold volume boundary representations:
    • Is Supported: true
  • Non-manifold boundary representations:
    • Is Supported: Not sure
• Material transparency:
  • Is Supported: true
  • Description: multiple surface traits are expressible