My Entry Into Maya LT

[reid.j.w]

Just a quick "Hello" to the community.

After Hours of researching Blender vs Maya LT and leaving with my head spinning, I have decided to endeavor into Maya LT!

As a small studio with a Technology and Interactive Kiosk background (as well as Sound Recording and Production) I have ventured into Unity for Game and Interactive development.

My greatest hope is that enough tools are availble for me in the LT version of Maya to perform the tasks. I Love the Maya application layout and just couldn't fathom working in another enviornment.

Cheers!

Reid

[remimcgill]

Hi Reid, 

Thanks for taking the dive with us!

Please let us know as you go if there are things you need, or think we can improve on, we are always looking for good ideas and feedback from people like you!

You can post ideas for improvements here:

https://mayaltautodesk.uservoice.com/admin/forums/215180-ideas-for-maya-lt-forum

Thanks a bunch and good luck!

Remi

[thomalex89]

I am trying to make the same decision. The only difference is that I am using Unreal Engine 4.  I noticed that the monthly price for Mudbox is $10.00 right now so I am trying the trial version of Mudbox and I did get a monthly sub for Maya LT 2015 to try again for a month because I did not have enough time to try it out during it's trial version they really should give you at least 2 months to try something out.  Even though I like the Autodesk work flow it would be nice if they had a Maya LT to Mudbox feature and a Mudbox to Maya LT feature like they do in the regular Maya versions.  Even though I like the Autodesk products I don't think I am going to stick with them. Autodesk's Maya Lt shows a lot more love for Unity than they do for Unreal 4 the polygon limitation and the lack of a feature to send content directly to  Unreal 4 are probably the main reasons why I am switching plus there are a few more things that can make using Maya LT with UE4 a lot easier Like being able to use UE 4's Animation and rigging toolset in Maya Lt like you can in the regular version of Maya.  Again I like the Autodesk product but there is no real advantage of using them over a free version of Blender especially since UE4 is working with Blender to make getting content out of Blender into UE4 a lot easier.  To some the limitations might not be deal but I fell that they are and so did Unity users.  Now if I were using Unity which is a great engine I would not hesitate to use Maya LT but to pay the same price as an Unity user for what seems to be limited software for other users is hard to swallow.  I really wish Maya Lt and UE 4 were better friends but hey that is life.

[remimcgill]

Hi there,

Thanks for the feedback and explanation of how you weigh the benefits of each package and how they work together, this is helpful for us to understand what you need.  

I wanted to let you know that we are working on getting the Send to Mudbox and Send to Unreal 4 into Maya LT, so stay tuned 🙂

Thanks,

Remi

[thomalex89]

That good to hear I think that Maya lt could be so much better if they opened it up a little I would love to be able to use this in Maya lt right now you can only do this in the regular version of Maya because this plugin in written in Python.  Look below

https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/Tools/MayaRiggingTool/index.html

Please get rid of the polygon limitation. If there is none for Unity why should there be one for everyone else? 

You guys have a great day and open Maya lt a little more it will be hard for you guys to compete with a free program that is as good as Blender. Times are tight for some people and most game developers are not mega companies with mega budgets. If you are going to make 3d software for specifcally creating games then go in hard and do it right.  Maya lt can be so much more. Thanks for responding so quickly.

[reid.j.w]

Well, this is a little saddening and worthy of sharing.
I paid for 1 year of Maya LT and just 2 months into my subscription I have a need to make the jump to the full blown Maya. The saddening part is that Autodesk has no upgrade/crossgrade pricing for LT users. The only option provided to me was to contact a reseller. I would think that Autodesk would welcome the opportunity to secure more clients who would like to make the transition from Maya LT to Maya. Hopefully this is addressed in the future.
Other than that, I love the software.

[paulkind · Accepted solution]

Well, to be fair, MayaLT is a very cost effective solution for Indy Game Devs, though an upgrade benefit would be nice, the cost difference seems like it would be an obstacle.  Also MayaLT is still newish.  None the less, You should suggest this in the Suggestions for MayaLT at the very least.  I can't promise it will actually make progress, but bringing it up there will certainly let people know its something to consider.

http://mayaltfeedback.autodesk.com/forums/215180-ideas-for-maya-lt-forum

[paulkind]

BTW, congrats on the upgrade!  MayaLT and Maya are both great.  😃

[reid.j.w]

I agree completely. Thank you for the suggestion link.
Cheers

[paulkind]

As always, my pleasure.

[paulkind · Accepted solution]

Since this seems to have been solved, would you mind checking off the "solved button" to let others with the same issues know this thread leads to a solution?  Thanks 😃

[reid.j.w · Accepted solution]

Sure! My apologies