Transitioning from Maya 2016 to 2017

[Anonymous]

I'm switching from Maya 2016 to 2017. All my assets were made in 2016.

Is there something I should be doing before I make the transition or is transitioning as easy as opening a scene file I made in 2016 into 2017?

[mspeer]

Hi!

To make sure you have access to your files regardless of the used software (version), save your scenes in a variety of formats

1. Save as .mb and .ma

2. Export as .fbx

3. export as obj

...

You can, of course, keep Maya 2016 installed besides Maya 2017.

[Anonymous]

So just to clarify, I should make a new save as file instead of just saving
over the same file?

[mspeer · Accepted solution]

Hi!

You have one format saved already .mb or .ma, then open the scene and use "Save Scene As" and choose the other format, at the end you have a scene saved as .mb and .ma.

For other file formats you need to use "Export ..."

Again, as long as you keep Maya 2016 installed you can do this also later if a problems occurs (recommended).

The 2016 saves should be kept as separate backup and should not be overwritten by 2017 saves.

If you want to de-install Maya 2016 saving/exporting scenes in multiple formats is the best way to keep widespread access to them.

This is also true for other applications.

[Anonymous]

Okay great! Thank you so much for the detailed response!