Mainframe North releases Mash 2.1 for Maya
Originally posted on 5 June. Scroll down for updates.
Mainframe North has updated Mash, its collection of nodes for creating motion graphics in Maya, and turned it from a free download into a commercial product.
Mash provides a selection of effector nodes that can be ‘daisy chained’ together to generate customisable effects. It can be controlled from both Maya’s Attribute and Node Editors.
The tool is entirely procedural, so the results can be adjusted live in the viewport.
New nodes, more streamlined
Version 2.0 adds three new nodes, which brings the total to 21, including a Maths node for manipulating objects with simple one-line equations.
However, the focus of the new release is on streamlining the tool for a commercial release: originally built in Python, Mash has been rewritten in C++, increasing speed “between 30x and 100x … depending on the node”.
The software now plugs directly into the Maya Instancer, avoiding the need to bake animations before rendering, and meaning there is no longer any need to install the separate SoUP collection of nodes.
There is also a new helper script to set up MASH with nParticles.
Mash 2.0 is available now for Maya 2012 and above, price £89.99 ($115). There is also a free trial edition, limited to 20 objects.
Updated 7 June: Our original post listed the total number of nodes in Mash 2.0 as 15: there are in fact 21, including utility nodes like Deformer and Falloff nodes.
We’ve also added the exact MSRP in US dollars rather than our original currencyconversion.
Updated 10 July: Mainframe North has released Mash 2.1. The update adds a new Flight node for creating flocking and swarming effects.
Check out Mash 2.1’s feature list or watch video demos of the Flight node in action on Mainframe North’s Vimeo channel.
Read a full list of features in Mash on Mainframe North’s website
Watch video demos of individual features in Mash 2.0
(Includes download links)