Autodesk ships Maya 2022.2
Autodesk has released Maya 2022.2, the latest version of its 3D modelling and animation software, adding scaling controls to the new Solidify deformer, and improving workflow in the Script Editor.
Maya’s Bifrost and USD plugins have also been updated.
New scaling controls for the Solidify deformer
The main change in Maya itself is to the Solidify deformer, which gets new scaling controls to make it possible to resize geometry tagged as non-deformable.
Users can scale ‘islands’ of non-deformable geometry along surface normals or using tangent planes, and scaling can be controlled on a per-island or global basis, as shown in the video above.
Workflow improvements to the Script Editor and Application Home
Workflow improvements in the core software include new option in the Attribute Editor to save all of the script tabs open to a file, and to show tab and space characters in the Script Editor.
The new Application Home screen added in Maya 2022.1 gets a small update, now displaying file locations from the side menu of the Recent Files list.
Updates to the Bifrost and USD
Multiphysics simulation plugin Bifrost for Maya has also been updated, with new features including the option to drive simulation parameters with fields or arrays.
We covered Bifrost for Maya 2.3 when it was released last month, so check out this story for details.
USD for Maya, bundled with the software since Maya 2022, also got an update in July.
Changes in USD for Maya 0.11 include the option to set a USD stage as shareable or unshareable in the proxyShape node, and read-only layers are now locked automatically in the Layer Editor.
Smaller changes
Other than that, there are a few minor features listed in the online documentation, including a bugfix update for the Maya to Arnold plugin, updates to the Maya API, and two new environmental variables.
The ‘What’s New’ page also namechecks Python 3, support for which was introduced in Maya 2022, but as far as we can see, there isn’t actually anything new this time around.
Pricing and availability
Maya 2022.2 is available for Windows 10, RHEL/CentOS 7.6-7.9 or 8.2 Linux and macOS 10.13+. The software is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $215/month or $1,700/year.
In many countries, artists earning under $100,000/year and working on projects valued at under $100,000/year, qualify for Maya Indie subscriptions, now priced at $280/year.
Read an overview of the new features in Maya 2022.2 on Autodesk’s website
Read a full list of new features in Maya 2022.2 in the online documentation