i've been using maya on linux for years, and it's excellent. yes, it does
take advantage of multiple processors, multi-core, multi-threading, etc.
i use it with dual-core athlon X2's and nvidia Quadro cards. the
latest version (8) is 64bit for both maya and the mentalray renderer.
linux+maya is a common platform in the industry for renderfarms, so
there's renderfarm packages out there for you. given how easy it is to
set up NFS shared file systems, you can also very easily tie together a
few dozen boxes as a kind of quick renderfarm with a little shell
scripting.
blender's a very powerful free/open animation & modeling package. some
people think it has kind of an obscure interface, but honestly it's no
more bizarre than maya, lightwave, or softimage.
--arky
Post by DavrosI would not describe anything as a "standard" in the 3D animation realm,
which is good for alternative platforms, but yeah it would be great to
have Maya.
Blender is an open source 3D animation programme available on several
platforms including Linux. You may wish to take a look.
Softimage, Maya's main competitor has a Linux version of their packages.
Considering that Alias only had an Irix version of their stuff for years,
and the trend to create Linux rendering farms because of the cost savings,
I would think it would be relatively easy to convinence some of these
software companies to release Linux versions of their packages. So
whatever software you use to do 3D work in Lunx, be sure to tell Alias,
Newtek, etc that you would be a potential user of theirs if they made
Linux software.
I am not sure if it is out yet, but Maxon announced Linux support for
Cinema 4D.
I just checked the website for Realsoft 3D and they have a Linux version.
(You should definitly check this one out.)
The Alias website says "Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited are available
for Windows® 32-bit and 64-bit, Mac OS® X and Linux® 32-bit and 64-bit
operating systems." which pleasently surprises me. Their free learning
edition is not available for Linux yet, not sure if that was what you
meant.
Softimage
http://www.softimage.com
Blender
http://www.blender.org
Cinema 4D
http://www.maxon.net/
Realsoft
http://www.realsoft.fi/
Alias
www.autodesk.com/alias
Also be sure to write Newtek and tell them you want Lightwave on Linux.
:-) (Newtek http://www.newtek.com)