Review: Maya LT

The diet version of Maya might lack advanced features but you'll still get an awful lot of bang for your buck.

5 Star Rating

Our Verdict

It might not have Maya's more heavyweight options, but Maya LT delivers everything a game artist needs at a reasonable price.

For

  • Brush-based sculpting toolset
  • Enhanced modelling and UV editing tools
  • Support for PBR shader-authouring
  • Stingray game engine included
  • Content browser for shared assets

Against

  • Lacks many of Maya's more advanced features

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For over 15 years now I’ve been using Maya and can say that I have touched on every aspect of it at one time or another. My days with what was once an Alias product began in game development, but soon I also became involved in production and TV work. Maya became an essential part of my pipeline as it meant I could easily build upon my foundation skills of modelling, rigging and animation to also cover dynamics, scripting, rendering and advanced rigging – without moving to another application.

I do love using Maya but it’s in no way perfect. I have had my fair share of crashes over the years and when it comes down to it, it’s expensive. Even with the recent subscription changes you are still looking at around £1,500 per year to use it. This is a cost that would put a lot of developers off, especially indie developers on a shoe-string or non-existent budget.

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The Verdict
10

out of 10

Review: Maya LT

It might not have Maya's more heavyweight options, but Maya LT delivers everything a game artist needs at a reasonable price.

For over two decades Antony Ward, creative director at antCGi Ltd, has been provoking pixels. In that time he has worked for many top studios and also written three technical manuals.