Autodesk has introduced Autodesk Maya LT 2014, a 3D modeling and animation tool tailored for independent and mobile game developers. Available immediately and compatible with certain industry-standard game engines, Maya LT draws inspiration from Autodesk Maya software to bring an intuitive, affordable new toolset for the creation of professional-grade 3D mobile, computer and web-based game assets, according to Chris Bradshaw, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment.

The software integrates into game development workflows with out-of-the box support for Unity 3D Engine and Unreal Engine through the FBX file format for primary data exchange. Autodesk Maya LT has the ability to import certain 3D asset formats [Maya (.ma, .mb), Maya LT (.mlt), OBJ, FBX, AI, EPS] and texture formats (BMP, PNG, DDS, EXR, TGA, TIFF), as well as export 3D assets in FBX and .mlt.

Maya LT has a number of features customized specifically for the needs of mobile and independent game developers: modeling tools to help create and alter 3D assets of any size and export FBX files containing up to 25,000 polygons per object, animation tools that include a skeleton generator and inverse kinematics with Autodesk HumanIK, and viewport previews to help developers view assets as they would appear in game, reducing iteration and asset creation time. Other features are lighting and texture baking, giving designers professional global illumination tools to help simulate near realistic lighting through baking lighting data into texture maps, and vertex maps.

Autodesk Maya LT 2014 is now available for Mac and Windows at a starting suggested retail price of US$795 per perpetual license. Term licenses will also be available as part of a monthly, quarterly or annual rental plan in the near future, starting at $50, $125 and $400, respectively. For more info go to http://www.autodesk.com/mayalt .