Greetings,

I am running a design shop with an existing 8.5 lisence that i cannot expand, only 2xx8 is available. Is anyone working cross versions yet? What features are available in the new version?

Has anyone had any issues working between versions?

Thanks,
J

A Maya 2008 license allows one to run previous versions of Maya.  you don’t have to run the latest if you don’t want to.

ok....im a noob.....I opened a maya 8.5 scene with maya 2008 and accidentally saved over it, is there any way that I can reopen the scene with maya 8.5?

i.e. is maya 2008 backwards compatible? please help me because I’m too noob to figure this out on my own.

Cheers.

Hi J,

You’ll find a very detailed list of features on 2008 here:

http://area.autodesk.com/for...a_2008_features_detailed/

spedmonkey,

If you save the 2008 version as an “.ma” ascii version file, you can open it in a text editor and change some sections in the header section of the file to match the same sections in a version 8.5 ascii file. You should compare two ascii files (2008 and 8.5) side by side to see what the differences are. There is a posting (old discussion groups?) that discusses this further.

Regards,
Steve-o

---------------EDITS BELOW-----------------
//Maya ASCII 8.5 scene
//Name: 49.ma
//Last modified: Thu, Apr 26, 2007 04:42:13 PM
//Codeset: 1252
requires maya “8.5”;
currentUnit -l foot -a degree -t film;
fileInfo “application” “maya”;
fileInfo “product” “Maya Unlimited 8.5”;
fileInfo “version” “8.5”;
fileInfo “cutIdentifier” “200612162224-692032”;
fileInfo “osv” “Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)\n”;
createNode transform -s -n “persp”;
setAttr “.v” no;

--------> It looks like there are 3 places that you would need to change in the above shown header. I pulled this from my Supercar Digital Tutors tutorial.
Steve-o

I have same problem too.. i can not open 2008 files in 8.5..  i hate Autodesk. Why should i need a text editor.. These little things make big difference.

You don’t need to edit the file to get it into 8.5.

Start Maya 8.5

File->OpenScene->Option Box

Select “Ignore Version”

Import your 2008 scene directly into Maya 8.5

Some programs can open every file without checking file version. What if i do want my program not to ignore version? Sometimes i want my program to ignore version and sometimes i do not.. You can choose in maya. Maya checks file version..This is great. That’s why i love Mr. Autodesk. ( : Autodesk thinks every customer. Autodesk takes care of every customer

I am sorry Autodesk.. I am sorry everyone who works for making maya

ps. Thank you martinpw

ps2. why do you think Autodesk is obsessed on years like fifa99,fifa2000,fifa2001.....fifa2008. How about a cool name..

like
Maya : Episode 9 - Revenge of Meats Meier

ps3. i better press f1 key more often

i think both Autodesk and Sony need a good name for their products too

I just purchased Autodesk Maya 2008 Unlimited.

Currently, I’ve got the default card, the NVIDIA 6600LE, which came with theG5 system. I installed Maya last night on my dual core G5 2 ghz and so far it appears to be work alright, though I read for 8.5, a computer with this card can’t render shadows properly.

I also purchased an ATI XT1900 Card (PCI Xpress) for the Apple G5 system about the same time thinking that it would be 100% compatible with Maya 2008. I haven’t received it in the mail yet, but it’s on the way. Apparently, the previous version, 8.5, was supposed to be 100% compatible with this card. At least that’s what the Autodesk website said:

http://download.autodesk.com/us/maya/qualcharts/maya_85_osx.html

I installed Maya on my G5, thinking that the ATI XT1900 that I’m about to receive would also be 100% compatible. However, when I read the fine print carefully on the 2008 software package and corresponding website URL carefully, Autodesk now states that there is an issue with the AT XT1900 card and the it is not compatible at all with the 2008 version, though in version 8.5, it was.

http://download.autodesk.com/us/maya/qualcharts/Maya_OSX_2008.htm

In fact, according to the information posted on the website, the new 2008 version isn’t fully compatible with any of the Macintosh cards, be they Intel or Mac based.  So, where it was able to work with some Macs and some graphics cards in version 8.5, it’s no longer compatible with anything on the market for the Mac! Nada. Apparently, if the information on the website is correct, Autodesk released a product which is more buggy and less stable than its previous version. If I’d known this, I wouldn’t have purchased version 2008, but 8.5 instead.  I also feel that Autodesk was not truthful in informing its customers about the potential problems I’d face witht he newer version. I felt deceived. So I’m thinking of asking for an exchange on this product to go backwards to get 8.5, because there wasn’t any pre-release information on Autodesk’s website or literature about these incompatibilities. I mean, what’s the point in releasing a new software version if it works less well than the previous one?

Given the literature I’ve read so far, I now somewhat regret buying 2008. I wish I’d bought 8.5 when I had the chance. Is anyone in the same boat? If so , perhaps we should all get together, form a blog and ask for an exchange to get version 8.5 instead.  Please tell me if you are in a similar situation. Maybe we can all get an exchange. Perhaps Autodesk can reply to this topic.

I am with you. 

I have a dual boot system XP 64 bit/ MacOSX. 

I have 8.5 and it works great on mac and windows.  I installed Maya2008 and its totally unusable. What happened autodesk????????  Why has it changed so much that I can not use it on Mac AT ALL.
Shame.  Real shame.  Why would driver requirement change so much.

actor3d 04 November 2007 01:57 AM

I am with you. 

I have a dual boot system XP 64 bit/ MacOSX. 

I have 8.5 and it works great on mac and windows.  I installed Maya2008 and its totally unusable. What happened autodesk????????  Why has it changed so much that I can not use it on Mac AT ALL.
Shame.  Real shame.  Why would driver requirement change so much.

What driver requirements? According to what you are saying, Maya doesn’t work with any of them at all. It seems that Autodesk threw out the baby with the bathwater. We’ve been screwed over. Unless Autodesk can give us an exchange, rebate or refund, it’s money down the drain.