Based in Soho, London, Moving Picture Company is a purpose-built facility with a digital infrastructure designed and built for the future.

MPC has worked on projects for Nike, Levi’s, Stella Artois and Adidas, features including Harry Potter, Tomb Raider and Troy and landmark drama, history and science programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery channels.

Peter Muyzers at The Moving Picture Company has answered our questions on their use of Maya.

IT-Enquirer: What do you need 3D animation software for?

MPC: I use 3D animation software to create visual effects for live action and stop motion films.

IT-Enquirer: With which tools (not necessarily software only) did you start your career?

MPC: I started with Alias PowerAnimator on an SGI Indigo back in 1994 and when Alias launched the beta-test program of Maya, I was quick to switch to this new revolutionary 3D animation package.

IT-Enquirer: Can you name a few projects you worked on?

MPC: Gaston’s War, Troy, Harry Potter 1, 2 and 3, Kingdom Of Heaven and currently Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride.

IT-Enquirer: Do you use Maya on Windows, Linux, Unix, or on Mac? Why?

MPC: I use Maya on Linux because it can deal with large image files and huge sequences a lot better than a Windows or Mac setup can. Also, I rely a lot on shell scripting and automated tools across the vast Linux network or workstations, servers and render farm.

IT-Enquirer: What makes Maya Unlimited your software of choice above other professional 3D packages?

MPC: It definitely is one of the best and established 3D packages out there. There has rarely been an occasion where Maya wouldn’t be able to deal with the often incredibly ludicrous VFX tasks at hand. Sure, other packages could do the majority too, but I have a history with Alias’ software and that helps!

IT-Enquirer: What do you like most about Maya?

MPC: The fact that so much of it is open and accessible from the outside using plugins and scripted tools. It’s easy for Technical Directors to use due to it’s extensive MEL language. It can easily be integrated into a pipeline that already exists. Initially it wasn’t very good for advanced keyframe tasks, but now it is way ahead of the competition. Recently it has opened up it rendering architecture so other software can be linked with Maya, producing even better stunning visual effects!

IT-Enquirer: What do you dislike most about Maya?

MPC: With so many companies using it in such different industries (games, automotive, TV, film, etc) it is difficult to focus the product in a certain area. Maya has a vast array of tools and features, but perhaps it is spread just a bit thin across all industries, so anyone using it for a particular application might find that it misses out in certain areas. With Alias having such a large user base, it is difficult to get bugs fixed quickly and features added or to obtain support from the people in the know.

IT-Enquirer: What’s on your wishlist?

MPC: 1. The Maya Open Source version. A cut-down version of Maya with just basic functionality released under the Open Source Initiative. I believe such a version will see an evolution (and revolution) beyond anyones dreams.

2. The option to create better and more user friendly UI’s by offering a choice of widget packages and the ability to create your own widgets through an API.

IT-Enquirer: How do you integrate Maya with other products to reach the result you want? What’s your workflow?

MPC: Mainly by way of the Maya API. It’s is easy enough to communicate to other in-house programs and since Maya scene files can be saved and read as simple ASCII files, it is easy enough to translate data between various packages.