Autodesk Maya: Create expansive worlds, complex characters, and dazzling effects
3D animation and visual effects software
What is Autodesk Maya?
Autodesk Maya is professional 3D software for creating realistic characters and blockbuster-worthy effects.
Bring believable characters to life with engaging animation tools.
Shape 3D objects and scenes with intuitive modeling tools.
Create realistic effects—from explosions to cloth simulation
Breathe life into 3D models with powerful animation tools
Whether you’re animating lifelike digi doubles or lovable cartoon characters (US Site) , Maya has the animation toolset to bring your 3D assets to life.
How does Maya simplify animation with AI?
Avoid tedious tasks and take control of your animations. With tools like Maya’s Machine Learning Deformer, powered by Autodesk AI, you can effortlessly:
Approximate complex character deformations
Speed up animation
Block scenes efficiently
Manage crowd scenes
Stay on track and stress-free with these powerful tools designed to make your animation projects smoother and more enjoyable.
Animation tools: Fly through animation work
Adopt a toolset that frees you to do the work that matters most with keyframe, nonlinear, and motion capture animation. Easily track and adjust complex character timing with Maya’s redesigned Dope Sheet and visualize how a character moves 100 times faster with Motion Trails.
VFX tools: Create detailed effects that pop
From vibrant explosions to lush forests and frigid snowstorms, Bifrost lets you create natural-looking effects with ease. In Maya’s Bifrost Graph, you can handle simulations, scattering, and instancing, plus work with OpenUSD scenes for better collaboration. Plus, access pre-built graphs to jump start your effects.
Rigging tools: Make posable characters
Create great characters from the start with fast, intuitive rigging tools for building and posing skeletons, plus easy skinning. Take advantage of Bifrost for Maya’s modular and procedural framework to create standardized rig modules, using built-in options or custom designs.
System Requirements for Autodesk Maya 2026
Software
Operating System
Microsoft® Windows® 10, version 1809 or higher.
Microsoft® Windows® 11
Apple® macOS® 15.x, 14.x, 13.x
Linux® Red Hat® Enterprise 8.10 WS, 9.3 WS, 9.5 WS
Rocky Linux 8.10, 9.3, 9.5
(See Autodesk's Product Support Lifecycle for support information.)
Browser Autodesk recommends the latest version of the following web browsers for access to online supplemental content:
Apple Safari web browser
Google® Chrome web browser
Microsoft Edge web browser
Mozilla® Firefox® web browser
Hardware
CPU
64-bit Intel® or AMD® with SSE4.2 instruction set
For macOS, Apple Silicon arm64 or Intel x86
Graphics Hardware Refer to the following pages for a detailed list of recommended systems and graphics cards:
Maya Certified Hardware
RAM 8 GB of RAM (16 GB or more recommended)
Disk Space 7 GB of free disk space for install
Pointing Device Three-button mouse
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