There are a lot of Maya plugins for VFX that can speed up the workflow and help artists and studios create amazing visual effects, that are used in feature films, TV shows, Video games, and commercials.
Today we are going to talk about 12 Maya Plugins for VFX
12-Fracture FX
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Fracture FX is the procedural demolition plugin for the Visual Effects (VFX) and the video game industry.
This tool is good for destruction effects for VFX shots, which is what a lot of studios need to work on these types of effects in feature films and tv shows
Fracture FX's scalable and event-based architecture provides artists with control over destruction simulations, which is necessary because every demolition effect is different and every shot will need custom settings resulting in more control over the process and better shots with fewer man-hours per shot.
Paid: https://www.fracture-fx.com/
11-Miarmy
Miarmy is a Human Logic Engine plugin that works in Maya for crowd simulation, AI animation, creature physical simulation, and rendering.
Using this plugin you can create all types of simulations, crowds, animals, objects, you name it, your imagination is the limit.
Miarmy has been utilized by many projects globally from films to animations from commercials to Olympic game simulations.
paid/Free : http://www.basefount.com/miarmy.html
10-Realflow
RealFlow is a fluid and dynamics simulation tool for visual effects that work with Maya, it was developed by Next Limit Technologies in Madrid, Spain. This stand-alone application can be used for things other than liquids such as granular, viscous, viscoelastic, rigid, elastic materials, soft bodies, and meshes. In 2008, Next Limit Technologies was awarded a Technical Achievement Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their development of the RealFlow software and its contribution to the production of motion pictures.
Xbox companion download. It was used by a lot of studios to work on some popular feature films such as 300, the X-men, and The Lord of The Rings just to name a few.
Realflow was also used for video game cinematics such as Ryse: son of Rome, uncharted and God of war as an example.
And of course, we can't forget commercials because real flow is used a lot in this field.
Paid: http://www.nextlimit.com/realflow/realflow-maya/
9-Particle Flocker
Particle Flocker is a nice particle simulation plugin that can be really effective for some of the common behavior of flocks especially in nature like, months, fish, or birds.
During the simulation, Particles will attempt to avoid colliding with one another by keeping a set distance away from neighboring particles.
Particles will attempt to get as near as possible to the center of the flock. This ensures flocks stay together and act as a cohesive group.
Particles attempt to match the velocities of their neighbors by continually comparing their own velocity with that of their neighbors.
This plugin gives the ability to control how the flock of particles move and behave.
You can Make particles steer towards a specified target location. Or make them steer away from a specified target location as fast as they can.
There is the ability to Make particles randomly wander around their environment.
Also, you can make particles move along different paths or surfaces, in addition to that, you can also constrain the movement of the particles within a volume shape which will keep the flock from going somewhere that was not intended, and it lets you know approximately the volume they are going to occupy.
Paid: http://www.particleflocker.com/
8-Pull Down It
Pulldownit is a dynamics plugin intended for destruction effects as well as massive rigid body simulations. By using its technology, digital artists are able to shatter objects in different styles and simulate easily the fracture of 3D models. It allows for computing thousands of objects in dynamics in a stable and realistic way.
The technology of fracture inside PullDownIt is great. It allows fracturing of any kind of brittle material like stone, glass, or stucco. By using it, digital artists are able to simulate the collapse of structures or terrain cracking in minutes. Not least, its easy setup and powerful stress tools allow for control in the creation of cracks and drive the simulation to the desired end.
PullDownit catches the geometry from the viewports and computes the final result as animation keys. It allows to reset the simulation and start again as many times as needed also tweaking parameters and resume simulations at any frame, in addition, animated objects and characters are able to interact with the simulated ones.
Paid: https://www.pulldownit.com/productos.php?idcate=3
7-Massive
Massive is a great Maya Plugins for VFX if you want to create crowds, small or large, for your projects – not only as a visual effects artist but also if you work in engineering or architecture. There are few options out there for generating crowds, but Massive is one of the best-known, and it is now fully integrated into Maya.
To create crowd simulations you need to create a terrain places some agents and run the simulation to see some action.
Also, there is a possibility of using lanes to guide to movement of crowds during the simulation.
Paid: http://massivesoftware.com/massive-for-maya.html
6-Krakatoa
KRAKATOA™ is a Volumetric Particle Rendering, Manipulation and Management Toolkit created by Thinkbox.
KRAKATOA was specifically designed to process and render millions and even billions of particles and adapt its memory footprint to the requested rendering features. Zuma deluxe 2 download full version.
Krakatoa is a unique Maya Plugins for VFX because it does deal with a huge number of particles using a single computer which is great for studios that can't afford expensive hardware.
KRAKATOA is CPU-based, highly optimized for 64-bit computing, heavily multi-threaded, and can be used successfully on most hardware running Windows or Linux operating systems including laptops and render nodes without dedicated high-end graphics accelerators.
Paid: https://www.awsthinkbox.com/krakatoa
5-Golaem Crowd
Golaem gives you the power to quickly populate your scenes with smart and directable digital characters. This is one of the Maya Plugins for VFX that is probably the best option for crowds simulations, it is good for Avoiding repetitive animation tasks, also it helps Generate more variety for more realistic shots.
Golaem crowd simulations were used to work on some of the most popular tv shows such as Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Falling Skies, War, and Peace.
Also feature films such as Independence Day, Dracula Untold, Hercules just to name a few.
Also, there is a possibility of using lanes to guide to movement of crowds during the simulation.
Paid: http://massivesoftware.com/massive-for-maya.html
6-Krakatoa
KRAKATOA™ is a Volumetric Particle Rendering, Manipulation and Management Toolkit created by Thinkbox.
KRAKATOA was specifically designed to process and render millions and even billions of particles and adapt its memory footprint to the requested rendering features. Zuma deluxe 2 download full version.
Krakatoa is a unique Maya Plugins for VFX because it does deal with a huge number of particles using a single computer which is great for studios that can't afford expensive hardware.
KRAKATOA is CPU-based, highly optimized for 64-bit computing, heavily multi-threaded, and can be used successfully on most hardware running Windows or Linux operating systems including laptops and render nodes without dedicated high-end graphics accelerators.
Paid: https://www.awsthinkbox.com/krakatoa
5-Golaem Crowd
Golaem gives you the power to quickly populate your scenes with smart and directable digital characters. This is one of the Maya Plugins for VFX that is probably the best option for crowds simulations, it is good for Avoiding repetitive animation tasks, also it helps Generate more variety for more realistic shots.
Golaem crowd simulations were used to work on some of the most popular tv shows such as Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Falling Skies, War, and Peace.
Also feature films such as Independence Day, Dracula Untold, Hercules just to name a few.
Video Game cinematics such as Halo Wars, and War Hammer.
You can populate backgrounds and midgrounds in a very short period of time, which is one of the most important reasons to use crow simulation plugins, since the time and the effort to fill fields with crowds and animate them is going to be enormous.
It also comes with READY-TO-USE ASSETS OR CUSTOM ASSETS which is a nice thing because this will be helpful to generate crowds that can look realistic from a distance.
I think that taking advantage of the Golaem Assets and their set of free characters and motions is a fantastic effort and time saver.
Paid: http://golaem.com/
4-FumeFX
FumeFx is a powerful fluid dynamics plugin for Maya, designed for simulation and rendering of realistic fire, smoke, explosions, and other gaseous phenomena. It has the ability to capture the subtlety and complexity of fluid gas behavior. It is favored among visual effects artists, game developers, visualization professionals, and anybody else who wants to generate amazing effects.
FumeFx has been used in visual effects for a long period of time and it was used in some of the most popular feature films like a lot of Marvel movies, also DC movies, and others such as Ghost Raider, Star Trek, 2012 to name a few.
Also, it was used to create cinematics for popular video games such as Halo Wars, Starcraft, and Batman Arkham Night to name a few.
Even though it is popular as it was before for the emergence of new powerful plugins and tools also the rise of Houdini but Fumefx is still one of the best Maya Plugins for VFX nonetheless.
Paid : https://www.afterworks.com/FumeFXMaya.asp
3-Ziva VFX
Ziva Dynamics, the developer of Ziva products, was founded in early 2015 by Academy Award-winner James Jacobs and Dr. Barbic.
This tool specializes in advanced muscle simulations, enabling you to have dynamic soft tissue physics in your character renders. With Ziva, you can avoid spending all that time sculpting every little detail of your character's muscles to try and make them appear as realistic as possible from scene to scene.
This technology is not actually new, it was first developed by Weta Digital to create realistic movements for characters and animals, by going from the inside out creating bones, muscles, and skin. The animators still do the main animation work but the muscle movement underneath the skin happens automatically which makes everything way better.
Paid : https://zivadynamics.com/ziva-vfx
2-Phoenix FD
Phoenix FD is an all-in-one solution for fluid dynamics. It can Simulate fire, smoke, liquids, ocean waves, splashes, spray, mist, and more.
It was built for 3D artists who want to create dynamic effects using quick presets, fast setup, and intuitive controls.
It is good for generating small wisps of smoke and steam and Rendering particles as bubbles, drops, points, or fog.
Phoenix Fd was created and is currently developed by Chaos Group, the developers of Vray, one of the most popular render engines.
Phoenix FD is amongst the firstly developed Maya Plugins for VFX, so, it is old compared to Vray of Fumefx. It was introduced I believe ten years ago but is one of the best Maya plugins for VFX with multiple fluid simulation abilities.
Phoenix FD can Simulate highly-realistic and complex vorticity effects with full control over large-scale vortex strength and ultra-fine details and increase resolution without changing simulation shape or behavior. Also, you can Import & export mesh objects and particles to OpenVDB, Alembic, Krakatoa, XMesh, and V-Ray proxy files.
Paid: https://www.chaosgroup.com/phoenix-fd/maya
1-Bifrost
Bifröst is a simulation system for high-quality visual effects. You can generate liquid from emitters and have it fall under gravity, interact with colliders to direct the flow and create splashes and use fields to create jets and other effects.
It was about a decade ago that a new fluid simulation tool was introduced to 3D artists worldwide. This was Naiad, from Exotic Matter, and it quickly became a much sought-after solution for large-scale water sims, gaining significant attention through its use by Weta Digital in the 2009 blockbuster Avatar.
Then, in 2012, Exotic Matter was acquired by Autodesk and Naiad became Bifrost within Maya.
Bifrost is probably one of the best Maya Plugins for VFX in the industry because it is powerful and it has proven itself in action with some of the best and most popular feature films.
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Studio Head Paul Hatton explores some of the not-to-be-missed plugins that are available for Maya – check out his top 10!
Studio Head Paul Hatton explores some of the not-to-be-missed plugins that are available for Maya – check out his top 10!
Plugins such as Golaem Crowd are incredible tools that will make your life as a 3D artist easier. You'll also be able to deliver better results than if you just relied on the native Maya tools. © Golaem Crowd
Maya is a comprehensive piece of simulation and animation software. It sets itself apart from 3ds Max in areas of animation, lighting and VFX. Despite the extensive nature of the software there is always room for improvement and that is where bespoke plugins come to the fore. Maya has a strong community of developers that have set about making our workflows easier by putting easy to use tools in our hands. In this article we're going to take a quick whistle-stop tour of 10 of the plugins which you should take a look at.
Maya Carbon Scatter
Real-world environments are made easy with Carbon Scatter. It can handle millions of plants, trees, stones and other objects allowing you to create incredibly varied and beautiful scenes. They also have a shop which contacts a huge variety of plants and trees for an easy drag and drop solution.
Scatter objects naturally with this simple to use plugin
Maya HDR Light Studio
This is not technically a plugin but I thought it was worth a mention all the same! It's a brilliant solution to lighting your model as it lets you set up custom designed HDR images that can then be used in any renderer. Its interface is visually led making it very intuitive to work with.
Create custom lighting setups that bring your lighting and reflections to life
Maya Phoenix FD
This plugin is an absolute steal from Chaos Group. It allows Maya users to create a variety of simulations including fire, water and smoke. It is quick, versatile and incredibly straight-forward to get quickly realistic results. Check out the trial and you'll never look back.
Vfx Download Free
Fluid simulations can be achieved inside of Maya but not as simply as with Phoenix
Realflow
Another major player in the fluid simulation market is Realflow. If you're used to using Maxwell then Realflow will sit nicely in your workflow. Realflow also includes GPU acceleration and impressive simulation solvers that enable users to create what they need with impressive speed.
Finding a reliable fluids simulator is vital if you need it to deliver on a tight deadline
Maya MiArmy
This one is a little random although I hope some of you find it a helpful recommendation! It's called MiArmy and it is a crowd simulation plugin. It allows for AI and behavioural led animation and creates crowds that interact in a believable manner.
Crowd simulation is made easy with MiArmy
Golaem Crowd
Maya Vfx software, free download
Another plugin for crowd simulation purposes is Golaem Crowd. What I love about this plugin is that it has a diverse array of free characters and motions that can be utilised in your scenes. It also has a physical simulation feature which can achieve some pretty cool results.
Crowd simulators have come on leaps and bounds in recent years and Golaem is one such example
Maya Keyshot
KeyShot is a real-time ray tracing solution and as of 2016 it is now compatible with Maya as a direct plugin. This is good news for Maya users. KeyShot's speedy and efficient workflow makes it a perfect rendering solution for both product visualisations and interior renders.
Keyshot is definitely an emerging entity and well worth checking out their trial software
RenderMan
Pixar have released their famous RenderMan software for Maya. RenderMan will helpfully work with all your Maya geometry, materials and lights and so on, and translate them for use in the rendering process. It is stable and quick and can be utilised right from within the Maya user interface.
There are now more renderers than you can shake a stick at but RenderMan is well worth a look
Shave
This plugin has been utilised by an incredible variety of clients in the games and VFX industries. Its track record speaks for itself. It is compatible with all the major renderers and can be relied on for creating impressive results. It is largely texture map driven enabling users to increase realism.
Shave has a very impressive list of clients that have utilised this technology
Pulldownit
This is a quick Voronoi based solution to shattering and fracturing geometry. When doing this kind of work you want a stable solution and Pulldownit providers that. You can shatter geometry accurately based on materials such as stone and glass. The fracturing is also captured in key frames so is perfect for animation.
Shatter and fracture geometry with ease with Pulldownit
Keep up-to-date with the latest plugins
Many of the plugins I have selected for this article have stood the test of time. They are plugins which are utilised in industry pipelines, making them reliable and trustworthy solutions. I would highly recommend that you keep an eye on Maya forums to keep ahead of the game in terms of developers releasing plugins to make your life easier. Anything that can save you time, will save you money and therefore makes it a no-brainer for investment. There are plenty of paid plugins out there but it's important to not discount free ones as they often do an excellent job.
Related links
Take a look at Maya's overview
Wiki's list of Maya plugins
Autodesk's app store
Simply Maya – a resource website
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