[Man With No Name]

Wow,

What a headache. I recieved my copy of the Maya Personal Learning Edition in the mail last week. I installed it and .... Error, not enough memory to run application. OK, sure enough, I have 256 RAM of ram and I need 512 mb of ram. So I got on the phone with Dell, shelled out $128 and ordered another 256 mb of Ram.

I got the Card yesterday, installed it this morning. ran the program... Error, not enough memory to run application. Get on the phone with Dell Tech support. Turns out that graphics card automatically allocates 1 mb of ram for itself, leaving me with 511 mb of Ram (1 mb short of required memory..) OK, can I upgrade my memory any more? After 4 phonecalls to 4 different divisions of Dell... no. my 4 month-old Dell 4300 is maxed out in the memory department. ARRRRGGGGGHHHH.

So to make a long story short. I've already spent $9 on the Maya personal Learning Edition, $128.95 on memory and now it looks as though I'd have to spend who knows what on a new computer just to run the "FREE" maya learning edition.

My question to you wonderful board mates out there is this... Is it worth it? Do any of you have the "FREE" Maya Personal Learning Edition and if you do, do you use it? Or is it one of those things that gives you a glimpse of what you could do with Maya if you actually went out and bought the normal edition. I just need to know. I'd love to model like Steven Stahlberg, briareos and the rest, but if this program doesn't allow me to do that... I can't possibly give up the cash needed to find out. Can anyone give me a little direction here? Please?

very frusterated,
Curt

[ May 04, 2002: Message edited by: Man With No Name ]

[Jelo]

I don't use the "learning edition" so I don't know... but I use the normal version and it works with 512mb I think it works with 128mb to or at least 256mb. It must be some thing else causing the trouble.

Don't foget that your Windows or Mac OS also allocates memory it doesn't leave you with full 512mb of RAM. Currently I have only 200-300mb available with a few programs running like ICQ, Outlook, Internet Explorer windows and some other smal services.

[ May 04, 2002: Message edited by: Jelo ]

[mh]

Seems strange. I run Maya 4.0 on my pretty "low-end" home computer without any problems. I have a p3 450, 256mb ram and a gf2mx. Maya doesnt require much to run, ive used it on even worse computers.

[James Bradford]

If Maya is giving problems - you may want to try out Newtek's Lightwave and Discreet's 3D Studio Max own versions of their free learning software. I wont go into all the glits and glamour of what they have to offer but if you looking to produce work like Stahlberg, those two packages are fine choices.
www.newtek.com www.discreet.com

[Man With No Name]

Hmm,

Under further investigation at the Alias/Wavefront site (makers of Maya) it seems that other people have had the same problem. In one instance someone reported that Maya does not work with Windows ME (which is exactly what Dell supplied me with.) I'll try a different version of windows this week and let you all know if that is indeed the problem.

James, thanks for those links, I'll definitly look into them. (although being a huge squaresoft fan, I'd really like to get Maya working....)

Isn't there anyone out there that has actually used the Personal Learning Edition? (I still would like to know if it's worth all this trouble.)

Curt

[Man With No Name]

Thanks for the quick reply,

Unfortunately it doesn't help me much. Every time I try to run the program I get the message "there is not enough free memory available to run this program, quit one or more other programs and try again." That's pretty hard to take when I don't have any other programs running at all. Perhaps you have an older version of Maya. Could you check your hardware system requirements on the packaging? The Personal Learning Edition requires:
Pentium processor at least 600 mhz (I have 1.6 ghz)]
512 Mbytes of RAM (I have 512.)
CD-rom drive (check)
Hardware accelerated OpenGL graphics card (unsure, I have an Nvidia g-force 2 mx)
3-button mouse with driver software (check)
700 MB of Hard Disk space. (I currently have 12.6 GB free)

I have no other option but to believe that it has something to do with that 1 MB allocated for the graphics card (even my system stats claim that I have 511 mb of RAM....)

If your packaging claims 512 mb then I know that something is wrong (most likely with this damn Dell PC. I havn't been able to get AutoCad 2002 to run on it either. And no, Dell won't take it back or exchange it (big hint here guys... "Dude, don't get a Dell."))

Any other ideas out there?

[sfr]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Windows ME is the source of your problem. At least a few years ago, Maya (like many high-end packages) was only supported on Windows NT. Today, this means you have to get an operating system that comes from the NT family, i.e. Windows 2000 or XP.

About the PLE: it has huge, quite distracting watermarks not only on rendered output, but over all the viewports as well. You should check out a screenshot of it first, to find out if it's something you could imagine doing any work with (I couldn't). Sorry I don't have a screenshot handy, but there are many reviews of Maya PLE around, have a look at those.

[Godwin]

probably worth it, but u'll still need tons of time to render a good piece of something?

[RoadMaster]

That watermark is the main reason I practice with gmax instead of Maya PLE... It's just unavoidable and annoying as heck. I guess that shows which company's software I will be investing in for the future...

[elam]

The watermark is terrible.
I can understand putting a huge obtrusive watermark on the renders, but Alias decided to put them in your viewport displays, which ruined the whole experience for me.

Gmax is a good program and just about every 3d manufacturer is offering "free" versions nowadays.
If you just want to model, might I suggest Nendo, which is about as simple as it gets, yet very powerful and fun to use.

[Filipino McGee]

Yes, I've been using Maya PLE. I've done a few of the tutorials, the last one being the rigging process.

The watermark becomes less obnoxious the more you use it. Tutorial lessons are surprisingly easy to follow than the ones from a book I bought on Maya 2.5.

I think it's worth it. "Maya everday brings me closer to big pay day." I know, it's corny but you heard it here first. Cheers!

[ May 06, 2002: Message edited by: Filipino McGee ]

[MadSamoan]

I'm certain the problem you're having with the Maya Personal Learning Edition is the Windows ME operating system. Get Windows 2000 Professional Edition and you should be ok. Maya, and any other 3d app for that matter, should work fine on your machine until you start getting into more advanced tasks. And that can't be right about your machine being maxed out on RAM.

[Frog]

Maya PLE will only work on NT, 2000 or XP. It tells you that when you download it

[Man With No Name]

Thanks for the input everyone...

I see that there is a windows XP upgrade out there available for windows ME. I'm thinking about giving it a try (hoping that a simple upgrade won't force me to re-load every program and setting on my computer... hoping that is.) I can't help being angry with the whole Dell experience. When I ordered the pc I specificaly told them what programs I would be running on it and they assured me that the package they would sell me would work great. Not the case. After calling them back to complain, they basically gave me the "tough luck" line and said they'd buy it back for $99. hmmm $1299 to $99 in just 4 months. That's worse than automobiles. Seeing as how they pride themselves on customer service and relations, and completely failed me in both aspects, I can't see myself ever buying a Dell again (which is unfortunate for them, because I usually upgrade about every two years.... ) Their loss I guess.

Thanks for all the tips on the other free programs. I'm definitly going to check them out once I get rid of this crappy windows ME.
Thanks again.

Curt

[sunraven0]

hmmm, i've had my Dell for 3 years & I've decided I will be a loyal customer since I cant find the time to build my own...however, I have upgraded it a long the way (extra hard drive, geforce 2, and win2k)....but its still the p3 550 mhz I got a while back. I dont understand why you cant add more memory to yours. My computer is much older than yours & I have 512 MB and room for one more stick. I'm not having any problems with Maya or anything else....I had problems with other programs before I installed win2k though. good luck!

[Mythril]

I've had Maya PLE for the last month or so, and am using Windows XP. Although it says you need 512MB to run maya, that's the least amount of ram they recommend, but I run it just fine it seems with 384MB. I would recommend you upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP, anyway, not just to run Maya. I had ME for about a year and had so many problems with it that I got fed up and got XP, and am happy with it's performance.

As for Maya PLE, I would recommend it, it's free, and it lets you use the entire program. The tutorials are easy to follow filled with screen captures to help you along. The watermark is annoying, but then again program is for learning how to use the tools and layout rather than create artwork.

I would also recommend the Softimage XSI Experience CD. It's 2 CD's filled with their learning edition of XSI and tons of tutorials and extra files to play with. You can get that free from softimage.com.

[HawkOne]

Hi there,

First of all Dell sucks.

I might be repeating something here, but I strongly feel that if you're gonna use professional software which utilizes your memory/processor and graphics card to the max, then you should use a professional OS as well.

Win 95/98/Me are just shit in most departments, as is any Mac OS before OS X, they are meant primarily for consumer tasks like surfing the web, typing letters, making spreadsheets/reports et cetera; playing games is a slightly different issue (games often operate in the twilight zone between consumer and pro requirements because of their pretty demanding graphics handling).

Using a "non-pro" OS with pro applications is kinda like not practicing safe sex ... You'll be perfectly happy, until it goes horribly wrong, your file is corrupted, and your client sues your ass off for not delivering that 3D presentation in time for LEAF (London Effects and Animation Festival).

When it comes to using pro applications for complex bitmap image editing i.e. Painter/Photoshop/Photopaint, and also even more demanding are the high-end 3D applications like the one you're having problems with.

While it might run in a Win 95/98/Me type system, chances are you'll be having a lot of headaches with it. It makes sense to check out the reccommended specs of your particular choice of software.

Here are the Software Requirements for Maya:� Windows NT 4.0, with Service Pack 4 (or greater), Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP
� Not available for Windows 95/98/ME !!!
� Netscape or Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher

Chances are your Geforce 2 MX isn't really the best choice either, but again, if you can make it run on it, then why not ... I've successfully run Maya on an old crummy PC with an 8 MB Matrox Millenium II, Pentium Pro 200 and 96 MB RAM, it worked.

Hmmm ... was that a lot of repetition or what ... ...

[ May 06, 2002: Message edited by: HawkOne ]

[HellSpawn]

Not sure if someone said this yet I didn't read all the posts but you need Windows 2000 or win XP to run Maya. Personally I would use Win 2000.

[Kaete]

I'll chime in with everyone else and say Window ME is the spawn of the devil. Even if you end up not using Maya, your computer will be a lot happier if you get a different OS.

As one of my friends said: "ME is more bugs than program."

Mom just got a new laptop with ME, and it crashes all the time. We just haven't gotten around to changing the OS yet.

[colonel kurtz]

Windows ME sucks!!! XP pro is one of the best operating systems ever. My home machine has been running XP for 4 months now doing hardcore gaming, and the Adobe Design Collection. NO CRASHES!!!!!
I deal with Dell on a daily basis and they are none too great either. Over the past two years they have started to put lower quality parts in their machines. I have the exact same recurring problems on many of the machines I purchase. It is always a hardware problem.