Maya 2025 review: lacks innovation but a solid update
Maya 2025 features
Price $1,875 / £1,970 annual, $235 / £245 monthly
Company Autodesk
New features Smart Extrude, Bevel Filtering Attributes and Boolean intersections as a bevel input, revised Motion Traits system, Dope Sheet improvements, Arnold for Maya v.5.4.0, USD for Maya v.0.27, updates to Substance, Bifrost and more.
Autodesk's 3ds Max is an industry standard set of tools for 3D modelling, animation, sims and rendering that is already crammed with superb tools, so where can it go? As is common with most established 3D applications and the best 3D modelling software there’s little added to the 3ds Maya 2025 that wasn't in Maya 2024, so it doesn't change the game for artists, but remains a must-use suite of tools.
While this is always a little disappointing, and its often expected in the years between major updates, artists will benefit from one new major tool called Smart Extrude, as well as a range of other improvements and changes across rigging, animation and lookdev.
The single biggest update is the inclusion of the Smart Extrude tool, which has been a solid part of 3ds Max since Version 2021 (read my review of 3ds Max 2025 for more on this software). I don’t quite know why it’s taken so long for this valuable tool to make its way to Maya, but this is often the case. For this tool in particular, they’ve obviously determined that it’s less of a priority for Maya users. Make of that what you will.
Smart Extrude isn’t to be confused with a legacy Maya tool that goes by the same name, now known as Shift Extrude and more niche. The new version enables you to extrude faces interactively. Not only is this a more pleasing workflow, but it also removes the need to manually repair double faces and unwelded results that occur during a traditional Extrude. Instead, fully or partially cut-through and overlapped faces are interactively rebuilt.
Maya 2025 does a great job with this rebuilding process and can almost always be relied on to generate useable results. Eliminating these types of issues dramatically reduces the work and time required to carry out such tasks. It also makes the process of extruding faces more seamless and free, increasing flexibility.
Changes to the modelling tools aren’t limited to Smart Extrude. We’re also treated to improved bevelling tools and updated edge extrusion functionality. A new Poly Bevel Filter enables artists to apply bevels based on Selected Edges, Hard Edges, or Edges by Angle/Filter Angle. Maya also keeps track of edges created by Boolean operations, making it possible to apply bevel operations to those edges only, reducing the need for going back and forth.
Improvements such as these are unlikely to leave Maya, or new Maya 2025, users head over heels, but if modelling objects is part of your day-to-day job, then it’ll certainly make your life easier.
LookdevX for Maya 1.3.0
LookdevX has been updated to introduce support for the MaterialX data format, making it possible to assign MaterialX materials directly to Maya geometry. It’s also possible to utilise both USD and MaterialX shading graphs in the same session, which significantly streamlines their integration.
Animators are treated to a new Attribute Editor Deformer widget that lets them manage deformation chains without having to use the Node Graph. In the widget, it’s possible to view deformers and topology modifiers for quick and easy access to basic information about each deformer.
Maya’s Dope Sheet gets a major overhaul with a cleaner and better organised interface, similar to the Graph Editor, making interaction simpler and much more intuitive. These changes are useful for making and managing large-scale animation changes.
I also like the customisable colour palette, which helps you to distinguish different sets of keys, as well as the visual indicators for keyframe properties. Visual updates like these have been a long time coming for Maya and go a long way towards making the Dope Sheet as intuitive as the Graph Editor.
If you're looking to upgrade to Maya 2025 then perhaps consider a new laptop for 3D modelling, or a new drawing tablet to develop your setup.
