Maya 4 Complete RFQ

The SPECapc working group of the SPEC/GPC committee wishes to entertain proposals to produce a Maya benchmark based on the "Maya Complete" product.

The benchmark should tax the machine under test in order to provide both interesting and relevant data for the evaluation of the performance of workstations running the application. It should reflect the breadth of the Maya application, and incorporate typical use of application features without focusing unduly on any one area. It should model the workflow of a typical Maya user, and demonstrate realistic scene complexity.

A sampling of features that should be included are:

  • Modeling using splines
  • 3D painting
  • Key frame and/or path animation
  • Skeletons and Inverse kinematics
  • Skinning
  • Particle systems
  • Marking menus
  • Hard and/or soft body dynamics
  • Hardware rendering
  • Software rendering

Structure
The benchmark should be broken down into multiple scenes, each of which demonstrates a collection of Maya features that would typically be used together. An example of scene breakdown could include:

  • Character design
  • Scene construction
  • Animation setup and playback in preview mode (3D hardware rendering)
  • High-quality software rendering (sample frames from full rendering)

The benchmark will measure the time to complete each of the main sections, and should measure significant components within each scene. Time measurements will be written to a file and compared to those generated by the reference system described below.

Environment
The benchmark will run the Maya application (v4 or later) on all operating systems supported by Alias|Wavefront at the time of release. It is likely to assume the existence of a licensed copy of the application on the target system. It should not use plug-ins or MEL scripts that are not part of the Maya 4 distribution, unless provided with the benchmark.

Operation
The benchmark should be able to be run multiple times from the operating system's command line without any user interaction. It will also provide the option to run each of the three main sections independently. The benchmark output (timing, sample frames, etc.) will be written to one or more files suitable for use with the SPEC/GPC reporting tools. The models and software rendering scripts should be leaveragable to the Maya batch renderer.

Maintenance
The benchmark should be readily upgradeable to future versions of the Maya application.

Rights & Ownership
Upon acceptance by SPECapc, all materials within the benchmark, including source code written specifically to develop or maintain the benchmark, become the property of the SPEC/GPC committees. Models not originally provided by SPECapc may remain the property of the original owner, but must be made available, as part of the complete benchmark, without encumbrance in accordance with the SPEC/GPC benchmark license policies. SPECapc will distribute the benchmark electronically, free of charge, via its web and FTP sites. All materials incorporated in the benchmark (including models) must be available to be included in the free download.

Performance Characteristics
The benchmark should have a duration of approximately 60 minutes on a
reference system defined below. Multiple sections of the benchmark should be timed, but no individual time measurement within the benchmark should have a duration of less than 1 minute on the reference system.

Reference System:
-- 700 MHz Intel® Pentium® III processor
-- Intel® 440BX chipset
-- Maya 4
-- Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system
-- Diamond Multimedia FireGL1 graphics card, configured 1280x1024, 24bit color, 75 Hz refresh rate

Suggestions for Incorporation into the Animation
SPECapc would like to see some past SPEC/GPC benchmarks referred to in the animation, either by incorporation of models, logos or screen-shots of executing benchmarks. These models include a pickup truck, lawnmower, human figure and photocopy machine, but would need to be converted into an appropriate form for inclusion in the animation.