Aw, nurtz-- we had heard from multiple sources that Alias|Wavefront (you know, the makers of Maya) had primed the press for some sort of earth-shattering announcement today that would change the world of 3D forever, so of course we started getting our hopes up that maybe it was connected to those rumors about Apple looking to buy A|W as yet another entertainment technology purchase to put on the shelf next to Nothing Real. (We've long suspected that, when it comes to the line of "Giants of Creative Software" action figures, Steve's working on collecting the whole set.) Imagine our disappointment when faithful viewer David H. Dennis informed us that all A|W announced was a price drop for Maya. Sorry, folks, no Apple-branded "3D Studio Pro" just yet. We had our hopes up in part because Maya is at 4.0 for every platform except Mac OS X, which is still running 3.5. Oh, the shame of it all.

But while it's nowhere near as interesting as an Apple buyout announcement, the Maya price drop is still pretty significant due to its sheer magnitude-- nearly 75% off for the "Complete" edition. Of course, that just means that Maya Complete is now $1999 instead of $7500, so it's still not exactly the kind of thing most people are going to be buying as stocking stuffers for the whole family once the holidays roll around. For what it's worth, Maya Unlimited (which is apparently Maya Complete plus some extra tools for modeling fur and cloth-- really!) drops from $16,000 to $6,999; that's less relevant to most AtAT viewers, however, because 1) unlike Maya Complete, Maya Unlimited isn't yet available for the Mac, and 2) most AtAT viewers are probably about as likely to rush out and blow seven grand on a 3D software package as they are to win the lottery while being struck by lightning.

Two thousand, though... that's almost within the realm of financial possibility. Between a $1999 price for Maya Complete and the recently-released free-for-personal-exploration Maya Personal Learning Edition, "regular people" now have some options to dip their toes into the world of professional 3D modeling and animation. By dropping Maya into the "prosumer" price range, clearly A|W (champion of the proletariat) is trying to bring high-end 3D to The People™. Well, either that, or they're feeling the heat from NewTek's LightWave 3D, which is Mac-compatible, recently dropped in price from $2495 to $1595, and most importantly of all, has been used to animate LCD iMacs dancing the Limbo on the beach-- your call.

And just because A|W's latest move just looks like a reactive counterstrike in a 3D price war, maybe it's not time to give up hope on that "Apple buys Maya" rumor just yet; Think Secret reports that Apple is poking around for 3D technology it can purchase and combine with Nothing Real's Shake and Final Cut Pro so that it can offer "integrated 'single-source' hardware/software solutions" for the creation of high-end special effects. Allegedly A|W was wooing Apple as a buyer, and Apple wasn't biting-- but things change, and if Apple is serious about selling turnkey CGI/special effects workstations, Maya is still a serious contender for the 3D slot in the line-up. In the meantime, sit tight and enjoy the price breaks.