
Last update: 10.08.16 – Minor typo correction
This tutorial have been made for Debian Sid but it should work on Debian-based distributions like Ubuntu.If you encounter any problems, please, contact me with a description of the problem and I will see if I can find a solution (and update this tutorial for the others who may encounter the same problem).
In this tutorial the commands that are required to be launched as root are prefixed by sudo, if you aren’t in the sudoers or don’t have a sudoers group, just launch them as root without the sudo prefix. I will use exempleuser as the user name, just substitute exempleuser with your user name.
Preparation
1.Copy installation files
First, copy all the linux installation files to a temporary folder in your home (in this exemple it will be /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall ).
mkdir /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
cp -R /InsertPathToMayaInstallationFiles/* /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
If you have priviledges problems when you copy them (I encounter the problem in previous Maya versions when I wanted to copy the installation files from the DVD-Rom to a directory as a non-root user), Use the same command but as root :
sudo cp -R /InsertPathToMayaInstallationFiles/* /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
Here is a list of the installation files (note that the versions may be different for you, don’t worry it will work the same way) :
- EULA = Directory with the License in different languages
- adlmapps-1.3.34-0.x86_64.rpm = NEEDED in order to activate Maya and the other softwares bundled with it
- adlmflexnetclient-1.3.34-0.x86_64.rpm = NEEDED in order to activate Maya and the other softwares bundled with it
- adlmflexnetserver-1.3.34-0.x86_64.rpm = NEEDED in order to activate Maya and the other softwares bundled with it
- autodesk.backburner.monitor-2011-377.i386.rpm = Web-based Monitoring software for Backburner, not needed to install Backburner
- backburner.sw.base-2011-1470.i386.rpm = The actual Backburner, install this if you want to have backburner
- backburner_webmonitor.sw.base-2011-1470.i386.rpm = Web-based Monitoring software for Backburner, not needed to install Backburner
- Composite2011-2011.0-2459.x86_64.rpm = Install this if you want Toxic
- INSTALL = Backburner install shell script
- MatchMover2011_0_64-2011.0-177.x86_64.rpm = Install this if you want Matchmover
- Maya2011_0_64-2011.0-271.x86_64.rpm = NEEDED, It’s the actual Maya package
- Maya2011_0-docs_en_US_64-2011-88.x86_64.rpm = Install this if you want the Maya documentation
- MID.txt = Some informations about the Maya version
- setup = NEEDED, Maya setup
- setup.xml = NEEDED in order to activate Maya and the other softwares bundled with it
- setupbar.png = NEEDED, part of the Maya setup
2.Install required packages
Next, you need to install the following packages :
sudo apt-get install alien tcsh fam libxp6 libxpm4 libxprintapputil1 libxprintutil1 cpio rpm ia32-libs
If you don’t find the libxp6, libxpm4, libxprintapputil1 and libxprintutil1 packages, use this command instead :
sudo apt-get install alien tcsh fam libxp libxpm libxprintapputil libxprintutil cpio rpm ia32-libs
3.Symlink Tcsh to Csh
Now, symlink Tcsh to Csh :
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/tcsh /bin/csh
Convert/Extract and install RPMs
There is two methods to install Maya from the RPMs on a debian based Linux system.You can convert the packages to .deb or you can extract them and install them manually, I personnaly use the later method.
Before converting or extracting the RPMs, you need to go to the directory who contains the Maya installations files:
cd /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
1.Deb Method :
Using Alien, convert the RPMs to DEBs (see the list above to known what you need to convert and install) with this command:
for i in *.rpm; do sudo alien -cv $i; done
Install the deb you want either by double-cliking on them or with:
sudo dpkg -i nameOfThePackage.deb
2.Extracting Method:
With the cpio package, we will extract the differents RPMs (again, see the list above to known what you need to extract and install) :
rpm2cpio nameOfThePackage.rpm | cpio -idmvu
When you have extracted all the needed packages, copy the extracted contents to the corresponding directories (like /usr, /var, …) with the sudo cp -R command :
sudo cp -R /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall/etc/init.d/* /etc/init.d
sudo cp -R /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall/opt/* /opt
sudo cp -R /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall/usr/* /usr
sudo cp -R /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall/var/* /var
Post-Installation
There is a few things you need to do before launching and activate Maya.
1.Symlink Maya binaries
Symlinks the Maya binaries in /usr/local/bin to launch them with a simple command (like Render to do batch renders).Go to the /usr/local/bin directory and make symlinks to fcheck, imgcvt, Render and maya2011
cd /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -s /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/fcheck fcheck
sudo ln -s /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/maya2011 maya
sudo ln -s /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/imgcvt imgcvt
sudo ln -s /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/Render Render
Please, note that you can change the maya2011-x64 to the one who will be created below if you want to have multiple Maya versions or don’t want the hassle of redoing theses symlinks if you install another Maya version.
2.Symlink maya2011-x64 directory to maya directory
Symlink a maya dir in /usr/autodesk to the maya2011-x64 one
cd /usr/autodesk
sudo ln -s maya2011-x64 maya
3.Get an icon
Now make some symlinks to have an icon
sudo ln -sf /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/desktop/Autodesk-Maya.desktop /usr/share/applications/Autodesk-Maya.desktop
sudo ln -sf /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/desktop/Autodesk-Maya.directory /usr/share/desktop-directories/Autodesk-Maya.directory
sudo ln -sf /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/desktop/Maya.png /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/Maya.png
5.Create a temporary directory for Mental Ray
Create a temporary directory for Mental Ray
sudo mkdir /usr/tmp
sudo chmod 777 /usr/tmp
6.Fix Maya UI launching bug
Here is the part that is specific to Maya 2011 (I have encountered it on the Betas versions and it’s still here).It may be a bug with non-US Debian installations (French in my case).If you don’t do it, a bug with one of the startup mel prevent the Maya UI to be launched.We will had a variable in the maya launcher to avoid that.Using nano (or your favorite editor), insert this : setenv LC_ALL en_US.UTF-8 In this file /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/maya2011
You can also use this command:
sudo sh -c "echo 'setenv LC_ALL en_US.UTF-8' >> /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/maya2011"
7.Export MAYA_LOCATION
And finally, export the MAYA_LOCATION variable
sudo export MAYA_LOCATION=/usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64
There is one more thing to do (symlinks the differents librairies), but we will do it after the next step in order to know wich librairies are needed
4.Install License
Here is the trickiest and most interesting part of this tutorial.In order to properly activate Maya, we will write and compile a fake rpm binary to launch the Maya Setup UI and have a proper license file to use during the activation.
1.Create a fake binary
Go to /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall and make a file called mayaInstall.c (the name of the file is not important) and put this code in it
int main (void) {return 0; }
You can also use theses commands:
cd /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
sh -c "echo 'int main (void) {return 0; }' >> /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall/mayaInstall.c"
Now compile the file using gcc
cd /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
gcc mayaInstall.c
2.Backup and replace the rpm binary
You should get a compiled binary called a.out.Backup you rpm binary in /usr/bin and replace it by the a.out file
sudo cp /usr/bin/rpm /usr/bin/rpm_backup
cd /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
sudo cp a.out /usr/bin/rpm
3.Launch Maya setup
You can now launch the Maya supplied setup as if you were on a Red-Hat based system :
cd /home/exempleuser/MayaInstall
sudo ./setup
4.enter Serial and Product Key
Enter your serial (000-0000000 in this exemple) and product key and follow the rest of the UI.
5.Restore rpm binary
Revert the change made to the rpm binary in /usr/bin
sudo cp /usr/bin/rpm_backup /usr/bin/rpm
5.Symlink librairies
Open a terminal and launch maya with the maya command, you may encounter an error like this one:
/usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/maya.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libtiff.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
This happen because Maya is looking for very a specific version of a librairy.You can fix it by making a symlink between your version of the library located in /usr/lib with the version required by Maya.Here is some of the symlinks I had to make :
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libtiff.so.4 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.3
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libaudiofile.so.0 /usr/lib/libtiff/libaudiofile.so
Theses two ones are for PyMel :
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libssl.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/libssl.so.3
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.3
Do this for each librairy Maya is asking for.
6.Activate Maya
You can now launch Maya to activate it with the maya command.
7.Enjoy !
You can now use Maya 2011 on Debian.Stay tuned for a post on how to fix the different bugs between Maya and Linux.

Tags: 2011, Autodesk, debian, Installation, linux, Maya, Ubuntu
Posted in 3D, General, Pipeline


What if u make a tutorial in video
I am not a newbie but I’m havin troubles and I really need Maya on my dear Ubuntu
yee vid please :P i need it too but this read is nonsens :/
come on guys, it’s easy to setup…if you’re ready to install maya on linux then you’re ready to read some lines of bash writing no ? :/
Hey, thanks for the tutorial, it worked perfect for me. The only problem I’m having right now is that after i launch maya, the camera controls( move and rotate, zoom works fine) dont work at all, the rest works fine, i was wondering if you have any ideas of why this is happening?
thanks
Caedo.
I installed maya 2008 windows version in Ubuntu with terminal, also flexlm and copy and I did like windows version, but it did not opens, even maya 2009 linux version did not installs into Ubuntu, terminal, wine and play on linux, tell me the right solution to run maya properly any version 2008, 2009, 2011 (windows,Linux) ? ? ? What version installs and run properly in Ubuntu ? ? please hhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllpppppppppppppppp
:-(
To fix your problem you have to change the Key to move the windows (by default it’s ALT so it interfere with Maya).If you are on Gnome go to systems>preferences>windows and change the key to SUPER.
well if the video is not an option this weekend I will need ure help to install it
hugg@jotmeil.com
add me please!
I’ve gone ahead and bookmarked http://etoia.free.fr/?p=1611 at Digg.com so my friends can see it too. I simply used How to install Autodesk Maya 2011 on Debian / Ubuntu | ETOIA as the entry title in my Digg.com bookmark, as I figured if it is good enough for you to title your blog post that, then you probably would like to see it bookmarked the same way.
I am really enjoying the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog readers have complained about my site not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?
I dont know what to do here, any help? http://i51.tinypic.com/vghiyd.jpg
I have this problem, i dont know why :S
sudo export MAYA_LOCATION=/usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64
sudo: export: command not found
Tested and working with Maya 2012 edition, thanks a shitload for writing this tutorial! ^___^
Tried on 11.04 ubuntu with maya 2011.
And the activation part doesn’t work. could anyone help me what the problem is?
after I click activate, it just goes “The serial number you entered is not valid”.
I did exactly the same. I made an empty file and named it ‘mayaInstall.c’ and bind it to ‘a.out’.
replace ‘rpm’ with ‘a.out’ and after I go through the ‘typing the serial number part’ and copied the original rpm back to replace a.out file (which was named rpm). what did I do wrong?
there was a mistype. after I make empty file called mayaInstall.c, I typed “int main (void) {return 0; }” inside. I’ve done gcc as well.
I tried without the internet, still even if I browse the activation file to activate, it didn’t work.
Does anyone get a font problem while maya gets running? It appears in the script editor.
“// Error: Failed trying to load font : -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1 // ”
I’ve been itching my head about this for days. Anyone know how to fix?
This happen because Maya can’t find the Helvetica font, you can try to install the msttcorefonts package (It’s a non-free but freeware microsoft fonts package) or tring to manually install the font if you have the tff file (look in the /etc/fonts/fonts.conf file for the fonts paths).
Contact me if you still have the problem.
I saw that solution else where but it didn’t work for me, I did figure it out though.
I installed xfonts-100dpi and xfonts-75dpi through synaptic which got the correct fonts for me.
Then updated font settings by using
“xset +fp /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/
xset +fp /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/
xset fp rehash”
I’m using 11.04 which I think may have been the issue.
Got another problem though, I’m having trouble with the libtiff.so.3 section. I use the terminal line in the walk-through but it doesn’t have any effect. I had a search around /usr and it seems libtiff.so.4 is placed is lib32 (as opposed to lib). I tried linking to the libtiff.so.4 in there instead but came back with an ELF header error. Anyone got any idea how to get around this?
Thanks
I followed this tutorial and still when i lunch maya i get this error : libtiff.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Please Help
Hello, everyone…maya crack2012 for linux does not work in ubuntu 11.04 for some reason, but it worked fine and smooth for ubuntu 10.10. The font problem has always been the same matters if you are Fedora users, these 100dpi and 75 dpi are something you cannot live without.
As regards libtiff.so.3, here is the solution from http://download.osgeo.org/libtiff/tiff-3.9.5.tar.gz (quoted Cangaleon). Extract the libtiff, and install it the manually (1- ./configure, 2- make, 3- make install). This new libtiff goes to /usr/local/lib which is kinda wierde, so you need to do symbolink from their to your /usr/lib..
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libtiff.so.3.9.5 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.3
and there you go….I hope this will help
hi the world!
Can you make tut ” How to install Maya 2012 on fedora 15″?
I’m very tied to try google anymore :(
Thank for this trip and sorry for my english!
Thank you for libtiff.so.3 matter.
It’s solved.
But, then, when I launched maya, I got this.
———————————————–
License was not obtained
Tried Maya 2011 (657C1 2011.0.0.F), error 41
License method:
environment variable MAYA_LICENSE_METHOD=’standalone’
Product choice:
environment variable MAYA_LICENSE=’unlimited’
License file override:
environment variable MAYA_ALT_EN is not set
————————————————-
Does anyone know what the problem is?
I think you need to restart your machine and then do the ./setup and fill in the serial and product key, but make sure that your internet is not on. Finally, you can do the ./crack2012, and it will works. The best solution now is from a guy called Stefano Bolli. His solution to autodesk 2012 family is very simple and work like hell…but you still need to use crack2012…maya2012 and mudbox2012 works perfectly on ubuntu 11.04
Thanks a lot. This was really usefull. The only thing I need now is *cough cough* a crack. Damn activation…
Am I suppose modify the INSTALL script with -> for i in *.rpm; do sudo alien -cv $i; done
Let me know if anyone found about “// Error: Failed trying to load font : -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1 // ” for fedora…:)
Merci pour le tutorial, c’est super !
Une petite faute de frappe dans la section Post-installation:
“Go to the /usr:local/bin”
Et s/\/home\/exampleuser/$HOME/g ;)
Any special tricks to get it running on Ubuntu11.10? Seems to get til the very end just fine with the obvious path changes, but then it hangs on start, or don’t really do nothing when calling the program.
Thanx for your tutorial, but i got a problem on Utunbu 11.10. There is no file named ./setup, only a setup. But i cant’t run it. I don’t know if it’s the problem that i can’t open maya2012. The icon of maya is just a white paper. Please help me!
The ./setup file is actually the ‘setup’ file you see, if you place ‘./’ in front of an executable in the terminal, it will actually execute the given file.
thanks a lot,i am a chinese ,i met with a problem ,it is appear:
License was not obtained
Tried Maya 2011 (657C1 2011.0.0.F), error 41
License method:
environment variable MAYA_LICENSE_METHOD=’standalone’
Product choice:
environment variable MAYA_LICENSE=’unlimited’
License file override:
environment variable MAYA_ALT_EN is not set
i beg you help me ,my mail:lxxlfx@126.com please write to me ,i beg you !thank you
missed files are in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ instead of /usr/lib/
thanks a lot for the tutorial, it works for me
but… i have a problem when i lauch maya in the terminal, it appear “/usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64//bin/maya.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libXp.so.6: cannot open shared object file: no such file or directory” instead of “/usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/bin/maya.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libtiff.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory”
and i dont know what to do exactly…
im running in fedora 14 64 bits
regards!
Thanks for the tutorial. I can’t seem to get past the
/usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/bin/maya.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libtiff.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
root@ubuntu:/home/user00/Downloads/tiff-3.9.5#
error. I’ve tried everything in this tutorial, about 5 others, as well as all the comments here and on them…
i’m getting error installing all lipx—– packages on ubuntu 11.10 with maya 2011, any idea ?
i have succesfully install maya 2011 and fix all library problem but when i run it, it doesn’t show anything in terminal
maya and maya.bin is active in system monitor, but not showing any windows or application
i’m using ubuntu 12.04
[quote]“// Error: Failed trying to load font : -*-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1 // ”[/quote]
We, too, had that problem. Many links on google lead to posts that suggest installing a Helvetica TTF or a PFA/AFM (PS1) font will resolve the issue. Spent almost a week (well, several hours spread out over a couple of days ;}) converting and mangling fonts, sticking them in different locations, stracing maya execution, … to no avail
Reality (for us, kubuntu12.04) was that all it took was to install the following packages:
xfonts-100dpi
xfonts-75dpi
Hope this helps some other poor sod running Maya on *buntu/debian.
Cheers,
Tink
hi !!!!!!!!!
this is such a helpfull tutorial !!!!!!!!
please help me !!
m stuck at copying exctracted files to root directories !!!!!!!
can u help me for that ?
m a newbie for linux distros !!!!!!!
thnkxxxxxx
hi !!!!!!!!!!! can u put video for this on youtube ?
that will be more easier to understand for persons like me who are a bit new to linux !!!!!!!!!!
hello
I am getting this error?
/usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/bin/maya.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libfam.so.0: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32
any clue
Hi! Thanks a lot for your tutorial! Very very helpful!
One problem though: I did every installation step without problem on Ubuntu 11.04 but when I launch the ‘maya’ command in a terminal, nothing’s happening, not even a text line output. :((
The unique difference during the installation was that the missing library: “error while loading shared libraries: libtiff.so.6″ not libtiff.so.3. So I created the missing link:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libtiff.so.4 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.6
It seems I am not the only person to have this problem. Anybody has an idea why nothing’s happening?
Cheeers!
i am trying to install Maya2012-X64 by this method but it is not working at all……
i tried following methods but it is not working
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/howto-install-maya-matchmover-and-toxic-2011-on-linux-64-bit-ubuntu-10-04.html
http://stefanobolli.blogspot.in/2011/05/maya-2012-x64-on-ubuntu-1104.html
please help me to install Maya 2012X64 in Linux Mint 13
Thanks
Rajiv Sharma
HOW TO INSTALL MAYA2012X64BIT IN Linux Mint 13 or Ubuntu
step 01
download Autodesk Maya 2012 Hotfix 4
from here:-
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=17478798&linkID=9242259
step 02
we have to install required packages for Linux Mint
Open Terminal and paste these codes:-
sudo apt-get install csh tcsh libglw1-mesa libglw1-mesa-dev mesa-utils libaudiofile-dev libaudiofile0 libaudiofile0-dbg elfutils gamin libxp6 libxpm4 libxt6 libxp6 libxmu6 libxau6 libxinerama1 libxprintapputil1 libxprintutil1 xfs xfstt ttf-liberation ttf-mscorefonts-installer xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi alien
step03
copy downloaded tar file (autodesk_maya_2012_english_linux_64bit_hf4.tgz) in /home/Username/Maya2012_setup
step04
go to terminal and tpye:
cd /home/username/maya2012_setup
step05
tar -zxvf utodesk_maya_2012_english_linux_64bit_hf4.tgz
step06
for i in *.rpm; do sudo alien -cv $i; done
step07
sudo dpkg -i adlmapps4_4.0.35-1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i adlmflexnetserver_4.0.35-1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i adlmflexnetclient_4.0.35-1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i maya2012-0-64_2012.0-327_amd64.deb
step08
create a temporary folder for Maya:
sudo mkdir /usr/tmp
sudo chmod 777 /usr/tmp
step09
$ sudo sh -c “echo ‘setenv LC_ALL en_US.UTF-8′ >> /usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/bin/maya2012″
step10
$ /usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/bin/licensechooser /usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/ standalone unlimited
step11
export a couple of variables
sudo -i
export MAYA_LOCATION=/usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/R4/lib64/
step12
pass the serial number and the product key to Maya
/usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/bin/adlmreg -i S 657D1 657D1 2012.0.0.F serial_number /var/opt/Autodesk/Adlm/Maya2012/MayaConfig.pit
step13
navigate to our Maya2012_setup folder
cd /home/Username/Maya2012_setup
step14
create a file named mayaInstall.c in Maya2012_setup
open it with your text editor and paste this line:
int main (void) {return 0;}
save and compile it with this command:
gcc mayainstall.c
now you should have a file called a.out. Backup your /usr/bin/rpm with this command:
sudo mv /usr/bin/rpm /usr/bin/rpm_backup
and replace rpm with a.out:
sudo cp a.out /usr/bin/rpm
step15
type following command:-
./setup
this will start setup …. deselect DMM, backburner and go next
use these serial :-
serial :666-42943644
product key :657D1
step 16
cd /usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/lib/
ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtiff.so.4.3.4 /usr/lib/libtiff.so.3
ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libssl.so.0.9.8 /usr/lib/libssl.so.6
step 17
Open /usr/autodesk/maya2012-x64/bin/maya2012 with a text editor and add the command
setenv LC_ALL C
after this line
setenv LIBQUICKTIME_PLUGIN_DIR “$MAYA_LOCATION/lib”
step 18
go to terminal and type:-
maya
Enjoy Maya and make cool effects and Animations :)
Cheers!
Rajiv Sharma
FX Technical Director
hi….
i can not export MAYA_LOCATION as variable.
which directory will be there as default to export that variable ?
thank you