This is a set of scripts for photoshop that will automatically cut out each layer in photoshop to it's smallest size, create the correct alpha channel and then great a maya scene to pull those images back into maya so they appear in the same places they were in photoshop.

Sometimes editing in photoshop, especially for 2d elements is much quicker than trying to do it in Maya directly. Especially the part about position and sizes of planes etc. This makes that process much simpler.

I'm not sure how useful this is for movies but for games it can be indispensible. Many game engines have a full 3d exporter and support for translation, rotation, scale, texture animation, colors, etc. but when it comes to 2d none of that exists. Well, setup an orthographic camera and use the 2d engine for 3d and wa-la, you get all the power back.  These scripts help with that path.