We released a set of Mel scripts that I’ve been developing and using with Maya 4.5 and the NVIDIA Cg Plugin: <a href=”http://developer.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=cgfx_mel”target = “linkframe”>http://developer.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=cgfx_mel</a> — you can get the free plugin etc from the same site.
Unless I’m mistaken, the plugin should work with the Maya 4.5 Personal Learning Edition, also free from Alias|Wavefront — should make for a pretty cool way to get into high-quality realtime 3D graphics for a very low price (read: $0).