[gArGOyLe^]

hi.. I have the opportunity of going either way.. should I learn 3d S max or should I go towards Maya?

[MarshallX]

Hey Man, I have Maya 4 Unlimited and let me tell you it is the best ever, if youre choosing, definately go Maya, it is used by more companies than Max and its has alot more thing that you can do, seriously do it...if you want to see what I made in the first week I had it go here, http://www25.brinkster.com/vermast/mustang1.htm http://www25.brinkster.com/vermast/mustang2.htm

[yeah bob]

your car is a big bullshit MarshallXx!


BLENDER BLENDER BLENDER!!! free and Easy

mmh! i love to edit my post!

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: yeah bob ]

[balistic]

It depends entirely on what you want to do. Maya's interface and workflow aren't exactly intuitive, and so while you can follow tutorials with it, it may be a while before you feel very comfortable. If you're simply after a knowledge of basic 3D principles, or if you want to learn animation, I'd recommend a simpler but still powerful app like Animation:Master ($299) or Electric Image.

A great artist is a great artist, regardless of the tools he uses. Find a tool that will allow to explore on your own, and don't worry about what's "industry standard" . . . all 3D apps use the same basic principles, and all of them suck in one or more areas. Get comfortable with 3D in one program, and moving to another one is only a trivial complication.

[Ecanem]

I use Max.. great for low-poly models - Maya is supposedly better for really hi-res images. There are really good renderers for both (brazil is cool) but I think Maya has the upper hand when it comes to shaders/materials.. Max is cheaper - unless you get the free Maya training version for Mac..

Can't really tell which is better unless you say what you want to do with it (hires/lores)..

Btw., I've heard that most game-companies use Max still - but maybe that's changing?

Oh yeah - Balistic is right - they all use the same basic principles more or less - and the all have some problems - one way or another..

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: Ecanem ]

[Lev]

I recommend max highly over maya, for 2 reasons- #1, Gmax, which is a free version of max (sans various features) that game companies can ship with products so that communities can create user content. That's 1 big reason why companies would chose to make their game with max, other reason would be that max is cheaper than maya for companies so they would chose it over maya if they were on a tight budget. So if you're going for games I'd learn max first, if you wanna do movies, etc. I'd learn maya. Although max can do high res stuff good, check out some of the blizzard cinematics, all done in max- www.blizzard.com (warcraft 3 section has some good ones).

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: Lev ]

[JuRrAsStOiL]

hi,

I think, if you start with 3D and never done
something in the part of graphics design you
should go with 3ds max. After knowing 3ds
max very well you can change to maya,
because it's top product, there is nothing
about this. But it's really hard to learn.
I'm "working/playing" with 3ds max for 1
and a half year now and i'm satisfied with
its features.
Got my hands on maya for 2 weeks
and i'm just making the tutorials to get a
little overview about the features, but the
navigation and the order is hard to learn...
really confusing

go 3ds max, go!

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: JuRrAsStOiL ]

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: JuRrAsStOiL ]

[Quasar]

Learn both ..

1. Max is cheap compared to Maya so a ton of companies use it. Max is also easier to learn on.

2. Maya has many features that out performe max. You have to know the techinical side but lets just say it is less buggy and has a better renderer and animation system. There are a lot of other issues.

If I had to go with one I would learn max first because so it so much easier to get help with ( More books, more communities ..etc etc ..) also more companies use MAX actually because of the price. about 75% of the game industry is MAX.. now if you are going for movies..learn Maya ,Lightwave or Softimage ...

[gArGOyLe^]

thanks every one for all the answers.. I think I'll start with 3D Studio Max.. and then go on to maya.. I guess that'll be good for me

[Ben Barker]

Just pick one. It really doesn't matter which kitchen you cook in.

[Lunatique]

But there's also the employment opportunity issue to consider. There are currently 2 kinds of response about this:

1)Most game companies use Max, and they'll go on using max. And it's easiler to get a job in games than film, which is an industry that uses mostly Maya and lightwave(and softimage).

2)Game companies are making the transition to Maya, and soon, Max will only be used by tiny studios that can't afford Maya.

So, considering those 2 thoughts. Which is more accurate?

[ January 17, 2002: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[artboy]

I've heard that the only thing Maya does better than Max is animation, as the modeling tools are better in Max. Again, that's what I've HEARD. I'm currently learning Max 4 (my school only teaches it), but want to learn Maya and Lightwave as well.

Anyway, Maya is releasing a FREE version. Check it out HERE.

Good luck, whatever you choose!
-Artboy

[nova]

Learning both is a good idea, depends what you like. Max is really great for the low-poly stuff, and is pretty easy to learn.

But if you're talking about what you should learn to work in 3D, from what I hear so far, Maya is going to be used a lot in the games industry in the future, and it's already being used a ton. 3DSMAX will still be around in smaller companies and larger companies [small companies don't usually have a lot of cash to spend on Maya, larger companies would have to spend too much money buying a copy of Maya for every single person that wants it. I dunno, someone at work told me these things, it seems to make sense

[skeletor]

maya is better for big productions (movies etc.) coz it's far more robust than max.

max is often used by smaller studios (and
smaller projects) that can't afford expensive td's.

just my 2cents.

[Strawberrysauce]

i use max myself, but Rustboy is a pretty damm good advert for Infini-d.