3dsmax vs. Blender3D

[pnoland]

Well, this is going to be closed really quick. :P Why not visit discreet's site and blender3d's site and compare features and try them out for yourself? Not to sound like a jerk but you know the mods are gonna lock this up since it's going to turn into a flame war eventually. :) 3s studio probably has better animation and character animation tools but that's not to say Blender can't handle it...I've seen many cool animations done with both. You can get quality renders from Blender and superb renders out of 3dsmax with vray and just the regular renderer...The interface of 3d studio is more pleasing to the eye and easier to use then Blender also, but after some time working with it you'll soon understand how the Blender UI works and it's not as hard as it's made out to be. With yafray in conjunction with Blender you have the tools to make some pretty realistic renders...it's all in preference and price really. If I could afford 3 grand I'd be a Max user...but I can't so I'm a Blender/Cinema/Silo user. :)

[gabio]

I think main issue is feature. that's why you'll go for 3dsmax more easily. Blender is still on an eavy developement. It depend if you need all 3dsmax can give you.
compare the feature:
Blender feature (http://blender3d.org/cms/Features.155.0.html)
3ds max feature (http://www4.discreet.com/3dsmax/3dsmax.php?id=767)

[Polou]

Hi

Easy question = money.
3500 dollars is not always easy to find.

Blender can do a lot for free and just that is very important.

Cheers

[scorpion007]

Now, I don't normally post in these threads, but since I have needed to use blender at some stage over max, I think I found a lot of its limitations. My biggest woe with it is its workflow and lack of customizability when compared to Maya or 3ds max.
I also asked in several blender channels on IRC to confirm these limitations.
Sure, you can make as many viewports and customize the layout of its prebuilt windows, but you cannot:
- remap hotkeys as you see fit
- create custom panels, menus, shelves (like Maya) etc.
Also I think the modelling workflow is very slow and requires more mouse clicks, button presses than other software, and this is very important. I think that the vertex selection workflow is quite bizarre to say the least, and very unintuitive.
I hope I am wrong to think that the modelling workflow is slow and someone proves me wrong, but I have yet to see a video tutorial on how to model *fast*.
All in all, it has several obvious advantages such as being free and OS (open source), but I think that there are better choices for modelling, such as Wings3D (another free OS program).

Its all about the workflow :)

[gabio]

workflow. interface. hotkey...
we had a great discussion about that here. Leigh will tell you, cause she personnaly closed the thread.
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=139661
Read this thread carefully.
The main reaction is due to the fact no one want to switch.
i feel for 3ds max what some of these guys feel for blender. for me it's all equal, and all the 3d app is difficult at first. Workflow is a question of habit, it's your way of working. I for exemple don't need to set my hotkey each week. so this is not a valid argument cause some pp need it and some pp don't.
now the VS question.
I don't know. And i suspect no one in this forum can answer you properly.
I have enough of this.
Try them for yourself. See what is your need.

[mummey]

scorpion007: thank you for the info.

gabio: thank you for the head's up on the other thread.

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