Maya or 3ds max?

[MorteR]

I can only speak for 3dsMax.
Used it for a little over 2 years now, and it is hard to change to another package. I guess once you've gotten used to one software it takes some time getting the hang of others.
But that said;
I think maybe you want to consider what kind of 3d work you want to do.
For film work and animation, I've heard Maya is the way to go. Most of the film industry use this one.
Though XSI is not far behind. And all I've seen from XSI looks very nice. I've also heard that those who go from 3dsMax to XSI don't want to go back...:shrug:

But I have to say that Max has been a good experience.
3dsMax is good allrounder. It is used a lot in the game industry for it's low-poly abilities, but it can be used for everything. The nice thing about Max is it's support of plugins, you can get plugins for almost everything.
Though it also has some drawbacks. It is a heavy program. So be sure to have as much processor power as possible.

There are also other packages out there. Some that are not as expensive.
Animation Master is one of them, and I've seen some impressive stuff with that.


Dunno if this really helped. I think it's just a personal choice. All 3d packages have a lot to offer, and has their share of setbacks.
I suggest you go look at some 3d work that has impressed you or that you like, and find out what 3d software they used.

[stewartjones]

I use both Max and Maya, both have awesome attributes.

Download the learning/trial editions of both and see which you like more. Both can create awesome effects/animations etc. It's only a tool after all!

Which ever package you feel more comfortable in is the way to go, the end product is as good as the person using the tool.

[Remi]

Stu summed it up good...download the trial versions and pick which one you feel the most comfy in....and post your stuff and take the crits and run:)

[bahman]

I have tested two App.
When was I strated with 3dsmax ver 3 ,I Felt that I'm not free in using tools.
Dynamics in max was not flexible, but maya had a lot of tools.
Character Setup tools r less than maya, with maya u can create effect's that u can't create with max modifiers. In maya u can compound everything very simply. connection editor in shading is best think that artists want.
But maya is more complicated than max in my eyes.
If u want to create simlpe animations, With max u can save a lot of time .
Maya is for tweaking, It's professional App and It's for huge Project's.
Max has a loot of plug-ins but maya Unlimted has plug-ins by itself .
With maya u can render your animations in renderman, It's better than renndering
With brazil (when u r rendering animationS)
And a lot of thing that I can't say it now
If i was a technical diredtor I will choose maya for my project's.
Now since about three years ago I switched to maya & i feel finally I found the one.

[Wabit]

for die hard animation, i would probably recommend maya. thats not to say you cant achieve this in max - because you can. It just does things slightly differently. Ultimately its down to which software package will work best for you at this current moment. However i have to say i disagree with MorteR - changing between max and maya is very easy to do these days as they are now so similar.

[stewartjones]

I have tested two App.
When was I strated with 3dsmax ver 3 ,I Felt that I'm not free in using tools.
Dynamics in max was not flexible, but maya had a lot of tools.
Character Setup tools r less than maya, with maya u can create effect's that u can't create with max modifiers. In maya u can compound everything very simply. connection editor in shading is best think that artists want.
But maya is more complicated than max in my eyes.
If u want to create simlpe animations, With max u can save a lot of time .
Maya is for tweaking, It's professional App and It's for huge Project's.
Max has a loot of plug-ins but maya Unlimted has plug-ins by itself .
With maya u can render your animations in renderman, It's better than renndering
With brazil (when u r rendering animationS)
And a lot of thing that I can't say it now
If i was a technical diredtor I will choose maya for my project's.
Now since about three years ago I switched to maya & i feel finally I found the one.

I suggest checking out what Blur Studios etc are creating with Max, it is as much professional as Maya. If we dig real deep into both for creating VFX dynamics etc, both can create the same. Maya has MEL, Max has MAXScript which are both super powerful.

All of the 3D apps, in my opinion work just about the same way, and it's just a case of getting used to the different words they assosciate things with, the shortcuts, and the scripting languages. Animation in any 3D package is just about the same. Set your keys, get the editors open (Trax/Curve whatever you like) and WHAM, if you know what you're doing you have top class animations. (When I get to that point I will be sure to let you guys know... Still a couple of lightyears off it though! :thumbsup: )

[Hyphen]

i think less focus should be made on software package and more on technique and skills. not every studio uses the same package, some even have their own proprietary software. also, concepts can be carried over from package to package, with little technicalities inbetween. animating is still animating, modelling is still modelling, texturing is texturing, etc. what you learn from one softwre package can be carried over to another. the only problem is learning how to navigate through the package and learning some of the different features.

[bahman]

I suggest checking out what Blur Studios etc are creating with Max, it is as much professional as Maya. If we dig real deep into both for creating VFX dynamics etc, both can create the same. Maya has MEL, Max has MAXScript which are both super powerful.

All of the 3D apps, in my opinion work just about the same way, and it's just a case of getting used to the different words they assosciate things with, the shortcuts, and the scripting languages. Animation in any 3D package is just about the same. Set your keys, get the editors open (Trax/Curve whatever you like) and WHAM, if you know what you're doing you have top class animations. (When I get to that point I will be sure to let you guys know... Still a couple of lightyears off it though! :thumbsup: )

Yeah U I agree With U.
Many great animations Like "In the rough" has been created with max,
Software in many cases is not our concern.
But there is a tools that help me more to do my imaginations.
Connection between maya & renderman (MTOR) is one benefit.
We must think about our ideas not about our sofwares, there is not a huge difference between sofwares like max, maya, XSI...
It's better to every artist test sofwares & choose their own.

[thomaspecht]

i guess if you are a small studio (or even a single man army), hence doing lot's of different tasks and modeling being a big part of it, then 3ds max is probably your best choice among max and maya.
for maya, you'll need to have a technical artist/scripter/programmer around. out of the box it's very rough, unpolished stuff that makes things needlessly complicated. if you have those resources tho, then it's certainly worth considering, you can go pretty far with it but have to modify it to quite some extent (in comparison to apps with nice out-of-the-box tools).

it all depends on how flexible you want to be in your field of work. maya would probably better suited for a team of highly specialized people.

[animatorAtLarge]

I think it is much more about your skill as a 3D artist rather than the software. The software is just a tool to bring your imgination and ideas to life.
I've got 3Dmax, Lightwave, Maya and XSI running at home and I mainly use XSI because thats what I use at work but Maya is my favorite, only because I'm more comfortable with the interface, and now that XSI 5 is coming with a 'maya layout' I think that'll help ,me like XSI more.
All the major packages can stand up to each other with a talented operater, sometimes it just depends on your work flow or how your mind works.
I suggest using whatever you can get your hands on and over time you will use other packages and you'll eventually find the one you feel most comfortable with.

cheers

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