Time to grow up. Max > Maya

[Oren Ben-Tov]

Hi there, I just moved from Max to Maya too.
It took me about a month to feel comfterbole with Maya.
I guess if you know 3d, it is basicly the same concept, same modeling technics, and about the same animation graph.
My advice is just to go throw the Instant Maya, to have the basics of it, and then look at specific tutorials on the net that intrest you.

Goodluck :cool:

[olivier georges]

hi,
you can look at here :
http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/products/maya/pdf/3dMaxtoMaya.pdf

olivier.

[stinkykitten]

wow, wish i could come down to melbourne and show you how to use maya. Im up in brisbane and have been using max since 3d studio 4 and maya since version 1 beta.. I think you are very lucky to switch to maya :) i wonder what it might be that you are worried about? maya is very easy to learn. especially if you know any 3d program. your path shld be very easy :)

[Lomax]

My advice: learn the shortcut keys first! You'll probably only need the qwerty keys at first, but knowing them makes things much easier.
Beyond that, just explore as much of the interface and menues as possible, read some documentation and tutorials, etc.

[Rudity]

yeah.
Live in the hotbox. Thats the place to be. I just takes alot of getting used too.

[Ed Lee]

I migrated to Maya from Max, and at a glance it's relatively similar in many ways but different as well. I find Maya of course way more deeper than Max but then you get more controls and features..except for poly modeling maybe...but you can download free scripts and plug-ins to conpensate for what's lacking in that department.

I say congratulations to a big step "up"...or at least that's how I feel after using Maya for almost a year now. Do try Mental Ray as well...now, the package is complete after much complaint about the renderer.

Ed--

www.edleeart.com

[3rd Dimentia]

stinkykitten - I'm not worried about much except that I want to spend my time learning maya efficiently. I just don't seem to have as much time these days as I did when I first started learning 3ds & max (and real 3d and sculpt animate for that matter). Probably got something to do with the missus. :) R U currently working? Have U got a reel? We will probably be looking for someone in the near future here at work that has max and maya skills to make the transition a little easier for us. So also anyone else on here that's interested, feel free to send reels & CVs.

Chris Gray
Act3
PO BOX 541
Prahran
Victoria
Australia
3181

U can also find a bit more about us at

www.act3animation.com

[beatoperator]

well, I transfered from Max pro user to Maya and I really mastered Maya but...
... now I am sticking next to XSI! :buttrock:

there are several important things that u will NOT ever be able to do with Maya without some script-mad-man near ya.
yeah, sure that Lord of the rings, Spiderman and other movies are finished with Maya but these companies have dozens of programmers - every thing that director can imagine they can make true by Mel and C++...

XSI have the best animation mixer (aka trax view), particles are great and easy (10 times better than in Maya), mental ray is implemented and every version is faster and more stable (something that we can't say for Max for example)...
only minus is price.

seriously consider XSI in your pipeline. it have great future.

:wavey:

[Kabab]

Read your pm i have very good info for you...

[lildragon]

I just migrated from Max > Maya myself, and now I can't look back. Maya (simply put) just works, it's awespiring in the rigging dept. I just love the viewport speed increase and everything. It's just plain awesome imo

salud

[MDuffy]

I learned Maya at work, and then this year decided to switch from MAX to Maya for my home projects (when I get the time for them that is.) I'm still trying to get Maya set up for Modeling the way I want it, but when it comes to rigging, animation, and overall pipeline there is just no comparison... Maya is so much better. Glad I made the switch.

Later,
Michael Duffy
mduffy@ionet.net

[mark_wilkins]

Well, I agree, it's a lot easier to do really neat stuff in Maya if you know MEL. Unlike Max, the scripting system is much more deeply integrated into the software. It's not that hard to learn, though! :buttrock:

Unfortunately, XSI just hasn't been able to get their foot in the door at enough of the big shops. Everyone says it's a good package but I haven't had the opportunity to evaluate it for myself, and I have to wonder whether XSI's user base is large enough to be sustainable.

I hope XSI survives even as a Maya user, as the competition makes it less likely that Maya will stagnate.

-- Mark

[Ed Lee]

Yeah, my sentiment exactly...I went to Softimage's website to see who their customers are under customer profiles and didn't find too many in studios who uses it. And then I go to Maya site and it's chock full including both big effects studios and large game studios. I even got a demo of XSI 2.0 and tried using it...and I must say it was bit bizzare. I was also distracted by their pretty interface.

I like both Max and Maya, but decided to change to Maya because of personal preferences. I guess I'm gonna have to pick up that book "Mel Scripts for Animators" to write my own to help with the production. (Hope it's not too expensive...maybe I ask for discount :P)

All in all, I wish all the softwares do well and keep us with choices during this uncertain time.

Ed--

www.edleeart.com

[mustique]

I recommend the "Maya fundamentals" book published by new riders and the gnomon dvd's if you need to learn fast.
There are plenty of other resources which you can find in the maya tutorials thread. Good luck! :)

(BTW has anybody bought the book "Mel for Maya Animators".
There's absolutely no information on amazon.com.)

[mark_wilkins]

BTW has anybody bought the book "Mel for Maya Animators".

Unless you're looking for customer reviews, you may find what you need at www.melscripting.com.

There's a table of contents and you can, if you like, download the supplementary material, although it may not make much sense without the book.

-- Mark

[mustique]

THX alot Mark! :)

[mark_wilkins]

No problem!! :D

-- Mark

[Ed Lee]

I luv the cover of the book.

Ed--:beer:

[beatoperator]

:rolleyes:
ILM uses XSI next to Maya. there's new reel on the SI site, take a look.
I think pre-viz for Fincher's 'Panic Room' is finished in XSI. I saw Jurassic Park on DVD and 'making of', they are used SI | 3D...

sure that studios uses maya but...
...with in-house renderers, in-house fur, in-house cloth... dunno.

I also think in future. A|W is not holding well I think... some of the major people left the company after the famous price drop... something strange is going on there...

yeah, take a look also at:
http://rickw3d.com/Papers/DecreaseProductionTime.html

and a review on cgchannel:
http://www.cgchannel.com/news/showfeature.jsp?newsid=898&pid=1
by David Gallagher:
David Gallagher works as a Technical Animator at
Blue Sky Studios in White Plains, New York.

:cool:

[mark_wilkins]

Actually, lots of companies use Maya's cloth and fur solutions, although sometimes they'll build in-house systems around these features.

-- Mark

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