Maya 3D or 3Ds MAX? Thread

Heya everyone, I know this question may have been asked before so do forgive me.

I'm still new to modding and I've been trying out each area of development to see what i'm good at and now I'm trying modeling. The problem is I don't understand which software is better to use. I'm using 3Ds MAX at the minute and it seems to work fine but what is the differecnt between Maya and MAX?

I plan to model weapons, props and the odd bit of animation and on the website it says that tey do the same thing.

Thanks for the help.

The way i see it, maya is more for 3d animation high poly modeling and anything to do with 3d motion picture production, when max is more streamlined for basic modeling.

Maya ive found also has a much steeper learning curve.

So yea in terms of them doing the same thing. Yes, there both 3dmodeling packages. Yes for what you want to do, they can do it. So its down to which one is the best to jump right in?

I say try out a trial of both. Normally I would say 3dsmax, might get you up and learning quicker in terms of fundamentals of 3dmodeling and animations. When you feel more advanced as you go along, give Maya a go. Each has features and learning curves that you have to tackle. But I'm sure after awhile, you will be up and running.

Alot is based on the artist himself, some people can do the same things in Max as they do and Maya and vice versa. If you want a quick jump into the world of making stuff for games, then personally I would say go for 3DSMAX. The new Max 2010 has features for poly modeling that will get you creating things fast and easy. But if you feel the need for animation..Maya is the way to go. In most studios I have been, Max was used for modeling, texturing..and we used Maya for animation.

Hope this opinion helps.

Wow thanks for the help there, that really helps me out.

At the minute me and friend are seeing about setting on the gaming world and developing with the UDK. We are doing following the 'Making A Weapon For Source' tutioral and each finding we can do different areas. He wants to be an animator and has already said he wants to learn Maya later on so this really helps.

I think i'll keep to 3Ds MAX for my modeling and such. I'm aiming to work on weapon design as well as level design so from what you have said this will be best for me.

Thanks a lot for your help friends.

Question - why do people avoid XSI? It can simulate workflow of both Max and Maya, if you are used to work with them. It's all Autodesk software anyway, but XSI has a great free version available under the name of Modtool. You can even get the latest version here, on Moddb:

Moddb.com

I haven't tried Maya, but I found XSI better to work with than Max, even though you need to learn to work with keyboard shortcuts. XSI has great animation features and is used by a lot of motion-caption studios. My school is using it for my studies for 3D character artist, too. So I would recommend trying out the mod tool and doing some tutorials with it. you might also want to look into Modo, if you just want to model and render something.

Awesome thanks.

I'm kind of moving away from the animation part now and looking more towards Prop modeling. Weapons are not to bad for me to do I just can't get round the compiling. I think I'll take a look at those you said but as it stands i'll stay with MAX for the minute.

Thanks again.

Xsi hides all the goodshit behind commands and shortkeys its not in your face and the learning curve is steep, i know xsi is great i have seen some amazing art from it... but ill swear by max as i have used it for years i tried most other packages and just ease of use and layout max wins me over and ill have its little 3d babies.

Edited by: TKAzA

If you're looking to get into the industry, learn them both. The studio you work for will make the choice for you, so some familiarity with both tools will be very helpful. That said, there's not a lot different than the two modeling-wise outside of UI changes. Skill in modeling or animation translates, there's just a little time lost when you re-adjust to the shortcuts and where everything is.

grinnock wrote: If you're looking to get into the industry, learn them both.

I like that idea the best, thank you very much for that.

I like to say
Games to the MAX
Movies based on the MAYA civilization

Animators in the industry tend to use Maya. So it goes.

Xsi hides all the goodshit behind commands and shortkeys its not in your face and the learning curve is steep, i know xsi is great i have seen some amazing art from it... but ill swear by max as i have used it for years i tried most other packages and just ease of use and layout max wins me over and ill have its little 3d babies.

I always felt the opposite. XSI seemed to have the 'good shit' properly placed / logically laid out in its toolbars (learning the shotcuts just happens to make it expoentially faster and easier. The same could be said about any program though; I would HATE to have to use one that forced me to click an icon everytime I wish to do something basic like switch from edge selection to vertices). Max meanwhile confused me at first by having to add things like edit poly modifiers just to begin working. They're all good programs and can create some awesome works of art, but an aged core can have a way of showing.

Anyway, modeling you probably wont notice much of a difference between programs as they tend to fall back on the same tools and concepts, although there may be a difference in selection/loop tools (which you may be able to balance with scripts and plugins). The bigger differences start to show when it comes to things like character rigging, animation, and simulation-type operations.

3d's max is for gaming and Maya for Animation for movies ect ect DONE!

I'd say it is more arch/pre-vis these days

Edited by: Cryrid

After going on a short crash course today at my local Uni to look into the games course i have been told that MAX is the way forward. Film would be Maya. However thank you all for your input really helped me pick which one to use.

Yeah well, your university will tell you thinks that are so outdate like computer classes at university are. Have you seen the results of animation classes in most universities - I have and I had a good laugh. 90% of the self-taught people on Moddb get more out of their software, even though they don't have 240 hours and unlimted ressources and have to do it in their free time.

It won't hurt to learn Max, but if you get frustrated you must try out another software rather than giving up on it. I keep a copy of Max to reformat meshes, which is what Max does for me. Other than that I wouldn't want to switch back from XSI. However, Autodesk released a Student Pack with all the major software inside and it's dead cheap. You can then try anything (including Mudbox) and make your own choice. As long as you don't intend to sell anything a student license is quite neat.

Higher education was great for getting the tools into my hands and giving me the time to fuss with them, not good at teaching me more than the barebones of the UI. It was the people in my classes who pushed me to be a better artist. I had profs who were way out of their depth trying to teach things they didn't really understand. Try to get some art fundamentals outside of 3d. Design and color studies and life drawing. Traditional art skills do help.

either max or maya... that is the insustry standard... xsi is great.. but not a commonly used and wont be as useful when finding a job... so yea either one is fine imo i am one of the only people who use max in a maya dominated company..

either max or maya... that is the insustry standard... xsi is great.. but not a commonly used and wont be as useful when finding a job... so yea either one is fine imo

Industry standard depends entirely on where you live

No offense, but saying it wont be as useful when finding a job is complete nonsense. Maybe if you were applying for a Tech position where the underlying differences actually matter, but things like modeling and animation revert to the principals of the art. If you can model in one program, you don't have to relearn your grasp on form, topology, what makes a good UV layout, your sense of timing, etc to learn another application. Your portfolio is going to be whats useful when finding a job (the thing that shows skills which take years to learn), not which set of shortcuts you were trained to use (1-5 days).

Good point. I have been looking around at what different job roles here in the games business in England what in terms of skill but it's becoming hard to find what they want.

Valve however say 'Working knowledge of Maya or XSI' on there Jobs page where as all the ones i find simplely say '3 + years industry experience'. I was let down by the Uni for not giving us any clues as to what we need to learn and the whole day was a let down really.

I'm looking around at all the software and finding what i think would be best for a portfolio in the industry's eyes. For example i'm learning the Unreal Engine by means of the UDK as i know that the Unreal Engine is widely used and would look good. I guess i'm still a bit to young as well to really know what is best but i like to ask around and get as much information as i can way ahead of time.

Sorry if thats a bit hard to understand.

You could be ballsy and straight up ask them directly what they're looking for. If you can get past HR the artists are usually happy to tell you what they do and what they look for in an new hire. This is really important, because if you can pull together a portfolio that meets the specific needs of a studio you're much more likely to get in.

Ultimately if you can make something look good, in whatever tool you want, that's what's important. The UDK is good for understanding a modern game pipeline. Pulling together a scene would look good for a portfolio. Experience with anything is good.

True true i agree fully with you there. I'm pushing a lot with my teachers and asking a lot of questions around the net and such as i know for a fact that i want to work in games design but i still haven't picked with area i want to work in fully. I'm still stuck between 3D and 2D artwork as we have to do 2D art at the minute and i'm loving that but 3D opens a loa more doors and i love modeling props, players, etc.

I did Email a few places but they never replied so yeah. Again sorry to be a pain and thanks for all your help.

Happy to help. Curiosity is always a good thing. If you can, try to stick with both traditional art and 3d stuff. Of my friends with industry jobs, the ones who got snatched up first were the ones with a strong work in both.

Yeah i have been looking at it that way. I'm trying out everything and anything in order to build my skill level in the two main areas, traditional and digital. I have been planing to make a 2D game using Game Maker so that will get me back on my feet for 2D and the 3D i'm battling on the two week break. I'm talking to my friend at the minute as well and he HATES 2D art work and is a bit mad at the fact that he will have to learn 2D in order to have a better go at getting a job.

Softimage FTW!