10-12-2003, 06:03 PM
Hi Hammerskjold,
Maya (Complete) is now after Alias' radical price drop last year (Maya Complete costs 1,999$ now) definitely the 3D application with the best price/performance ratio. While 3ds max used to dominate the PC 3D market during the last years, especially the PC games market, Maya is now the "mainstream" application of the future. The reason is that 3ds max is an outdated framework application (basically the same program core since 1996) for tons of additionally required, partly very expensive plug-ins for professional use, and with a price TWICE as a high as Maya Complete for the base program 3ds max ALONE way overpriced. Maya, on the other hand, comes from UNIX-based high-end film applications in Hollywood and has a very superior, much more seemless core program (compared to 3ds max). Maya Complete, unlike 3ds max, also doesn't require additional plug-ins for professional use; all you need is already in the base package: character animation, soft- and hard-body dynamics, painting on objects, easy-to-use organic modeling tools (Maya Artisan), particle effects etc etc. Regarding your question: Will you have to relearn - or re-think - if you want to learn Maya after you have learned 3ds max? Yes, you will, because Maya has a flexible, node-based approach to doing things that is different from 3ds max's less flexible, object-oriented approach. I personally don't want to get back to 3ds max now that I'm getting familiar with Maya - it's just so much more elegant and less painless, especially with complex animation tasks. If your goal is working in the 3D industry - be it games or film/TV - learn Maya instead of 3ds max :)
Maya (Complete) is now after Alias' radical price drop last year (Maya Complete costs 1,999$ now) definitely the 3D application with the best price/performance ratio. While 3ds max used to dominate the PC 3D market during the last years, especially the PC games market, Maya is now the "mainstream" application of the future. The reason is that 3ds max is an outdated framework application (basically the same program core since 1996) for tons of additionally required, partly very expensive plug-ins for professional use, and with a price TWICE as a high as Maya Complete for the base program 3ds max ALONE way overpriced. Maya, on the other hand, comes from UNIX-based high-end film applications in Hollywood and has a very superior, much more seemless core program (compared to 3ds max). Maya Complete, unlike 3ds max, also doesn't require additional plug-ins for professional use; all you need is already in the base package: character animation, soft- and hard-body dynamics, painting on objects, easy-to-use organic modeling tools (Maya Artisan), particle effects etc etc. Regarding your question: Will you have to relearn - or re-think - if you want to learn Maya after you have learned 3ds max? Yes, you will, because Maya has a flexible, node-based approach to doing things that is different from 3ds max's less flexible, object-oriented approach. I personally don't want to get back to 3ds max now that I'm getting familiar with Maya - it's just so much more elegant and less painless, especially with complex animation tasks. If your goal is working in the 3D industry - be it games or film/TV - learn Maya instead of 3ds max :)
"Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays." -- Friedrich von Schiller