Is 3d Studio Max Better Than Maya?
Ok, I don’t know the answer to that question for everyone, but hopefully this may lead people to an answer. I’m not a Maya user. I may have tried it once when I was just getting into 3d modeling, but quickly dropped it. When I went to school, their course was 3dsmax based. So I ended up essentially having to learn 3dsmax in order to get my degree. I will say this about 3dsmax, it can be learned with relative ease. The biggest issues I hear regarding the two 3d software packages are that one is really hard to learn and the other is really easy. The other issue is that one has a better renderer and can produce better animations. Maya is the one that people say can produce things far better looking than 3dsmax, but harder to use.
While Maya is more advanced(I think) in areas in creating animation and rigging, I have yet to see it produce anything that 3dsmax can’t. I believe most of these comparisons come from new 3d animation students rather than seasoned animators working in the field. The general consensus among them is that because most Hollywood studios use Maya for special visual effects in movies, that 3dsmax cannot produce results of that magnitude. I can say with certainty that I have seen amazing things done in 3dsmax that rival or surpass those done in Maya. Just because most VFX companies have invested in Maya does not mean it should be the be all end all to a tough solution. I have seen things done in 3d studio that look as good as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and 2005 remake of King Kong.
Believe it or not, 3dsmax can do muscles. I don’t know why, but alot of animators are oblivious to this fact. Even I was at one point when I was just starting off. Everyone always seems to say, “That looks real, was it done in Maya?” Are muscles a pain to setup in 3d studio max? Kind of, but I think rigging in general at this point is a pain. The thing is that nowadays, you have programs like Zbrush that can enhance the work you do in either 3d application greatly. I think that the gap between 3dsmax and Maya is narrowing somewhat. They both seem to be focusing on different aspects of working in 3d. One goes one way, the other goes another. In the end, they are both owned by the same company anyway. Autodesk.
I’ll soon be writing some tutorials on how to do things in 3dsmax. I won’t be writing tutorials just for the sake of writing tutorials though, I’ll be documenting a project that I’m working on. There are tons of good tutorials already out there for animators though. I suggest looking at the CGtalk forum or 3dTotal. They are done by both Maya and 3dsmax users. Just remember that most things, weather it be animation, compositing, video editing, or even music can be duplicated in another software. The trick is to be creative and to know your way around the software that you like to use.
Being comfortable when you sit down as animator or artist is an extremely important thing. I tend to zone out and just focus on what it is I’m doing completely. I can’t stand little distractions such as a phone ringing or knock on the door when I’m trying to finish tiny, annoying little details in a 3d model or animation sequence. Part of the ability of zoning out comes with knowing the software. I feel as though I know 3dsmax pretty well. I am confident I can learn new things if need be and I enjoy it. It doesn’t frighten me to have to sit down and read how to accomplish something in the program. So in the end, I can only answer the question posed for myself not for anyone else. Is 3d studio Max better than Maya? For me, 3dsmax is.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 10:20 pm and is filed under 3d Animation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
