Maya Vs Blender Vs Gmax

[AndyTheGameNerd]

I got them all folks.. but all so confusing.. Id like to know which is best to invest my time into learning. I mean i dont wanna waste my time learning a program that is no good.

[Retro-Cow]

I suggest useing all three of them for a week and choosing what you prefer, they are all decent programs. If you don't have time to learn them all i suggest gmax. Like i said in an earlier post I love 3DS Max and that program will be much easier to load if you plan on upgrading. But again, everyone is different. Why don't you post some things your looking for in a program. That would make suggestiosn easier.

[requiem2d]

Maya is professional, Blender has a small following and Gmax has been discontinued. Think it should fall easy to go with Maya if you're serious about this (i.e. you'll find the most resources for Maya online compared to the other two).

[AndyTheGameNerd]

Well to tell you the truth.. im new to this. and i want to enter the competition. and i don't know what program is best for making a crate

[andrei313]

Test them out as Retro-Cow said. I use max now but at one time I did tried Maya.. and after 30 min of playing around I promised not to use the program ever again. I just don't feel good while using it. As for max, if I don't open the program at least once a day... I feel like a homeless person. I'm not saying you should start with gmax, test them all and and in time you will know.

[Retro-Cow]

Originally Posted by andrei313

if I don't open the program at least once a day... I feel like a homeless person..

lmao
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So since you already got all of those programs try them all out. Make a cube or something, chamfer it, etc. and do it in all three programs and see which you like better.

[enin]

it doesn't really matter what 3d package you're choosing, what counts is the result. some might be easier for you to understand, others aren't.

what you should try:

-3dsmax
-maya
-lightwave
-xsi
-silo 3d
-hexagon
-blender

personally i'm using 3dsmax (student license) and silo 3d (full version for 100$) nowadays and so far silo 3d has been the easiest application to learn and you get the most. if you legally own maya, then go on with it, if you don't then try other applications...

[Pankake]

It's good to think for the future also, if you're planning to get a job in the industry, then chosing a leading package is definately wise, such as Max and Maya (I'd like to Say LightWave too but it's just so underrated ), so yeah, out of what you have I reckon Maya is the easy choice, but if I were you I would have purchased max, simply because every studio and it's dog uses it.

[CopticMike]

If you want a cheap copy of Maya, or 3DS max, for extremely low price, and legally, go on this site, Journey ED BUT you have to be a student in college or grades 1-12, thats where I got my copy of Maya from. It was a wise decision!

[ragupasta]

Im a 3ds max user but, I started down the Blender route. I still have Blender and I still play with it. It's a lot more stable than other programs, (mentioning no names) Also for raytracing renders there is a free render plug-in called Yafray (Yet Another Free Raytracer). Also it has logic which can come in very handy, (and the amount of free tutorials is huge).

The thing to understand is, most packages do exactly the same thing, and use almost exactly the same tools. So learn 1 package, then when it's time to move the switch is not too hard, its just different names you need to learn for the same tools. (Unless like me you try to learn Houdini..............soooooooooo hard).

Have a think about it. In the mean time here are some Blender links for ya!!

http://ocw.tufts.edu/Content/28/supp...aterial/366743 (Thanks Eagle4 )
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender...nner_Tutorials
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender...ial_Links_List
http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~fishwick/blender/

http://blenderartists.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9 (Prevoiusly www.elysuin.com)
http://www.linuxgraphic.org/section3...iciel-ang.html
http://tutlinks.tripod.com/tlinks.html

Remember it's more the persons understanding of the tools, rarther than just the tools.

Edit: If you are going down the free route, then here's a free 2D painting/texturing/image manipulation app, http://www.gimp.org/