F1 works awfully well, you know.

I started on 3ds for about 7 months, then switched to mainly Maya for the next year. I basically stopped 3ds all together for 8 months after that, I toyed around with XSI as well during that time. I now use Maya for modelling, texture-testing, rendering, and animation, and 3ds for Biped, skinning, biped animation, and exporting/level design. You will adjust yourself to the workflow of either program, just keep at it. At one point I was going between half a dozen programs in my pipeline and workflow for certain models, the only thing I still seem to confuse are the F1... keys and the Alt/Shift/Ctrl button.

Like I said in my first post, your choice in software doesn't matter (with a few exceptions... scripting and rigging being those exceptions, rigging only because its so closely intertwined with scripting). If you can make quality artwork, that's all that matters. Anyone with an ounce of talent and experience will tell you the same thing.

Quote: Original post by LockePick
And hell, they're both owned by the same company now anyways.

I started out learning 3ds max, and now need to use Maya for courses I'm taking. It's a jarring switch, I couldn't do jack shit for the first week, but slowly you get used to it. All the same modelling techniques and principles apply to both. It's just a matter of finding where they hid the tools that both products have.

exactly!

Quote: Original post by Professor420
F1 works awfully well, you know.

I started on 3ds for about 7 months, then switched to mainly Maya for the next year. I basically stopped 3ds all together for 8 months after that, I toyed around with XSI as well during that time. I now use Maya for modelling, texture-testing, rendering, and animation, and 3ds for Biped, skinning, biped animation, and exporting/level design. You will adjust yourself to the workflow of either program, just keep at it. At one point I was going between half a dozen programs in my pipeline and workflow for certain models, the only thing I still seem to confuse are the F1... keys and the Alt/Shift/Ctrl button.

Like I said in my first post, your choice in software doesn't matter (with a few exceptions... scripting and rigging being those exceptions, rigging only because its so closely intertwined with scripting). If you can make quality artwork, that's all that matters. Anyone with an ounce of talent and experience will tell you the same thing.

exactly!

"If you can make quality artwork, that's all that matters."
this is also true, that is why, in some rare instances, certain studios will allow the artist a choice of 3ds max or maya. as long as it doesn't hinder workflow (meaning you can export out to the need format...etc) then they don't care, because art is art, who cares how you create it!

hahha yeah nice question! I am actually using 3d max for school and it pretty much rocks. I haven't really gone into TOO much detail with max, but then about 2 days ago I saw my teacher using MAYA, and it was just amazing! He was doing something with one of his works and there is sooo much detail! He was even making the mouth move to say stuff!!! But then again everyone who posted above is correct! It really doesnt matter which is which, just as long as your work is groovy!!

Like everyone else has said, they all end up producing the same thing: 3d art dictated by your artistic skill. The quality practices in 3d modeling are the same whether you're using a $6k program or freeware. Edge loops, poly optimization, principles of animation, etc.

Speaking from personal experience, I picked up the Maya PLE and had a horrible go at it, the interface just wasn't very intuitive. I tried 3DSMax7 with some video tutorials and clicked with it right away. Now I'm using Blender, and the only real transition has been finding the buttons again. Once I know which keys relate to the tools I'm used to, it's smooth sailing.

*sniff* (but I do miss single-edge beveling, sigh)

Quote: Original post by BCullis
Like everyone else has said, they all end up producing the same thing: 3d art dictated by your artistic skill. The quality practices in 3d modeling are the same whether you're using a $6k program or freeware. Edge loops, poly optimization, principles of animation, etc.

Speaking from personal experience, I picked up the Maya PLE and had a horrible go at it, the interface just wasn't very intuitive. I tried 3DSMax7 with some video tutorials and clicked with it right away. Now I'm using Blender, and the only real transition has been finding the buttons again. Once I know which keys relate to the tools I'm used to, it's smooth sailing.

*sniff* (but I do miss single-edge beveling, sigh)

may i ask why you made the switch from 3ds max to blender though? but yeah, once you become a good artist when moving to another app its just a matter of figuring out what they call this or that feature and where the buttons are.

Quote: Original post by Jarrod1937
may i ask why you made the switch from 3ds max to blender though? but yeah, once you become a good artist when moving to another app its just a matter of figuring out what they call this or that feature and where the buttons are.

Two reasons:
1)Built a new PC, and the install .msi on my disk doesn't like my version of XP for some reason, and more importantly...
2)It was bootleg, which I didn't have a problem with while I was learning, but in the interest of being able to offer resources to dev groups, I picked up legitimate freeware. And in all honesty, I'm amazed with how robust Blender is for being freeware.

As someone with extensive experience using both Max(9 years) and Maya(6+ years) I can say as everyone else has iterated that both programs will accomplish what you're looking for. The disparity between Maya and Max users in the industry is not as wide a gap as many might have you believe either. I've worked professionally on 8 games so far. Three of the developers used Maya, four used Max, and one used XSI. And the gap is narrowing each year as more developers explore the possibilities with Maya, XSI, and other 3d apps. Five to ten years ago Max dominated the game industry. This is no longer the case.

That being said, based on my personal experience I prefer Maya for it’s workflow, efficiency, and accuracy, but these are just personal preferences. Having actually spent three more years with Max than Maya I can say with a bit of confidence that I’ve nearly mastered the workflow in Max and almost have acquired a comparable level of proficiency in Maya. Despite my greater experience in Max I can still work faster in Maya because of its workflow. Max has some nice poly tools that I wish Maya would adopt such as target welding, the connect tool, ring selections, etc. but in my opinion these don’t make up for the speed with which I can do the most fundamental and powerful tasks in Maya. Again, this is just my opinion. There could very well be an artist out there who has equal experience with Max and Maya and can work more efficiently in Max.

Either way though, as soon as you learn one 3d app, learning another is really not that difficult. It’s just understanding all the little nuances that takes a while.