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Blender vs Maya vs 3dsmax (Forums : 3D Modeling & Animating : Blender vs Maya vs 3dsmax) Locked
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Sep 20 2014 Anchor

I have been spending the last few months practicing modelling in blender, however i have wondered what the strengths and weaknesses it has compared to it's competitors. I have heard the more costly software is easier to use but i was wondering if that was all they had going for them.

I'm thinking about switching software but am not sure whether i should or which one i should get. What are the pros and cons of each and what do you recommend?

Sep 20 2014 Anchor

Maya is Autodesk's powerhorse now, Max is getting toned down and won't have animation features in 2016+ release. Autodesk also destroyed Softimage and added some of the better functions of it into Maya. So Maya is definitely the thing to learn, now.

I never used Blender, but I'm not sure if it has FBX format exporters. They are very handy when you are working with engines, such as Unreal 4, because animation, smoothing groups, and Lightmaps UVs can be exported aswell as the geometry. That's something *.obj files can't do. I use Maya and like it better than Softimage, which I used before. It's simply more complete. Max had always had a convoluted interface, so I wouldn't recommend it, any more. Maya also has the light version, which is less expensive.

However, after all's said and done, if you get along with Blender and it does the things you need, why change at all? The only advantage would be that some studios may be using Maya or Max in their workflow and require you to use them (because they have a license only for that program). Still, Blender seems a pretty good program, especially considering it isn't free and not owned by that all-eating Mammoth that is Autodesk.

Sep 28 2014 Anchor

I have used Blender3d for my project, and I found it easier, has great performance, didnt encounter any crash (unlike maya), and yes it has FBX import/export

UV's unfolding is much easier in Blender, Animation as well,
For Unreal 4, you could use ONE FBX file for exporting all animations as "Actions", which is impressive :)

So I would definitely suggest Blender3d

Oct 3 2014 Anchor

There really wasn't any difference in what 3D package you're using. The difference lies with your skill and proficiency with the software. The more you spend time with one, the better your skill and the more advantage you'll find with you're chosen software over their competitor. No software will be useful if you don't have the skill to use them.
But it's okay if you can use them all, which mean you're better than average 3D artist that know only one. :3
Imo: blender is what all you need to make games. Why spend money when you already have all the feature for free? Unless of course you want to do something blender can't.

Oct 4 2014 Anchor

WindAstella wrote:
Imo: blender is what all you need to make games. Why spend money when you already have all the feature for free? Unless of course you want to do something blender can't.


I agree with that. I think one important thing for any 3D software is that there is a community and in-depth Q+A available. The rest is pretty much personal preference. The problem with many (commercial) Autodesk products is their subscription model. Maya 2015 already has had 4 update packs, available to subscribers. If I didn't have a (student) subscription, I would be stuck with a version of Maya that crashes and does weird stuff occasionally. I think all future updates to one particular software should be free, once you buy that software. Sticking with subscription just to get updates seems nuts.

I can see how working with Autodesk programs can turn into a problem that way.

Oct 23 2014 Anchor

Max and Maya have more in common than either with Blender I'd say. Blender is fantastic although it works so differently to most other 3D packages (silly little things like right click to select, Z being world up instead of Y etc) that it can be difficult to switch between it and C4D, XSI, Maya, Max etc.

Big problem at the moment is Autodesk own the 3D market, Max and Maya are by far the most popular programmes but they haven't changed for the better in the last 4 iterations (and are super expensive). You could opt for something like Maya LT, although they nerf some small but very important features (such as set driven keys, essential for any sort of rigging).

Still, Maya is my favourite interface wise and the easiest I found to learn. The context sensitive right click menus are super handy (can get most options by either right clicking/ ctrl+right click or shift+right click). Max has some neat modelling tools folks say are better than Maya, but for rigging and animation Maya is by far the best.

Of course it depends what are of 3D you're more interested in, if it's animation I'd say focus on Maya, if it's modelling maybe look at something like Modo and use that with zBrush.

Hope that helps!

Dec 5 2014 Anchor

Hi guys,
I've been modelling now teaching myself as I go, started to get some stuff that is showing some real results over the past few days. Like everyone above, It shouldn't really make a difference which package you use, at the end of the day they all do the same, thing. I've been working in blender now for the majority and a couple of days ago got maya on the Autodesk free student licence. From what i've seen maya seems to come with more built in functions for doing things quicker, Ie deformation of models etc. It would also seem that it has a much better scale system than blender and quicker prototyping for models. However it would appear that its has more limited rendering capabilities than blender and by there site is aimed at animators. Blender on the other hand has everything from a built in game engine to rigging to sculpting and built in compositor.

Blender from my experience would appear much more focused on manipulating very individual vertex where maya is more about the broad scheme of your model.

I use blender and find it great, along with tonnes of user created scripts to enhance blender. (Scripts can be written in python) and its free. Autodesk is probably going to release a new version every year which you will have to buy again with a few extra features.

That's my view on things
Hugo
Note: My maya experience is limited to a few training videos so don't take this as being a very accurate representation, so correct me if i'm wrong about anything.

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