Modo 10 vs Maya 2017

tonyblu331

I'm new into modeling  But I have problems when I try to model, I once tried 3Ds Max but seems that I didn't click with that software, now I'm looking for alternatives and I'm debating between Maya or MODO, and Why I should choose it over the other?

I'll Be creating primarily this type of content:  Game Art, Environment, Vehicles, and miscellaneous.

Zack Maxwell

I'd say Modo. The modeling tools in Maya aren't terrible, but they can't be compared to Modo. Especially the speed of it.
Maya has a lot of community-made plugins, but Modo can do what many of the more popular ones add out of the box, especially the modeling ones.
Maya has better UV mapping, but the retopology isn't as good.
Maya has better rigging/animating, but you'll hardly notice the difference doing environment/prop work.
Maya has far better community support, but Modo has an infinitely more intuitive interface.

If you were doing character work as well as rigging/animating them yourself, then I'd say Maya + ZBrush. But for environments, I'd definitely say Modo.

The learning curve can be a bit problematic, though. Not only are tutorials scarce, but if you get stopped by a terrible bug or user-error, the community won't be of much help in solving it.
My current personal project has been halted for roughly a week now because of a ridiculous rig/animation issue that no one can help with. But once you do get around those things, you'll know what to do in the future.

sprunghunt

Most modeling programs all use the same basic idea  so if you are having problems modeling in 3dsmax you will have problems modeling in Maya or Modo.

Joopson

Try a trial of both and see what feels right. Most of what Grimwolf said is debatable, so, best to just decide for yourself. Threads like these tend to devolve into bitter rivalries, when really, all the big programs can do the same stuff, and just work for different types of people.

R3D

Look at the companies you'd like to work for. Look at what tools they use. That's never a bad spot to start.

Modeling techniques are overall quite transferable between programs, so no matter if you land with 3ds, maya, modo, or even blender, what you learn and your eye for modeling will go with you.

Kwramm

Start with whatever gives you to lowest entry barriers. Once you are comfortable with that software, move to something else that is common in the industry (e.g. Max, Maya).

The important thing is to understand the concepts first - e.g. what's UV mapping? what are normals? etc. This is stuff that will stay with you throughout your career. Tools change. It makes a lot of sense to pick an easy to learn tool (=subjective) so you can focus on concepts and not where the heck Autodesk hid a certain button.

GrevSev

Start with Blender. Its free, has tons of free resources and the community is superb. Its not as heavy on space and customizing everything is great.

Modo is a sexy beast too

mystichobo

I think EQ summed it up pretty well here.

"What software/tool/workflow is best?

This is an unanswerable question, what it really comes down to is what are you most comfortable using. Rather than knowing what the best tool is, you should know how to use as many of the tools you’re likely going to need to use on a job. This makes you a more attractive potential hire, as you can hit the ground running.

Basic standards are Max and Maya for traditional 3d stuff, with Modo being very popular these days as well. Its best to know how to use both Max and Maya on a basic level, as nearly every studio uses one of these. You can get educational copies of each from Autodesk for free, so there is no excuse not to know them. Basic modeling skills will apply to any app, but you should know how to operate the interface of the big two.

Zbrush and Mudbox are the standards for sculpting, learn one or the other. Photoshop is required knowledge for everyone, it’s the standard in every studio. Quixel’s Suite and Substance Designer/Painter and becoming more and more popular for texturing."

Joopson

Tidal Blast said:
And when we get something better, it's hard to go back to the old ways..... if you choose Modo there is a possibility that you might never want to go back to either 3DS Max or Maya and to do so could create a very unpleasant or even frustrating experience or a step back in your journey.

I mean, this honestly goes both ways, and it's not about better, it's about different. It's hard to change your ways, once you've already got a way that works. That's only natural. Of course Modo has stuff Max doesn't have, and that Maya doesn't have, and some of those things are cool; but Max has stuff Modo doesn't, as does Maya. They really are all pretty evenly matched (even a few I didn't mention), and it all falls down to preference and way of working.

Mant1k0re

Man, you're a programmer now, just let us happy Max users be and end the crusade now will ya?

OP, try both and decide for yourself. Just be aware that your first package might shape you in a way that will make other packages unbearable if you stick with your "first love" for too long.

I for one can't stand Modo at all. Max workflows are in my modeling ADN and everything else feels clunky and slow. 

Find your own way!

tonyblu331

So far I have got a lot of input and clear many doubts I had, thank you for all the replies and your help!

Dazz3r

pppppfffffffft max max max max maxc max!

inxlr

There's a reason Autodesk makes Maya free for students: it's the Microsoft Word of 3D apps. It's old, it's buggy and it's bloated. It's an application designed for a different time when you bought software in a box and you expected it to do every single thing. There are a number of better, more stable, leaner alternatives that specialize in a certain part of a pipeline (Modo) or are more approachable and intuitive (C4D) but you have to use Maya because it has market share. That's what studios own a license for and that's what managers know how to use. Giving it away to students ensures that they maintain that market share.

Anything I can do in a few hours in Cinema 4D can take an entire weekend or a week in Maya. It's especially bad now because of the switch over to Arnold from Mental Ray. Arnold is a spectacular renderer but the fact that it's new makes even routine things require some pretty esoteric work-arounds. And that's working with Maya: a pipeline held together by duct tape and tears.

I would love to use Modo and Mari, or Cinema 4D, and Substance or a combination thereof but I'd also like to use Google drive and docs instead of OneDrive and Word and . One thing that might make it more appealing to studios would be to see how much faster artists can work in Modo. I'd say learn Modo, make a great portfolio and pick up enough Maya to say you know it in a job interview. After all, you can get a student friend to sign up for an Autodesk account with their .edu email and get Maya for free any time.

Unfortunately

Joopson

inxlr said:

There's a reason Autodesk makes Maya free for students

If I'm not mistaken, all autodesk programs are free to students.

Zack Maxwell

This might just be a testament to how subjective the question is more than anything, but after using Modo long enough my opinion flipped.

Maya may be buggy, but Modo is at least as bad in that regard.Maya is also now what I consider to be the best tool for UV mapping, rigging, animating, and middle-range at retopology.

It's the perfect tool to pair with something like ZBrush. Modo only beats it out in regards to pricing and modeling.

And if you care about those things, Blender is completely free, has only a slightly worse modeling tool set, and substantially better rigging and animating.

Both Maya and Blender also have actual communities around them with guides, support and documentation.

The only time I would recommend using Modo anymore is if you work almost exclusively on hard surface props, don't do your own rigging or animating, don't like working in ZBrush, and don't mind digging deep to find guides and your own solutions to bugs or mistakes.

When directly comparing my opinion now against my original post, I'd say that I severely underestimated just how bad the community and support are, combined with how buggy it can be. Very bad combination.

As an example, I think at one point I irreversibly broke the skeleton on a prop because I had some switch flipped that shouldn't have been when I exited rigging mode, and had to rebuild it.
Another time when I was tweaking the settings, I activated something that caused the entire screen to go blank anytime I opened a pie menu.

Another time I kept getting an issue where anything made in Modo would have a completely botched up asymmetrically randomized scale when imported into UE4.

Another time I had to reinstall it because the vertex normal tools stopped working altogether.
On a few different occasions I had to spend an entire week just trying to solve a single error, while making no progress in my work.

When I stopped using it completely, it was because I was completely unable to get it to export any but the first keyframe in my animations.

The Foundry also appear to be moving toward abandoning the Indie version, and the support staff have an actual policy to ignore the questions of Indie version users If they have problems.

CreativeSheep

Maya.  It's accommodates both artists and technical.

Fansub

If you're looking into getting into the industry i'd say Maya, but if you're looking for an awesome modeling software imho there's no way in the world you can compare both when Modo has a better bridge system, better quad fill, better selection, better falloffs, Mesh Fusion, rounded edge shader, ability to bake it down very easily,macro system (probably the best thing in the list), etc...

I'm all for the "modeling is pretty much the same in every DCC app" response, but still, some things are just objectively better in Modo when it comes to modeling in my opinion. There's also some neat modeling features in Maya, but i can't name you anything impressive compared to Modo, and i'm a Maya user

musashidan

@fansub is this opinion just from watching/reading about Modo's modeling workflow, or have you used it much on modeling projects? I've used Modo in the past on several projects and really don't see what all the hype is about its modeling workflow. I'm a long-term Max user who has seriously considered adding Modo permanently to my pipe but the environment is really pretty terrible in terms of what the viewport can handle poly-wise.(maybe it's really improved in the latest version) and I certainly didn't discover any lightning fast modeling tools that left Max in the dust, even for the basics. I'm sure there's a huge amount I'm missing but I usually give Modo a try once a year, hoping for the best.

Fansub

I've actually used it a few years ago   nothing super impressive but the macro system had me completely sold. The amount of things you can do with it is pretty crazy, add to that Modo's robust modeling tools and you can create some of the most creative tools with nothing but logic. Isn't that neat ?!

I never got to stick with it (was using a trial, and didn't have the cash to buy it back then) so i just shifted back to using Maya, then creating tools inspired by Tor Frick's workflow(s). But when it comes to modeling i can really hardly think of anything that matches it's capabilities. I've only used Max for a little while so i don't add it in the list, specifically talking about Maya here.

One last thing, the list of features i marked as being "better" in Modo actually don't even exist for the most part in Maya x)