A thought decision

jenioss

Hello there

I'm using Blender since 10 years now and I feel like I need to learn something new/morepro!

So I started to learn Zbrush (it's pretty cool and I like it) But for the modeling part, I can't chose between 3dsmax and Maya..

So, do one of you have a good advice for me about this choice?

Thanks guys

Steppenwolf

I've been a 3ds max user for many many years but i'm not sure it would be right to recommend it to you. I think Maya is more future proof and a better investment of your time as someone learning a new tool from scratch. It has some good things on the horizon wheras max is stagnating and Autodesk giving the impression that they are about to phase it out eventualy.

GlowingPotato

Irecommend Maya. Just because.

I started with Max 7 years ago, and using Maya for 5 years now.

tkvtoons

Another vote for Maya.
Like Steppenwolf said, it seems like Autodesk is gradually phasing out Max by adding many of its features to Maya.

Dataday

Depends on your expectations. Are you trying to get a job at an existing studio? If so knowing Maya and Max is going to be a huge boon. If you are just wanting some self improvement or dont need to worry about studio placement... then you have a lot more options. I like to personally recommend Modo 10 (pro and indie) for those coming from another software as its the most modern competitor, also doesnt break your bank. Compliments Blender nicely. 

Sculpting in zbrush is good, you can really get some nice high poly meshes out of it.

purplekami

There are so many reasons why choosing between Maya and Max is a tough choice, even things like what area are the studios located in, for example the vast majority of studios in Montreal all use Max, and as a Maya user I've been pushed to learning both.
Personally I would recommend Maya since that's what I started off learning, the workflow is pretty straightforward with lots of in-depth documentation that you can access anytime with the press of f1! Once you get a good base with Maya I would suggest to also learn 3ds Max,  the more versatile you can be the better.

jenioss

Oh yes, I didn't talk about my goals ^^

I'm making a game with 4 other peoples, 2 dev 2 artists. If our project is not conclusive, I plan to find a job in game industry at a first place, advert/animation as second choice. Mostly in Montreal/paris like you said @purplekami (I'm from france)

Ok! so, all the voices go for Maya apparently, ty @Steppenwolf @GlowingPotato @tkvtoons
I Chose you Bulbasaur!.. Huh, Maya I mean

@Tidal Blast I don't feel any limit in blender, I just feel stuck in a routine.. I want something new, a new approach of modeling. And I also want to be able to sell myself if things goes wrong
Learning 3d paint/texturing stuff like mudbox or 3dcoat is already part of my plan I learn ultra fast, I know myself really well, I can do the 3 learning at the same time ^^ I just don't want to learn 2 tools for the same subject at the same time (it's too hard)

huffer

If you know Blender, I think you'll feel more at home with 3dsmax, it has a similar modifier stack workflow (but more powerful), and I think it's tools are smarter implemented than in Maya.

jenioss

Ok but what about the arguments that Maya have a better progression as a product? 

huffer

Don't know about that, Maya had a modern UI upgrade last year, Max has it this year; they added a lot of modeling tools and improvement in Maya these last versions, but I'd say it seems like a better progression because it was lacking in the first place . Last version was a tangled mess of different tools, like two types of extrude, two types of chamfer, new modeling tools in the modeling toolkit and legacy tools hidden in reorganized menus...3dsmax's interface remained pretty constant, they only kept piling stuff on, but without cutting.

Steppenwolf

jenioss said:

Ok but what about the arguments that Maya have a better progression as a product? 

Ther's a video floating around about the future vision for Maya. It will get quite strong sculpting and procedural modeling tools so it will be a good all in one package where artists can do most things without switching between third party tools like Zbrush and Houdini. Max on the other hand had its team size reduced and they only add small things here and there that are of interest for game artists.

Should you ever need 3ds max because a company you apply to is using it then you can pick it up rather quickly since it's not so different from Blender.

Steppenwolf

That might be true but max not being the future is pretty much a certainty unless Autodesk does a 180 on its attitude towards it.

cptSwing

*shrug* we'll see. Max's swan songs have been sung for eons now as well.

musashidan

Steppenwolf said:

That might be true but max not being the future is pretty much a certainty unless Autodesk does a 180 on its attitude towards it.

2017 is a very solid release. 

Steppenwolf

Lots of performance improvements from what i've read/seen and better uv tools, which is nice, but nothing that could lift game art creation to the next level. I don't see this working for many more years. They don't innovate with max, they don't even try to keep up at an adequate pace. And then ther's the issue of the subscription fees. Will be harder and harder to justify if the package isn't cream of the crop at least in some ways.

Steppenwolf

I tried switching to Modo two or three years ago but i still had to use max for work stuff and constantly switching between the two messed too much with my brain what with the different muscle memory and viewport controls so i stuck with 3ds max for the time being. But one day...

huffer

Steppenwolf said:

jenioss said:

Ok but what about the arguments that Maya have a better progression as a product? 

Ther's a video floating around about the future vision for Maya. It will get quite strong sculpting and procedural modeling tools so it will be a good all in one package where artists can do most things without switching between third party tools like Zbrush and Houdini. Max on the other hand had its team size reduced and they only add small things here and there that are of interest for game artists.

Can you share the video? I saw one that showed some possible new features, yes there were sculpting tools, but no procedural modeling, only a package for motion graphics (importing .SVG files for text and controlling the resulting 3D mesh's bevels)

Steppenwolf

huffer said:

Steppenwolf said:

jenioss said:

Ok but what about the arguments that Maya have a better progression as a product? 

Ther's a video floating around about the future vision for Maya. It will get quite strong sculpting and procedural modeling tools so it will be a good all in one package where artists can do most things without switching between third party tools like Zbrush and Houdini. Max on the other hand had its team size reduced and they only add small things here and there that are of interest for game artists.

Can you share the video? I saw one that showed some possible new features, yes there were sculpting tools, but no procedural modeling, only a package for motion graphics (importing .SVG files for text and controlling the resulting 3D mesh's bevels)

found it: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3biu7r

jenioss

Knowing that maya going to implement more sculpting tool and the fact that (apparently) montreal leaders' studios work with max, I Chosed max for now. I'm perfectly ok about switching between tools, because I prefer 10 specialised tools in each domains than a single big monster who try to do everything

So thanks guys for all your advices! It's more clear now ^^ I'm getting max right now (and I'll give a try to Maya the day I'm confident with max ^^)

see you!