Blender as industry professional?

Mr.Moose

Hi all,

Just wanting to talk about something that I've been seeing float around.

That is that, I keep seeing people recommend learning blender over maya and max because of the argument of "Free software has all the same tools now" etc. That being said, I don't mind this argument because I am extremely proficient in blender.. However.. These posts never really talk about "Learn blender for free work vs only if youre not looking to break into the industry etc." So.. I wanted to confirm?

Almost all job postings require Maya and 3Ds max. So the question being... If you're looking to work in the industry learning and mastering those tools is still necessary, correct? 

It may seem silly or redundant to double check or confirm this, but I have recently come off an injury and want to min-max my learning and efforts.

Thank you in advanced for answering my silly question :P

Kwramm

If you're a kickass artist, software doesn't matter. If you're merely a good artist, in competition with equally good artists, then generally the guy who knows the software will be picked. The assumption is that this guy will be quicker, more efficient and require less support, e.g. in dealing with the quirks of the particular package.

However, expect to learn a new major package at least once in your career. Personally, I switched from Maya to Max, then back to Maya and now I use both. And I wish I had the time to learn Blender

Blond

Kwramm said:

If you're a kickass artist, software doesn't matter. If you're merely a good artist, in competition with equally good artists, then generally the guy who knows the software will be picked. The assumption is that this guy will be quicker, more efficient and require less support, e.g. in dealing with the quirks of the particular package.

However, expect to learn a new major package at least once in your career. Personally, I switched from Maya to Max, then back to Maya and now I use both. And I wish I had the time to learn Blender

See, that's the thing. There's a few modelers I know who've mainly worked in Max and had no experience with Maya. Yet they still managed to get hired by a studio that uses mostly Maya for most of their work. Modeling Workflow in Max vs Maya are quite different so I don't see why someone that only knows Blender would have more trouble switching to an ''industry'' software...

Neox

prejudice mostly. but all Kwramm is saying. On an eye to eye level, the one knowing the studio software gets the job. If you need a maya artist and have 3 equal applications, one from  a blender user, one from  a max user and one from a maya user. the maya user will get the job. 
If i had to pick between a great blender person and a mediocre max person, i would pick the blender person any second.

Zack Maxwell

I could be mistaken, but from what I've heard, the fact that Blender is completely free to use commercially means that many places will let you use Blender as much as you want, as long as the final result to be passed off is in the main 3D program used by the rest of the team. So you would still need to be proficient in that program at least.

EarthQuake

You're going to get a lot of kumbaya answers to this question, and it's true that if you're bad ass software isn't really a factor. But if you're talking about breaking into the industry, you're probably not bad ass. You've probably got an entry level portfolio at best, and if you're applying for an entry level position, you're hurting yourself by not knowing the software that the studio uses. This applies to Max artists applying to Maya studios as well - the big difference is that exceptionally few studios use Blender as their primary app.

So no, if you want to break in, you shouldn't settle for knowing Blender. It puts you at a disadvantage. The only thing one could really argue is how much of a disadvantage, which varies depending on the individual artist and studio.

I say this as someone who has used Ligthwave and then Modo for the vast majority of my career. Studios have generally been okay with that, but I needed to have at least the basic working knowledge of Max and Maya to get my assets into the pipeline.

allmighty_thunder

At my work i had to use blender to convert files from one type to another(which it is good for) but aside from that i have not had to touch it.

From my experience switch from max to maya is not too bad but blender is a whole other beast and learning blender in itself is kind of an ordeal. So if you know blender and now need to learn max or maya that are the industry standard you will have a harder time.

Meloncov

allmighty_thunder said:

From my experience switch from max to maya is not too bad but blender is a whole other beast and learning blender in itself is kind of an ordeal. So if you know blender and now need to learn max or maya that are the industry standard you will have a harder time.

I personally found jumping from Maya to Blender about the same level of difficulty as jumping from Maya to Max.

I think any artist seeking work should know both Max and Maya well enough that they can start doing useful work on day one. You don't need to be an expert (you'll get fully up to speed quickly enough), and it's fine if you do the bulk of your portfolio work in Blender or Modo or whatever, but you should be able to honestly say that you can work in Max/Maya.

sacboi

Mr.Moose wrote:

I keep seeing people recommend learning blender over maya and max because of the argument of "Free software has all the same tools now" etc. That being said, I don't mind this argument because I am extremely proficient in blender.. However.. These posts never really talk about "Learn blender for free work vs only if youre not looking to break into the industry etc." So.. I wanted to confirm?

[...]

...If you're looking to work in the industry learning and mastering those tools is still necessary, correct? 

Yes, true there's little to distinguish between the two, for example either Blender and Max especially when outputting game ready assets though that said each still have, dare I say 'idiosyncratic?!' differences feature and workflow wise...

Anyway overall they're equally viable modelling tools, it's just that one is an industry standard where the other is not. So as you say you're "extremely proficient in blender"  it shouldn't be that much of an ordeal getting too grips with the ADSK option, that's if a career is in the offing since their shared respective strengths as I see it are scripted customisation, hotkey shortcuts and a extensive addon/plugin library.  

Meloncov

Grimwolf said:

I could be mistaken, but from what I've heard, the fact that Blender is completely free to use commercially means that many places will let you use Blender as much as you want, as long as the final result to be passed off is in the main 3D program used by the rest of the team. So you would still need to be proficient in that program at least.

They won't forbid you from ever opening Blender, and if a particular asset would really benefit from some Blender-exclusive tool you could use it. However, a large studio is likely to have a whole host of in-house pipeline tools exclusive to whatever their main DCC application is, and not using those could slow you down by an unacceptable amount.

JordanN

In the age of cheap subscriptions, cut down indie versions & student licensing, I don't know why anyone wouldn't just go with the industry standard software if you are serious about getting a job.

I remember starting out with the free Wings 3D modeling package and that was because 3DS Max cost $4,000 and youtube tutorials were just starting to become a thing. No matter how much I tried to git gud, I just bit the bullet and went with the student version. Night and day difference when it came to learning 3D modeling and not having to deal with any technicalities down the line.

Now a days, you can get Max/Maya, Mudbox/Zbrush/Sculptris, Substance Painter/Mari, Photoshop, UE4,Marmoset all for nearly free/cheap with endless tutorials on youtube. When years ago, this would have costed a years' salary and require ordering DVD's and textbooks to understand them.

Mr.Moose

EarthQuake said:

You're going to get a lot of kumbaya answers to this question, and it's true that if you're bad ass software isn't really a factor. But if you're talking about breaking into the industry, you're probably not bad ass. You've probably got an entry level portfolio at best, and if you're applying for an entry level position, you're hurting yourself by not knowing the software that the studio uses. This applies to Max artists applying to Maya studios as well - the big difference is that exceptionally few studios use Blender as their primary app.

So no, if you want to break in, you shouldn't settle for knowing Blender. It puts you at a disadvantage. The only thing one could really argue is how much of a disadvantage, which varies depending on the individual artist and studio.

I say this as someone who has used Ligthwave and then Modo for the vast majority of my career. Studios have generally been okay with that, but I needed to have at least the basic working knowledge of Max and Maya to get my assets into the pipeline.

Okay, I think Maya it is for now ^.^ I figure character art which is my goal will benefit from being able to work in maya effectively as well as rigging/ animation in there too. I find that I am good at moving between programs, so hopefully it won't be too much of a struggle if I ever need 3dsmax.
Just a bit of beginner worry is all, I will keep fighting to get there q.q

JordanN said:

In the age of cheap subscriptions, cut down indie versions & student licensing, I don't know why anyone wouldn't just go with the industry standard software if you are serious about getting a job.

I remember starting out with the free Wings 3D modeling package and that was because 3DS Max cost $4,000 and youtube tutorials were just starting to become a thing. No matter how much I tried to git gud, I just bit the bullet and went with the student version. Night and day difference when it came to learning 3D modeling and not having to deal with any technicalities down the line.

Now a days, you can get Max/Maya, Mudbox/Zbrush/Sculptris, Substance Painter/Mari, Photoshop, UE4,Marmoset all for nearly free/cheap with endless tutorials on youtube. When years ago, this would have costed a years' salary and require ordering DVD's and textbooks to understand them.

Age of cheap subscriptions is debatable, If you take everything you need to make PBR level art work.. PS $10, Substance $20.. Maya ..$185!?! Various Tutorials $XXX?
Not to mention shelling out money for Zbrush and maybe small addons and brushes for the above.. 
With just PS and Substance $30 a month is pretty hard on a student. On top of a car note / Rent...


Thank you to everyone who replied

EarthQuake

Keep in mind that there are free educational versions of Max/Maya for students, there is no need to purchase a subscription until you start doing freelance work. At that point, you'll be making money and the subscription cost is less of an issue.