[Max vs Maya] Object aligning and Placements features comparison

Orphydian

Both of these software seems to have a decent set of features for aligning objects together and placing objects on other objects. But what are both similarities and differences between them ? I dont use aligning too much so I recently went in more depth and test some out and I was not little surprised to see Maya can not only stay toe to toe with Max but also has unique cool features that can tip the balance. Ofc I will ask here for the opinions of more experienced users that can do a better analysis than mine 

MAYA FEATURES











Mash nodes (Curve, Distribute, Placer etc)





Maya Easy and flexible Working with the Pivot

  


MAX FEATURES


         

 

Select and Place tool with Options


3ds Max Scatter Compound Object



CONCLUSIONS

Maya Advantages

Maya seems to have a significant edge on Max with regards to flexibility, speed and better visual helpers for different aligning and placement actions.

The Align Tool in Maya is more refined. In comparisons to 3ds Max counterpart, it acts as a actual tool with great visual helpers. As Far as I know Max doesnt have  2 point to 2 point and 3 point to 3 point Object snapping (pls correct me if Im wrong) and thats big difference in precision on Mayas part.

Maya has access to the full power of Mash for Placing and distribute objects with a lot of controls. Max Scatter Compound object has a similar use as the Maya Mash Distribute node but it is old and has serious limits and inconveniences. I would say Maya has slight more control here. For ex in Max Scatter All Face Centers distribution  Places a duplicate object at the center of each triangular face on the distribution object. Basically Max is triangulating each face and places two objects there- Why someone would want that!

The Max Spacing tool isnt that refined as the Mayas Mash Curve Node and doesnt give always right results ( for example when you pick a path  the distributed objects dont preserve their orientation along that path  and need manual tweaking work). The Clone and align tool seems a handy tool but cant beat Mash for that. Both software have at least one tool to interactively paint objects onto the surface of another objects but Mayas Mash Placer node is again way more refined.

Maya's  far easier and more flexible easy laid back Pivot manipulation and snapping is just awesome and can very well increase even more the gap in this comparisons.

Maya has additional Aligning options inside the very Align Objects window: Distribute and Stack. 

Max advantages 

Max has very conveniently the Align Rotation, Match Scale and Align Pivots placed inside their Align tool  while Maya has them separated in Match Transform Submenu. 

Max Select and Place tool is a bit more robust than Mayas Snap together. You can also Move the object and slide on the surface of another object while in Maya you can only place it so yeah max can have that too. Havent played with the other options there like Pillow  but Mayas doesnt seem to have that too (again waiting for comments).

So for now Maya seems to be the winner and its kinda ridiculous since Max is far more heavily focused on modeling and its set to work with precision but this ground total is telling otherwise.

oglu

I dont use align. 

Ghogiel

 Maya has another option there which is Match pivots. Is there something similar to this in 3ds max ?

Obviously it does.

Orphydian

Ghogiel said:

 Maya has another option there which is Match pivots. Is there something similar to this in 3ds max ?

Obviously it does.

its the same as Pivot point to Pivot point alignment ? In that case Ill edit my OP accordingly. Thanks !

Do you happen to know if there is smth similar to Mayas Distribute and stack in other Max align tools ?

Eric Chadwick

Tons of alignment tools, someth for every deviant desire.
http://scriptspot.com

But you know, fanbois are gonna be.

Ghogiel

Orphydian said:

Ghogiel said:

 Maya has another option there which is Match pivots. Is there something similar to this in 3ds max ?

Obviously it does.

its the same as Pivot point to Pivot point alignment ? In that case Ill edit my OP accordingly. Thanks !

Do you happen to know if there is smth similar to Mayas Distribute and stack in other Max align tools ?

Set an objects pivot point to match anything you want really, grids, verts, edges, other objects pivots etc.

As for distribute and stack, not sure, but you are aren't counting array in max, some cloning and positioning functions you want aligning tools to be doing lives there in max.

monster

Max also has Scatter, Object Paint, and like Ghogiel mentioned the Array tool. And if you're a technical guy you can use MCG to make any align tool you want: https://youtu.be/HmjDl1VN5B4

I'm practical though. I use Max and Maya, the align tool I use the most between the two is Max's simple Align Selection dialog.

Orphydian

Ghogiel said:

As for distribute and stack, not sure, but you are aren't counting array in max, some cloning and positioning functions you want aligning tools to be doing lives there in max. 

Is the Array tool meant to align two or more objects together or placing objects on other objects ?

Orphydian

monster said:

Max also has Scatter, Object Paint, and like Ghogiel mentioned the Array tool. And if you're a technical guy you can use MCG to make any align tool you want: https://youtu.be/HmjDl1VN5B4

Good point on the scatter tool. Do you know what Im doing wrong with the Use selected Faces Distribution ? The source object in this case the small cylinder it gets duplicated. I also chose to use the face centers but its not properly centered.

coven

That's correct. Scatter sees each poly as 2 faces (triangles) so it's generating 2 cylinders per poly.

Orphydian

coven said:

That's correct. Scatter sees each poly as 2 faces (triangles) so it's generating 2 cylinders per poly.

why would somebody want or need that? How long this tool wasnt updated ? so how to solve this ? without using scripts.

coven

This probably hasn't been updated since it was created (way before my time). When it was created everything was tris. There are ways to do this.. mostly with script, including birth scripts with pflow, or you could use the data operator and build exactly what you want. I don't think there is a easy way out of the box. Lots of existing scripts though.