Stick with Blender or switch to 3ds Max?

AWad457W

I have a rather unique situation: I've been using Blender for a while, but I recently started a trial for 3ds Max. It looks like it works much better than Blender, but the problem is that I'm used to how Blender works, which makes it very hard to switch software. From what I've mostly seen in Blender, I find it very hard to believe that Blender is capable of making good models and (especially) animations. All that being said, IF Blender is worth it, then I might just consider sticking with it.

So my question is: Should I switch to 3ds Max or stick with Blender? And IF I decide to stick with Blender, would other software like ZBrush and Substance Painter make the Blender model look like it was made with something better?

PolyHertz

Blender is very capable software, nearly anything you could make in Max can also be made in Blender and vise versa. Learning Max may help you get work in a studio that uses it, but ultimately the quality of your work is more important then the software you use. Max does have much better viewport performance then Blender (especially with subdivision enabled) and a more mature modifier system, but its interface is much less consistent then Blenders and it lacks sculpting tools.

Ultimately you should just use whichever you feel best allows you to achieve the results you want.

AWad457W

I appreciate the reply. Then I take it that it wouldn't matter what the model was made in as long as it can get work done on it from ZBrush and Substance Painter? If the only main difference between Max and Blender is just studio usage, then I may consider staying with Blender. Is there anyone who knows how difficult it is for animating in Blender, or if it's more worth it to just get Maya?

Thanks in advance.

sacboi

Agree with @PolyHertz

AWad457W said: I find it very hard to believe that Blender is capable of making good models...

Well, I believe the mind and hand of an artist determines quality of work, rather than the tool itself. But don't just take my word for it, I've followed Witold Jaworski's project for quite awhile and as a hard surface modeller probably on four occasions I've seen that degree of hyper-precision in my 15 whatever years grinding away, which is even more astounding when his workflow is solely implemented using a 100% FOSS pipeline via low end hardware plus game res output, no less.

So in my opinion, the level of investment in time and perseverance will also dictate an end result sought after.  

pior

Here's the thing though - while in theory I suppose one can say that all software is more or less equal, there's no beating around the bush on the topic of animation. If the OP is talking about 2.8+ then yeah as unfortunate as it may sound it is absolutely not suited for animation work imho.

Now of course someone will always point out that this or that artist manages just fine, therefore what's the problem ? Thing is the 2.8 viewport is awful when it comes to dealing with skeletal meshes. It requires a special script to toggle normalmaps on and off because they somehow get recalculated each frame ; and even with that, the mousewheel timeline scrub is simply broken (about 3x slower than regular timeline cusor grabbing). And overall the performance with skeletal meshes is just worse than 2.78.

So ... yeah. That's that

AWad457W

I just found a copy of Maya 2017. I'll try to get the hang of it and see what happens. Here goes nothing..

Panupat

I think the choice of MAX  only really matter if you plan to apply for a job in position beyond asset creation. Zbrush and Substance however are good skill to add to your repository regardless. Add Marvelous Designer to the mix if you do anything cloth related.

kanga

pior said:

Here's the thing though - while in theory I suppose one can say that all software is more or less equal, there's no beating around the bush on the topic of animation. ...

Well there y go. I use Blender (and love it to bits) but minimally for animation. The only thing I am aware of is the general opinion: Max for models and Maya for animation. I think if you have access to Maya then go for it. Plus being familiar with more than one program is never a disadvantage.

AWad457W

OK, bit of an update; It seems I may have worried a little too much about the software to use, just HOW to use it. I think I now figured out a winning combination.. 

ZBrush for sculpting, Substance Painter for texturing, Blender and/or Maya 2020 for modelling. If Maya 20 works out for me, then that will cover the animating too. If it doesn't for whatever reason, there's IClone as a backup (Unless what others have said about Blender and IClone not working well together is true, then I might be in quite a bind).

Panupat said:

Add Marvelous Designer to the mix if you do anything cloth related.

I wasn't aware of this software before, but I'll look into that one also. Thanks!


EDIT:  Well, I can't get any version of Maya to install because my computer's being a b****, and I can't find any answers to see if it's possible to export models from Blender to animate in IClone, and most reviews I've read saying apparently Modo doesn't cut it for animation, so I'm just going to give up, nix everything, and pain my way through learning Blender's crappy animation system, because all forbid I be able to use any GOOD animation software.

Apologies for wasting everyone's time!