Blender, hard surface and traction in the industry.

neworder98

Hi everyone,

Since last year, i've been jumping on and off between Blender and Zbrush to find my own voice in 3DCG. I've grasped both software's basics and I've been diving more and more into hard surface.

I'm making this topic because the search function throws nothing at me, I've been following Mario Elementza's "Mastering 3d modeling in Maya" with the intention of understanding topology and edge flow apart from creating my own models without having to follow a tutorial. The thing is, I feel doubtful about completing this course in Blender, even though the fundamentals are still the same.

Why is that? Don't get me wrong, I love Blender, I feel comfortable in it. But at the same time, I keep hearing (and looking at job postings) that studios (both professional and indie) have their own workflows around Maya/3dsmax.

Has anyone made the transition from Blender to 3dsMax or Maya for strictly hard surface modeling in sight of working with studios in the future? I can't stand 3dsMax's UI and Maya doesn't have the stackable modifiers tab (which to be fair, is the only thing 3DSmax's got going on in it's favor)

Also, I plan on following the polycount's wiki on modeling, but if you have a course/video that really helped you with your modeling skills, I would be eternally grateful. 

poopipe

I don't see blender making any great strides for some time - i think it'll happen but I don't think it'll happen very quickly 

example reasons that aren't silly
- The studio probably has a 15 year old Maya toolset which they don't want to rewrite - I've rattled on at length about DCC agnostic tooling on here in the past - turns out it takes ages to build and requires that you argue with your engine team (3 years in now..)
- Blender addons are a nightmare in terms of licensing and distribution - Blender is useless without them

It's easier if your studio is relatively small and/or doesn't read the fine print on their insurance policies. 

to be practical - endure Maya, its what everyone uses

if you want to actually get work done - learn Max. 

neworder98

poopipe said:

I don't see blender making any great strides for some time - i think it'll happen but I don't think it'll happen very quickly 

example reasons that aren't silly
- The studio probably has a 15 year old Maya toolset which they don't want to rewrite - I've rattled on at length about DCC agnostic tooling on here in the past - turns out it takes ages to build and requires that you argue with your engine team (3 years in now..)
- Blender addons are a nightmare in terms of licensing and distribution - Blender is useless without them

It's easier if your studio is relatively small and/or doesn't read the fine print on their insurance policies. 

to be practical - endure Maya, its what everyone uses

if you want to actually get work done - learn Max. 

Thanks for commenting. I think I'll dip my toes for a month or two and endure the pain of learning Maya while following Elementza's course, even though the UI seems to be a bit better than 3dsmax's, I really dislike it not being blender's (maybe its just me being used to it) 

do you recommend any Maya tutorials?

Fabi_G

I recommend Frank Polygon's Sketchbook for some very nice hard surface modeling writeups and inspiration. Perhaps start a sketchbook thread yourself, to document your learnings.

When starting out (share recent works to give people an idea where you're at), I would focus on making good looking assets and don't stress too much about specific software. With growing knowledge of fundamentals and ability to use documentation, switching software becomes less of a pain. Challenges (here on PC there's a Bi-Monthly-Environment one) are a good way to apply your knowledge to different subjects in a set timeframe and see others approaches.

scottycharly

Back a few years ago I used 3DSMax a lot and also used a little Maya. In my opinion, 3DSMax is a better modeling tool that Mya and it is widely used in the game industry. In my team, most artist use 3DSMax. Maya has its strength but they are not on the modeling side of 3D. 

Personally I made the switch to Blender about 4 years ago and would'nt switch back. But I am lucky enough to work in a production environment where the tool team supports Blender as well as Max.

But more widely I would say that those are all tools and as a 3D professional you are expected to use the software that is supported by your production. If you have a long carrer you can bet you will eventually use all of them. Your focus should be about learning 3D not on the specific software you use.

poopipe

scottycharly said:

 Your focus should be about learning 3D not on the specific software you use.

That's true until you need to go fast - you need to know your tools to do that.