Switching from Maya to Max, having trouble....

nitzmoff

So for my new gig I have to learn their app of choice, Max. We're using version 4 as all their old tools are tied to the project. I've having a rough time making the transition. So much of the interface and such is different and overall I just feel clumsy with the thing.

I think it's worse because I'm well versed in Maya and know what I want to do, but can't do it. Anyone have any good tips or better yet, tuts for making the switch?

TechSmith

I hate to say this, but look in the help files that come in with Max.There are some decent tutorials in there already.
Other than that I would check out the tutorial thread here
If those fail post on the board if you have a specefic thing you're stuck on. MoP gives great Max advice

Jeff Parrott

I would say get a setup that closey mimics Maya. I've got a hotkey set that RyanH gave me that gives you similar keys to Maya. That really helped me when I was learning Max. I can give you that if you want but I'm not sure it'll work with 4.

MoP

Yeah, what Jeffro says is good advice - I tend to use hotkeys all the time in Max, partly because if I ever need to switch apps (I was using Maya at work last year) then I can just find out what functions have similar effects, and map them to the same hotkey.

If you're on Max 4, you'll want to grab Meshtools, since the standard set of Max4's poly modelling tools was pretty limited.

Anything in particular you were having trouble with?

nitzmoff

Thanks guys.

As far as what I'm particularly stuck on, it's pretty much a 'where to start?' problem. In Maya, I was a box modeler. Initially I was trying to find the equivilents of tools in Max, but I'm finding it's like learning the metric system- don't bother and simply start fresh. That said, it feels very much like the last 6 years of Maya knowledge gets thrown out the door.

The included tutorials in Max 4 are in my opinion, kind of silly. they're more or less geared to beginer film stuff and nothing close to games. The first one is animating a still life or something. Idealy, there'd be a basic low poly modeling tut and a uv mapping (skinning, not 'project this map').

I think if I can get over the initial frustration I might be mentally more open to soak it all in.

MoP

Box modelling in Max is IMHO easier than Maya!

Basically here's what I'd do:
1. Make Box primitive, give it some Segments if you want it pre-subdivided to your liking.
2. Convert to Editable Poly.
3. Set up hotkeys for Connect (part of the Meshtools pack), collapse, remove and similar edge/vert editing functions.

Actually, that reminds me...

From the old boards!
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~polycount/ubb/Forum2/HTML/005922.html?00026

Maybe this will help you. The 4 videos relating to the first 5 posts in that thread are available from Fileplanet, links to that are here. Just get the "another head modelling video" 1-4 by Mop.

Also remember that all of the viewport controls can be accessed with the CTRL, ALT and Middle-mouse button (hold middle mouse to pan, hold ALT + middle to rotate, CTRL-ALT+middle to smooth zoom - scroll wheel should be incremental zoom).

Hope that helps!

nitzmoff

Any kind of video is very helpful, thank you. I'll install those mesh tools as well.

thomasp

i think the initial hurdle with max is that you have to create a primitive and convert that to an editable poly object first. whereas in any other app i encountered, you can simply start editing the primitive right away.

check out this: http://www.3dluvr.com/ic-art/html/images/sds_modelling.avi
this is a really old but surely helpful modelling video made by irfan celik to illustrate the workflow of the then new meshtools for max4.

all in all if you're doing modelling, version 4 isn't bad, there's a few things that it's missing (slide components, repeat last action spring to mind) but most of what has been incorporated over the last years on the modelling side is available as scripts to max4 users.
absolutely get meshtools and cspolytools. these scripts are invaluable. check if you need polymagus functionality, too (vertex relax, paint selection and a few others). with max4 being 5 years old, it might be a little difficult to locate script revisions that work with that build. many authors tend to remove the older downloads.
other scriptwriters that have released loads of helpful stuff are chuggnut and michael comet (and lot's of others i forgot).

max has a few nice things like the different coordinate systems, so better learn them - parent and pick, i couldn't live without. all in all, max is a really well working package - on the modelling side of things. version 4 isn't a mature animation and rendering package, though.

Husch

You can find good and free Max video tutorials (DIVX) on:

http://www.3dbuzz.com

I can´t remember in which version of Max these videos are recorded (I think it was Version 5), but most functions and methods should work in Max 4 too.

To download these videos you just have to create a free acount on 3d Buzz, go to VIDEO TRAINING and click I AGRREE TO THE ABOVE, then you can download.

Download Max Plugins and Scripts at:

http://www.maxplugins.de/

and

http://www.scriptspot.com/

Jeff Parrott

Here is the hot key thing that makes it like Maya more. I didn't do this, I got it from RyanH again. So if it blows up your machine blame him.

http://jeffparrott.com/transfer/maya-like_hotkeys5.kbd

Rick Stirling

And you REALLY want to badger them to update their tools and ugrade to max 7.5.

Rhinokey

yeah starting in max 4 is really going to hurt you, it was no where near the modeling ap as current max versions,for a company getting on the max subscription plan is completely cheap,

Ryno

Max 4 is archaic. If they are using that toolset, then they are in for some pretty slow art production. This is a very bad move. Seriously, it will cost them 3 times the man hours in lost art production time than it would be for the coders to change the tools pipeline.

Look for Edit Poly enhancement plug-ins. Edit Poly was half baked when it was first introduced in Max 4.

But more importantly, badger them about upgrading.