Jumping between 3d Apps

Asmuel

Waste of time or necessary practice?

A long long time ago I used to use Max, but now navigating Max's interface is like trying to communicate with who speaks a different language.

For the past year and a half I've been using Lightwave, primarily because a some tertiary study I did. Lightwave basically does everything a modeller needs, I won Australasias biggest game art contest last month just using it for modelling, and if it aint broken then why fix it? I also use Modo, which is fuckin genius, you can just select wether you want the hotkeys to be set up like Lightwave, Maya or Max, I use it for things that Lightwave cant do like use viewport shaders etc.

I guess Im asking if you guys think switching to Max would be the right thing to do, more and more studios seem to be using it. Im concerned how this would effect me switching from freelance to working in a studio, I assume I will have to use whatever they use, that is if I can get a job when most are specifying max experiance is preffered. Also if anyone has any tips on how to make the jump easier that would be cool

MoP

The more apps you are comfortable in, the better.
Personally I much prefer Max's modelling tools over LW's, although LW does havea few nifty tricks that Max can't manage.

James Edwards

Doesn't hurt to have max or maya knowledge since they are industry standards... Just pick something you are comfy with though and stick with it. You'll be more productive in the end and if a job absolutely forces you to switch up it's hardly that difficult for modeling tasks. Rigging and animation is going to be more work to adapt to but again the principles are pretty much the same no matter what you're using.

Tulkamir

I've found that if you are truely fluent with one program, picking up another program is easy. The key is just to not fight the new program. By whcih I mean don't try to force it to have the exact same workflow as whatever other program you are used to. I've jumped from max to maya and back, and currently use both. I find that both (and another packages as well) have their strong points and weak points. Getting used to working around in multiple program can only strenghten your skills in the end.

aesir

I enjoy using max and maya for various tasks. Model it all in max. Rig and animate in maya. Shaders and whatnot I use either. Definitely unwrap in max though. Zbrush/mudbox for high high res. I intend to pick up some more progs to help my workflow some more though.

Asmuel

Yea thanks guys, I think I'll learn a bit of max, it cant hurt. I can still use LW for most stuff and having a bit of max down will make a transition easier if I HAVE to switch in the future

Learning to render in Max would be an asset, I couldnt get a proper beauty render out in the last comp I entered because LW cant render Tangent space normal maps properly and Modo's renderer is more geared towards rendering with GI and HDRI etc.