Max to Maya user
Hi,
I am a 3dsmax user and would like to pick up the basics of Maya too.
Anybody know of any good tutorials / websites or books that teach Maya from a Max users perspective?
Thanks.
I am a 3dsmax user and would like to pick up the basics of Maya too.
Anybody know of any good tutorials / websites or books that teach Maya from a Max users perspective?
Thanks.
Replies
Maya isn't the best modelling program, but the navigation is pretty good.
This wasn't a bad tutorial site:
http://www.3dlessons.com/categories/3D-Tutorials-Maya-3D-Tutorials/page2.html
This can be used to bake out AO and normal maps:
http://www.game-artist.net/forums/spotlight-articles/1317-tutorial-ambient-occlusion-maya-alchemist101.html
If you're familiar with render monkey or Unreal, you might LOVE the hypershader because its node based (aka material editor).
I started out with Maya, learned 3dsmax and am now more comfortable with 3ds. I've gone back and kept myself up to date in Maya but I feel your pain. Really the best thing I can suggest when switching either way, is just bite the bullet, get used to how it works and deal with the 1-2weeks of headache until it starts to feel like whoever stole your thumbs, finally gave them back to you.
Using scripts and switchers are pretty much just training wheels that end up prolonging the inevitable.
The good news is, I think its easier to go from 3ds to Maya then the other way around. Good luck, after a few days/weeks it starts to get better. For the most part they are almost identical apps, with different names and locations for the same tools.
Coming from maya, haven't used Max much- how does edit poly work?
You might also find this quick ref chart from Paul Neale (PEN) pretty helpful when finding what features are called. Its easiest to ask about specific functions you do in Maya that seem to be missing from 3dsmax. You should probably start another thread for that, since it will probably get a lot of replies from both sides. Those types of threads are awesome btw, so much good info gets recorded when those threads get started (as long as people can keep their biased opinions and pissing match attitudes out of the thread)
I think a great addition to both apps would be adding the terms from the other, into the help files. That way you can search for the terms you know and find the ones you need.
On the original topic, i'd recommend to anyone learning maya the first two chapters of 'Complete maya programming'. Even if you have no interest in learning MEL, having an understanding of the guts of maya will allow you to take advantage of Maya's uniquely transparent architecture. It'll give you a better sense of why things are organized the way they are, and how to troubleshoot when things go wrong.
I've been a 3ds user for a while now and just gotten used to it. Plus a lot of Maya's tools are hidden or just not there, see NEX. After I got thru digging them out and bought NEX I was in much better shape. But take away NEX and I feel like someone stole my thumbs. I kind of regret not biting the bullet and just slogging thru, but it was driving me nuts.
Something NEX pushes hard to include is previewing. It's nice dragging a slider and see it update in the viewport without having to accept the change, undo, try again, undo, try again, undo ect... NEX is great, and I wouldn't use Maya without it unless I had to, but it doesn't come close to 3dsmax, edit poly and polyboost.
If you're going to pay for a plug-in, it should be on the level of polyboost, not NEX. NEX only levels the playing field but does little to expand it.
I guess what I miss the most, and its not really edit poly, but its the whole modifier stack and how it works oh and the pivot system. Maya's pivot system is slowly upgrading, which is great I hope they keep going. But the history stack is a dog that had its day and needs to retire.
EDIT: Actually you know what, they both suck at modeling. Silo is king! It's cheaper then both Polyboost and NEX. It isn't even a fraction of the cost of 3ds or Maya. It has a low learning curve, super fast, and behaves exactly like a 3d modeling app should. It just feels right. So why cobble something together, when you can have something that's far above it. The only drawbacks are, its a seperate app, work might not spring for it or want to support it, zero rigging, animation tools and very limited export options .obj is about it. To get things in game you'll probably need 3ds or Maya. But for modeling, its pure joy.
I think the worst thing you can do is go "Max does it this way, why doesn't Maya have the exact same tool?" because really, they both are very different programs. It's been said many times before.
I'd avoid using switching tools too, because Maya's not meant to work like Max and Max ain't supposed to work like Maya * otherwise what's be the point in having the two?
I'm in the same boat as crumbum for the most part so i can feel that pain. I think besides the edit poly and the modifier stack, one thing i'm struggling with is the gizmo..
e.g. 3ds Max you can move or transform things across two axes at once, but i can't seem to do the same with Maya, am i missing something obvious here? i only have the option of 1 axis or all of them.
Thanks MoP, i figured it out a little earlier as i remembered Maya treats shift as a plus and ctrl as a subtract in terms of selection, so it kinda makes sense.. but yeah tad weird >.>
... this is gonna take some time.
Shift is invert selection, Ctrl+Shift is add, and ctrl is remove.
Use the input node in the construction history, select the attribute you want to adjust and use middle mouse button in the viewport to adjust it (hold ctrl to take smaller steps and shift for bigger) I never ever use the optionbox to set my bevel distance or merge tolerance or whatever.
Get used to using the MMB, it will affect anything that's selected/active without having to center the cursor on it.
After that learn all marking menus. IE, when you press and hold W and left click there is marking menus to access move tool options (not sure if this one is documented tho), so you barely have to open the properties box anymore...Work with scale and rotate key too. so you can enable soft selection on / off and so on, local orientation and the list goes on. custom shelve and you re good to go. Then after that only long enough practice / keyboard shortcuts will make you fly in it.
Still some things I miss from max that I wonder if I could get to work (like being able to scale some inseted polys each of theyre own center instead of maya considering it as a group). but overall this is the release that I was waiting for to consider it...I am sure I would miss some max features sometimes, but with enough time and patience I guess I would prefer maya in the long run, just because it is really really powerfull and there is some hidden gems all over.
Some scripts I saw here could complete your toolset (like the make planar script someone posted here). Enjoy the ride
good luck!
Couldn't you do that with "keep faces together" turned off and using the offset attribute in extrude, or use "transform component" to scale several faces using their own centerpoint.
Will try and let you know