How I feel about Maya
polycounter lvl 7
Maya to me is like dumpster diving. I'm in a giant dumpster filled with garbage bags. I don't know what's in each bag but I'm going to have to open each one and search through all these unrecognizable objects to find the tossed goods.
Actually, let's make it a trash compactor because all of us know the stress of time and the walls get smaller and smaller.
I'm fluent in Max but if I was in Maya Land, I'd be able to only speak friendly introductions and name off colors, numbers and family members to the local Mayans. I guess that's a start.
Any funny animated gifs and images to make my day?
Much love and cookies,
-Zilk
Actually, let's make it a trash compactor because all of us know the stress of time and the walls get smaller and smaller.
I'm fluent in Max but if I was in Maya Land, I'd be able to only speak friendly introductions and name off colors, numbers and family members to the local Mayans. I guess that's a start.
Any funny animated gifs and images to make my day?
Much love and cookies,
-Zilk
Replies
That is all.
Coolest thing about maya - insert edge loop tool.
What game studios use maya as their primary tool anyhow? I worked at SCEA for almost a year and that seemed to be all the Sony permitted their employees to use. From what I hear 90% of other game studios use Max.
So yeah Maya? so powerful, yet so flimsy. Assuming that artists are supposed to write their own tool is, huh, weird.
congratulations.. you just described ALL 3d creation suites..
What? The renderer doesn't load anymore?
What? All my normals are randomly reversed for no reason?
What? Face selection is now selecting the farthest objects instead of closest ones?
What? An unlocked object with no ties to anything in the heirarchy is totally locked?
What? I have to save 20 copies of my file because it still doesn't have an auto-backup feature?
What? It's the standard program for Vancouver-based studios for absolutely no reason at all despite the fact that the rest of the gaming industry uses programs that actually have decent modelling functions? Godamnit.
This and the fact that connect gives you better control (slide & pinch) than edge loop tool may seem like small things but the throw my workflow waaaaay off.
I guess that's partly why I feel like parts of the interface are elegant :P Helps getting through the day, plus it cracks everybody up ("OH what does that one do haha!!!")
YAY!
oh shi-
Max=huge messy interface, great modeling tools. Still has crappy legacy stuff (editable mesh anyone?) Needs a good spring clean. Stack rocks, and works unlike Maya's oh-so-fragile history.
Silo=great modeler, fantastic interface, missing some essential features (deformers). Mouse customisation
I've heard some Maya jockeys argue that Maya does in fact have an "autoback" like Max... their argument being "you just have to go in and turn it on in preferences"
To me, this isn't fucking AUTOback... it's MANUALback.
@pior - roffalz bewbage
lol.
max or maya, in the end, is there really a difference? They are both just as broken. In addition of being mostly a matter of personal preference (and also practice), the shortcomings from one are usually somewhat implemented better in the other.
In the end, what does matter is feeding the game pipeline with proper data. Ideally you want to use whatever software that allows you to do it the fastest. And when you don't have that choice, you better start trying to learn the rope and whistle of the app instead of lamenting
They are both capable of doing the job, it just requires a user willing to get it working the proper way (give or take). Because it really is just that, if you try to use Maya as you did Max, well, you won't get very far (and vice versa).
anyway, feel free to dismiss my useless post in a pointless thread :P
In Max I remove everything that is below the viewport, but expand the modifier panel to two columns. Also I float a few palettes for some extra scripts.
I maya, same thing : I remove pretty much everything below and on the left of the viewport, and the recently added viewport preferences eating up space. I hide the shelves too. I put all my icons in a floating shelf that remains even in fullscreen mode (cant post the script, sorry). I also force AA through the nvidia driver, and set a nice viewport gradient.
Greuh, this isnt a VS thread. (please everyone, don't turn it into one). This is more a "both suck" thread!
I didn't mean to suggest that Max has a shining great example of a UI or something.
You end up spending most of your modelling time extruding edges, and moving verts no matter the application.
I prefer max by a LOT, but Maya has better Unwrap, and navigation tools, and if you ever get used to node base shader editing, you'll probably like the shader system more too.
Maya is a migraine, max is just a headache
Now lets stop this petty pissing contest of which overcrowded interface is the least crippling to our artistic abilities and get back to learning about our tools.
...besides, everybody knows that Poser 3 is the best. Just look at these bullet points.
- New user interface
- Facial posing and animation
- Human figures with jointed fingers.
Jointed fingers!... Reading this thread was a waste of time. Except for Pior's posts. They gave the idea to use boobs for shelf icons.
After six months or so, I found fixes for the bugs and learned to avoid stepping into certain traps.
Maya's node-based architecture is very powerful once you learn to manipulate it. You can connect inputs and outputs in so many different ways. This allows you to solve problems and create your own tools on the fly.
Max is still a great package and comes with some excellent tools, especially for games. Max doesn't allow you to work with inputs and outputs with as much ease and flexibility, but Max has tons of great tools that are honed for game production.
The strength of Maya's nodes is also one of its drawbacks: it requires the user to be comfortable with a more technical way of working. If the user isn't a technical person, they will need a greater amount of support than Max.
My advice: stick with learning Maya. Don't give up. The learning curve is steep but ultimately worth it.
Lots of people love the way Maya's snapping system works. Well XSIs works just as well. In fact almost everything in XSI is just as functional, cleaner, intuitive, and stable.
The only thing I have found slightly problematic is the lack of scripting tutorials due to the smaller user base. Other than that its pretty much the best package I have worked with. This is based of my experience with Modo, Maya, & 3dsMax.
I've spent 8 years using Maya straight and was pretty upset every time I opened up Max.
Though over those years I developed a fast pace working speed in Maya. But soon came to notice that my body wasn't going to take it much more (soreness, pains) to complete many complicated modeling operations.
After realising and wondering why so many artists of the modding community were producing more content & faster at that. I knew there was something the whole time with Max that I wasn't opening myself up to. Which was the reality it does have a better overall package to work with for any 3D artist out there. (Except for it's snap system) which I argue Maya has the best over any 3D package to date. (not to mention it's shortcut keys are brilliant for easy clean model/component snapping).
I think the best solution is really. If anyone from maya moves to Max. You have to keep alot of this in mind to make things easier..
- Max is more like photoshop layers (for it's modifier stack)
- Max = alot of middle mouse manuvering
As for Maya it's mostly
- Left mouse manuvering
- Right mouse button & (+additional major keyboard buttons)
- Click to drop functionality
- To get the best tools, you have to make you're own shortcuts for them on you're own shelf.
But really for those making the switch to Maya for it's use in 3D artwork. Drop Maya if you have the option and stick with "Silo". It's a wonderful little package that I alone cannot understand why Autodesk didn't buy the guy who built it. But it's all like maya in terms of Navigation, but with a much much better modeling package that's on par with programs like 3ds Max, XSI, Modo.
(so funny i mention all these other packages and still maya hasn't come to terms that they need to seriously update, lol)
But yeah, it's you're choice and preference. Based on the work you do, ect.
However, there's something cumbersome about navigating in the viewport in Max that I haven't gotten used to. Sometimes the pivots don't seem quite right when you rotate even if you adjust it. Maybe Max hates my mouse. Any Maya-to-Max people find a way around this?
XSI sounds great. I'm going to go check out the free trial.
Pros:
- connect tool
- edge extrude with shift
- snap tools (compared to maya)
- mirror tool (compared to maya)
- UI not as cluttered
- shell modifier
- autogrid(better than make live in maya)
- biped
Cons
- material system (kinda limiting at times)
- broken cut tool
- x-form(equivalent to freeze transform in maya) flips normals sometime
Maya
Pros:
- insert edge tool
- edge loop selection
- smooth preview
- nCloth seems to be better than max cloth simulation (in general mayas simulation seems to be better than max imo)
- Animation
Cons:
- having to delete history
- viewport texture
- bridge tool is broken
- selecting in sub object mode is annoying
i think in the end max is a better for modeling, maya is better for animation. btw ive only used maya for few months only. so i havent found all the good stuff that maya has to offer.
that's why it's called 3DS(tudio) Max rather than 3D Studio
user since v1 and i STILL don't know what the basic menu operations are called without having the thing in front of me, causing a generally not-that-useful trend of replies in the technical tqlk forum
/runs away
@Onion - Maya has all the pros that Max has that you've listed they're just called different things. Cons, I can agree with everything except the history, because if used appropriately it's fantastic. But hey that's what updates are for anyways
@Kaskad - Ctrl + Space. Nuff said
Im sure autodesk will make a mega program that is max/maya/mud all in one. The interface will be menus on menus, with 100x100 pixel viewport for modeling.
Somewhere along the lines I switched to Maya, at the time a daunting task I hate having to learn to UIs.
But I quickly began to love maya, its pretty intuitive, more streamlined(in my opinion) well... any program can be with customization.
Maya just seems more suited to my work flow, its good we have the choice of programs out there though.
Really though, you can make a list equally as long for most of the major 3d packages weighing out pros and cons.
Ultimately it is up to the artist how well put to use and the efficient the program is is.
This + space bar pretty much gets me by anything.
You're an idiot Phil!
^^ i lol'd ^^
aaaaaaaaaaand im throwing in my vote for Maya.
I think it's because it was the underdog to Max when I attended school and I am one to always root for the underdog.
:shifty: always. :shifty: