Should I use different software at home?

Mimp

I work with Max at work.

Should I use an alternative piece of software for modelling at home?

My reasoning is that if I were to find employment elsewhere that used Maya for example, then the transition would be quicker and easier.

Also using a different piece of software may highlight different techniques that I could use.

Any thoughts?

By the way, this is in no way a "which is better" question, I have my own favourite, but I understand the need to be flexible.

Disco Stu

why not

Wahlgren

Switch to a new one every week!

crazyfingers

I wouldn't stress over it, switch to the new one when it's necessary, which software you know is rarely a deal breaker. Also knowing maya wont make you a better modeler or texturer in any way shape or form if you're already using max, they're essentially the same program with different starting hotkeys and setups as far as modeling is concerned.

If you swaped maya's preferences and settings around it can essentially become max with some annoying differences (history, tons of annoying panels, and other random stuff).

Let me put it this way, if you spent a month learning maya, and an alternate you made a kick ass thing for his portfolio, that dude would probably get the job.

Mimp

Cheers guys

AstroZombie

That's not a bad idea, at all, actually. The last time I touched Maya was in 2006, and at that point I had gotten very comfortable with it. I kind of regret not keeping up with it now.

EarthQuake

Its never going to hurt to know MORE. Just keep that in mind, do you need to do it? No, but that isnt really the question is it. I think its a positive thing to do if you have the freetime.

Mark Dygert

I started doing that (Maya at home Max at work) and it gave me a nice refresher coarse on Maya.

I started with Maya moved to Max (at the time it was dominant) and stayed there after finding a job that used Max.

Of course going back to Maya drove me nuts because I was taking 3x as long to do what I already knew I could do in 3dsmax but that wasn't the point.

Since then I've decided to stop torturing myself and gone back to using max at home. I feel I have a good enough grasp on Maya I could use it in production if I switch jobs but I really prefer max for modeling.

Honestly I hope most places wouldn't care what app(s) you use for modeling but I totally understand why studios would choose to use only one.

ebagg

I'm with Vig, if you want to learn Maya in your spare time because you don't know it, great, but I was a Maya user for a long time both personally and professionally, but when I made the switch to Max at work, it quickly got awkward to switch between the two. I keep up to date with Maya but I also barely touch it because makes the adjustment after 8+ hours at work on Max is awkward and just slows me down.

Snefer

Don't use modo at home. Cause then you will have to cry at work everyday. True story