I used maya about 10 years ago in collage, i didn't really get into it as much as i probably could have, they didn't teach us as much as they could have, like particles and physics and such, but i remember the one thing i hated about maya back then, apart from the UV system was the Hyper shade material window, i switched to Max when i finished that Games & Animation Diploma (that i've never got the chance to use) and been using that ever since. I found the modeling workflow was easier, as was the material editor, but UVing was still a nightmare, but at least you got pre-built rigs in the form of biped, but the version i have is old now, 32-bit, and comes saddled with a non-commercial license, and all the studio positions i've seen here in the UK, require Maya experience, so i'm screwed, especially since i can't afford Maya, and since i'm thinking of going freelance, i'm basically stuck.
Personally, i'd say stick with the program you know, if a studio requires both max and maya experience, and you only have one, download the free student version of the other and dive in.
I think its very easy to get a little overwhelmed and frustrated when switching from one to the other. After using MAX for 10 years I started learning MAYA recently and seriously wanted to throw my computer out the window. You just need to grind through it, after a few weeks those feelings of rage quickly turned to understanding. I don't get frustrated at MAYA anymore, I still come across problems daily where I need to figure out how to do it in MAYA over MAX. But it doesn't take long to resolve. I think you would be hard pressed to find something the both of them can't do in one way or another.
What I found most frustrating early on was searching on google "How to XXXX in MAYA" only to find people replying with "MAYA can't do that..." which made me extremely frustrated. But I quickly learned that it can do it, its just named differently or done in a completely different way.
Has anyone here recently transitioned over to Max from Maya? I learned Maya at uni but briefly used Max at a previous job, the modeling tools seem awesome. Just wondered how long it took someone coming from maya to max to adjust.
You should check this out, if your experianced in MAX already it makes moving quickly a lot smoother.
I've been using max LITERALLY since version 1.0. I was in highschool and the class went autocad, then max, then maya. At any rate. You are RIGHT. The Maya interface is WAY more intuitively designed. I like to think of the Max UI as if the developers sneezed and just splattered all the features and controls all over the place.
However, there is a strange phenomenon that happens once you grasp max. It becomes really fast. I mean REALLY fast. It's kind of like your common qwerty keyboard. the keys are seemingly completely random. But when you learn to type it's WAY faster than if they were spread out in alphabetical order.
Still, I feel you. I still think about a day when i'll go back to using Maya primarily. Unfortunately the companies I work for demand Max, so I'll stick with it. Plus its Modeling toolset is unrivaled and i'm a modeler.. sooo.. anyhoo.
Replies
Personally, i'd say stick with the program you know, if a studio requires both max and maya experience, and you only have one, download the free student version of the other and dive in.
What I found most frustrating early on was searching on google "How to XXXX in MAYA" only to find people replying with "MAYA can't do that..." which made me extremely frustrated. But I quickly learned that it can do it, its just named differently or done in a completely different way.
You should check this out, if your experianced in MAX already it makes moving quickly a lot smoother.
https://www.udemy.com/3dsmax-to-maya/
At any rate. You are RIGHT.
The Maya interface is WAY more intuitively designed.
I like to think of the Max UI as if the developers sneezed and just splattered all the features and controls all over the place.
However, there is a strange phenomenon that happens once you grasp max. It becomes really fast. I mean REALLY fast.
It's kind of like your common qwerty keyboard. the keys are seemingly completely random. But when you learn to type it's WAY faster than if they
were spread out in alphabetical order.
Still, I feel you. I still think about a day when i'll go back to using Maya primarily.
Unfortunately the companies I work for demand Max, so I'll stick with it.
Plus its Modeling toolset is unrivaled and i'm a modeler.. sooo.. anyhoo.