Learned Maya, Learning Max...
Hey everyone, I saw the thread below about learning Maya after having already learned Max, and I'm the complete opposite--- Spent years using maya at school and professionally, and now I'm learning max thanks to a new job.
Does anyone have any good resources for a task such as this? Maybe some guides specifically for Maya users that are learning Max? Or am I doomed to start from the very beginning?
Any advice will help, thanks!
Does anyone have any good resources for a task such as this? Maybe some guides specifically for Maya users that are learning Max? Or am I doomed to start from the very beginning?
Any advice will help, thanks!
Replies
http://eat3d.com/3dsmax101
Maybe I can help you something, my job is focus the modeling path~
So I only tell about the different between modeling path and some basics~
And I'm using 3dsMax 2011 & Maya 2008 to telling the difference~
So maybe some of my advices are already outdated due to the new version~
OK, let's get started~
1st, the navigation control between them is a little bit difference~
I can't found anyway to change anyone of the key of them~
But I already used to both in just 1 week~
Maya > Alt + MMB to pan, Alt + LMB to orbit. Scroll for zoom in and out.
Max > MMB to pan, Alt + MMB to orbit. Scroll for zoom in and out. You can zoom more slower by pressing Alt + Scroll.
The shortcut key for object mode, move, rotate and scale tool are the same~
Just one thing a bit difference is the scale tool~
Maya > 2x click the tool to open up the option and adjust the settings.
Max > Press R to select uniform scale, press R again to change to non-uniform scale, press R again to change to squash, press R again to change back to uniform scale. So you can simply change scale type by just pressing R. Q also does this, pressing Q to change selection type.
Some useful shortcut key:
Alt + W = Toggle maximize viewport.
Alt + X = Toggle transparency object.
G = Toggle grid on / off.
F3 = Toggle highlight on / off.
F4 = Toggle wireframe on / off.
F9 = Render current scene.
F10 = Render setup.
7 = Toggle showing object & scene information.
8 = Environment & effects settings.
0 = Render to texture settings.
T = Change to top view.
B = Change to bottom view.
L - Change to left view.
F = Change to front view.
P = Change to perspective view.
C = Change to camera view.
S = Toggle snap element. Right click the snap icon above for settings.
A = Toggle snap angle. ight click the snap icon above for settings.
Z = Zoom average all objects within the scene.
When you open up 3dsMax, you can found a lot of geometry on right. Click one of them and drag it on the scene. Adjust the value and right click on the object to choose turn to editable poly. In 3dsMax, when you created an object, that is just a geometry, you can't edit the poly unless you turn that to editable poly. And note that when you turned to editable poly, the geometry value will disappear. All the object information will change to editable poly settings. The edit poly function between them actually quite same. Just the functions name are a bit difference. For example, Maya is called split polygon and 3dsMax is called cut. Maya is called Bevel and 3dsMax is called Chamfer.
In 3dsMax, there has a smooth group function available when you select face. Select the faces you want and assign to one group to smooth the faces (Change faces normal). This is very important for baking texture.
Some useful editable poly shortcut key:
1 = Select vertex
2 = Select edge
3 = Select border (open edge)
4 = Select face
5 = Select element (all faces of the mesh)
6 = Object Mode
Ctrl = Add selection
Alt = Subtract selection
Ctrl + I = Invert selection
Shift + Drag the face out = Copy the face
Ctrl + PageUp = Glow selection
Ctrl + PageDown = Shrink selection
Space bar = Toggle lock object
Select an edge or face, holding Shift and click the edge or face next to it to perform a ring or loop.
The Unwrap UVW of both of them is a difference way~
In Maya, the edit poly and Unwrap UV are working together but 3dsMax is separately~
After you finished edit poly, you find the Unwrap UVW in the modifier~
After you select it, the object information will change to Unwrap UVW settings~
In Maya, when you turned to UV, you can only select the UV by vertex~
But in 3dsMax, you can press 1,2,3 to choose vertex, edge and face for selecting the UV~
Here is the unwrap method for my own, you can take it as a reference~
Method A:
> Select cut seam, cut the edge, the edge will turn into blue color.
> Select face, select one of the face within the seam, expand the face to seam.
> Pelt > Tweak some settings > Relax > OK
The UV was completed.
Method B:
> Select faces where I want to unwrap.
> Pelt > Tweak some settings > Relax > OK
The UV was completed.
Note: When you click pelt, it will automatically cut the seam on the border of the selected faces. If you want to sew the seam, just click edit seam and click the edge by pressing Alt.
After you completed unwrap, you can turn back to editable poly by right click the object and select editable poly. Please note that the seam will all disappear when you turn back to editable poly but the UV is still there.
The modifier is a really cool stuff in 3dsMax, you can take a look at there. Bend, FFD, Twist, Symmetry, Taper, Turbo Smooth and so on are all in there. You can take which modifier you want and set to UI button for easier to achieve.
That's it, hope this would help you on your journey.