modo / maya / max ?

alexworx · Sep 2016

Hi all,
I am a seasoned 3d desinger working with 3ds max and vray. I am a little disappointed in 3ds max 17 and all the issues I have been having getting basic things to work correctly. My question to you all is if you could spend and invest your time in a another 3d software where would you put your time into? I am have been looking a little into Modo. ( maya, cinema4d, blender, houdini )
Keep in mind I am starting to dive into UE, so the work flow right now is 3ds max to UE. I am also starting to look at Substance Designer as well as Zrush. Eventually all of those software's would be in my process.

Thanks for the time,

Alex

Daf57 · Sep 2016

Hi,

I think I would go with Blender if I could do it all over and not be so invested ($$$) with Max. I've seen some fantastic work come from Blender - and it will just continue to get better I believe.

Aabel · Sep 2016

If you understand how computer graphics work, or want to understand how computer graphics work go with Houdini. Being able to take a live asset directly to engine is a unique capability that has no equal in any other package except Fabric and that is really more of a development platform for software than anything else.

Just be prepared for a huge learning curve. You will be a true n00b all over again. However your learning curve will overlap with substance designer significantly. HDA + .sbsar is a really powerful combination.

alexworx · Sep 2016

I actually downloaded blender to check it out.

Houdini is interesting for sure, but so is the learning curve. Not sure I can convince my other designers and boss that its the right way to go at this point but def worth looking into.

Thanks

Dataday · Sep 2016

I'm going have to recommend Modo, it just works. The learning curve is low and they have a video primer for those coming from 3DS Max. The new PBR viewport includes UE4 and Unity shaders. The procedural modeling system that was just added can give you a bit of parametric modeling options, and meshfusion has gotten some love recently (new workflow). You can sculpt, paint, retopo, UV in a fairly direct manner. You can find V-Ray for Modo as well as a Substance plugin, which works nicely if you create substances in designer.
Best part of all is that the development is fairly active (rather you get updates at regular intervals) and you are not punished for skipping an upgrade. You just pay once for an upgrade (same price as everyone else) and its at the latest version.

Its hard to go wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO9Niq2ZUOI

The biggest cons with the software right now deals with viewport performance (which really depends on how far you are pushing it).

Also there is an ArtStation contest coming up featuring Modo you may be interested in called Test Drive Modo. As the name implies, its targeting those interested in evaluating Modo. It includes an extended trial of the software, some resources to get started, and a prize pool that includes a cintiq as well as the software itself.
https://www.artstation.com/contests/the-foundry-s-test-drive-modo-mari-challenge/challenges/11

musashidan · Sep 2016

Dataday said:

The biggest cons with the software right now deals with viewport performance (which really depends on how far you are pushing it).

This is what has always put me off. As a long time Max user I tried Modo around 801 and whilst I enjoyed the experience, the laughable viewport performance made me ditch it in frustration. I recently tried again with v10 but found the same issues. Meanwhile I can push 50mill polys and 1000's of objects around in Max 2017. Shame really because if I did ever seriously consider anothermain DCC it would have been Modo.

Dataday · Sep 2016

musashidan said:
This is what has always put me off. As a long time Max user I tried Modo around 801 and whilst I enjoyed the experience, the laughable viewport performance made me ditch it in frustration. I recently tried again with v10 but found the same issues. Meanwhile I can push 50mill polys and 1000's of objects around in Max 2017. Shame really because if I did ever seriously consider anothermain DCC it would have been Modo.

Well the good news is that its been constantly getting better, and they are consciously aware of performance as one of the biggest problems Modo faces. I would constantly check up on Modo after each update (another one coming up 10.2)... though it might be awhile before it matches Maya/Max viewport performance, it shouldnt be at the point where its a game breaker (pros outweighing the cons).

But I hear you, coming from Maya it took a little bit of getting used to the performance hit.

alexworx · Sep 2016

Great points about Modo guys, thanks! I think it may be worth a shot if the work flow is good.

LanGun44 · Sep 2016

This is an interesting question I came from CAD based modeling (Solid works, Autodesk Inventor and Pro E back in the day) I wanted to get into the other side of 3D modeling and I looked at Max, Maya, Blender and settled on Blender because of the cost. As posted above there are some amazing projects that have come out of Blender and I to believe the product will only get stronger. I would like to pose another question along these same lines, why wouldn't you use Blender, if you had to start over from scratch? Does max offer that much more horsepower? or Maya is that much easier to use?

Gheromo · Sep 2016

Modo. Guys behind it have very clear vision of what it should be and how to keep pushing it to become better. Past 2 years and now is a good proof to me that they know what they are doing.

Gaurav Mathur · Sep 2016

I prefer MODO's modeling and UVing interface to Max and Maya's. I've had no performance issues with the work I'm doing, which includes making some dense mesh from ZBrush game-ready. The MODO community and even the dev team are more accessible than you'd imagine.

There's a lot that MODO could do better, but it's great for what I do 80% of the time.

nikola3d · Sep 2016

Blender is very good software and you can do amazing things with it, but it's very limited if you want/need to go beyond in more complicated works. Also, getting used to Blender and then going into another 3D package would be very difficult for you to get used to.
If you want to get job in industry going to Maya would give you advantage.
3Ds Max in my opinion is falling apart.
Modo is great and easy to use, better UI, but more for home use.

musashidan · Sep 2016

nikola3d said:

3Ds Max in my opinion is falling apart.

Just curious as to your personal experience of why you would think that?

musashidan · Sep 2016

Dataday said:

Well the good news is that its been constantly getting better, and they are consciously aware of performance as one of the biggest problems Modo faces. I would constantly check up on Modo after each update (another one coming up 10.2)... though it might be awhile before it matches Maya/Max viewport performance, it shouldnt be at the point where its a game breaker (pros outweighing the cons).

But I hear you, coming from Maya it took a little bit of getting used to the performance hit.

Cheers for that mate. Always good to hear an unbiased assessment from a Modo user, rather than the usual silly 'fan-boy' comments.

I'm sure I'll try it again when 10.3 is released. The initial excitement about the big push towards game-specific features was what prompted me to have another bash.

LanGun44 · Sep 2016

I agree 3DSmax used to be the standard but Maya has gained a lot of ground over the years, also why does Autodesk need 2 3D modeling packages geared toward the entertainment industry? They have Inventor for the CAD modeling and they have the 2D market cornered with AutoCAD, why the need for Max and Maya to exist?

NoRank · Sep 2016

I still think max is a pretty good application and it does pretty much everything I need for modelling a 3d game asset (I use zbrush aswell for some assets). Though if I were to chose another 3d app, probably it would be blender for being free or modo.

Autodesk is pretty much overpriced and is kinda buggy (but you will normally learn some workarounds methods for their bugs).

Houdini is actually a pretty interesting program aswell, procedural stuff is something I would bet to be the future for game industry.

AtticusMars · Sep 2016

Do we really need to have a "DAE Max is on its deathbed?" thread in every subforum....

Aabel · Sep 2016

NoRank said:

Houdini is actually a pretty interesting program aswell, procedural stuff is something I would bet to be the future for game industry.

It puzzles me how game artists can get so excited and see the power of substance, but be completely resistant to a deeper, more procedural complete 3d package.

Zack Maxwell · Sep 2016

Aabel said:

NoRank said:

Houdini is actually a pretty interesting program aswell, procedural stuff is something I would bet to be the future for game industry.

It puzzles me how game artists can get so excited and see the power of substance, but be completely resistant to a deeper, more procedural complete 3d package.

Because the learning curve is waaaaaaaaaaay steeper in Houdini. It is bar-none the least intuitive piece of software I have ever used. And tutorials are extremely difficult to come by for it as well.
Not to mention the fact that 3D work is inherently more complex than 2D work.
Even Digital Tutors only really has tutorials on the FX side of it.

NoRank · Sep 2016

Yeah, it's a pretty complicated 3d app, but it will probably get better and who knows, be the industry standard (well, I don't think that autodesk would just let this happen haha).

Things are always evolving, substance wasn't so popular aswell and now is a industry standard.

But yeah, 3d procedural stuff is way harder than 2d but I don't think it's impossible for it to become easy and fast too.

sziada · Sep 2016

Pretty much does not matter, which one you choose, just go for what feels the best to learn and roll with it. still rolling with Max 17, but if you designing and want a change go modo with mesh fusion

alexworx · Sep 2016

I do a lot of different types design work. Designing spaces ( vip suites ), consumer activation's, on air, portable solutions. We work with large brands ( think espn, dinsey, la dodgers, us open, JP Morgan Chase ). What I am trying to do is have our workflow more interactive for the in house design team as well as the presentations for the clients. Thats why I have been looking into adding the UE into the flow. Doing more pano stuff with 3ds ma/vray and pano2vr software. Below are some links to 3dsmax/vray/pano

http://www.roadwerx.com/portfolio/JPMC_16/

http://www.roadwerx.com/portfolio/intx16/

LanGun44 · Sep 2016

@Alexworx, I to am trying to incorporate a more virtual presence for our product, what software did you produce those two examples in? I have been exploring UE and am interested in workflow talk as well (might be better in a another thread though) PM me or start a new thread, I would love to talk about it.

modo / maya / max ?

Replies