Im quite sure mudbox is a huge improvement over zbrush but i've yet to export an obj to mudbox from max successfully(even going via silo causes problems). Its important things like this that should just "work" in a new app hoping to trump current tech. And just to be clear I have no issues at all going from max to zbrush.
I'd try, but I dont have mudbox. No one responded to the beta application. I can only hope there is a public demo availible soon. The Zbrush demo was about as productive to me as a McDonalds employee trying to design an office building. As to the choice, it depends on cost really. Zbrush + gnomon training dvds may be…
mudbox does allow for creation of cube's, plane's and sphere's not up to the same level as say zbrush, but it's purpose is painting detail for items already created. And honestly it does the job quite well.
How does that work? I've use a similar workaround that involves importing the lowest from mudbox into zbrush, and reconstructing sub-d to get the absolute lowest out which seems to work alright.
i taught my lil sis at 12 to work with mudbox in 5 minutes. she's never worked with a 3d app, and can barely draw in photoshop. in comparison, she just stares blankly at the zbrush interface.