64 replies to this topic

[CoryMathews]

well have you seen lord of the rings the special effects where made in maya. as of right now that is the top of the line program. ...sniff... to bad my comp is to dumb for it....

[SHIVMOO]

i didnt like maya... its the only one except xsi i didnt like after using it for a bit...
mainly because it was sooooo slow to load compared to all the others..
and i was also stuck with a fairly low poly limit before my pc chugged all over the place.

but it has some nice features.. so maybe on a rainy day i will try and learn them properly...
xsi i will probably end up using for rigging characters.. as it is pretty good at it...

[CoryMathews]

ye it takes a really good video card. which i dont have....

[Yertsivad]

I'm thinking about getting Maya (educational verstion), but should I get the Complete ($280) or Unlimited version ($380) being that I am a relative beginner?

[Griffin]

for these programs a Nvidia Quadro video card is recommend along with over 1 gig of RAM and probably atleast a 3.0 ghz processor

[madcow]

i have the required speed so where do i get maya?

[Samiwerty]

Haha I was just asking the same thing till i found this topic! I have seen that you can create very good material (3D + Really neat looking work ) in s3dmax... Should i use it? I have some experiense from Blender, Swift etc etc... But i can't make my choise wich one i use...Think i gonne use Swift and C4D The most cause they are pretty good! Swift to flash movies and C4D To general art

[BeaverElfeater]

Maya is the best in my opinion, the only thing that comes close is 3ds max

maya is easier for organic shapes and fur. great modeler. can do everything 3ds max can do and then some. try out the demo at alias.com

it was used in the making of the following movies

Alexander
Both Shreks
The Matrix

[Stu]

we are talking about a beginner here though beaver, ive never personally used maya and im sure its a VERY powerful software, but these are very very very talented professionals doing those movies, years of experience...

i think this kind of question always tends to drag on, they are all very good programs and all capable of some very powerful stuff. c4d followed by max is probably best for ease of use, from what ive seen.

im a max user at a professional level and i have no intentions of moving to anything else as max does everything i need, so it cant be that far behind c4d and maya like some people tend to imply. and im sure you would find many maya users out there in a different field to me that would say the same thing.

its all about personal opinion and which one does what you need best, and if your a beginner wanting to jump straight in and faff around with abstracts i think that program would be cinema4d.

ps how old is this thread

[SHIVMOO]

hey guys, you gotta remember that c4d, max, lightwave, bryce and maya can ALL do great things.
IT DEPENDS ON HOW TALENTED THE USER IS!
as i have shown ... and many poeple on cgtalk. c4d is capable of most of the stuff the others can do.
there are a few other programs which are better for landscapes, organics.
BUT IT DOES NOT MATTER about "well this is the most powerful" who gives a dam unless you can use it.

for a begginer definatly start with c4d. It is simple to use compared to the others. also there are many, many more tutorials on begginer sites for abstracts and other things.

this thread is OLD.. lol i remember posting in it ages ago

[Stu]

i dont really agree on thier being more tutorials for c4d users, that could just be cus you never look for max ones, which is probably why might disagree cus i dont look for c4d ones.

i think the max community might be bigger than the c4d one, there is site after site i have been to FULL of 10's of tutorials on max. but i often visit sites where they only have a c4d section with only 2 or three tutorials.

once again, its bit of a sweeping statment seeing as you probably dont go looking for max tutorials if you are a c4d user, as is mine saying the max coommunity is bigger. *sigh* we are so bias

this is going round in circles

[SHIVMOO]

indeed... i vote the 3d section gets a sticky about them... me and you should probably write the comparisons and then if a topic with "which one is better pops up we can point them to the sticky... it must have fair comparisons tho.. because the way these go, maya ends up sounding like its all powerful.. which it really isnt. there isnt as much difference in "power" as poeple are saying......
and it will go round in circles. you are right about the max tutorials. i searched them at some point a while ago and there are quite a few max tutorial sites around.......

anyway i vote we have a closed sticky at the top with direct comparisons rather than the crappy "maya is more powerful, never used the others" stuff... or the "cinema cant really do much"


NO MORE CIRCLES

[Stu]

i agree completely. alot of people frown upon c4d saying it isnt professional and cant do sod all, and thats just cus there is large chunk of c4d users that use it for abstracts so you will very rarely see examples showing its true capabilities.

im up for writing a pro and con max article kind of thing, then we can put them in the same thread for comparison. maybe we can get a maya person and any other people out there using different programs can do the same.

its a good idea, would stop this p***ing thread popping up every fortnight and having a raging debate over what is better when there is no definitive answer

[SHIVMOO]

cinema - better for begginers and hobbyists. very easy to get into and a good starting block. is capable of most of the things the others can do. The official hair tool with set you back another 250 tho.

maya- has most things. Mainly used by industry proffesionals as it is capable of more.has some good workflow options . Has a hair tool with it. costs the most by a lot, if you can use 3d programs and are GOOD at them. Working in the area, or you took the hobby seriously and should probably be working in the area, get this or max. Not really a normal hobbyist or abstract lovers program.

3dmax-stu knows this better than me.

lightwave- less expensive than the others. many hobbyists who went beyond cinema use it. -can find out more if needed.

bryse- mainly landscape and abstract. is capable of simple object scenes. costs the least. can be a good choice for abstracters.

modo- hasnt been mentioned in any topic (except maybe by me)has some nice other features that have made it very popular in a short run. designed more for poeple who already have one of the others, it is good for cleaning up meshes and has a nice online tutorial base and email system when you sign up for the evaluation demo.

i found a nice thing going through this in depth...HERE
pdf thanks to this guy on cgtalk. He has an awesome website
hereis a non comparison text, written to try and get the person to find which program would suit them best. also thanks to the guy before mentioned.

read^^^ i will add more as i think of em... (content/programs)

Edited by SHIVMOO, 21 June 2005 - 04:35 AM.

[BeaverElfeater]

we are talking about a beginner here though beaver, ive never personally used maya and im sure its a VERY powerful software, but these are very very very talented professionals doing those movies, years of experience...

in my opinion, using both max and maya for about the same time, maya is MUCH easier, people seemed to be intimidated by it

[Stu]

i really wouldnt be able to say seeing as ive never used maya. but your right, even im intimidated by maya

i was just stressing the point that you could use maya for 2 or 3 years and never be able to produce stuff like they do in those movies you mentioned. same goes for max and anything else.

you wanna write a little bit on what you think maya has to offer over other 3d programs? i really have no idea what is good/bad about it.

[Mooey]

Which 3D program is better?

Depends on your budget, skills and final output.

If your making images and logos for websites you dont need to spend thousands on a program that the average beginner, wouldn't use 90% of the 3d software.

I personaly use Swift 3D, its really cheap and you can get some great images with it, buts it not in the same league as the big boys (c4d, max, maya etc). Sometimes, modelling with a program that has not got loads of modelling options (booleans, bones etc) makes you approach it in a different way and can help develop your skills.

Thats my opinion, but I do really like Cinema, its so easy to use. If i could afford it I would buy it.

[SHIVMOO]

i forgot to mention something called wings 3d... its free... will get the address at some point...

[Ki's Empire]

Speaking of free, does anyone use Blender? My friend advised me to download it but I still haven't had a proper crack at using it, it is free but does look very complex. Where does it stand in comparrison to programme like 3DS Max?

KIWI

[Stu]

i dont think any free programs could match what max c4d etc have to offer. ive heard of it before and its probably worth a crack though