Maya or Max?

[Apathy]

Which one do you prefer for modeling, and why?

[Molgan]

100% Maya. I really dislike Max and its outdated, slow work flow. Sure it has some good features, but for poly/subdiv modelling there is nothing better then Maya.

[musilowski]

Haven't tried Max, but from experience with Maya, I suggest everyone at least tries it (Maya).

[Axeman]

Maya- only because that's all I've worked with. I have the trial version of Max, but I haven't yet taken any tutorials to figure it out.

-Axe

[Henrik]

Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. You'll learn for yourself what those are if you start trying to do more advanced things.

[Zynith]

In Maya the modelling is softcoded, which mean is you do an action it will keep that action in memory and store it into a hierarchy. All of this does make Maya heavier and harder to get into then Max.
I'm kind of used to Maya, I used to hate it but I quite like it nowadays.

Max is more straightforward and the modeling tools are a tad better in general.
There are also allot more learning resources scattered around. So if you're a newbie Max might be a good choice.

You can make Maya do just about anything, if you're willing to learn it.
But if you're just looking to make poly models for games you might aswell go with Max.

[zeJoeh]

For modelling, might aswell use Blender or Wings3D. Modo is nice too, reminds alot of lightwave and luxology has made TONS of learning material for modo, free of charge. I suggest you try all three and see what you prefer. Max and maya are way too big if all you wanna do is modelling.

[ShredPrince]

I use Maya, but at times, it feels too powerful for the simple needs of a guy like me.

Though I find it easier for Unreal personally.

[Luseferous]

Modo is nice too, reminds alot of lightwave

Luxology are a group of ex-Newtek developers so that is probably why.

[Dario D.]

I have limited experience with Maya, and so prefer Max, partially because I know how to use it more.

Compared to what I've seen in Maya, the modeling tools in Max seem a lot more accessible, because they're all right there in front of you, ready to be used in the command panel. You don't need to get anything out of program menus or the right-click menu, and the XYZ transform gizmos for moving/rotation/scaling seem more complete.

On the flip-side, advanced texturing and rendering options can get terribly complicated in Max when you start dealing with raytracing and complicated materials. I hear that Maya handles these (at least the materials) in a more intuitive manner.

Other than those few things, I recently did a check of several hundred CG Choice winning art pieces on CG Networks, and noticed that 3/4 of them are made in 3dsMax. It could possibly be because the veteran artists who are capable of winning those awards have been using Max for years, since Maya is newer, but it motivates me to stay with this app regardless... and I really, really like it. With each new version, it just gets better and better, and some of the features (unwrapping, hi-poly modeling speed, Edit Poly/Mesh modeling tools, Reactor physics, cloth, hair, animation) have been evolving with simply stunning implementation and tools.

I'm disappointed with the counter-intuitiveness of advanced texturing, and some of the more advanced renderers (not all of them), but these are minor things for game designers. Pros who DO use utilize those things love them, and don't want them any other way, but the learning curve just seems to be too high for this day and age. ...but everything else in Max is just plain easy.

[Molgan]

Compared to what I've seen in Maya, the modeling tools in Max seem a lot more accessible, because they're all right there in front of you, ready to be used in the command panel. You don't need to get anything out of program menus or the right-click menu, and the XYZ transform gizmos for moving/rotation/scaling seem more complete.

Yes true, tools are more visible in Max, and this makes it easyer for the beginner to get a hang of things. In Maya you need to learn hot keys to avoid menu scrolling and views cluttered with windows and tool boxes. But once you learned the basic transform, snap, module, level etc keys you can turn most of the gui off and work with the hot keys and marking menus only, and with some tweaking of the commands and tools modeling in Maya becomes totally intuitive. Personally I like my screen clean when I model with as little GUI as possible, preferably just the work view and nothing more. Started out with NURBs modelling in Alias AutoStudio (NURBs in Maya sux btw) where its possible to conf the GUI down to hot keys, marking menus and control panel only, and that might be why I never came to terms with the GUI in Max. It's all about personal preferences I guess.

Now I just wonder what will happen with Maya and Max since they now have the same owner, AutoDesk. Who will survive? =)

[Dario D.]

About those hotkeys and preferences I know that Max allows binding (and customizing) hotkeys for just about *everything*, and you can hide the command panel just by dragging it over, or even go into Expert Mode, where the entire GUI simply disappears, letting you work with hotkeys... (if you dont use the keyboard shortcuts, the right-click quad-menu still lets you still pull out all your tools without having to access the GUI or leave Expert Mode). You can even make your own toolbars, featuring all your favorite tools and shortcuts, then position them wherever you want. I'm sure Maya can do something similar, as it seems all modern apps these days are highly customizable.

- When it ultimately comes down to "which is better, Max or Maya", I've heard repeatedly from people who use them both that they're difficult to compare, because they're so similar in efficiency, and each excellent in almost all things, give or take a few strengths and weaknesses (which they both have). Also, according to my experience from reading CG Networks forums, most artists who know them both also USE them both, side-by-side, making use of their strengths according to each given task. Of course, not that many artists know both of them that well, so most just stick with whatever they learned first.

- With both apps now owned by Autodesk, I'm HOPING that means they'll share each other's strengths. Inter-compatibility will certainly be very fluid and easy in the future.... I'm just afraid the sudden lack of competition will make them slack off, and not care about vast improvement anymore.

[Molgan]

Ya, even if I try being objective there is allways a risk of fan-boyism when it comes to fav modeling software..

- With both apps now owned by Autodesk, I'm HOPING that means they'll share each other's strengths. Inter-compatibility will certainly be very fluid and easy in the future.... I'm just afraid the sudden lack of competition will make them slack off, and not care about vast improvement anymore.

Agree 100%. Lack of competition is never healthy, but hopefully if they mess up some other modelling package will get a chance to kick their butt, and then they will have to get things in order. =)