Re: Software Differences

I am a 3ds max user, and have used it for everything, from simple graphic design to film and game design.
however, i'm not sure about what to tell you.. i started on 3dsmax 8 years ago so for historical and experience reasons, i have continued on with it.

from what i have learned, maya is the best software for working on character animation..

mudbox is a skulpting software so it's a but different from maya or 3dsmax. mudbox could be ok for skulpting a character, that could then be animated in maya, 3dsmax or motionbuilder..

motion builder is recomended if you are going to work with motion capture, as it provides good mechanisms for integrating and compositing mocap-driven skeletal animation into meshes

i believe showcase should not be included in your possibility lists, as it is more oriented to design reviewing, presentation, and teamwork sharing

sketchbook is for drawing purposes, and although i have never used it, i think it's designed for use with tablet pcs and pen tablets

i'm not sure what are the differences from 3dsmax and 3dsmax design, althoguh i must admit that i have never look much into it (when this version of 3dsmax was announced i also thought "huh? what exactly is this? =)" i think this version of 3dsmax aims more directly into architectural stuff


if you're looking into animation then i think you should look at maya or 3dsmax. i think 3dsmax can be more flexible, although maya as i said i think (not sure), offers benefits especially in character animation

so first, about automation and scripting:

maya programming is based on MEL, which is similar to tcl or perl.
i have never used it because i don't use maya, but i think there are lots of resources and samples around the web

3dsmax programming is in maxscript, i'm not sure what it is similar to, but it should be familiar to anyone who is familiar with other programming languages. i have only used it for little automation stuff, and for scripting mathmatical interconnections and behaviours between objects. latest versions of 3dsmax also support .NET, although i can't tell you for sure what you can do with it


i think you should try out the interfaces of both of then, do a tutorial on each and figure out for yourself which one you prefer
although if you'r working on robotics, i feel that you will find in 3dsmax all that you need

another thing, 3dsmax only runs on windows, while maya runs on other OS

i think film industry for special effects both use 3dsmax or maya, depending on their own preferences.
animation industry prefers maya.
and i think game design industry points to 3dsmax, although that will depend on the software/libraries you are using for the game (i've used OGRE 3d game engine, and there are plugins for both 3dsmax and maya.. but some engines may have plugins only for one of them)



the most important point is:
whatever software you choose (i'm talking about 3dsmax and maya), the important thing is that you learn and understand the concepts about 3d modelling and animating. if at some point you have the need to switch to another software, as long as you know what you're doing, the only thing you will need to learn is your to use the now interface. all the concepts should follow the same idea i guess..

the final personal advice i can give is: do you have experienced friends or anyone who could personally give you some help and support on any of the packages? if you do, that could be a good argument to choose it =)