Maya Or 3dsMax?

Community Community & Industry Discussion
21

[QUOTE=maikklein;13029]
I was looking at digital tutors for 3ds max and maya to see how the instructors use the software and they are almost complete using the menus.

I know that you know the shortcuts for 80% of all actions but what about the other 20% do you need to go though menus or are the shorter ways to get to the action?

In blender it’s pretty neat, for example if I forgot the shortcut for subdivide then I just press W and I get a list of actions and subdivide is in it. Or if I completely forgot every key binding to it then I can always hit space and do a lazy search.

Everything in 3ds Max can have a keyboard shortcut or a menu button, it has a lot of customization that way.

22

what is the Mat…err, iclone, I mean

[QUOTE=;12694]
curious if anyone else has experience with iclone, first ive heard of it, looking to just get basics into unreal nothing real fancy, have maya but it is a bit daunting at least for now. was hoping to see a bit more on zbrush thinking about getting it. can the a.r.t. tools be circumvented to get animated characters in or is this just a bad idea in general ?

What is iclone, exactly?
This is the first time I hear of it. So far, I’ve been (trying) using Blender.
MAYA looks awesome, but so expensive and the student license seems to be restrictive (not sure if self-taught non-profit oriented user would qualify as student for that).
The subscription is a good news, though. How much do you reckon it’ll cost?

Also, because money, being private user, is an issue, how much cost the license for iclone?
My main goal for UE4 is the production of short CGI fanfilms based on tabletop RPGs such as Eclipse Phase, Shadowrun, AmnesYa 2K51, Kuro… so Modo isn’t really an option

(ps, this is also my first post on the UE forums, just got the software and subscription done last night!)

23

honestly not sure bud thats why i was asking, it was mentioned above and drew my interests, i googled as much as i could, not really sure if its a good solution. by the way congrats on your first post, gets easier from there.

24

I like 3DS Max or modeling. I like Maya for animations. That is my look on it.

25

[QUOTE=Quincey_Forder;16404]
What is iclone, exactly?
This is the first time I hear of it. So far, I’ve been (trying) using Blender.
MAYA looks awesome, but so expensive and the student license seems to be restrictive (not sure if self-taught non-profit oriented user would qualify as student for that).
The subscription is a good news, though. How much do you reckon it’ll cost?

Also, because money, being private user, is an issue, how much cost the license for iclone?
My main goal for UE4 is the production of short CGI fanfilms based on tabletop RPGs such as Eclipse Phase, Shadowrun, AmnesYa 2K51, Kuro… so Modo isn’t really an option

(ps, this is also my first post on the UE forums, just got the software and subscription done last night!)

There is a free version of Iclone on the website i linked in my last post, I think it might be 3dxchange that has support for exporting to UE4 and Unity, i’m not sure, like i said, i haven’t tried it yet.

The subscriptions for Autodesk’s packages are not cheap, depending on which subscription plan you go with (monthly, quarterly, or yearly), and, according to their terms and conditions, you can’t carry on using the software if your sub runs out/gets cancelled, so to keep using it, you’d have to buy a proper license, but they do apparently offer discounts if you sub for long enough. Here’s the Subscription overview.

Personally, I don’t like blender, I’ve tried to use it, but i just can’t like it. I fought with it for nearly an hour last night (I think), trying to add smoothing groups to a model i’d managed to get into UE as a test mesh (I converted the .OBJ exported from ZB using Autodesk’s FBX converter, only error i got was missing smooth groups), though that could be due to the fact that Blender relies heavily on hotkeys, and that’s not how i prefer to work. Using blender is a matter of personal choice, but it has a very steep learning curve compared to most other solutions.

There is also Shade 3d if you want another option, there’s a free version of that that’s aimed towards Unity3d users (but should work just as well with UE4, but the fbx exporter has a polycap, not sure what), but the basic version is only $99 (the Standard and Pro versions are a bit more pricey)

26

Autodesk can do a monthly subscription, which is good for studios if you have to add on a new artist for a few months and don’t want to pay full price for a new license. Not so good for individual users. The main subscription is what they’re trying to get everyone on, you pay full price for the license and then a yearly fee (which is much cheaper than their monthly subscription) and you get all of the updates during that time. It’s still kind of expensive though but pretty soon it’s going to be the only option once upgrade pricing is gone.

27

[QUOTE=Try Hard;11973]
Hey Guys!

I want to begin modeling my own stuff (Objects, Characters…) so can you tell me if its better to use Maya or 3ds Max with the UE4?
Where is the workflow and the Export options better.

Can i do all stuff in Maya/3dsMax or is there a nother programm for more details like zBrush?
Hope you can help me guys :slight_smile:

Sorry for my bad english

Maya LT, no question. All the necessary functionality for nearly 1/4th the price.
ZBrush/Mudbox are mostly just for sculpting extra detail into your normal map for a model you already made in Maya. You wont need a sculpting program until you are very, very experienced with the regular modeling and can create some very visually high-end assets.
I was someone who went in thinking “Oh, I can do like 90% of my modeling in ZBrush, touch it up a little in Maya, and have everything come out faster AND look better!” but no, it’s not like that in practice. Every single non-sculpting tool is botched up and unreliable (map baking, uv mapping, retopology, even exports), and Maya/Max SubD modeling is actually faster for the kind of exceptionally low-poly assets you would make for either the environment or mobile-friendly characters.
All you need, or even want, when starting out is Maya LT and a subscription for Photoshop.

Speaking from experience, you guys are giving god-awful advice recommending ZBrush to someone just starting out, and that’s the same kind of thing that trapped me.
Not only will he not be able to make effective use of it for a long while, he doesn’t even know yet if he’ll need it AT ALL. People making games for mobile, for example, most likely will not.
Even then, I’d personally recommend Mudbox over ZBrush. Not only does it integrate much more effectively with Maya, but it’s much more streamlined and functional, and has better texturing tools.
All the extra features in ZBrush are quarky and sub-par if they even create something usable, and its completely overloaded with useless **** that just gets in your way (2.5D painting is a perfect example).
As one example, something as ludicrously simple as .obj export will typically produce something with no Smooth Shading and random edge separations.
Most importantly, because of the bizarre system they use for rendering stuff, your model will not look in ZBrush anything close to what it will actually look like in use. It looks good and runs ridiculously well, but it is not remotely accurate.

28

It doesn’t seem like you really need Zbrush or understand how to use it. It’s not as easy to use as Mudbox, but Mudbox lacks many of the useful tools that Zbrush has. For someone who would be doing sculpting regularly, like a character artist then it’s better to learn Zbrush because after you learn how to use it you would be able to accomplish more.

The general workflow for Zbrush though is to make your basemesh in a different program like 3ds Max or Maya and there you would do things like your UV layouts, the you export to Zbrush for sculpting. There are good Zbrush sculptors that can start without a basemesh and it even has tools that allow you to do that, like Dynamesh, then it even has good auto-retopology tools and manual retopology tools

29

[QUOTE=Anthony;16512]
There is also Shade 3d if you want another option, there’s a free version of that that’s aimed towards Unity3d users (but should work just as well with UE4, but the fbx exporter has a polycap, not sure what), but the basic version is only $99 (the Standard and Pro versions are a bit more pricey)

The Standard version is $249, and Pro version is $499. For basic modeling and FBX animation, the Shade 3D for Unity version works great. You can get the Mac OS X version on the Mac App Store, or the Windows version via the Mirye website.

The most recent update is kind of cool - 14.1.1 to Standard and Pro. The full list of features you can find though that link, but basically it adds a bunch of new automatic diagnostic and repair features for models to make them ready for 3D printing. There are a bunch of bug-a-boos around making a model ready for 3D printing.

At Meshbox, we use a lot of different tools, though mostly Shade 3D, 3DS MAX (some mudbox too), and Vue. Shade 3D has some very nice features, and with 12 and onward has become a quite good tool for games. I pick tools by their ability to save me time, and no amount of free can offset wasting time…

30

[QUOTE=Anthony;12664]

And considering my student liscense of max 2012 expires this july, I too find myself in the need to investigate other alternatives, I do have Zbrush but still haven’t quite got to grips with it.

Hey Anthony, I wanted to let you know that with the 3 year student license you can download a newer version and get another 3 years. For proof, here is a forum post with a response from an Autodesk employee:

“If the software you are currently using has expired, you can download the same Product but of a different version though.”