Maya has really been know as the go-to app for 3D animators among the industry for its robust rigging and animation tools and its animator friendly workflow. Maya's proprietary scripting language MEL is highly customizable, and that is one reason why Maya can be found a lot in the film industry because studios like to be able to create their own set of tools that can help them achieve their job much easier. Now, with 3ds Max it can be a bit easier to rig, but you can create complex rigs in Maya that might be very difficult to achieve in 3ds Max. However, it does require a bit more programming in MEL if you want to create complex character rigs. When it comes to rigging, Maya pulls ahead slightly in this category as well. That's not to say animation in 3ds Max is bad, not in the slightest, and for the most part the exact same animation could be accomplished in either application, but when it comes to ease of use, and the amount of tools available, Maya is the stronger of the two. For example, Blue Sky Studios uses Maya for all their animation and rigging tasks. It's also very customizable if you know a bit of MEL or Python which are the scripting languages in Maya. AnimationДЇor the most part, Maya has been known to be a much more powerful application when it comes to animation, with a huge library of animation tools. Modeling in Maya is a little less forgiving, and some complex models can be a little harder to accomplish, but with the release of Maya 2014 and the modeling toolkit it has brought in some very powerful modeling tools that really begins to level the playing field, with some great re-topology tools and a faster workflow.

If you're going to get into the architectural visualization like interiors and buildings, 3ds Max really caters to this type of artist, giving you the option of 3ds Max Design which is a favorite program among architects and designers. It may seem like a simple command is not a big deal, but it can actually go along way. If you're familiar with the Booleon operation, 3ds Max is also known to work much easier and smoothly than in Maya. Depending on how new you are to the world of 3D then modeling in 3ds Max can be a little easier to grasp.

ModelingДЈds Max has a very robust modeling toolset with a huge library of different modifiers which can make the modeling process easier. Of course, the workflow may be a little different, but you can get comparable results in either application. RenderingД«oth applications have the rendering engine mental ray built into the software, so you're essentially getting the same rendering capabilities in either program. Whatever the case may be, you should know exactly what you want to do with the program, because that alone can help you decide what to choose, 3ds Max or Maya. You also might be using the program for architectural visualization, or integrating it within a VFX pipeline for film. You should ask yourself what you're going to use the program for, are you wanting to create 3D character models, or create performances through character animation? Or maybe you want to break into game design, so you'll be using the application for creating game models or game animations. There is a reason these two applications have become industry standards, they both are powerful programs, but yes, depending on how you want to use the programs, it might be smart to use one over the other.

That being said, both 3ds Max and Maya both have their strengths and depending on how you want to use the application will determine which program you should choose. Skills always comes first among recruiters, if you're an amazing 3D modeler in Maya, and the job requires you to use 3ds Max then that place will likely train you in 3ds Max, because your work speaks for itself, not the application you used to create it. If you're weighing the two applications based on if you get brownie points for knowing Maya over 3ds Max or vise versa is probably not a viable question. The most popular in the CG industry is 3ds Max and Maya, and a very common question is which 3D application is better? Does one program allow you to create amazing 3D models much faster? And can knowing either 3ds Max or Maya land you that job at your dream studio? Let's break down the differences between the two, as well as each program's strengths and weaknesses and answer the all important question, 'Max or Maya?' The first question that needs to be answered is, 'Can knowing either 3ds Max or Maya increase your chances at landing a job?' The answer is simple, no. So you're ready to dive into the world of 3D graphics, the next step now is to choose a program to use, that's easier said than done, as there are many different 3D applications to choose from.

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