If Blender can do everything why do people still use 3DS Max?

Because if you went to autodesk website and you checked the pages of both , you will find in the description alot of common words like "Modelling , Animation and Rendering software " is the difference between them deserve another 4k ?

 

Some people simply prefer user interfaces or workflows of some software over another. Some people also just stay with something they've learned once even though they know it's worse, because of high migration costs.

Also, Blender it seems to me still has a negative reputation for a horrible user interface. I can't say much about that, only that I've heard they improved on that. Still, the only 3D software that I ever found pleasant to use was Cinema4D. And it's affordable, too. But again, personal taste.

 

I am using 3DS max and Maya for almost a decade and now i am shifted entirely to Blender for last couple of months and what all i feel is there are certain points which makes you use one of these 3 software.

1. Most of the people have been using Max and Maya for very long time and once you get used to huge software like this and put couple of years of life to learn and expertise it , it becomes difficult to shift to the new software.
2. For newbies or the students there is more help available over the internet and users around for 3ds max and maya so there are more chances of you clearing your doubt or query in less amount of time.
3. 3DS Max and maya has good integration with other composting software or with other 3d or matchmoving softwares to make workflow easier as compare to blender.
4. 3DS Max and maya have gone far away with the features and troubleshoots as it is the market for long time and you can get help from Autodesk itself to solve a problem.
5. Now the biggest drawback with Max and Maya is there too expansive to buy for startup companies where Blender wins the bet.
6.Blender is now becoming more and more powerful with many Blender communities and its open source nature many developers are developing good amount of plugins for it and in near future it will be as powerful as 3DS Max or Maya in my opinion .
7. Every software has strong points and weakness so it completely depends upon user if wants to switch to Blender for few better tools that too for free.
8. As long as we want work for a reputed and established studio i think its better to stick with 3DS Max and Maya as most of this companies are using these packages only and a Blender expertise wont help you get in their work place
but if you wish to do freelancing or willing to start your new business i think blender is the tool to consider.

And in my opinion, if we are an artist and if we know what we want to create in this 3D world we can do all of it in any of these packages with just the difference that few things we can do faster in one software and few in onother.

 

sorry, but I'm calling bullshit on this one....

 

tswalk, he is absolutely right at point 5. and also all points are valid. I have no idea why you keep arguing about.

Lets assume you need 10 Max licenses.. so you put 40k USD vs zero?? Really? You throw away money in that way?

Max, Maya except for rendering and movie industry CG stuff, offer nothing more over Blender for game dev. Nothing. I can do stuff faster in Blender that in Max or Maya, referring strictly at modeling for games.

If you are an artist, you don't need super expensive things to express yourself. That's a misconception.

 

Yes it has a stiff learning curve. It is a software obviously aimed at users that do not like mouse clicking. From watching the tutorials, it appears heavy use of the keyboard is the way to success.

Now ZBrush also has a pretty stiff learning curve. However, it was at least aimed at using graphic pens in which appeals greatly to that audience in the long run

I found it a bit easier to learn ZBrush's UI

 

I'm not arguing about this....

and

...none of the points you attempt to make have much validity. That doesn't make it an argument, its' a disagreement. There's a difference.

This I will agree with you. Being an artist, I can say... because I have the degree that says I am one... somehow, officially.... I once went to a gallery in which a toilet was on display... it had spilt paint on it, and they called it art. I think it was around 400$.... spilt paint, on a toilet.

I knew at this point, "being" an artist... was a joke. I haven't painted since, and came to realize there is no such thing as being an artist. There are people who work hard and produce excellent craftsmanship grade work... and then there are people whom make crap. I can make lots of crap... with very little cost, little effort, and no support.

Everyone is an artist, that I can prove.

Can I make better art with better tools and a crap ton of time... yep.

 

Well really, I don't think most people consider that type of "modern art" to be actual "art".
That's just a bunch of hipsters circle-jerking each other.

 

No, but you should still learn it if you want a job outside of indie development. Not like you have to buy it though to learn it when Autodesk is handing out student licenses to practically anyone with an email address.

 

Check out my list of where the other costs are earlier in the thread. It could well be worth another $4k to the buyer.

And as for paying for them both, they are both different, uniquely developed products. To give an analogy, if I hire (or purchase) a car I only get access to that car, not all of the slightly different cars which may be available from the same dealer just because they can be described with largely the same words.

 

Exactly. You're talking only about the "modelling" part. Not all of the other related on costs for the software you're using and the impact it has on your most important resource - the people who you're hiring to use it. Again I refer to the list I posted earlier. Just one of the items on there could easily end up costing more than $40k in some circumstances. (In others Blender may indeed be a smart choice. I'm just saying that licensing costs are only one of many factors, and may not even be the biggest one.)

 

@tswalk, your analogy with the toilet gallery is irrelevant because is wrong. Next time when you want to see art pick other expo.

@anrgypenguin, I am referring at modeling, texturing, baking, etc, all game dev stuff, not movie stuff. Probable if you do movie or something like that, and you use all obscure Max/Maya things, then, Max/Maya may justify the money. Don't forget there are other software's who can do a better job (maybe) like Houdini or C4D. And don't forget Modo/Mari combo.

There was a time when "3ds studio" was good and almost the only one option. Those times are gone.

Zbrush 5 will come out soon and will be really awesome. Blender is improving with ever version. Max/Maya are still the version from last 5 years or more, with nothing concrete added, except bugs fixed. The gamedev features added are minimal. Mixamo teach now how to autorig/retarget, amusing, since Autodesk was one of the industry pushing forward force. So, Max/Maya are not anymore the top tools. One of the only reason why some peoples refuse to accept it, is because they spend so much time learning to use them.

Is also amusing to see better 3D models made in Zbrush/Blender, rigged in Mixamo/IKinema, and textured in Quixel or Allegorithmic Painter, and still some peoples pretend Max and Maya are the best for gamedev.

I asked seriously, in all honest way, for those who pretend that Max/Maya are "best" and better that Blender, to write down, what them can do and Blender don't. As I said, I can model/texture/bake much faster in Blender that Max right now. I don't think there is something that I need to do in Blender and only Max do it. I am just curious if is bad intention from some peoples to put Blender at wall, or they don't know how to use it, or any other reason.

 

We have already answered you seriously. It is not a matter of features. It is a matter of training and support. Costs go beyond simple licensing.

If you want more details, read the earlier post by angrypenguin.

 

The title of this thread is already wrong. There is more than one thing that you can do with Max, but not with Blender. Scale to world units, or partial SDS for example.

Blender has quite a few serious issues. The biggest issue is the developers themselves. They live in their very own bubble. Not willing to accept that there is an outer space too. Being a de facto clone of other 3D software, their biggest fear is to become a clone of any other 3D software. Crazy ...

They are not interested in any connection to the industry. Open Source is the mantra, GPL the holy grail, and everything else is evil. As a consequence the very most commercial developers keeps their hands away from developing plugins for Blender. Which means that the available eco system is very limited. And that Blender simply doesn't care about any closed source solutions. Be it plugin or other software in the pipeline.

As an example, Blender integration in Unity is broken since 2.71. And the bug report has low priority. I don't think we will see a fix soon. Not the only dead end.

Blender has a big ideology problem. So you just have to forget about the idea that Blender will play nicely with the industry ever.

Blender devs are also not interested in any feedback from its user base. Ton Rosendaal, the masterhead behind Blender, calls its users officially Noise. And critics have a very hard time, and gets censored away nowadays at Blender artists. Users are just good enough to do donations and to do footwork like bug reports and do cheering at other boards it seems.

A very good example of how much Ton gives a sh** about its users is how the UI issue gets handled after the mini revolution by Andrew Price.

"Ookay, users moans, and it is too official, means we cannot ignore it away as usual. So let's build a task force, so that we can make the critics quiet, and forget about this issue happily. "

And it is forgotten. We have seen a handful new tabs in one year, which made the UI even worse in its current incarnation. Not that users didn't moan about the vertical tabs while development. But user feedback is noise as you may remember ...

Featurewise the biggest problem is the UI, no question. Blender has simply a wicked graphical UI, which slows the workflow down. I have two monitors, and still run out of space very regularly when using Blender. Didn't happen to me in any other 3D package. But it is not only the UI. Important standard features are missing. For some you have workarounds, for some you don't. Which forces me regularly to go back to my outdated dinosaur to finish the modeling job there.

Taking action by yourself to fill the gaps with own scripts doesn't help anything neither. The Blender betonheads declines even stuff that is standard in any other 3D package, saying that they don't see the value in the feature. Clueless devs are clueless ...

The Wireframe colour just fits perfectly into that scheme. One of the main Blender devs tried to invent the wheel from scratch with the wireframe colours. And he failed miserably by introducing issues that are no issues at all, but just a clueless dev. Instead of simply looking how other 3D packages have solved it, and make it even better then. Which is the common way. But what did finally stop the wireframe colours development was a veto from Ton then anyways.

Of course this all doesn't mean that you cannot do your work with Blender. Blender comes with everything needed. While "Needed" is a very vague word here. In the end you could even model and animate with tools like Milkshape or Max 1. But there is a difference between doing the work, and doing the work efficiently, easy and fast. And the same difference exists between Blender and the big boys.

Blender is not bad. I would even call it good. But it is the weaker solution compared to the big boys. And it will always be.

 

Yes, I know what you're referring to. Technical stuff. A person sitting down in a chair and hands-on making stuff. I realise it's more than just polygon construction.

You don't seem to know what I was talking about. Business stuff. All of the things that go on around that person that enables them to have their job. Just like there's more than poly construction to making a model, there's also more than just technical stuff to releasing a game.

Really, go check out the list I posted.