why use 3ds max/blender/maya

Hi i'm VERY new to unity and 3D software in general. I have 3ds max(student free version) and I'm wondering why all of it can't be made in Unity itself?

I'm just testing the waters here and got the lynda unity tutorials but is using 3ds max/maya/blender necessary?

 

The short answer is that Unity doesn't have the tools or capability to allow you to create any sort of complex model. If your game consists only of cubes, spheres, etc, then yes - you could do everything in Unity. If you need anything more complex than that, you'll need to work with a dedicated modelling product.

 

okay thank you so much!

I tried maya but I hear 3ds max is more suited towards game developement(but no one has given reasons why, they just say it). I like the interface and general overview of 3ds max vs maya. Can you explain what(and yes it is subjective) it is about 3ds max that people say it leans towards gaming?

thank you for all the help!

 

I'm a Maya user myself and can't get around to using 3DMax.
I've been using Maya for so long that i just don't feel like even trying max.

From what i understand its basically that the way polygon modeling works in max, makes it easier and i'm guessing its for also all those export/GLSL/DX integration tools it has.

End of the day though, both have their quirks and it's down to what you feel most comfortable with.
Both have lots of resources available to them and help online.

 

From using both Max and Maya extensively on several different projects I can tell you that Maya allows you to do certain things to polygons that just aren't allowed in real-time rendering. Max will refuse to create non-manifold faces whereas Maya doesn't really care. It is easier to wind up with inverted faces or welds between faces of opposite normals in Maya and Max will not allow this. As a small example -- the crown in Snow White and the Huntsman was made in Maya before being sent to manufacturing because Maya allows you to make parametrically confounding shapes that Max or CAD won't.

Some of the things Maya used to "break" have been corrected. Mirroring or scaling negatively no longer inverts normals, for example. So it's not so easy to make bad poly models in Maya anymore (though plenty of my students have made a good run at it).

But I can say most of my animator friends prefer Maya for rigging and animation, especially if they are unable to use Motion Builder at work. I prefer animation in Maya as well, though I can hardly stand organic modeling in Maya without the easy use of shift + drag on edges which in Max automatically extrudes a new face.

After 8 years, Blender is now my favorite as I feel it combines and refines the ease of modeling in Max with the animation and material tools similar to those in Maya. It still has its quirks, but they all have little idiosyncrasies.

Good luck! And remember -- the best modeling package is the one that lets you work the fastest with the best results. It's about personal preference. Find the package that you connect with and stick to it!

 

Worked both with 3dsmax and maya.

I keep running on Maya 2009 for a long now, and not sure how another software can help me to produce faster.

You just have find the right tool for you, be familiar with it, be pro with it and it should be just fine.

 

Sorry to wake an old thread, but it's simple: when all is lost and you have nor the money or the proper license, use blender. there are things in blender that can be compared to max. (not sure of maya, as i have never used it.)

And plus, blender has several other tools most other tools don't have, such as a sequencer and video editor. I remember doing a lip-sync a while back for a school assignment, and I did that through the sequencer.

I won't recommend switching from max to blender or vice-versa, as both of them have such different interfaces it is really hard to switch from one to the other. with blender, your list of tools are right in front of you. in 3ds max, it asks you to look in the toolbox for the right tool! this is also why people switching to blender get the "too many buttons" syndrome!