I''ve been curious about the two now for a while, so I''d thought I''d ask. Which is the more used of the two, I thought it was 3D studio max. I''m curious if, like AutoCAD 3D Studio Max has an open architecture and ObjectARX or something like that -- or hopefully Lisp support. Can anyone answer these questions? Thanks. Luke " ''No one has control -- control is just a fantasy. And being human is difficult.'' "

For game companies, 3DS Max has always been the most dominant package. In film, it''s been the other way around. And over the last few years, both of them have gained some ground in each others territory.

FWIW, a long time ago, there some distinct differences between Max and Maya(and SoftImage). However, over the years each company has copied most of the cool stuff in each others package. Today, while each has it''s own flavor, they''re all pretty similar. Sure, some things are a bit better in one package, and other things are better in the other. But all in all, they seem fairly even up to me.

Also, as far as having an open architecture goes, they all do. Max, Maya, and Soft all have scripting languages, as well as C++ SDK''s. Again, each has a it''s own flavor, but they all allow you to do pretty much the same stuff.

If I had to choose one for games, I''d choose Max simply because it has been used in more game studios than the others. However, you should be able to accomplish all your work for games with any of the three.

-John