You think Max's interface is good???????

Really?

It's full of a decade of clutter and was kinda clunky back then! Of all the things to praise Max for, UI is certainly not one of them.

I couldn't disagree more. While it might be a bit cluttered I find everything is fairly easy to find and everything is where it would make sense.

I've had to switch to Maya for a project and it just felt like everything was the opposite of what I would expect it to be. Now maybe that's because I'm used to Max but it seemed like if you didn't know the keyboard shortcut for something in Maya you were hooped.

You think Max's interface is good???????

Really?[quote name='Dancin_Fool' timestamp='1345607035' post='4972062']
[quote name='Serapth' timestamp='1345606511' post='4972059']
You think Max's interface is good???????

Really?

It's full of a decade of clutter and was kinda clunky back then! Of all the things to praise Max for, UI is certainly not one of them.

I couldn't disagree more. While it might be a bit cluttered I find everything is fairly easy to find and everything is where it would make sense.

I've had to switch to Maya for a project and it just felt like everything was the opposite of what I would expect it to be. Now maybe that's because I'm used to Max but it seemed like if you didn't know the keyboard shortcut for something in Maya you were hooped.
[/quote]

It's full of a decade of clutter and was kinda clunky back then! Of all the things to praise Max for, UI is certainly not one of them.
[/quote]

Wow really guys? I have used it for max for 5+ years I find the UI to be not cluttered at all I personally find all the 'clutter' very useful to help me on what I'm developing. You can also if you want to customize the UI to your liking to not make it so cluttered or even more cluttered if you want. The whole UI customization is very very high, I feel like if you have a good understanding what each thing does the UI is not cluttered to yourself. Sorry but I strongly disagree with both of you guys not trying to be rude at all, but that is my personal preference. All the clutter you say is helpful so it doesn't really feel like clutter just a lot of cool options to me. Like I said in my previous post its all an opinion on what you like better between 3ds Max and Maya. I just think maya's UI is unorganized.

[quote name='Dancin_Fool' timestamp='1345607035' post='4972062']
[quote name='Serapth' timestamp='1345606511' post='4972059']
You think Max's interface is good???????

Really?

It's full of a decade of clutter and was kinda clunky back then! Of all the things to praise Max for, UI is certainly not one of them.

I couldn't disagree more. While it might be a bit cluttered I find everything is fairly easy to find and everything is where it would make sense.

I've had to switch to Maya for a project and it just felt like everything was the opposite of what I would expect it to be. Now maybe that's because I'm used to Max but it seemed like if you didn't know the keyboard shortcut for something in Maya you were hooped.
[/quote]

See, of course you are going to favour the application you learned on, it is only human nature.

But Max... first off, I've been using it since 3D Studio for DOS, and most of the same crap is in there still. People don't model in nurbs anymore, and they certainly dont model using metaballs anymore, and yet those tools are still front row and center. Max is in need of a massive house cleaning, purge or hide the shit that hasnt been used since, well... Max 3ish.

Maya when it came out was downright amazing; it was an absolute thing of beauty and made Max look like a toy by comparison. Keep in mind, Maya brought us the QWERTY keyset, the 3d gizmo/widget and the radial context menu. Then to compare Maya 1's shader system to Max's was to compare a rocket scientist to a caveman. That said, Autodesk bought them and it shows... now Maya is as cluttered or more so than Max ever was. Now the "quick" menu is a joke, with about 400 options presented to the user.


Of all of them, I would say pre Autodesk Maya was the best by a mile, followed by Softimage with Max in a distant 3rd ( talking strictly about UI ). I haven't used Softimage in a few versions now, so I have no idea how much Autodesk have messed with it. Softimage was always a bit of an odd duck though.
[/quote]

Wow I never new that QWERTY keyset (love it the keyset!!) came from Maya. I never used the older versions of Maya I have used 3ds Max 9+ and tried maya and found the UI right now in the current version Maya 2010+ to very cluttered more so than 3ds Max. But I'm sure you can customize the UI to not be cluttered as in 3ds Max. I personal feel the 2 programs are basically equal to each-other right now I dont know about back in the early versions. I learning on 3ds Max so that's why I like it better, but really I think its more of a person preference to what you like better (basically equal programs though in the long run).

dont scare me.

Sorry, but you're going to have to open your eyes and look at what's infront of you. To cut a long story short, don't do the animation, find an animator to do it for you. You don't have enough time to be able to learn how to animate, model, texture, and write the engine at the same time.

Wow really guys? I have used it for max for 5+ years I find the UI to be not cluttered at all I personally find all the 'clutter' very useful to help me on what I'm developing.[/quote]
Of all the 3D apps, max has by far the worst user interface. Hard coding panels in C++ and Win32 does not make a user interface flexible, it makes it an abomination. Aside from enabling / disabling visibility on a few rollups, there is no other customisation possible. If you think that's a good customisable interface, then you should really get some experience of the other apps out there. In Maya for example, you can replace / modify / remove every single UI element in the entire app. Hell, you could even rewrite the 3DS max GUI in it.

The whole UI customization is very very high[/quote]
No it isn't. It's all hard coded in WIN32 and C++. There is no customisation possible in 3dx (aside from enabling / disabling rollup visibility). In Maya you can edit / replace / remove every single button, menu item, dialog box, etc. If it's part of the UI, it can be modified. In max, some things

Keep in mind, Maya brought us the QWERTY keyset, the 3d gizmo/widget and the radial context menu.[/quote]


Pffft! Young uns! Power animator did all of those first.

But I'm sure you can customize the UI to not be cluttered as in 3ds Max[/quote]
Ctrl + Space
Ctrl + M
Shift + M

Hi, I'm a 3d Artist and do a lot of 3d modeling/animation. As for the best animation/3d software the top two are 3ds Max and Maya. I have used many of the 3d software such as 3ds Max, Maya, Blender, SketchUp Pro, Vue, and Mud Box.


3ds Max and Maya like I said are the two best software out there for gaming developing, film, etc... 3ds Max and Maya are very very powerful I would say I like 3ds max better the user interface is easier to move around in and navigate. Maya is a little more of a mess and takes a little longer to do stuff I think. Also there are a ton more tutorials on youtube and websites that can help you learn the program better. But the downfall these are one of most advanced software's out there. The unwrapping in these programmings are very good in my opinion in helping creating a realistic texture or a texture to your liking. There are I wanna say millions of options (maybe 1000's haha) to get a good detail and quality model.

Blender I just hate it the interface is so unorganized in my opinion compared to 3ds max, its still a powerful program and you can still do a lot with it but 3ds max and Maya are still better.

Google Sketchup is basically a 3d sketching basically its still powerful but textures have low quality and unwrapping and animation/rigging is terrible its really strictly for 3d modeling.

Vue is a 3d landscape program where you can generate land and transform it in anyway and paint it from anything to deserts, to a rain-forest. It can be used for games but its usually more used for film. (It was used in Avatar). There is no 3d modeling at all except for terrain editing.

Mud Box basically you model/transform your objects (has like a clay feeling to it). Great for making high poly models off the lower poly one.


In the end my opinion is that 3ds Max is the best software its well organized interface and everything flows good (But really 3ds max and Maya are so similar its really what you feel more comfortable with) There are well over 100+ plugins and scripts to help your modeling and animation, etc.. I advise you to choose to learn 3ds Max the learning curve is terrible its one of the most advanced 3d software out there along with Maya. The learning curve is different for each person I heard it came pretty easy to me if you really want to learn it. If you choose 3ds Max in the long run you will benefit from it the most in my opinion. Tell me what you choose if you do pick 3ds Max I can help you learn it basically over skype or something. There are many tutorials for on how to create objects, homes, etc...
(3d Modeler, and use 3ds Max on a daily basis)
Hope this helps choose your software!
- Robby

Hi, I'm a 3d Artist and do a lot of 3d modeling/animation. As for the best animation/3d software the top two are 3ds Max and Maya. I have used many of the 3d software such as 3ds Max, Maya, Blender, SketchUp Pro, Vue, and Mud Box.


3ds Max and Maya like I said are the two best software out there for gaming developing, film, etc... 3ds Max and Maya are very very powerful I would say I like 3ds max better the user interface is easier to move around in and navigate. Maya is a little more of a mess and takes a little longer to do stuff I think. Also there are a ton more tutorials on youtube and websites that can help you learn the program better. But the downfall these are one of most advanced software's out there. The unwrapping in these programmings are very good in my opinion in helping creating a realistic texture or a texture to your liking. There are I wanna say millions of options (maybe 1000's haha) to get a good detail and quality model.

Blender I just hate it the interface is so unorganized in my opinion compared to 3ds max, its still a powerful program and you can still do a lot with it but 3ds max and Maya are still better.

Google Sketchup is basically a 3d sketching basically its still powerful but textures have low quality and unwrapping and animation/rigging is terrible its really strictly for 3d modeling.

Vue is a 3d landscape program where you can generate land and transform it in anyway and paint it from anything to deserts, to a rain-forest. It can be used for games but its usually more used for film. (It was used in Avatar). There is no 3d modeling at all except for terrain editing.

Mud Box basically you model/transform your objects (has like a clay feeling to it). Great for making high poly models off the lower poly one.


In the end my opinion is that 3ds Max is the best software its well organized interface and everything flows good (But really 3ds max and Maya are so similar its really what you feel more comfortable with) There are well over 100+ plugins and scripts to help your modeling and animation, etc.. I advise you to choose to learn 3ds Max the learning curve is terrible its one of the most advanced 3d software out there along with Maya. The learning curve is different for each person I heard it came pretty easy to me if you really want to learn it. If you choose 3ds Max in the long run you will benefit from it the most in my opinion. Tell me what you choose if you do pick 3ds Max I can help you learn it basically over skype or something. There are many tutorials for on how to create objects, homes, etc...
(3d Modeler, and use 3ds Max on a daily basis)
Hope this helps choose your software!
- Robby

Wow...thanks for the very detailed info..
I have maya...but will try to get 3Dsmax
Thanks