Hi, Does anyone here use blender and/or 3ds max to create 3D artworks? If so could you guys tell me what the benefits of 3ds max are, since the release of the cycles render engine in Blender (CPU/GPU based physically accurate) I really cannot see the benefits of 3DS MAX(or Maya) over Blender Thanks
The main difference is price, if your not sure about 3d work or just want to dabble try Blender.....make sure you get the latest version (the older version ui where designed to drive you insane).
Generally speaking, 3DS Max is friendlier, especially to newer users and alot more polished. Blender, while powerful is fairy typical of open source software. There are some great tutorial sites for both but you really have to concentrate with blender. Lots of single letter keyboard shortcuts, with various different functions depending on where you are in the system. Depending on what you want to do, and the amount of time your prepared to spend familiarising yourself with the program, either will proably suit. It's worth noting if your doing something for school/college/uni/just as a learning exercise, then Maya has a free version which gives you pretty much the full Maya product. It does however watermark your renders so obviously you can't use it for anything commercial. Maya does tend to be the flavour of choice in most of the companies I've seen, but that's with motion not stills. When given the choice I tend to go with 3DS for any 3D modelling. If it's artwork your making, I'm not sure if its still about but Bryce was always pretty popular too, good if you do anything thing with landscapes...
I used 3DS and Maya a lot and gave a try to the latest Blender .... sincerly, Blender is hard to use compared to 3DS or Maya. It is trully less user-friendly. I think I should try harder, with tutorials ... but to be honest it was easier to move from 3DS to Maya than moving to Blender.
