Is Autodesk really trying to get rid of 3DS Max?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone.

I'm usually seeing people telling that Autodesk is actually focusing more on Maya rather than 3ds max.

Is this real?

I've been working with 3ds max for years and I love it so much.

I can't endure to see 3ds max abandoned while Maya takes the lead.

3ds max is a modeling software with animation tool and Maya is an animation software with modeling tools.

So, why is Autodesk improving also Maya's modeling tools?

I hope you never decide to ban 3ds max from your future project.

It IS and it will always be my best 3d modeling software.

Also, if you do this... you force Max users to switch to Maya. And that's unbearable!

Thanks for your attention. I'd like to hear some opinions.

[lightcube]

Obviously, none of us out there in the public have the answers as to what Autodesk plans for the long-term future. All we can do is guess based on what AD has done, is doing and is promoting.

Many of us have been very conscious of things that have been done in the past that make us feel that AD is moving towards a Maya-only future. That very concern has been one of the very few things that have ever compelled me personally to explode on forums with my feelings on it. Certainly, more effort has gone into promoting Maya to the public in the last few years than Max, and there have probably been times that development of Maya superceded Max.

So many of us are very much ill-at-ease about this.

But, if you take the current few releases of Max into account, there is definitely something good going on for us Maxxers. Although Max users have been burned some years by buying into all the market-talk, there is a new tone coming from the Max development that really feels more assuring. If it was just a tone-change, I'd still feel nervous. Max 2015+ have been nothing short of badass updates.

My feeling, at this moment, is that the future of Max may be as strong as ever. My feeling is that the new, more urgent, thing to be concerned with, is the new licensing model at Autodesk that is removing the rights of my children to live in a world where they can have the honor of owning a license of Max. That's probably the biggest thing to worry about. I don't want the next generation to grow up conditioned into thinking that software is only supposed to be rented. I don't want artists and art companies to be serfs.

[Anonymous]

I read this article from Digital Tutors:
http://blog.digitaltutors.com/will-3ds-max-die-next/

Since I read it, I'm now going to start learning Maya.

I don't want to master a program (3ds max) that will probably die in few years.

"My feeling, at this moment, is that the future of Max may be as strong as ever"

Oh, I don't have your same feelings. As the new updates tell (max2016, maya2016), Autodesk is improving Maya and letting go Max in order to make the users less interested to Max and, at the end, axe it.

[lightcube]

@Anonymous I'm not a salesman for Max. I'm just sharing my perspective as someone who has followed the development of Max for many many years. As pointed out in the digital tutors blog comments:

Gary Davis: "3ds Max is currently the second most widely used software application in global use at Autodesk (behind AutoCAD) and is the only M&E product in the top 12 of global use. We have the data to back this up. speculation without facts doesnt do anyone any good."

And pointed out by Adrian Wise: "3DSMAX is the third most pirated piece of software on the internet, combine those two facts and the user base is immense, [if you imagine the illegal copies are being used by students and hobbyists, some of those users will become paying customers] discontinuing it is not an option."

Whatever the AD goals are for Max/Maya... the idea that Max will actually be axed seem pretty small. I suspect that AD itself has no concensus on what it should do about the Max/Maya topic.

But it is very clear that you do not know much about the 3D software landscape if you think that the Max 2016 release is weak on new features. I think that the problem you may have is that you are basing this on the general regurgitation of forum posts from the internet that is probably largely based on the difference in how the Maya team makes new videos and the Max team makes new videos. I'm basing this off of browsing the Autodesk Youtube channel and just taking note of the Video thumbnails, where the Maya videos are generally more sexy up front and the Max ones are often random (often with the face of a developer rather than a cool graphic). That very likely plays a role in how many (younger) people that talk on forums judge what is going on.

I certainly am not happy about everything Autodesk is doing, and they have made business decisions that are surely not consumer friendly, but Max 2016 is a very strong release.

[Anonymous]

If Max2016 was a very strong release, Maya2016's was even stronger.

I'm in a mess. I've always modeled with 3ds Max and now I'm figuring out that Maya is the new choosen one for the Autodesk.

So I'm learning 3ds max and Maya at the same time to avoid to be surprised when/if 3ds max will be axed

[Anonymous]

This article is from over a year ago.

[Anonymous]

I fact AD is probably phasing out 3ds max gradually

[Anonymous]

I think they will rather phasing out Maya.

Face the facts:

Maya development is very expensive, it`s geard towards a small niche market (Animation&VFX)

and it doesn`t generate a lot of revenue for them (#14 or someting in the Adsk portfolio) .

They need 3dsmax subscription income because it keeps Maya development alive like a heart-lung apparatus.

Think about it 😉

Meanwhile im using MCG to click together my new VolSelect (multiple meshes) and my new attachment constraint that`s agnostic to topology changes (...hey wait, they already put that into SP1!)

[Anonymous]

Mhm... i dont think so... but i HOPE.

I hate Maya but I'm learning it just for convenience.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry about the future of 3ds Max. Why? Because Autocad, Revit etc is the bread and butter of Autodesk's profit and Max is their premiere tool for doing quality product visualization from these packages. They go hand in hand.

You could argue that Maya is the odd one because VFX and entertainment isn't Autodesk main profit income. I think they just got complacent with Max and is finally feeling the heat now.

They wouldn't invest all the time in MCG if they were looking to phase out max in 5 years time. Just my 5 cents,

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile Autodesk is improving Maya better than Max. Why this?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

They are not improving it 'better', they are moving development in slightly different directions.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Meanwhile Autodesk is improving Maya better than Max. Why this?

---

The animation and VFX industri just moves at a very high pace right now regarding features, so you have to do a lot of development to stay current. And I sense that neither animation nor VFX is what Autodesk targets Max at (anymore).

[Anonymous]

Ok but, what should i do now?

Continue with Max or go both with Max and Maya?

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

It`s never wrong to learn something new. It might open your mind with a fresh perspective of this whole business.

But for the right reasons and not because someone told you that '3dsmax will get axed soon'.

No one can guarantee you anything.

ADSK might sell entire M&E next year to ADOBE , who knows?

[Anonymous]

A 3D modeler shouldn't care about what the company does.

if the company wants to sell everything to another company I DONT GIVE A F##K.

THE thing that matters is that the company MUST NOT force me to switch to another program just because of their stupid reasons.

Right now, AD isnt forcing me. But Had I been a professional 3d modeler and had autodesk got rid of 3ds max... what would have happened? I should have learnt another software from zero???

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

 But Had I been a professional 3d modeler and had autodesk got rid of 3ds max... what would have happened? I should have learnt another software from zero???

---

You could ask any Softimage XSI user the same question.

And the answer would be YES.

[Anonymous]

So my job depends from the company?
What a creepy situation

[lightcube]

Made more creepy by the software rental model growing like fungus on the world. It means that for those who don't own a license to Product A, there is absolutely zero consumer security. Product A can disappear (without warning) and because your usage rights are rented, you have zero choices. At this point in time, with license ownership, you can indefinitely still be productive with your product.

The licensing changes should be your real concern right now.

[Anonymous]

Nope.

Your job depends on your skillset and expertise that you developed during all the years, the creative process that is independent from finding and pushing specific buttons in any given application.