For those that have used sketchup...

[Anonymous]

Hi, 

I'm a total beginner at 3DS max, so point me in the right direction if this isn't it. 

I'm a sketchup user, and good enough at it that I consider myself a total pro. Sketchup just fits really well with the way I model, and the reasons why come down my technique of using geometry as natural guides. This can sort of be summarized with a few points 

- Really really good snapping and alignment tools. More on this in a moment 

- Really intuitive selection. If I want to move an object, I can automatically move it according to a vertex, a midpoint of a line, the center of a circle, etc. 

- Really inuitive drawing line and drawing tools. If I want to make a box according to the dimensions of some other object, I simply pull it up and alignment guides allow me to make it the height I want. 2D lines are really simple to use and I use them as handles all the time, e.g. center of a sphere, center of a box, etc. etc. 

- Really good snapping. If I want to pick up an object and put it on the midpoint or some other position of another object, it's really easy to do. All vertices are snap-points, as well as midpoints or guides I've created with lines, etc. 

- Ultimately, comes down to just a really really intuitive user interface that makes complete sense to me. 

- Really intuitive and easy to use solid tools. If I want to make a complex depression in an object, very simple to do by cutting it away with a solid tool. Or, even just drawing what I want on the object and push/pulling it out. 

This is, of course, imo totally converse to max, which for the life of me I cannot make sense of. Max objects behave not at all like sketchup objects, and furthermore I've found are really really clumsy to work with in the sense of moving them around, aligning, scaling, rotating, or otherwise transforming them.

So my basic question is, for anyone who has used 3Ds max and Sketchup, how can I set max up to feel as close to sketchup as possible? 

Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

I'm interested to

[PROH]

Hi. I would say: You can't. It's not only a matter of the user interface. The whole basic concept - the way Max "thinks" - is totally different from SketchUp (or more precise: SketchUp differs from all other programs in its "thinking"). I fully understand why Max could seem clumsy or slow for a trained SketchUp user, just like SketchUp feels totally screwed up and extraordinary limited in every way for some trained Max users.

The point is, use those tools were they do the best job. If you want to model the way it's done in SketchUp - then use SketchUp. But if you want totally control over every tiny part of the model on all levels - then use Max. But don't expect either of them to act like the other. They can't...

Hope it helps

BTW - Lots of people (Architects) uses SketchUp for modeling, and then imports the model into Max for more detailed finishing, texturing and rendering.

[rendermaster]

i agree with this, although this is not of which is which is best, its just a matter of getting a long with those tools

[PROH]

Yes, that is what I meant. Maybe I should have said: Choose the one that does the job best for you 🙂

[Anonymous]

I have to disagree with most of the comments above I have been using max for 20 plus years and sketchup for just the last three but already I can model architectural work 2x faster in sketchup than I can in max! The simple drawing and modelling tools in max have long been left behind in its development and almost any other 3D application can do a better job of the basics.  Where Max wins over others is in its ability to handle more complex geometry, and its animation tools but you still cant draw a line of a specific length in a specific direction with anything like the speed of sketchup. Locking is terrible and non intelligent and moving around the scene is also painful.   I personal do most of my modelling know in sketchup and ony bring it into max if I am working on animations or require higher functioning modelling tools. Of coarse i'm talking as an Architect and most of my lines are straight!  but hay how many years do Autodesk need to get the basics right on a flagship product.  But to answer your original question I believe there are plugging out there that attempt to fix some of these issues. 

[dgorsman]

Of course you're faster in Sketchup: 3DSMAX is *not* an architectural design product.  For precise, technical design work you should be using Revit, or ACA, or even vanilla AutoCAD.  Then bring the contents into 3DSMAX for rendering and animation.

Comes right back to the original comment: pick the right tool for the job.

[Anonymous]

no matter what tool to do. the question is why 3ds max can not make a simpler dimension input and simple commands. why I can not enter the distance when I copy or move something, and I do not have to move the x and y axis in the dialog.

[rmiglioriEKDK2]

Lol this is such an absurdly old thread you guys have revived. 

So since posting this question I have actually learned to use 3DSMax fairly effectively, and in the meantime Fusion 360 as well. With both of these programs I had to overcome an enormously painful learning curve, but having gotten over it have now made these my 3D modeling mainstays, and will probably never go back to sketchup, for example.  

First, I figured out 3Ds max by (surprise!) insatiably watching tutorials. Arrimus or Arrismus 3D on youtube, for example, I can credit with teaching me most of what I know and use now. 

Second, 3Ds Max is not, and will never, be a precision tool; but it is accurate. I mean this quite literally: if you are trying to make a model that is exactly some set of specific dimensions, well, good luck man (but seriously, use something else). On the other hand, if you simply need certain dimensions or elements of your model to be consistent, well Max will do that just fine. 

For example, one of the things I needed to do with Max was model computer keyboard keycaps. Now I don't know the exact dimensions, corner radii, soft curves, etc of these keycaps, but I can make a model that is proportional and relatively similar to reality and keep important features consistent across keycaps of different shapes. 

So Max is about consistency (accuracy), rather than raw precision. 

Three, you can do snapping and axis locking in max really easily and it works very well. The feature is just a little hidden. 

Four, sometimes I need precision. So I took up Fusion 360, which I learned basically by brute force. It was awful, I cannot, cannot stress how utterly miserable learning Fusion 360 was for me, but I really do like it now. Maybe even more than max, although the hard-surface modeling utilities in Fusion are absolutely the worst things I have ever used, especially coming from Max. 

What I have been doing lately that is really awesome is combining the two. There are some things that Fusion does really well that max is garbage at (precision dimensions, easy rendering, other stuff), and vice versa (hard-surface polygonal modeling....jesus christ fusion you couldn't have done a worse job at this if you'd set out to). And it turns importing a hard surface Max model (as an OBJ or FBX or something I don't remember) into fusion 360 is really easy and really effective. 

The one thing I still haven't figured out with Max is how to make nice renders. I'm having a really hard time with that problem and can't seem to crack it.