Hi, i'm in crisis.
I have had the opportunity to try both 3ds Max and Maya.
What can I say?
I'm making my own game and I have to decide between 3ds Max and Maya.
I can't keep deciding and being confused forever.
I must take a decision!
3DS MAX PROS:
3DS MAX CONS:
MAYA PROS:
MAYA CONS:
Also, I heard Maya is preferred over Max by many game dev companies. But I wonder: as long as I can get the job done, why do you care about the software I use?
At the beginning I started with 3ds Max, and that was my first love.
I moved to Maya a little bit to adapt in both environments, but when I'm on Maya I always think at Max
I ask for help and suggestions!
They are both good choices. I preffer maya, but, they both can get the same results. If you like a smoother easier workflow, maya has a slightly less intimidating workflow. Max has the stack and offers power-users some robust choices in how to manage their models that maya (nor any other program) has the equivalent of. Maya is more of a modern architecture so there is that as well, but max has a long history. The pros and cos are basically all about equal at the end of the day, and you really cant choose a bad package. Both are heavily supported, both are heavily used industry standard workhorses. You simply cant make a bad choice.
"Also, I heard Maya is preferred over Max by many game dev companies. But I wonder: as long as I can get the job done, why do you care about the software I use?"
This is a myth. It doesn't mean the opposite is true either, though But if you look at publicly available information, like social media fan base (face book group memberships) and ask around, you will find that Max has a very strong preference in the games industry. Its been more prevalent in the games industry than anyplace else. You may also hear things like "its even X% of Maya is games and X% Max in games (insert same number in both spots)...but its important to realize that Max has a much larger user base if you include is users in other industries like AEC and film,VFX. So given the same %number, its actually a larger real number because there are more Max users.
Both are excellent choices. But If you want more career options besides/beyond games 3ds Max may be a wiser choice.
Hope this helps. and good luck.