[RonB]

I currently model and setup in Lightwave and I am thinking about expanding my range into either Maya or Max 8. I tried Max 5 a few years ago and really had a hard time getting into it. I'll probably have the same difficulty again but this time I have Maxwell as an incentive. Still I am thinking about Maya too...what do you guys think, Maya or Max?

Any insights or thoughts are appreciated...Thanks much.

Cheers, Ron

[animated]

All depends on what do you want the software for, for instance, if you are goin to do archicetural visualizations i would recomend you to use max, why? because you will need furniture models, cars, etc. and there is already a very large database for those (there are also models for OBJ, DXF, etc. but must of them are 3DS or MAX).

Architectural plans and drawings are mostly made with autocad, and they are very easy to integrate together. Lots of tools for illumination, calculation, modelling, etc are first developed for max.

That´s just my opinion.

[Boris Ulzibat]

I currently model and setup in Lightwave and I am thinking about expanding my range into either Maya or Max 8. I tried Max 5 a few years ago and really had a hard time getting into it. I'll probably have the same difficulty again but this time I have Maxwell as an incentive. Still I am thinking about Maya too...what do you guys think, Maya or Max?

Any insights or thoughts are appreciated...Thanks much.

Cheers, Ron

I use Cinema 4D for architecture and I am very happy with it. Worth trying!
Much more logical than Max!

[mverta]

Regarding architectural stuff: since Autodesk bought Alias, there is an .fbx fileformat converter between Maya and Max now.

That aside, Maya is an amazing package with unparalleled UI for speed and flexibility, imo. Max feels very amateur and clumsy to me, by comparison. Maya is far more flexible, on many levels, but I suppose it does depend on what you want to do with it. I have a few LW friends who recently converted, and after the usual adjustment time, wished they'd done so sooner.

_Mike

[aitraaz]

lol. As 'clumsy' as 3d max is, its got (obviously) a tight integration with autocad, revit, inventor et. al and a pretty good range of 3rd party renderer possibilities. Max 9 64bit with vray 64 bit for example is a pretty powerful platform, as will be max 9 with maxwell 64 bit. No frills, very efficient for archviz.

As mentioned, maya is quite a bit more powerful, with a toolset that makes max look a bit like a tinkertoy (not that max cant do most of what maya can). I'm pretty sure that for a LW user, maya is a pretty natural step. Depends what range of work your interested in.

[lebbeus]

I use Maya and Rhino for Architectural design work, though I'm a former MAX user and my office will be getting VIZ (my recommendation because of it's integration with autocad and new/existing employees will be more likely to be familiar with it)

I dig Maya's workflow and recently played around again in MAX and found it incredibly clumsy…it made me question my recommendation, but it just doesn't have the connectivity with autocad that MAX/Viz does which my office needs in order for things to be as simple as possible (less thinking = faster) and I refuse to let us use sketch-up

[Neil Evans]

I have used both, Max since V1 and 3DStudio before. I got so fed up of Max crashing and bugging out that about two years ago I bought Maya and haven't looked back since. As Mike says the UI is amazing, and Maya is so much more stable than Max.

The autocad interaction is no longer a problem with direct connect, you can now also import most of the other cad formats.

With regards to architectural models, there are plenty of models in mb/ma format and also .obj format, plus the fbx translator works well.

Cheers

Neil

[Boris Ulzibat]

I have used both, Max since V1 and 3DStudio before. I got so fed up of Max crashing and bugging out that about two years ago I bought Maya and haven't looked back since. As Mike says the UI is amazing, and Maya is so much more stable than Max.

The autocad interaction is no longer a problem with direct connect, you can now also import most of the other cad formats.

With regards to architectural models, there are plenty of models in mb/ma format and also .obj format, plus the fbx translator works well.

Cheers

Neil

Can you please tell me more about Cad import to Maya, particulary direct connect you mentioned?
I am currently using Cinema 4D for my architecture works, but at the beginning i have studied Maya and i love it too!
One thins that bothers me in Maya and architecture is the curves issue - if i am correct, curves in Maya cannot be mixed type - straight and curved at the same time, and this feature is very much needed in sime cases. Is there a workaround i simply don't know about?

[Neil Evans]

Direct connect is a translator to import dwg, soldworks, pro engineer, ans iges files, check out this link..http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/in ... id=8172555

With regards to the curves, you can use the CV curve tool and arc tool. I generally set the CV curve tool to draw straight lines and the arc tool to do the curves. I then either link them together using attach curve or just select them all and convert them to a surface. This is how I do my arch viz models. Import the cad plans, trace over them with the tools above, convert to surface and them extrude.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Neil

[Boris Ulzibat]

Direct connect is a translator to import dwg, soldworks, pro engineer, ans iges files, check out this link..http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/in ... id=8172555

With regards to the curves, you can use the CV curve tool and arc tool. I generally set the CV curve tool to draw straight lines and the arc tool to do the curves. I then either link them together using attach curve or just select them all and convert them to a surface. This is how I do my arch viz models. Import the cad plans, trace over them with the tools above, convert to surface and them extrude.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Neil

This is just great! thank you so much!
Somehow, i had the idea to draw separate curves for different curve types, but had no chance to try it.
Gonna try to remake one of my projects previously made with Cinema4D and compare the workflow.

Cheers!
Boris.

[Neil Evans]

No problem, to snap to the curves you need to turn on edit points, display, nurbs, edit points. I tend to switch them on for individual objects reather than globally...

[Boris Ulzibat]

No problem, to snap to the curves you need to turn on edit points, display, nurbs, edit points. I tend to switch them on for individual objects reather than globally...

Hmm. I found a problem. Direct connect is not loading DWG files and my client is giving me only DWG or ArchiCad PLN files... So i guess no Maya for me, will stick to Cinema4D for now

[Neil Evans]

Yes it does, I use it all the time...What is the problem?

[Boris Ulzibat]

Yes it does, I use it all the time...What is the problem?

Hmmm... I try to import, Maya says something about "...illegal characters in..." in script editor, then "Result 1", then - nothing. ((

[Neil Evans]

what version of Maya are you using? Is the file name something like 1 or 001? Rename the file if so, make it a bit longer, Maya sometimes has a problem with file names, don't know why..