Okay, so, I’d like to say I’m fairly proficient with 3DSmax, after 4 or so years of using it almost daily. So When the opportunity arose to try out Maya in structured lessons, I wasn’t going to say no, knowing that 3DSmax’s younger sister is a useful piece of software to know for the industry.
Knowing both pieces of software inside and out would make me a more desirable candidate in the industry should I want to make my career there, and modelling practices between the two generally stay the same, with the interface changing.
I’d toyed with Maya very briefly in the past, using it as a bridge-point between 3dsMax and Mudbox, as Mudbox had some issues with 3dsMax at the time. however that was way back when I was starting out in Max and could barely make a building, things have changed, I’m more proficient in the workflow, and I use Zbrush now, instead of Mudbox, as Mudbox had a horrible issue with wanting the models to be perfect and complained about the smallest issue, whereas Zbrush really doesn’t care so long as there is geometry there.
I really think over this past two weeks, Maya and I have gotten off to a bad start, there’s always been a horrible problem on campus that I get a little brain fogged, and can’t really focus. Not to mention I’m not able to customize the software to the way I want it, I know with my several Max versions at home, I have several plugins and tools (like RapidTools) that greatly help with my workflow, and make me a more efficient modeller with cleaner geometry to hand.
The same can’t be said with the college computers, to no fault of anyone, they’re all networked, not personalized, and customization of the software through plugins, no matter how useful, is forbidden. So I can keep setting the custom toolbar all I like in maya, but as soon as I log off the computer, it’s all reset and nothing’s permanent. Kind of difficult to get on the right page, if the network sets you back to page 1 every time.
Another problem I’ve found is the terminology of it is, as I say to my tutor ‘so backwards’ Bevel in Maya is Chamfer in Max, and Maya’s extrude does inset, bevel, and extrude all in one, whereas Max has different buttons for all three, and I’m used to the different buttons and CORRECT terminology.
Maya has no geometry constraint options, and things that Max has had since version 3, are missing in Maya. So it’s been kind of hard to transition from one to the other, knowing that the one is a gutted out, less intuitive version of the other.
So as of the time I’m writing this, I’m installing it onto my home PC, and looking for some tools and plugins that can help me feel more at home with Maya, and make the transition from my old friend Max a little less painful.
I keep telling myself, if I can learn the disastrous interface that is Zbrush, I can learn Maya, I’ll keep pushing on with Maya, and hope that I can get something interesting with it eventually.
Zee's Cave 