Blender VS Maya

[Shendoo]

What do you think of blender? he is the first 3D software I have learned, but the company I work are using Maya and many people criticize the blender to be free software. I'm starting to learn to use Maya would like opinions on software.:think:

sorry for bad english

[Elcura]

Well... if you have access to both, I'd use Maya primarily, but you use whatever you're familiar with. For industry work, it would be better to use Maya, and use Blender as a suppliment for the things you feel more comfortable with.

tl;dr, learn Maya, keep Blender on the bench.

[womball]

I like modelling in blender over maya. Maya I like for rendering.

[Ritorian]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN! ......... oh wait, I mean..... MAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Shendoo]

and the positives and negatives of each program??

[Elcura]

There are probably way to many to list for each one. There's no "right" answer here, it all comes down to what you're comfortable with and what you HAVE to use (some jobs won't give you a choice).

If they use Maya at your job, learn Maya. If it makes it easier to share files and work on a project with other people, you should learn the software and stop being difficult because you want to use another program. Honestly, it sounds like you're looking for excuses not to learn Maya, rather than differences between them.

Sorry if that sounded harsh.

[dustinbrown]

If I'm being completely honest here, I think you might be hard-pressed to find many people who know both Blender and Maya well enough to make an intelligent comparison. The reason being the disparity between the userbase demographics.

Blender users know they don't have the money for an Autodesk product, and a strong sense of morality points them to Blender because it falls under the GNU license agreement. Maya users...lets face facts...most of them have an illegal copy. Not all, but a butt-load of them do. Lots of people learn Maya through school or work, but even those people have Maya on their personal computers, and how many of them do you really think are legit? And by legit I mean they actually paid Autodesk with their own money for a license. By no means am I saying there aren't honest people out there, I'm just keeping it real. Chastise me if you want, but you know it's true.

[Unsder]

If I'm being completely honest here, I think you might be hard-pressed to find many people who know both Blender and Maya well enough to make an intelligent comparison. The reason being the disparity between the userbase demographics.

Blender users know they don't have the money for an Autodesk product, and a strong sense of morality points them to Blender because it falls under the GNU license agreement. Maya users...lets face facts...most of them have an illegal copy. Not all, but a butt-load of them do. Lots of people learn Maya through school or work, but even those people have Maya on their personal computers, and how many of them do you really think are legit? And by legit I mean they actually paid Autodesk with their own money for a license. By no means am I saying there aren't honest people out there, I'm just keeping it real. Chastise me if you want, but you know it's true.

I have a 13-Month Educational license thats totally legal

[Draxxuss]

Blender vs Maya? Wow.. that set me back.. kinda like saying Bicycle vs Porsche. Sure they both get you there but one does it in style.

[FranckERScuotto]

I don't like Blender, because so different than all other softwares... shortcuts, etc... weird... but I prefer Maya, for many things... but in primary, for FX, I think than Maya can use more particles than some softwares.

[dustinbrown]

I have a 13-Month Educational license thats totally legal

Awesome! I remember a lot of people got angry when Autodesk bought Maya and did away with the PLE. It's good to know they have something for students again.

one does it in style.

Heh, actually Blender's interface is way sexier than Maya's.

[Cyrael]

I believe that Maya also has a free educational license that remains free as long as you're a student. So if you're a student then there really isn't any excuse not to try both.

[Firebert]

Blender is getting up there, no question about it. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what you use on a personal basis. What matters is your understanding of how to model and the core concepts of UV layout, mesh creation and management, etc. Switching between apps is not a huge ordeal, and although it may take time to get used to one versus the other, you should still be able to work your way through it. The UI on Blender and basic navigation used to be absolutely dreadful, and as a result, I never learned the software. I gave it a chance in the beginning (going back on it's re-establishment of the open source project), but decided to scrap it because it was too uncomfortable. Free or not, it was a bitch to work with. If all you can afford is to work with free stuff, then yeah, you would make yourself get used to it and think any improvement made to the software was the best thing since sliced bread. Same goes for if you never worked in another app before. You would think it was natural and the way things are. Having not used Blender in a long time, I cannot compare the two. Autodesk is making changes and starting to listen to their testers and community at large, but they are a corporate entity that engulfs the industry and it will take time for their ears to open as wide as those behind Blender. Why consider using a well known app over a free open source one? It may be a deterent from getting you hired somewhere. Not a BIG deterent, but sometimes, the employer just wants someone that already knows their core software.

A tool is a tool. What matters is how you make use of those tools. Being biased towards Blender because it is free or open source is kind of silly. Thinking Maya is an amazing program right out of the box is silly as well, and also naive.

Dustinbrown is on the money about finding a good comparison because of the demographics. Studios won't typically consider free open source stuff unless it is widely used (xnormal for example), because of pipelines, bugs, support, etc. When you're operating on someone else's dime, you need something a little more reliable than Blender (for instance) that can operate across the scope of the studio with a proven track record and the reliability of product support. Something that is integrated into other apps is also a plus.

[Ace-Angel]

Um, aren't VS threads in terms of Software, especially in the 3D area kinda pointless to begin with?

Both have their ups and downs, and honestly, just because Blender is free doesn't mean squat.

[Elcura]

Maybe that's because the 3D apps haven't had a huge battle royal yet. Let's round them up, put them on an island and see what program fucks up first and gets their heads exploded.

[Joey Spijkers]

Blender vs Maya? Wow.. that set me back.. kinda like saying Bicycle vs Porsche. Sure they both get you there but one does it in style.

More like a mountain bike and a porsche going down a roadless mountain. Sure, they both get you there, but one can do it without crashes .

[RavenShade83]

These discussions never come to a clear cut answer one way or the other. I learned 3D on 3DS Max, and then went to Full Sail where Maya was the software package used. I learned Maya, admittedly kicking and screaming the whole way, but I still feel Max is better for my style as a modeler. I also have friends that jumped ship to XSI after learning that package, yet I'm not crazy about it. It all depends on what gets you to the point you're trying to get to with the least problems possible.

[Elcura]

I understand that completely, the first package you learn is your baby, which makes learning other stuff a pain in the ass unless you're forced. I imagine if I was forced to learn Max I'd be bitching about it as well.

BUT DEMS DA BREAKS. You don't always get your way in life.

[Ritorian]

I hear that. had to learn Max for work...............still hate it

[Ace-Angel]

I never saw such a difference between Max, Maya or XSI...they all have the same tools, just in different places, and some people even customized the GUI in each App. to fit their needs.

I mean, I would understand if someone complained and compared ZB to MB, but c'mon, this is being petty at best. Just ask your company if you can bring in your Laptop or something...