** SOFTWARE Opinions / Critiques **

All such questions and topics go here. I tried to see if there was a forum at SCIFI-MESHES for this kinda topic but I was told such threads are deleted. I think we'll allow people to talk about this here. I don't mind. But lets keep it objective. Try sharing professional reviews online, trade publications, magazines, etc. Lets keep our personal opinion out of it as much as possible. And of course... no flaming. If somebody is saying something really retarded and biased and it offends others I will delete their message and/or BAN them if it keeps up. Just PM me about it.

Hey all, I just started using the Maya free version and was thinking about picking it up, but I've noticed a great lack in other users using it. I rather like it but it's tough to find meshes to play around with and really decent tutorials (though I have looked and have some sites, I'm no a n00b). One thing that was really cool is Alias has a comparison pdf of commands if you're switching from just about any 3D software. Since I've been an avid LW user since v5 I thought this was pretty cool. The only thing I have found that isn't so hot is the camera controls. Lightwave has the rotate and zoom options directly on each window whereas with Maya you have to select a seperate tool in a seperate menu each time, which gets really annoying. I'm sure there's a shortcut, I just haven't found it yet.

it's been a while since I messed with Maya, but I remember there was a way to pull up a menu in the window, the menu spawns from the mouse and you can select a wide variety of options without having to go to the pulldowns or the tabs off the viewports... it seems like you hold down shift or space or something... check the help file for quick menu or something like that... 3D Studio MAX has refined their version of it since the release of Maya, coincidence, I think not...

hope that helps enough to get you going in the right direction...

Darksteps...

Question...What is an easy to use freeware program for this? I've always wanted to do this, but I, alas have no cash.

Blender. I love it!

I have used blender before but felt it lacked the easy usability that gmax has. Plus blender (which relies a lot on keyboard buttons) is useless with laptops (no propper numpad). The layout is not friendly and so i quickly lost heart.


I like 3ds max in its style, tools, power etc. However I am greatly put off by the price.

I use gmax (the free version of 3ds Max), it lacks a few things but there are ways around it. Although it does only one format,with a plugin you can export to another and from there convert it into anything you want. Extra features can be brought in using Max scripts and plugins.

Blender has an option to emulate the numpad using the regular number keys. I have Blender set up that way on my laptop and it works fine.

Justin