I heard these two are the biggest 3D modelling programs in the market, I've already tried a simple 3d example out in 3DMax, I want to know what the major differences are between them and which is better?

Is it worth learning Maya over 3DMax?

I fully agree with LNCPapa's oppinion. It depends on what you want to use the program for. If you are more into 3D modeling and the resulting material to be a static image, then, undoubtely, Maya is the best. But if you are more into animation stuff, then 3dsmax have some advances over Maya. Overall, I think Maya is far much powerfull than 3ds (and far much complex, harder to learn, expensive etc. ).

Thanks for the info, the reason I asked is because i will have the chance next year to do a new university module using Maya and I didn't really get the answer of why using Maya and not Max but now I understand.

Maya is more powerful and expensive (and even more professional) than 3D max which is second best.

I also heard Maya is making a special edition available which is cheaper for educational use.

actually, it amazes me how expensive some programs could get.

i'll have to download that whilst i'm at uni because they have a really fast T3+ connection. It will usually take less than 10 minutes as opposed to 10 hours at home!

Wow... Maya really costs that much?? That costs more than my car.... No wonder people in my school are distributing pirated copies...

Anyway, yes, Maya is more powerful, but what are you mainly going for? If you're going into game development, I hear that a lot of the game companies use 3DS Max instead.

I can't wait to learn Maya though. I hope I get a Maya class next semester. But people tell me it's really hard to learn it after having classes with 3DS Max.

To quote a friend

SoftImage demo can be ordered here : http://www.softimage.com/Products/xsi/v2/ExperienceCD/

It's not actually the MODELLING part that may be the biggest attraction, the primary objective of some of these programs and their usage is not to make models, but rather to animate them and render them to movies.

A lot of the gaming companies which uses 3dmax use it also because its cheaper and does what they need it to do. Just remember that Final Fantasy was rendered in Maya, though they wrote their own plugins for practicly everything which they hope to be able to sell to make up for the amount spent on the movie ...

Is Softimage still popular? My school took it off the curriculum and replaced it with Maya...

I prefer Softimage over Maya. They are the top two professional 3D modelling softwares available. 3Dstudio max and Lightwave 3D would be the next step down. 3Dstudio max is very popular with game developers because of its extensive polygon modelling tools. Lightwave have previously concentrated mainly on the movie industry but are now putting more attention to the gaming industry with more polygon tools in their arsenal.

All four softwares are very expensive, but if you are a student/faculty you can get them at a discount. For Lightwave and 3Dstudio max you can get them for around $1000. Maya and Softimage will cost you around $500 and free relicensing each year as long as you remain a student or a member of faculty.

When I first was exposed to CGI, I was watching a show on TV where they were showing how they created the "blubber" character in the movie Blubber. From then on I've been hooked. I downloaded every freeware 3D modelling softwares I could find. Eventually I found povray. That code-based software was awesome for a beginner.

I've already begun studying Maya 4 and i'm amazed with what can be done with it considering i'm only a mediocre 2D artist when its comes to using Flash and such.

Back to the discussion about "3DMax Vs Maya"......

With the whole thing about some companies use 3dmax (being cheaper) and others Maya, if you're learning Maya then it should be easier to adjust to using whatever package that may need to be learnt as you already know the concepts and have previous 3d animation experience.

Is it safe to say that Maya is "the daddy" of 3d animation software and if its the first package i'm learning then it would cover more than enough if needed to learn another package that a company might be using instead of Maya ('cause of the costs)?

So do these programmes create still or moving images in 3d and what examples do guys have of what u done? Also ARe these programmes Just bought on CD? lol if i spent 10,000 i wouldnt let anyone copy CD and i certainly would lend it out.

The retail programs come in CDs and can be purchased at a discount if you are a student or education-faculty member. There are free packages available for downloads.

I'm a beginner when it comes to 3D so I don't have anything spectacular to show off. You can check out this gallery over at lightwave.com. Lightwave3D is the best 3D package in it's price range in my opinion.

I just got back from the Australian International Animation festival in Melbourne. Over 200 films were shown, in mixed formats (over 300). The festival was fantastic - i really enjoyed it, and as someone who is currently looking to invest in some 3d animation software I found it very interesting indeed.

As some of the previous posts have suggested it is indeed what you intend to do with the software that should influence what you buy, or choose to learn. You can teach yourself using free software downloadable or available on the cover of a magazine, this will take you to a certain level.

The choice to move on to 3DSMax or Maya (or indeed lightwave or any of the others) is not so much a question of which is the best, but of what you want from the software - and what you will then do with the results.

The films in the Melbourne festival were animated using a variety of differnt techniques and software including Maya, 3DSMax, Flash and Lightwave, but the undeniable truth is that it is what you do with the software that is important - not which software you do it with.

In conclusion, use whatever you can afford - as all the programs mentioned work and the principles and ideas you have will remain constant regardless of equipment. If you can justify spending 10,000 dollars or more on software then the chances are you will already know what you need. As far as education goes - take the chance to use the most expensive, least accessible kit you can, as you may not get another chance - and it will certainly give you an insight into what can be done with a professional set-up. With that insight, go and create your reel, or portfolio or whatever and get someone else to pay for the software, and pay you to use it.

im wanting to do 3d gaming should i use maya over 3dsmax or vise versa?