Returning to the old ways...

[toadpipe]

It's been I think three years since I last used the program 3dStudio Max. I was on a mad hunt for other alternatives. I found none. Having found none, I got a copy of 3dSMax 8. The last version I use was version 3-something. I forgot how much this program rocks, and the new version kicks ass.

Ah, the 3d goodness.

Comments

[kalimdor_wilson]

I've discovered that Maya is both incredibly better (capability) and horribly worse (ease of use). Very worth looking into that one.

[toadpipe]

Strangely, I found the same. Maya is a lot more capable but unfortunately the ease of use issue trumps all in my book. I actually played with Blender quite a bit and found it to be really powerful too, unfortunately the UI is the worst design ever and makes it unusable in the extreme.

[kalimdor_wilson]

I had to animate a skeleton from the pelvis down in a biologically-accurate manner. Hardest thing I've ever done for money, but I've never even come close to that kind of complexity in 3DSMax successfully. (I've got version 7... haven't tried 8 yet.)

[toadpipe]

Wow, um, damn. I feel that I would be the other way around. Once I quit bitching and finally learn 3dSMax it came as almost second nature to me. I still think it's do to me learning AutoCAD in high school.

Nevertheless, I'd love to see either the model you mentioned or render(s). That sounds awesome.

[kalimdor_wilson]

The model came from a scan of a real skeleton. I didn't build the original joint rigging either, but had to fix it 'cause the guy who did it originally got the local rotation axis's all screwey.

I did learn a lot about using mental ray. More difficult than light tracing in 3dsmax, but really damned cool once you get it to work.