To be perfectly frank, i never learned cloth, only reactor cloth, so i don't know which is better.
Yes reactor can crash max, but only if you do no set up the reactor correctly. basically reactor is a physics engine like what some games have, only it is a lot more accurate. the accuracy therefore makes the program a lot more picky about how things are set up.
a good example is how objects interpolate. in a videogame, especially an older game, some objects can go through others. one example i remember is in Tomb raider you can lock Lara's butler in a freezer, and his hands and face stick through the door. If any object does that in reactor, it goes crazy for a while then crashes. it looks a lot like the objects exploded. so you always have to be careful not to have objects overlapping. other problems arise from all the vertices in an object being coplanar, low substeps (which will need to be explained better later on), or odd environment settings.
The overall product of a good reactor job is a very realistic and lifelike movement or arrangement. It's also really helpful for arranging things in a random manner. if you have a desk, papers are usually scattered all over, and pencils and things are lying all over. instead of taking the time to individually placing each object, you can just put them about 5 inches over the desk and let reactor make them fall down, landing in a random and realistic-looking mess. plenty of other uses, too. it's great fun.
wow long post
