Anyone using other tools?

[Matt Hallock]

It's not really a problem that people use programs other than 3DSMAX. Most animators pick one program and become very skilled in it, some are lucky enough to have the time to learn Maya and 3DSMAX. The problem is a lot of modelling programs are far different from 3DSMAX and the same logic can't be applied to two programs. As for the animation, if you started to tell people that they could only use 3DSMAX to make their animation, then how would I make my textures? I'm good with procedurals, but I have to make my masking and bump maps in photoshop or some other program of the likes. You just can't do it any other way. Video editing can be done minimally in 3DSMAX, and honestly if you set up the scene the way you intended it to be you should only need to do color correction. Most effects could be done with particle systems.

I personally stick with Premiere, 3DSMAX 5 or 6, Photoshop 6, and I use default rendering with my own lighting. (It consists of about 25 omni light instances into sphere. Allows for great daylight and color control.)