you also have to compare the number of users max has an incredible number of users, while pixels3d has a very small number and it hasnt been around near as long so you canāt expect the same quality of work from the users.
btwā¦ever see starship troopers? alot of the effects in that, like the mass bugs sceenes were done in an early version of pixels3d, i believe 2.5
any1 use bryce?i love how easy it is, makes great backgrounds for complex scenes
*Originally posted by Gope *
**Stay away from 3dsmax at ALL COSTS, it as absolute trash, i spend countless hours working with computer graphics, and have used around half a dozen 3d programs and i can tell you that 3dsmax is by far the WORST OUT THERE!!! **
Iāve been searching in reference sites and so far it looks like 3dsmax is the best. Or at least one of the best.
Blizzard uses MAX for all the cinematics.
*Originally posted by ChrisH *
**I have found the printed books sent with the earlier versions of 3DStudio to be very helpful. (Iām learning on 2.5, I gave all the newer versions to students)
**
If you wanted to go even farther back in the dark ages, I still have 3D studio r4 from '97 
As far as the main question, just one tutorial or book isnāt going to make you an expert, or even proficient. The best way to learn 3D studio is to practice, read, practice, read, and practice 10 times more.
As far as whether 3d studio max is the best software out there, the answer should be a question asking for what purpose.
Remember that almost all movies with affects were done using custom software and/or custom plugins. To compare what is availible to students and to movie studios isnāt fair, even if the software is similar.
Max is the best, there is no explaining what it can do. It is very powerful, if you know how to use it.
*Originally posted by Gope *
**Stay away from 3dsmax at ALL COSTS, it as absolute trash, i spend countless hours working with computer graphics, and have used around half a dozen 3d programs and i can tell you that 3dsmax is by far the WORST OUT THERE!!! **
So what? You have to use it for your animation. That prohibits staying away from it. :rolleyes:
That said, it looks good to me, not that I have used anything else.
Wetzel
Opinion stated aboveIt seems like 3dsmax is the most popular for modeling for 3d games and Maya is the most popular for movies. Iām almost positive Pixar uses Maya is some way, heavily modified though. Iām also pretty sure the final fantasy movie was made in maya. And Blizzard uses 3dsmax. I also saw a screenshot of the GTA3 map open in 3dsmax on rockstarās website so I assume they use 3dsmax for everything as well.
Either way, both Maya and 3dsmax are great and very popular. I guess lightwave is fairly popular as well, but anything else you learn chances are when you look for a job the companies wonāt be using what you learned.
Max5 is real purdyā¦ Hopefully we will get copies of that and this will end this silly debate. We must use max, and max5 is definately better than 4 (in my humble opinion)
Dudeā¦this entire debate on which 3d program is the best is totally moronic. Its entirely based on personal preference and what programs you have used in the past/what you are used to and how well the interface works for you. Try them all out, theyre all decent, but the major players in this are 3dSMAX, Lightwave, and Maya. They all have their Strengths and Weaknesses and none can be claimed to be above the rest. Theyre all tools that one can use to reach one goal, its just the one that fits best in your hand. They are all extremely powerful and they have most of the capabilities of each other.
*Originally posted by Chris Nowak *
**Dudeā¦this entire debate on which 3d program is the best is totally moronic. Its entirely based on personal preference and what programs you have used in the past/what you are used to and how well the interface works for you. Try them all out, theyre all decent, but the major players in this are 3dSMAX, Lightwave, and Maya. They all have their Strengths and Weaknesses and none can be claimed to be above the rest. Theyre all tools that one can use to reach one goal, its just the one that fits best in your hand. They are all extremely powerful and they have most of the capabilities of each other. **
Well said. I must input one thought though, Lightwave, in my opinion, is more for cameras and lighting, Max is more for low polygon count, and maya is for stunning complexity which makes comparing the three useless. In all three of these programs anything is possible.
Thought Iād post a link to our local colleges 16 week intensive course for animation. http://www.mmdclab.com/ They use Maya for their course. If you are interested in 3D animation I understand that this is a first rate course with a high rate of placement in the industry. Have fun
Ken
Ok. I think I have enough references now. I found a few other websites by searching and I found the following: www.3dlinks.com, www.3dcafe.com, www.raph.com/3dartists, and www.zoomorphix.com. Thanks for all of your help guys.
I personaly prefer Lightwave. The control panels are simply arranged MUCH better than MAXās and I like Lightwaveās animater/renderer a bit more.
*Originally posted by MBiddy *
**Blizzard uses MAX for all the cinematics. **
That alone is good reason enough to use it!
i cant wait to learn max ā¦ it looks like such a flexible rpogramā¦
Well, Iāve finally completed some things. To see some of my work, although Iām still gradually getting better, go to www.turbosquid.com and search for Hailfire in the main screen. There, youāll find some of the things that Iāve made. You can download them at your will since I made them free for download. Others, however, place a price on their work. Search around and youāll be able to find lots of great examples.
I like your choice of subjects to model . You seem to have learned enough to exhaust the possibilites of simple-poly modelingā¦ Iād strongly reccomend you do the MAX 5 tutorials starting on Pg. 47(you can skip this) and Pg. 221ā¦ Meshsmooth NURMS models are fun 
Yeah, I would but, one of the other team members has the 3dsmax5 tutorials. So unfortunately, I canāt look at the tutorials just yet.
*Originally posted by Suneet *
I like your choice of subjects to model
Well, what can I say? I love Star Wars. Iām currently working on the Blue Guardās Rifle but I still need to look at some tutorials to figure out how to make it.
*Originally posted by Hailfire *
**Yeah, I would but, one of the other team members has the 3dsmax5 tutorials. So unfortunately, I canāt look at the tutorials just yet. **
Humnā¦ Well, if you did a full installation of MAX, when you open MAX and go to Help>Tutorialsā¦ , you get a window showing all the tutorials in the book. The page numbers I mentioned are for āModeling a Chess Setā and āModeling a Low Polygon Characterā
The others are good tooā¦