[gameprogrammer] Re: which is better or neither

[Scott Harper <lareon@comcast.net>]

Roger D. Vargas wrote:

>Try blender, it is free. Just have an interface a bit crowded
>  
>
While I'm always pro-using-free-software, I have tried both the trial 
version of Maya, as well as gmax (the neutered, free version of Studio 
MAX), plus Blender.  My personal favorite is gmax/3D Studio, for ease of 
use and affordability.  Maya is VERY nice, though it costs enough!  I 
think, actually, Maya is a bit easier than Studio MAX for many things.  
You're gonna have a rather steep learning curve for basically ANY 3D 
program worth its onions, though.

My beef with Blender is three-fold.  First of all, the interface seems 
very cluttered and confusing (please, this is all my opinion only).  You 
have buttons everywhere, and settings for things that when you try to 
use them you don't see any change, because you have to change something 
else which may or may not seem completely unrelated.  Basically, 
regarding the interface, you have to know what you're doing before you 
start doing things.  Second, is that, well, with the modeler in Blender, 
you ALSO have to know what you're doing before you start, because 
there's no undo function.  I've heard the argument that the best undo is 
to have many, many backups, but in my opinion the lack of ANY kind of 
undo functionality kills it.  Third, is that the 3D navigation controls, 
while having some benefit over other apps as far as what sort of things 
you can do quickly, are rather confusing, and not at all simple to 
understand/master.  Most 3D apps' windows are navigated by holding down 
a key (Control or Alt, and combinations of keys often) and pressing a 
mouse button or two, depending on which movement you want (dolly, pan, 
etc...).  Blender is, well, different.  I haven't ever been able to 
figure out how to actually rotate the camera with the mouse maintaining 
a good vertical "up" vector, which means that you either have to use one 
of the keyboard rotate controls, or continually reset the camera.  Not 
the biggest deal, I suppose, but I really hindered me.

I can't speak for Milkshape, as I haven't used it since it's gotten such 
a big name.  The word I hear is always good about it though.

So for ease of use, I say Maya, then MAX (by a small margin), then 
Blender (by a much larger gap).

For rendering output quality/ease I maintain about the same order and ratio.

For Documentation and sheer number of tutorials out there, I imagine MAX 
takes center stage, followed by Blender and Maya in a close second and 
third.  Not really sure who's currently winning.

They all have excellent scripting systems, and actually, you'd probably 
find better help with Blender, since it's an in-development project, and 
its Python scripting system is definitely one of it high points.  That 
said, exporting can be done on all apps, though I think MAX and Maya 
have better out-of-the-box export options.

As for me, I would VERY seriously consider both Milkshape (it can export 
EVERYTHING!) and gmax, being the cheapest options.  gmax has no built-in 
export options, and you technically can't write a file from a script (a 
"feature" they implement to keep people from just using the free version 
and not buying the full thing), but there are at least a few ways around 
that (look around on some Neverwinter Nights pages for gmax script 
listeners).  Also, gmax can be used in conjunction with a nifty script, 
a script listener, and YAFRay (open source ray-tracing renderer) for 
pretty good rendering features as well. (http://xzzy.org/halo/gmax_render/)

So, there's my (not so) little bit of info.  Hope it helps, and good luck!

--Scott


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