Which Program would be right for me...

[Matt H]

Hello,

We are a somewhat growing firm, and i finally got an approval for purchasing a rendering/Design Visulization program...

I'm torn between 3ds Max and Maya... As i'm told, 3ds Max is more for large scale things, and Maya is more for charater creation... I'm not really sure, so i was hoping for a little help...

We currently do many 20-80,000 square foot commercial buildings, some are even 200k ish. Many have big lots with lots of details, and some don't. So any advise would be very appreciated!!

Thanks!

[dellis]

Matt,

I do have a personal bias toward MAX but you really could use either MAX or MAYA. Both can handle large poly counts and both have mental ray built in....which is a capable, albeit, slow renderer...especially with large scenes. If you are using it mainly for arch viz i would go with MAX as well as VRay for the rendering engine. I would also suggest going with the 64 bit version to be on the safe side. I could go on all day so let me know if you need more specific information.

[Matt H]

Well then there is also VIZ 2008. Which as i understand is just MAX without all the bells and whistles...

Is V-RAY a plug-in? Would i have to buy that separetly? 64-bit... So i would have to upgrade my OS to XP-64 than as well?

[stusic]

Well then there is also VIZ 2008. Which as i understand is just MAX without all the bells and whistles...

Is V-RAY a plug-in? Would i have to buy that separetly? 64-bit... So i would have to upgrade my OS to XP-64 than as well?Yes, Vray is a separate plug-in that comes separately. To utilize the 64-bit edition of max, you'll need to upgrade your OS to 64-bit (I think XP pro 64-bit runs around $130).

Depending on your budget and needs, Viz may meet your needs; although some of those bells and whistles are really handy... (think AutoCAD LT vs. AutoCAD in a visualization environment).

[dellis]

I've said this many times before as it relates to VIZ vs. MAX....

Its better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it.

I've found most often that its the "bells and whistles" that allow me to go above and beyond what i could without them....but if price is an issue get VIZ and VRay. You won;t regret it.

[Matt H]

Well thanks all for all your help. But i'm still torn. Why did you purchase 3ds Max over Viz?

Also, how is the learning curve on these programs... And what turtorials / dvd / books would you recommend?

One more thing... After purchasing VIZ and V-ray, doesn't it put me up at what i would've spent on 3ds Max? VIZ is what 2000 and V-Ray is 799... Is it worth the extra $400 for Max just by itself?

[stusic]

Well thanks all for all your help. But i'm still torn. Why did you purchase 3ds Max over Viz?

Also, how is the learning curve on these programs... And what turtorials / dvd / books would you recommend?

One more thing... After purchasing VIZ and V-ray, doesn't it put me up at what i would've spent on 3ds Max? VIZ is what 2000 and V-Ray is 799... Is it worth the extra $400 for Max just by itself?I learned on Max, so I've always stuck with it.

Something you could do is get Max, then, if needed/desired, purchase Vray later (that's what I did). Also, depending on how many seats you're looking to purchase, a subscription ($495/year) might be the way to go -- I only use one seat, so for a subscription to add up to the total cost of one seat ($3495), it'd take around 7 years... way longer than I want to go before an upgrade. It'd also be a lot less out-of-pocket expense, possibly affording you the ability to get Vray and come in well under budget for a seat of Max...

[Andre Baros]

If your doing Arch Viz than right now Max has better integration with Revit and AA. Viz is just fine unless your doing a lot of modeling or animating... if most of your models come from Revit or Autocad, that Viz may is fine. We use Max, but when we were using Viz, the problem we had which promted us to switch was that Viz was on the Cad product release cycle and Max on the Visualiztion release cycle so Viz was sometimes 6 months behind for a critical feature (ie importing Revit files).
I wouldn't automatically go for V-ray, either. While it is a capable plug-in renderer with broad market penetration, the built in Mental Ray has done a lot of catching up lately and may be a better choice in many situations due to it's seamless integration in Max. There are also other 3rd party rendering solutions such as Maxwell which you may find easier to use. Personally, as the in house renderer and also the in house Revit guy and also the in-house how-do-you-do-this guy I have found that keeping up with Max etc. a chore and Maxwell has taken my quality up and my learning curve way down. Maxwell is SO consistant compared to the other options I've used or tried to use that in a rush, I don't even do test renderings... it's that predictable (and lets you change things WHILE it's rendering).

my 2 cents.