When you have two strong contenders in the market, the question always arises, which one is the best and what makes it better? The same concept applies to just about any product, and the world of animation software is no different.

So we see that the two main software are 3DMax and Maya. Everything has good and bad points, and after all, the two products are competitive with each other for their respective owners. The difference here is that both dynamic software packages are owned by the same company. Now, that doesn’t make any sense for a company to compete against itself, does it? The motive for the acquisition could be to buy the competitor and then sideline the weaker of the two. However, this is not the case here, as Autodesk now owns both 3D Max and Maya and has no intention of taking either of them off the market. It may not seem like it, but its concept is very viable.

As we said, both items have their strengths and weaknesses, but they are highly appreciated and used in the industry. Autodesk has simply decided to take the weaknesses of both and strengthen them with the attributes of its counterpart.

Your strengths.

3D Max is the favorite of architectural and visualization animators, while Maya is the choice of the television and film industry. 3D Max has great tools for conceptual modeling, large-scale environment creation, and works well with other Autodesk product lines, to name a few of the main features. Maya, on the other hand, has incredible character manipulation, animation layering, and motion capture handling capabilities that surpass 3d Max.

Maya has great advantages over 3D Max when it comes to Nurbs modeling. This is because the software has taken a different approach in this area, which means it is easier to use. Nurbs are complex surfaces, it would be the technique you would use to create a polygon for example. The effects that the animator can achieve in terms of fluidity are impressive with Maya. It will enable very realistic simulations of the reaction of fluids and gases in the real world and the ocean shader you have implemented produces amazing quality for water animation. Also, with Maya, you can draw freehand and use 3D painting effects that include some special effects as well as what are called Paint Effects.

Determining which is the best first depends on your budget as 3D Max is more affordable, but if your purpose is architectural and visualization then you won’t be getting a bargain because Maya is a better fit here. For special effects in animation, Maya is the choice. Ultimately, the decision will come down to what your computer can handle. Maya operates on Windows, Mac and Linux and Max is restricted to Windows based systems only. In any case, with any of these software packages you will have the best of both worlds.