3DS MAX vs BLENDER

[mendozaro]

I use 3ds max (i have a license)... and i am thinking of switching on blender.

Is Blender as good as 3ds max? Maybe better?

If you use Blender and used 3ds max in the past please post here your opinions...

p.s.: i use 3ds max for interior designs and simulations.

[dmn_clown]

Is Blender as good as 3ds max? Maybe better?

from linuxmovies.org (http://www.linuxmovies.org/software.html):

Blender and Wings3D are not used in production because they are considered inadequate for the needs of Hollywood.

If you like the ui and the plugin interface that relies on python (read: you have to re-write your plugins every python version change because someone didn't think about API's when choosing a plugin interface) then, yeah blender is better because you have the source.

Realistically, the only people pimping blender are the people that can't afford the commercial 3d tools or have never used same.

[digitalis_vulgaris]

I dislike Discret policy. They building villa on rotten foundation. After more than decade they didn't fix some simple bugs in 3d max (like problems with selecting poligons). Development of 3d max is more based on quantity than quality.

Blender is more reliable than Max. Basic functionality of Blender is much more better than in Max. His development is very fast and quality. I believe that Blender has a great future. Still here are some feature which are better in Max: rendering engine, learning curve, better set of mesh editing tools, bigger community.

[eye208]

Is Blender as good as 3ds max? Maybe better?
These movies were made with Blender:

Big Buck Bunny (http://www.vimeo.com/798022) (2008)
Plumíferos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVpowuI2XhE) (2007/2008)
Elephants Dream (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsGEWHNJ3s8) (2006)

Note that dmn_clown is quoting an article from 2005. Blender's feature set has probably doubled since then. Character animation tools, soft/rigid body physics, fluid simulation, HD video editing, FFMPEG integration, sculpting, multi-resolution meshes, retopo, improved UV unwrapping, node-based compositing, etc. did not yet exist in 2005.

"Plumíferos" is the first feature film made with Blender. I think we will see more of these in the future. See the CGTalk feedback regarding the "Big Buck Bunny" trailer here (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=59&t=610031). The final movie will be released on April 10. You can download both the movie and the project files to see how the scenes were made.

[Ioky]

I would say Blender are in many way better than 3Ds Max. although 3Ds Max seem more professional then Blender because people pay like *****$ for it. And Yes I agress that 3Ds Max seem more friendlier than Blender because all the icon is like of in your face, while blender's icon seem like somewhere hidden. The really good thing about Blender is you can write your own script, and basically you can done anything you want if you have the skills, and remember it is for free as well. The more people use it the better it gets, and it will always stay for free. SO, support it is a good way to make it better.

[dmn_clown]

Blender's feature set has probably doubled since then.

Not really, there were very few features added between 2.42 and svn/trunk and none that would make me want to switch from Maya (other than price). Soemthing that max doesn't have, however, is a gnu/linux native client.

improved UV unwrapping

You haven't tried svn/trunk, because it is certainly NOT a usability improvement.

[digitalis_vulgaris]

I just want to add a reason for long learning curve for Blender is because 60% of Blender's features are hidden behind some shortcuts. For example, during unwraping user need to press "u" key to see full power of Blender.

[kayosiii]

Well since this is a ubuntu forum - Blender absolutely kicks 3DSMax's **** (on ubuntu - 3DsMax doesn't even run on Ubuntu. But seriously

Both Applications have their advantages and disadvantages.... Max is a larger program and overall has more features - this can be both a good and a bad thing.

Strong points in Blender - Mesh sculpting ala zbrush, Fluid simulation, UV Mapping and built in compositing. The built in game engine can be quite useful at times. It is small, easy to obtain and cross platform.

The not so strong - Interface doesn't follow many reconised UI conventions which means crawling again for a little while until you get the hang of it, Lack of real support for NGONs...

[cannontrodder]

Blender is under constant and heavy development. They are revamping the blender mesh editor which will support NGONs as far as I can see for one thing.

The blender open movie projects are fantastic for innovation as the blender developers are able to work on features the movie producers need to get their job done and these changes are then included in the next release.

As for the Blender interface, it is hard to work out for yourself what does what. There's tons of documentation and tutorials on the web though and it doesn't take much to get a basic understanding. Once you've spent a couple of hours working on a mesh, those shortcuts actually become massive time-savers and you are *glad* you don't have to click through a wizard to get something done.

[mech7]

Try maya :guitar: it;s really good i like it more then max

[ogden_freen]

FWIW, I've been a graphic artist in constant work for the last 13 years. I used to use MAX (and before it 3d studio v4 on DOS). About 2 years ago I started learning Blender. Now I don't even open up MAX any more.

Blender is much faster and more versatile. It has a rapid development cycle and is constantly improving, which is more than can be said for MAX, which seems to only slightly change between releases.

Definitely try Blender, but don't go it alone.
Here's a good tutorial that starts at the beginning. (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BSoD/Introduction_to_Character_Animation/Setting_up_the_mesh)

Good luck!

[blind_designer]

Can anybody tell about 3ds max models and materials impoting into blender?
Almost every interior designer uses Evermotion products such as archmodels and archshaders. Have somebody a solution?


PS: Sorry for my english.

[hessiess]

dose max have fluids? NO!
dose max have a compositor? NO!
dose max have a sequance editor? NO!

modaling in max is slowwwwwwww.
blenders bone system is much easier to use.
max dusent have a 3D cursor, verry usfal feture.
blenders uv unwrapper is much better(onse you learn it)

there have been major impruvements scinse 2.45

Can anybody tell about 3ds max models and materials impoting into blender?
you can use obj to move modles, matirials, im not certen if its posable.

[Merk42]

Comparing a Linux compatible program with a Windows only one in the Ubuntu forums? The responses won't be biased at all.....

I'd suggest you ask this question somewhere like http://www.cgsociety.org/ or http://www.cgarchitect.com/

[blind_designer]

<snip>...
hessiess, I really believe that blender is better. But i don't have a time to CORRECTLY convert all of evermotion products into it. Think now I must wait for Vray for Blender at least...

[SreckoMicic]

@blind_designer
There is plugin for blender to export to Vray. Check blender site or forum. It is in beta stage though.

[blind_designer]

@SreckoMicic
Thanks, I know. But the biggest question is how to use VRay PowerShader in Blender and import material parameters from max models. (I'm looking for solution with evermotion model libraries)

[RumorsOfWar]

I'm biased.
I've been using Blender for about 6 years, but I am not proficient at other animation suites.
The best advice I have heard for any professional in the CG business is to stay proficient in two CG suites. First, either 3DSMax, or Maya. Second, get decent with Blender. Blender is possibly the most versatile 3d graphics suite EVER. I could go on and on about its abilities, and how many professionals keep it around at least to convert the many formats to their needs, but to be honest, knowing Blender probably won't get you a job.
You need 3dsMax or Maya on your resume.

Ps, I have worked for a game company doing animation. The other 2 graphics guys used 3dsMax. One of them did great still images, maps ect, but he often needed me to convert files with Blender for him. The other guy made sprite characters. They ended up re-assigning them to me to re-do. Not because Blender was better, but because I was better to work with, and in the end it was the better animator who won, the 3d suites were close enough not to be a factor.

[maruchan]

http://www.gucias.republika.pl/katalog/katalog.html

Worth a look. Uses Blender for archviz.

[vboblinux]

I do 3D modeling for hobby because I like art a lot. :-)

I believe that an artist is the one who makes the art and not the program itself. Of course if you have the right tools you do your work faster. If you have the right tools you can do more and you have more options.
The industry use Maya, 3DS, XSI.
I heard that XSI is used more than other programs from the "Game Industry".
I heard that 3D Modeling Industries (Movies, games, etc) are beginning to use blender as one of their basic programs for their creations.
It is a fact/true that Artists must know many programs - for their resumes - to be hired for a job and be able to work and be able to create what is needed.

Most professional artists use more than one program when they want to finish their work. They know each program tools and they use the correct tool to acomplish their final complete model faster. For example for organic modeling, I heard that some people use Silo, Modo or mudbox, etc to do the basic modeling of the mesh and then they import their low resolution model to Zbrush to finish it. Then they texture it in one of the first programs and render it in i.e. Mental Ray.
The conclusion is that for mesh modeling they model their models in the program that makes them feel more comfortable and provide them the "tools" to make things faster and easier (knife tools, Edge Loops, etc).

3D Studio and Maya are very strong programs but the basic tools are not so easy to use as in blender.
In maya, to cut through edges and make an edge loop (Specially in organic modeling), a pole or anything like that, people usualy need plugins to do it faster and sometimes without the plugins things that are essential in organic modeling like edge rotation (to create muscles etc) can became a nightmare in maya. Besides that, Maya is NOT a program of 12 MBytes like blender is....!!! :P Maya is a "CD capacity Program" and it cost a lot of money. It have somehow its own script language to make more things with it, etc... (you have to learn maya scripting).
Blender use python for scripting.

Blender is a somehow "Strange" application to those who are used to use Maya, 3DS, XSI because of it's different "Logic"....but once someone understand blender's logic then he understand the power of blender.
The basic logic of blender that makes it different than other programs is that "Blender Don't Waste Your TIME"...!!! :-)
In blender, you need to learn the shortcuts and use the keyboard and the mouse - someone who have basic knowledge of 3D modeling can learn and get used to it, from 1-2 days to about a week (Adaptation).

Speed, Power and Strong tools I believe that are the keywords describe blender better.
You can model faster, you can Unwrap Faster (Blender is Amazing in that - I believe that it is better than the other programs), You can Sculpt like in Zbrush, You can create Animations and then Composite them in the in-build movie editor, you can create particles, Physics, Liquids, etc, you can use it to build Games, you can create Normal maps and bake them to a texture (from hi res - low res models)....ALL IN ONE PROGRAM. :-)
...and this is only the Beginning....!!! :-)
Blender is an excellent, Serious and Strong program and no one should underestimate it. :-)
The Blender Team Improves it all the time and I believe that at the end it will be the strongest program ever in all sectors of 3D Modeling...!!!
Give blender the time and the support it needs to be the best..!!! :-)
I believe It deserves it...!!! :-)

[dmn_clown]

Blender uses python for scripting.

Which is only a plus if you don't mind having to re-write your plugins every time someone in the python project decides to break backwards compatibility in the API. Yes it's nice to have a cross-platform plug-in language, but can't it be a stable language without insane developers that constantly break backwards compatibility?

[Howitzer]

Hi, I was just browsing when I saw this thread, and thought I'd weigh in on the issue.

I use both, and I know both programs well enough to produce good work in either. Max's animation tools are very good and much more mature than Blender's. But Blender is catching up rapidly. I've been using 2.46 RC3, and to be honest I don't see a need for Max anymore.

Unlike Max, in Blender I can model quickly without using scripts or making my own. In Max 9, I've had to make my own max-script and download other people's scripts and plugins, and even then the modeling process seems much more cumbersome. I haven't used Max 2008 yet, but I don't think I'll bother upgrading when my R9 license dies.

Like when you compare Maya to Max, there will be things one program is better at than the other. A lot of the time, which one seems better is only an opinion shared by a group of users. Like there are Blender-heads, there are 3DSMax fanatics, Maya gods, and so on. Which one is technically better than the other is often not nearly as important as how good you are at 3d modeling and animation. If you're a beginner, it won't matter what program you're using, you're going to suck. If you're a talented 3d modeler, animator, or 3d generalist, you will produce good work in most of these programs once you learn them.

That said, the most irritating issue I have with 3DS Max is the oppressive license. I use a computer at work and a computer at home. My Max license is tied to the system I have at work, which was bought by the school (I'm a student worker). Even though it's mine and was bought for me, I can't use it at home without trying some portable licensing thing which I haven't (and don't want to) bothered with. So I use Blender most of the time.

I like Blender more, and it's a simple friendly solution for those looking for a worry free professional 3d tool.

Oh yeah, and Max doesn't run on Ubuntu.

[vboblinux]

Which is only a plus if you don't mind having to re-write your plugins every time someone in the python project decides to break backwards compatibility in the API. Yes it's nice to have a cross-platform plug-in language, but can't it be a stable language without insane developers that constantly break backwards compatibility?




Yes, you are right. I am not a programmer but I can understand the problem of backwards compatibility. I assume that such things happens when we have rapid (fast) progress to the development of a language. I believe I can "feel" the emotions of a programmer when he have to "sacrifice" backwards compatibility for new features and/or more stable versions of a program or a language like python. Though thinks like that are part of "evolution" and progress.

For example I believe we will see huge changes to the particles system of blender when the new version will be released. Some of our old 3D works relative to the old particle system "will not work" (or "may not" work) with the new version. This could make us sad for our past work, but I am sure that we will like (be happy with) the new features blender's new particle system might have and have better results in our newest works. Of course what are you talking about is more complicated than a simple particle system change in blender, but I think my example is strong enough to give the impression I want. :-) :-)
In other words you are right, but... :-)

The cross-platform ability of blender is something amazing because it make people of different platforms come together. Together is better than alone..:-)
This give extra power to blender. This gives extra power to linux and to open source in general.

One of the things I like in blender is that the people that make it, took it seriously. They are not seem to be arrogant or something like that. In the new movies they are creating they know that the movies except of "blender demos", they have the opportunity to see real artists work with it and ...they are "listening" to the artists. They speak and collaborate with them, listen to the problems blender have and the good work that have been done, and staff like that...then they "translate" what artists say/want/seek from a program and they are trying to build the tools. That's the spirit. An artist is an artist and a programmer is a programmer. Each one usually is good in some sectors and bad in others. Put them together and they can build miracles. This makes blender even more powerful. More and more people will love time by time blender and use it. Don't forget that people afraid to leave their habits. Multi platform give the opportunity to everyone to at least "Try it". :-)
Blender seems Not user friendly at first sight but when someone understand it, then he knows that it is excellent program.
Oh...I love blender project...!!! :-)

I suggest to everyone who like 3D modeling...,just to try it for at least a week reading the manuals and wikis in the internet and try to understand it every time they get frustrated or get stuck and don't know "what to do" or "how to do". It worth the time you will spend. I am sure that you will love it...!!! :-)

Congratulations to the team/creators and to everyone that support it. :-)

[hessiess]

Max's animation tools are very good and much more mature than Blender's

personaly I find Max's amimation fetures a pain in the *****!. espetialy the way bones system works, it takes forever to set up. I had a strange problem where a bone would stretch when rotated, and no obvious reson why.blenders constraint and paranting system is also MUCH easier to use.

[mendozaro]

I forgot about this entire thread... and now i remembered about it... :))

So, GUYS! I am not interested in such technical details! I am interested in fact, if i can do in Blender some simple simulations... IE: simulating a bar interior with no hard worked details... just the big picture. But using lights, having a real scale (measuring units), using real materials...

I am not interested, nor i have the time to play with face modeling or whatever are you guys talking about there!

Also i am interested to know if it works faster / using less resources than 3ds max.

My entire idea was to: Don't buy another GOD DAMN MAX license (i have max 5 witch is kinda old), don't buy another computer just for interior design (i have a DELL INSPIRON 6400 / intel dual core 1,7 ghz / 2 gb ram / intel gm945 graph card).

Anyways, tanks a lot guys for the posts / answers.

[maruchan]

http://blender-archi.tuxfamily.org/Tutorials

Try that link out. There are some good ones, like modeling the house. For the stuff you want to be doing, Blender is probably too powerful and fast. ;)

Also i am interested to know if it works faster / using less resources than 3ds max.

Yep

Enjoy!

[hessiess]

So, GUYS! I am not interested in such technical details! I am interested in fact, if i can do in Blender some simple simulations... IE: simulating a bar interior with no hard worked details... just the big picture. But using lights, having a real scale (measuring units), using real materials...

blender dousent support real world units at all, but you can just say 1 BU(blender unit) = 1 meter. If you are looking for photorealistic renders then a external renderer will be nesoserry.

[vboblinux]

blender dousent support real world units at all, but you can just say 1 BU(blender unit) = 1 meter. If you are looking for photorealistic renders then a external renderer will be nesoserry.

I found out one practical trick to measure correct in blender.

I used the autocad of a friend of mine and I created some simple lines.

The first Line was 1 meter
The second line was 0.5 Meter
the third line was 10 cm
the fourth line was 1 cm

Ok I created and a line of 100 meters too... :P

Well...now I got my "perfect lines"...,lines with "Proportions"!!! :-)
Blender can import files from Autocad.
Once I needed to create a field scene for my work (The video scene would be a far distance view of the field and then the camera would zoom in and show details of some machines installed to the field),...no problem at all. I scaled all the "Autocad lines" together to fit the blender grid as I wanted. So blender units had the proportions I needed.
The reason I did that was a "long distance viewing" problem of blender (I hope the team will fix it with the new version of blender).
Blender don't react well with "long distances". When you zoom out too much blender loose the scene (don't show the scene) until you zoom-in again. When you zoom out "close to the limits", when you try to rotate the scene you "lose it" from the screen. The parts of the scene that exceed the " viewing limits" of blender will not show any more when at rotation time they got outside the limits and show again back when you rotate them back...!!! :-) So I had to scale down my scene to at least 0.5 or more scale units to eliminate the problem. How much should I scale my scene so I can create far distance scenes and how can I ensure that when I zoom in I can have measured details too? That question can be answered using the Autocad Lines" I created. That's why I used the lines from Autocad. I Scaled down the lines (all lines together), to fit exactly to the grid of blender (so the 1 meter line is 1 blender unit or 10 blender units or anything I like - depending on what I want to create). Then I created a plane 150 meters x 50 meters (those where the dimensions of the field) and then I checked the "far distances" of the zoom out to see if I could render my scene from the camera views I wanted.

Problem for far distances solved and also the measuring and the proportions where correct...!!!! :-)
Mission Accomplished...!!! :-)

Else, for Far Distance scenes you should create two separated scenes. One for the far distance and one for the close distance.


Now the bar creation has nothing to do with my "tip and trick". A bar creation and the interior scenes should work without a problem in blender. (when I say far distance scenes I mean scenes that cover a space of about 100 x 50 square meters. Everything is relative to how many blender units a meter or an inch is though..!!! :-) :-)

[eye208]

The reason I did that was a "long distance viewing" problem of blender (I hope the team will fix it with the new version of blender).
Blender don't react well with "long distances". When you zoom out too much blender loose the scene (don't show the scene) until you zoom-in again. When you zoom out "close to the limits", when you try to rotate the scene you "lose it" from the screen. The parts of the scene that exceed the " viewing limits" of blender will not show any more when at rotation time they got outside the limits and show again back when you rotate them back...!!!
This is not a bug. Each camera object in a scene as well as the 3D view window itself has a clipping range. The clipping range of a camera object can be adjusted in the camera settings panel. The clipping range of the 3D view window can be adjusted in the view properties panel. The purpose of these settings is to make the 3D view more responsive with large scenes on slower graphics cards and to increase rendering speed, especially when using Blender's integrated game engine. For example, if the camera field of view is limited by mist, it makes perfect sense to clip off anything beyond that limit.

See the Blender wiki for details:

Camera Settings (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/Camera_View#Camera_Settings)
View Properties (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Reference/Windows/3D#View_Properties)

[vboblinux]

This is not a bug. Each camera object in a scene as well as the 3D view window itself has a clipping range. The clipping range of a camera object can be adjusted in the camera settings panel. The clipping range of the 3D view window can be adjusted in the view properties panel. The purpose of these settings is to make the 3D view more responsive with large scenes on slower graphics cards and to increase rendering speed, especially when using Blender's integrated game engine. For example, if the camera field of view is limited by mist, it makes perfect sense to clip off anything beyond that limit.

See the Blender wiki for details:

Camera Settings (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/Camera_View#Camera_Settings)
View Properties (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Reference/Windows/3D#View_Properties)



Ok. What you are saying about the cameras is correct. Maybe it was an expression mistake I did when I explained the problem of blender in my previous post. :-)
Please let me show what I mean with this example in the attachment. (Try to rotate the scene and see what happens. Some parts of the qube just dissapear as we rotate the qube because of far distance)
I have just a "Big Qube" (I just scaled up the default qube). You can see the problem I mean with the "Big sized Scenes". Blender can't handle easy big scenes in dimensions (far distance). :-)
Maybe the correct expression should be the "OpenGL view" of the "viewports" in blender.
I don't know an easier way to handle big scenes like the one I have in the example file (or biger) neither a configuration/button/etc inside blender that I should do to correct that problem (i.e. change the far distance in viewports or something). The only way I found was to scale down the scene as I mentioned to my "practical tip & trick".
I hope I explained what I mean better this time. (Sorry for my bad English/expression mistakes. English language is not my main language) :-) :-)

Edit: Yes you are right..!!! The configuration you saied(View Properties (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Reference/Windows/3D#View_Properties)) is the key. :-) We can configure it...!!!
(thanks for opening my eyes). :-) I did a test now, but I can't make it go more far away.There is a limit again at Clip End: 10000.00..!! :-(
If someone want to make a park or a city? How can he handle that? Still scaling down or there is another way? Is it still a handling big scenes problem? Is everyone in every program do it with scaling down method? is it something else I miss?
Thank you. :-)

[eye208]

If someone want to make a park or a city? How can he handle that? Still scaling down or there is another way? Is it still a handling big scenes problem?
Blender's coordinate space extends from -10000 to 10000 in each dimension. The smallest unit is 0.001. Since the maximum view distance of a camera is 5000, you cannot render the entire coordinate space in one shot. Whatever you want to show in one image has to be smaller than 5000 units, otherwise it will be clipped.

This means (in theory) that you can model a 20km city with 4mm accuracy and have your camera zoom from extreme long shot to close-up view without compositing tricks. However in practice the amount of data required for such a shot would quickly fill up your harddisc. Blender's coordinate space is not the limiting factor here.

[hessiess]

However in practice the amount of data required for such a shot would quickly fill up your harddisc

and the enormas amount of time it would take to make sutch a model.

[vboblinux]

Yes, correct. :-)

[LostBear]

I will add my thoughts on this. Im an mulitmedia artist / 3d / flash / etc who has worked professionally (i cant name drop :)) and ive always liked 3dsmax. i guess it was because it was the first 3d suite i learnt. ive flirted with maya. we dont get on. i gave XSI a fair go. we didnt get on. Tried lightwave aswell, same story.

Ive been using 3ds max since version 1, so for quite sometime since its at verion 10 now. I used at at my workplace but now im freelancing mor,e i needed a suite i could use legally at home and not having several thousand to buy my own max license, i gave blender a go.

What a surprise. It was very weird to use but for some reason i kept at it. By the end of the weekend i had managed to build a basic rig on a caracter and animate it.

This took me a couple of weeks to get the hang of in max. Blenders bone system is superior and much more intuitive.

Up until a couple of versions ago, 3dsmax had trouble inverting IK chains. So if your character needed to do a cartwheel or similar you may end of with your rig collapsing on the floor in a mess. it just couldnt do the math. this is a commercial industry standard package and thats a nasty bug to workaound for a caracter animator. asfar as i can tell blender doesnt have the same problem.

blender can animate arrays of objects aswell (that vid tutorial over at peerless productions) - 3ds max cant. i know, i tried for a whole weekend and couldnt come up with a decent soloution. You simply cannot keyframe array parameters in 3ds max.

I cant model in blender. it makes me dizzy. Ill stick to Silo for that and use blender for animating and rendering in future.

Blender is good, but wont get you a job in the industry. You need knowledge of 3dsmax or maya preferably, xsi is in thirdplace in my opinion.

hope this helps.

[eye208]

Blender is good, but wont get you a job in the industry.
With Blender's current pace of development and the attention gained by the Big Buck Bunny (http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/) short film I'm quite confident the industry will take a second look at Blender. ;)

[DAC1138]

from linuxmovies.org (http://www.linuxmovies.org/software.html):



If you like the ui and the plugin interface that relies on python (read: you have to re-write your plugins every python version change because someone didn't think about API's when choosing a plugin interface) then, yeah blender is better because you have the source.

Realistically, the only people pimping blender are the people that can't afford the commercial 3d tools or have never used same.

Very untrue. Blender3D has been used on a few movies now for animatics, and is used as the main animation program for many of the documentaries produced by the History Channel.

I have used 3d Studio max in the past, as well as Maya and Lightwave. Of them all, I like blender the best. Why? It's free (easy to upgrade) It's lightweight. It's great on system resources. Every week it just gets better and better with constant upgrades and scripts being added every day. Being open source, it really helps move the development process along. Everything I did in 3DSmax and Maya I am able to do in blender.

I'll admit, there is a slight learning curve to blender, namely getting used to the keyboard-driven interface. But it's well worth it, at least to me. Many others agree.

If you have any questions or need any help, I can be found in #blender on irc.freenode.net Many others there are willing to help with any problems you may face in your learning.

[jorgerosa]

Blender videos: http://www.mefeedia.com/tags/blender/

[DEADLETTER]

I would say Blender are in many way better than 3Ds Max. although 3Ds Max seem more professional then Blender because people pay like *****$ for it. And Yes I agress that 3Ds Max seem more friendlier than Blender because all the icon is like of in your face, while blender's icon seem like somewhere hidden. The really good thing about Blender is you can write your own script, and basically you can done anything you want if you have the skills, and remember it is for free as well. The more people use it the better it gets, and it will always stay for free. SO, support it is a good way to make it better.

The thing about Blender is that they have never really made a push to put there app in the 3D industry, unlike softimage, Autodesk and Maxon.

Personally I do like blender but there a still is allot of annoying little things, at least it's getting better with each update.

[mendozaro]

Well... its quite some time since i stared this thread. Each week or 2 weeks i got back here to read if there is any new post.

Now ill have some free time and start my Blender adventure. Ill start by doing some tutorials... and eventually come here with my own impressions once ill get to know Blender.

Why now? Cause it seems i finally have the power (read money) to start doing some games for kids (3D). So, i will have to hire some artists to do some 3d work. And the effort to learn Blender worths LOTS considering ONE 3ds max 11 license is 2.500 EUR!!!

The good news, besides the thing that my entire company uses Ubuntu only (we mainly do web design and programing projects) is that the games we will make, will play natively on Linux (thou the games will not be free).

Best regards.

[1234]

Please look at the site yorik.orgfree.com he is an architect using blender for professional work. or specially his works of 2008 (http://yorik.orgfree.com/works2008.html) and leave him a message on guestblog. Really he's smart.

[Tux0r]

Blender 2.50 is going to rock some vertices for sure.

[Merk42]

Are they still going to have retarded UI decisions like Right-Click to select and CTRL-W to save?

[Tux0r]

Are they still going to have retarded UI decisions like Right-Click to select and CTRL-W to save?
Who cares I'm all in for the new look

[Merk42]

Who cares I'm all in for the new look
I do appreciate a visual refresh every once in a while for a program. I'm also not one of those people who thinks that time spent on a visuals is time not spend on 'under the hood' sort of things. I realize they would be done by completely different people. However, I find the aforementioned UI issues such a fundamental flaw that its usability is questionable, regardless of how pretty it is.

[Tux0r]

http://www.blender.org/typo3temp/pics/6d17d1ea30.png

[Merk42]

Is that a response to me?
I know it's getting a visual refresh, and I know it's capable of doing some nice things.

I just think getting it to do those nice things could use work.

[CharmyBee]

Are they still going to have retarded UI decisions like Right-Click to select and CTRL-W to save?

You can flip the mouse handedness to get left-click to select.

[cubeist]

I am sure it has been mentioned, but IMO, Blender is fantastic if you can memorize a ton of keyboard shortcuts... otherwise you are left hunting through a strange land of menus/submenus to find what you are looking for.

I go through blender blitzes, where I memorize everything, use it a lot, and it feels close to natural...then over time I slowly forget the interface and stop using it...then a couple months later, repeat!

[hessiess]

2.5 is replacing the event system, meaning that the key combinations can be remapped to whatever you want them to be. Though the key bindings being unuseural is very small issue if you learn how to use Blender, it is EXTREMELY efficient, which is not something that can be sed of 3DS MAX.

[Merk42]

You can flip the mouse handedness to get left-click to select.

2.5 is replacing the event system, meaning that the key combinations can be remapped to whatever you want them to be.

Those are both good to know. I can modify the interface that makes more sense to me, and arguably is more 'standard'.
Now if only they'd have real metric/imperial units!

With Blender's current pace of development and the attention gained by the Big Buck Bunny (http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/) short film I'm quite confident the industry will take a second look at Blender. ;)

Well it's been over a year since this was posted. I've been looking for work and in none of the jobs I've seen have they asked for Blender.

So if you want to do 3D as a hobby, or if you're up to it, be completely freelance, sure Blender is an option. If you want to get hired anywhere, you need to at least know 3ds Max or Maya.

[vinutux]

i think it is better to compare blender to maya than max...coz of itz animation features

[lestatto]

Well, you should compare them, as long 3ds max costs like fairly good car, compared to free Blender. You can just ask if all these features from max are really worth buying...
If you really need good modelling software, try Maya, it goes on Ubuntu without problems.
Cheers

[Labello]

well i really like blender but it is a shame that it does not work on my ubuntu with my ati fireGL 5200, the opensource drivers and compiz enabled since all other apps work flawlessly. even games like frets on fire and openarena which use opengl as well dont show any errors...

i once tried gmax which is said to be a learning version of 3dsmax and i hated it. i love the workflow in blender. never used a more intuitive application to be honest.

[vinutux]

i once tried gmax which is said to be a learning version of 3dsmax and i hated it. i love the workflow in blender. never used a more intuitive application to be honest.

gmax is an old strip-down version of max 4 or 6 . it mainly used for game development....and not supported now......

There is not native version of max in linux platform.....But maya and blender have optimised versions for 32 and 64 versions for linux platform...(maya drop 32 in 2009)....

[Labello]

There is not native version of max in linux platform.....But maya and blender have optimised versions for 32 and 64 versions for linux platform...(maya drop 32 in 2009)....

So whats your point then? I used Gmax on windows so I don't know why you come up with native builds and stuff.

Blender on ubuntu with ATI still sucks. Actually the blender in wine on ubuntu works better than the so called "native build"

[vinutux]

So whats your point then? I used Gmax on windows so I don't know why you come up with native builds and stuff.

Blender on ubuntu with ATI still sucks. Actually the blender in wine on ubuntu works better than the so called "native build"

Problem of your Graphic card company who are not supported this platform well as they considered windows............for me wine is last option

install better graphics driver from ati.com (at your own risk)

download and install latest blender from blender.org

[hessiess]

Blender on ATI cards has always bean somewhat flaky, From what I understand Blender uses a lot of unuseural OpenGL extensions, which ati doesn't support/implements badly. Try using the closed drivers and shutting off compiz.

[Labello]

install better graphics driver from ati.com (at your own risk)

The proprietary driver does not support my chip anymore... thats the ******* **** about it^^

[kayosiii]

Max
-----

PROS

Everybody in the 90's and their dog pirated it - which means that companies are pretty sure to find talent that they can use it. Talent can be pretty sure of finding companies asking for it. Handles units explicitly has had a wide range of plugins for it and can generally do most things 3d. There are other packages that do specific things a lot better. Intergrates at least one really good renderer.
CONS
It's not cheap, it's not particularly stable (though better than it used to be), and it doesn't scale particularly well to really large scenes. (the game engines we use at work can handle much more than max can). The core is really showing it's age. Has some really annoying UI quirks. Having to deal with autodesk.


BLENDER
--------

PROS
It's free, It's open source. It includes a realtime engine... has really some really good modelling,texturing and animation tools. Is developing quite quickly. Seems to perform reasonably well in larger scenes (prob not as well as our game engines but probably better than Max). Is small compact and portable.

CONS
There are still some functionality gaps. The UI is very idiosyncratic. Not easy to integrate into a professional pipeline, IE needs deeper scripting support and better compatibility with external renderers. Internal Renderer not on par with the best in the professional world.

Ok so I use blender at home and max at work. It's something we do keep an eye on at work particularly for the realtime engine. If blender keeps improving at the pace it has been I can see a bright future. (It could end up being Blender VS Autodesk in the future).

Which is better depends on your situation.... If you are aiming for a job in the movie industry - pick up a copy of Maya and/or Houdini. XSI is occasionally used. Houdini in particular has a free version for learning and a starving artist edition for a few hundred dollars. Houdini skills are probably in highest demand compared to the number of people able to fill those demands.

If you are looking for an entry level position in the games or general 3d markets. Then a background in Max will put you in good stead. XSI seems to be the alternate.

Finally these commercial packages cost a non trivial amount. If you want to develop your own portfolio. Freelance or start a small studio then Blender definately is a viable option.

[Merk42]

kayosii I think your post is the most balanced and well written in this thread.

When you talk about jobs, I would like to add that 3ds Max (with V-Ray) is pretty much the de facto standard for Architectural Visualization.

[kayosiii]

Yeah I work in architectural visualisation. We use Max - Everybody else at the office has a lot of time and knowledge invested in Max. We were looking at jumping ship to XSI just before Autodesk bought it. Sketchup is the other program we have to deal with.

On positive news it looks like Blender will have much deeper scripting integration in version 2.5 which will open the doorway for fitting it into professional pipelines. Movie pipelines use pretty much anything that can be incorperated into it. So if a tool does a particular job better than others then that is what gets used as long as it can be integrated into the overall pipeline.

I have had a chance to play with a recent Blender 2.5 build and I am quite impressed with the work done so far.

[neobux]

As far as quality. As most 3d programs, its in the hands of the user. I've seen renders and animation from blender thats just as good as some i've seen out of max. Blender is a capable 3d program, but max is still better.

[Merk42]

Yeah I work in architectural visualisation. We use Max - Everybody else at the office has a lot of time and knowledge invested in Max. We were looking at jumping ship to XSI just before Autodesk bought it. Sketchup is the other program we have to deal with.

Oh, could you get me a job doing archviz? I got laid off :(

[magmon]

Ive used 3DS MAX 7 and blender, and max 7 is lightyears ahead of blender.

[ArmenianLeader4]

Its kinda like comparing GIMP to photoshop. It really all depends on weather or not you like open-source. Blender pretty much owns, but if you like 3DS MAX, then why switch? I prefer blender, myself, and I prefer GIMP to photoshop too, but thats because I enjoy having the ability to customize EVERYTHING.

[kayosiii]

@Merk42 What part of the world do you live in.

@magmon... Ahead maybe - how much depends on what sort of work you are doing. Lightyears ahead - definately not.

[Tux0r]

Ive used 3DS MAX 7 and blender, and max 7 is lightyears ahead of blender.
Wow that's a bit of an overkill statement. :confused:

[Merk42]

@Merk42 What part of the world do you live in.

NYC Area

[CharmyBee]

Wow that's a bit of an overkill statement. :confused:

Yeah, especially when one compares both without consideration of the price tag. 3ds max's popularity is also reached thanks to tutorials about making a figure (the famous Joan of Arc tutorial), making guns (like berettas, m4s, mac-10s ak47s) and making cars (particularly sports cars Vin Diesel would drive. Put all of the above together, and you've got Los Angeles), without any reconsideration of other software, similar functions or anything else, but "to must have 3DS max to make these cool things" in a young artist's mind.

Blender doesn't have many tutorials showing you how to create those, and most tutorials focus on subsurface modeling (which not everyone agrees with as the way to model). A gingerbread man tutorial is not enough.

[Tux0r]

Yeah, especially when one compares both without consideration of the price tag. 3ds max's popularity is also reached thanks to tutorials about making a figure (the famous Joan of Arc tutorial), making guns (like berettas, m4s, mac-10s ak47s) and making cars (particularly sports cars Vin Diesel would drive. Put all of the above together, and you've got Los Angeles), without any reconsideration of other software, similar functions or anything else, but "to must have 3DS max to make these cool things" in a young artist's mind.

Blender doesn't have many tutorials showing you how to create those, and most tutorials focus on subsurface modeling (which not everyone agrees with as the way to model). A gingerbread man tutorial is not enough.
rofl, I agree fully.

Blender 2.50 is really starting to shape up! All I want now is to be able to load images and then I can start learning it for real. Maybe even compose some tutorials not related to gingerbread men. :D

[hessiess]

3ds Max's interface is awful.