Maya, 3DSMax, XSI, ZBrush GAH!

[Hakushinkan]

Hey everyone.

I'm an animation student at the moment, and my goal is to master 3d arts - traditional and digital sculpting, 3d animation, texturing, etc.

I have some experience with 3DSMax and Maya. I control Maya better now, but used to be more fluent with Max. I just started messing around with XSI and Zbrush, and I keep hearing about all these other software that are very good and useful.

Eventually, I know that every artist settles down with a modeling software, an animation software, rendering software etc. But I'm feeling really overwhelmed by all of this.

I really wish I could get even the most basic explanation about the pros and cons of each software, and maybe hear about some other software I don't know yet - just to know what's going on in the world these days.

I already noticed Max is a more powerful polygonal modeling tool, but I might be wrong. It just seemed more versatile, although less user-friendly. I can see that XSI holds a very simple interface, but still has all the tools to be a powerful modeling software - maybe even better than Max. I could be wrong here too...

I just wish I could know which software does the best job in each of the fields. Which one would be best for low-poly modeling, which one would be best for high detail modeling, which will give me the best rendering results and most importantly as an animator, which one gives me the best control over my characters when animating...

It feels like just figuring out which software to use for each task will take me half my school time. :X

Thanks for the help!

[Morgan_R]

Educational programs for generalized "3D arts" seem to ignore the reality of an increasingly specialized -- and increasingly competitive -- industry. If you're looking to get an animation job when you're done being an animation student, I'd suggest devoting your energy to animation. Otherwise you're going to end up as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none -- and speaking as someone in that situation, I wouldn't like my job prospects if I needed to look for one.

There isn't really a "best" package for animation, IMO -- the important thing is the rig you're using. I'd recommend The Setup Machine for Maya, but I'll admit some bias there -- and it's been a while since I've looked into the competition. Point is, find a good auto-rigger or pre-rigged model. Don't rig your own characters, you'll just be reinventing the internal combustion engine. And get a copy of The Animator's Survival Kit, if you haven't yet.