3DS, Lightwave or Maya?
 

Here are some examples of things that have been done in them:

(I picked three random user made images from each official site)






Lightwave renders:
http://images.newtek.com/lightwave/g.../lw0000220.jpg

http://images.newtek.com/lightwave/g.../lw0000475.jpg

http://images.newtek.com/lightwave/g.../lw0000299.jpg








MAYA renders:
http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/pro...infarina05.jpg

http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Wha...s/img/jude.jpg

http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Wha...g/tailsark.jpg










MAX renders:
http://www.discreet.com/images/produ...eta_image1.jpg

http://www.discreet.com/images/produ...ta_image28.jpg

http://www.discreet.com/images/produ...ta_image14.jpg

i say maya because they made the star wars movies and the lord of the rings movies with it. PWNED!

Oh yeah, they made LoTD you say?
I'd really like to see ANY 3d programs that can beat this 13 second LW animation:

http://www.lightwave3d.com/profiles/...vx_fullrez.avi

I'd pretty much bet a lot of money for real that you would drop your jaw, assuming that I had any :)
No, really, I'm pretty sure no single 3d animation has even been better done than that one.

lotd? no i say they made lotr
and that video wont work for me...

Download the latest version of DivX, and it should work.

I thought light wave was really well done

lightwave ownz joo... seriously

LW is my choice, I've been using it for a while. 3DS can still do a lot of nice and easy things, but LW is the way to go.

I vote 3dsmax. most of the votes i see are prolly just by looking at the pictures. Try using them and see about that :P

prices
3dsmax __about 4k
Maya ____about 7k
Lightwave _about 3k

http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Wha...s/img/jude.jpg
YOUR SERIOUS THATS A RENDER? EVEN THE PERSON?

lightwave is much easier to use then 3dsmax in my opinon and you say its cheaper too.....

maya complete is now only 2k, they lowered the price a few months back (gotta watch techtv for shit like that ^_^)

btw syg, that is from the movie Enemy at the Gates or something like that, but i dont think the person is rendered, but if he is, DAMN!!

Try checking the official sites for the latest prices instead. :D

"LightWave [7] is available immediately for a suggested retail price of US$1595 with upgrades from previous versions of LightWave starting at US$395"

yea i know its from enemy at the gates, i saw it in the theatres but still why Chruser used it as example of maya render..... now im curious is it or isnt it?

It could be some special effects, I'm not sure. I just picked three totally random ones from the official sites.

its from how the lights hit his face I think

Either way, it looks like LW is winning this... strange. It would still be my choice for 3d programs, but 3dsmax usually wins, simply because it's the most broadly used program.

3dstudio max, lightwave, and maya are the top 3, maya is used for movies mainly, and 3ds max is used for video games mainly....lightwave is the underdog because it doesnt have the best layout and ease of use as the other two. i personally prefer 3ds max

Watch the DOOM III The legacy video...... it shows them using Lightwave when they were making the models.

ok? its still the underdog......far more companies use 3ds max and maya......im not saying lightwave isnt as good im saying its not used as much, maybe doom 3 can change that

3dsmax is mainly used for games, and maya is used for movies. I'll agree with those two things.

However, Lightwave is NOT underdog, it's the by far most established industry, even though it's not the most commonly used one. LW has been around for a lot longer than 3dsmax, and it really shows off. It provides the users with the most predictable results by far, which is essential if you actually want to get something "useful" done.

Personally, I have experience with all three of these programs, and I'd pick LW over the others at any day. MAX is still better for "newbies", considering it can produce nice, yet somewhat useless work in a very short amount of time.

MAYA has lots of features, but the problem with it is that it lacks a perfect renderer. No matter how much you look or how hard you try, you can never get a "realistic" result, even though it can be really, really good. LW has the best renderer, and even though moviemaking with it takes longer, it can provide the authors with a better result.

Houdini was an amazingly complex program back in the day it was used, and it could really do some amazing things. However, it never became as popular as the other programs due to its ridicules price and somewhat lacking renderer. Plugins didn't really make anything simpler.

Softimage is an excellent tool for grass, hair and realistic plants, but it can also be used for moviemaking with a fairly good result. Just look at Shrek and judge the program for yourselves.

Of course, even thought LW gives the most predictable result and is an amazingly powerful modeling package, it has one major downside: The community isn't too helpful, since all "good" users already have a well-paid job with no time to help newbies. Of course, if you want less predictable results and a much, much harder competition level, feel free to go with 3ds or Maya, but don't blame me if you never got the jobs you wanted.

By the way, here is an excellent article about LW's usability:
http://www.lightwave3d.com/profiles/TimeMagazine/

i never said lightwave isnt the best, i just said its not used as much as the others, which is true, and 3ds max is not for newbies......i always here them complaining about it, bryce 5 and cinema 4d xl are the noob renderers, cinema is pretty good, bryce is just sad though. it does everything for you, and its very simple. you can do advanced things, but its difficult, and you get nowhere near the great results you do in other programs, 3ds max and lightwave are my favs.

My definition of a "noob rendering program" would be set by Terragen.

I do not know which i would pick simply because i dont have 10K to go out and buy each one, personally i woudnt spend 1.5k on anything for a computer, unless its the computer itself.

4 months too late :(

We had the same discussion on SL's forums.

And please, don't bump threads 4 months old.