Which software is the best?

Probably the most common questions when beginning 3d software is: “Which software is the best? Which software should I use?”

There are a lot of answers for this common question, I’m going to try to explain their advantages and disadvantages so you can compare them as your necessary.

Here is a comparison of 3d softwares.

3D Studio MAX

I’m sure that everyone even if walk on side of this 3D world’s way, heard its name; “3D Studio Max” You can find tons of sources, tutorials, lessons about 3d Studio Max. Because it is a bit easy to use with thousands of plug-ins and Maxscripts help Max on its way.

3ds Max is usually preferred by architectural industry because of good integration with CAD files.

Game studios is one of the most users of 3ds Max because it has really strong polygonal modelling tools and it has a nice Character Studio for character animators.

Advantages;

• All-in-One (but this is also a disadvantage of it)
• Easy to find sources, tutorials, lessons
• Character studio tools for game industry
• Easy to use material editor
• Powerful render engine supports (Vray, MentalRay, Maxwell, FinalRender, Brazil etc.)

MAYA

Maya always looks like a special software for cg artists because of its “node base” system. It has a really strong ability about animation, particles, dynamics, rendering, modeling etc.

It is commonly used by movie and game industry.

Advantages;

• Very strong “Node Based” system!
• Great animation tools, (non-linear animation, muscle systems, powerful and easy to use IK tools etc.)
• Strong particle, dynamic systems, hair & fur systems
• MEL script & Python script support
• Paint FX system
• Good integration with compositing softwares
• Windows, Linux, Apple Mac OS support
• Powerful render engines support (Pixar Renderman, MentalRay, Vray, Turtle etc.)

CINEMA 4D

Cinema 4D is the hit and popular software in cg industry.It has great tools for motion graphic works. It is commonly used in broadcast and post production companies

Advantages;

• MOGRAPH! It is amazing!
• A great and user-friendly (would be your best friend) interface
• Powerful motion graphic tools
• Easy to use and understandable material editor
• Now with its 11.5 version, it has a good dynamic ability (available to use dynamic with mograph)
• Bodypaint 3D tools for working on 3d models
• Windows, Apple Mac OS support, (can work on Linux with additional softwares like Wine)
• Fast rendering and support for powerful render engines like Renderman (CineMan), Maxwell, Mentalray, Vray etc.

There are more softwares like XSI (Softimage), Lightwave, Houdini, Blender, Silo, Modo etc. and be sure, each one has different advantages. To be honest, whatever program you use, the results will be depends on your magic fingers.

sumber: http://www.fxfx.org/index.php/2010/02/16/which-3d-software-is-the-best-max-maya-cinema-4d-or-the-others/