Why is Maya The Best for Rigging & Animation

Rigging is an essential process in creating lifelike and believable characters in 3D animation.
For today's video we'll dive deeper into that, explaining why Maya is the best for rigging.
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[@Sherif-the-Watcher]

Been a Class Creative student for almost a year now Their tutorials have really been helpful in my animation study

[@cyraxvisuals6203]

you can make a video about maya and there will always be some blender fanboy crying in the comments

[@lxstkid]

I use them all so I win

[@redash4239]

@@lxstkid well ppl dont have that mindset smh and act as if the x software is transcendent beings instead of learning the software

[@pequento731]

I'm a 3D generalist student, so I learnt both Maya and Blender. I want to say that modelling in Maya feels like swimming in the kettle of Satan that additionally pokes your eyes, lungs and brains with trident while the holes are filled with lava and Buldak hot chicken ramen. Blender is much more intuitive for me to be honest

[@Quintelfishkill]

😭

[@redash4239]

@@pequento731 no offence ,i get ur point and i dont care about it you can use watever u want but what does have it to do with the comment above?

[@Ramt33n]

Soft Image was beuatiful and Autodesk killed it!

[@MrCcfly]

maya is way more pretty before when they join wavefront fx to alias modeling

[@ZephrusPrime]

Blender is awesome and is growing each month with more and more features. People who ask me how to get into 3D I tell them to start in Blender cause it's free. But Maya is a pipeline benchmark used in many different roles, it's refined and straight to the point. The indie license is very affordable if you plan to work in the industry. Learn 3D with Blender but when your ready to work in the industry and even freelance for contract studios, switching to Maya will be a lot easier once you have learned the basics. The software is just another tool. But really-just get into 3D it's too awesome not to.

[@BigChiken44]

"Have you heard about our Lord and Savior Blender?". I mean, Blender is a nice software, but its religious cult and religious fanatics are insufferable. And being free doesn't make software better or worse. GIMP is free and open-source, but it's complete rubbish compare to Photoshop.

[@mixchief]

@@BigChiken44 I'd say it's the other way around as far as cults goes.

[@jamqdlaty]

A few years ago I started learning Blender. Currently most of the work I do is in 3D, mostly Blender. But my current personal project with Unreal Engine 5 can't be done with Blender. All the new industry solutions that require cooperation between software take Maya into account first. For example working with Unreal Engine Metahumans is easy, as they were literally made with May. Many problems have solutions and workarounds using Blender, but they're time consuming and some problems just don't have solutions. I need to learn Maya now. As for the price - Everyone knows how people start learning Maya, Autodesk included. The "affordable" indie license is only affordable if you already can use it and make enough of a profit. Of course when you're ready to make money with Maya, license is a must.

[@creeper20ps]

Yep, great answer. Ya it does suck that maya isn't free for educational use (non university). And these blender fanatics are always trying to justify and make everyone, including future employers to use blender. Pipeline is already established. If you're freelance, sure, use whatever, software.

[@adriandeutschmann5003]

Thu😂​@@creeper20ps

[@travisrassel9978]

I 'm going to try blender. I have used maya before and liked it.

[@carm3d]

Lightwave is still being developed, new update coming this November. I use it for all of my character work.

[@MarquisDeSang]

This guy is an Auto-shill. Lightwave is better for character animation. LW 2023 will be amazing.

[@carm3d]

@@MarquisDeSang Lightwave is BETTER for character animation? It's pretty good but I don't know about it being the best. Animation:Master handled joint deformations much better than LW does. Hopefully in the future they can improve on this.

[@24enyo]

Maya is the best!!!!!

[@markusturunen7929]

Blender is the most versatile swift army knife, but Maya is the Founding father of 3d animation like a Stradivarius violin of animation.

[@LHK-art]

For animators software really doesn't matter, I used to animate in Maya, but it took less than one day to make switch to XSI, MAX, or Blender.

[@EthanCody-k8r]

depend what you doing lol, or you mean one day = 24h of learning?

[@LHK-art]

@@EthanCody-k8r I mean character animators(no rigging). Just minimum learning, XSI and maya are very similar on key frame animation panel, so is blender. They could be picked up in a few hours if you know maya (or vice versa). Max may require a deeper learning curve if you want to use CS because CS is quite different, it has no ik/fk switching so ik/fk work at the same time, but it doesn't take more than a day to pick up it's workflow if learn from the right tutorials. If you are talking about motion graphic animators, that's completely different story

[@SlayerDUDE1993]

you probably don't use much of scripts that are available for maya if you say so.

[@LHK-art]

@@SlayerDUDE1993 I did, I have used a lot of mel scripts in maya for animation. Other softwares have similar functions either built in or using plugins. I am talking about character animation, key framing is still 90% of the workflow in any softwares.

[@ArtwithAmarBrisco]

It is all choice and workflow because rigging is all math base and is highly technical. I been around 3d products since the 90s. None of them were better or easier just more known based on there pandering to schools thus max and maya known for 3d. Actually max and wavefront was better for rigging before maya. But you also forgot most of these applications when used in the industry they work with companies to customize the program to it needs. Your argument for Maya being better mirrors blender where you can do the same. People forget Maya and other paid programs is not cheap along with the plugins. With blender everything you can do in maya for rigging can be done in blender just different. Again the professional argument is not valid because professional is a skills based thing and your portfolio will dictate if a company wishes to work with you not the application. Because the program does not make you great your skills as an artists does. I know and have known artists for more than 20 years that didn't know max or maya but still based on their work flourished because of their past work. So with a bit of searching you can clearly see past work by many people since the 90s that creating great character animations not using maya. Personally it is all about what you want to do as an artist and the program you use is just a tool and Maya's perception as the best tool is all programming. Just like people thinking a mac, Adobe, wacom or any so called industry tool is better. We as artist make the tool not the other way around. Will all that said each artist has an individual story to tell and in the end. They should not be bound by industry and forge there own path based on their journey. Because in the end schools nor industry cares about you because you are a cog in a big engine making them rich. When your true efforts should be in creating your own path.

[@ihatetomatoees]

So blender can do everything that maya can in rigging ?

[@realmoonknight]

Not an animator so will leave that aside. But i don't think natron/hitfilm offer as much flexibility and stability as nuke does.

[@andristefanus]

that's why i'm struggle with blender, i though it was me, but the blender still couldn't give me what i want in rigging and animation, i'll convert my religion to maya

[@marcossouzajr1711]

Blender still sucks in animation, physics and vfx

[@tolebaybaglan4330]

But Rigging is better in 3ds max than Maya. 3DS MAX has fastest viewport and built-in tools like CAT, Character Studio.

[@boviklayevhs785]

Catrig? Is it that good? I’m moving to maya because i want to learn rigging.

[@metamesh1]

No it is not. Max is a powerhouse for sure and it has very good rigging tools, but to claim that are better than Maya is just plain wrong.

[@phat80]

I used both. And I instantly forgot about Max when I started using Maya.

[@macofish1]

I've had maya crash way too many times to ever use it again. Someone said they've never fixed fundamental coding bugs and just write on top of broken code instead of fixing it. Whether true or not I don't care. I don't find it refined. I will say that maya's navigation was the one that "clicked" for me and had me moving around my scenes super fast and efficient.

[@QuesoGr7]

It still has that problem?

[@iminumst7827]

@@QuesoGr7 yes, it's slightly better, but still crashes more than is comfortable.

[@Blasterbuild]

I don't no why no one is talkin about houdini am I alone here who uses houdini for literally everything.

[@Gupi_gaale]

Bcz Houdini is for scienctist

[@psclip3309]

yes I really hope houdini makes tools for animation and rigging to rival maya, they have KineFx it is more than enough to make rigging characters but there are very few learning resources, and the new one is APEX.. and this is still in the early stages, maybe all the tools are more specialized for mocap,houdini's pricing is very interesting, imagine you have software that has available top notch quality for VFX tools and sophisticated simulations

[@xox8717]

Probably because of many factors, one the learning curve is steep & the tools and methods are alien to new users, second not so many resources for rigging & animation, third Studios use Maya for such work so people tend to learn Maya instead.. and so on.

[@TheVoiceOfChaos]

Ik a guy who would animate in zbrush if he has to

[@bilosofie]

one more thing .. i dont think that maya have a built in Tween machine .. which is just an atrocity for animators .. and they dont have a straight forward mirroring tool.. and about rigging i would highly recommend an addon called Handy Edit weight .. anyways ..again its all about the result at the end of the day

[@BeviCall]

That's a really useful add-on thanks. You recommend anything else? lol

[@bilosofie]

well it depends what do you use blender for .. i usually rig and animate with it so most of the addon are related to that ​@@BeviCall

[@PhuongNguyen-bt8bv]

If you are a small business or an individual with a very low computer configuration, then I’m not sure Maya is a smart choice to create high-quality movies with low cost.

[@MrQuantumCodes]

Neither is Blender. Blender is actually even more poorly optimised and cannot handle scenes as large as Maya can.

[@metamesh1]

agreed, @@MrQuantumCodes , blender is not great dealing with slightly complex scenes

[@guhagrya]

Big fan sir I love your videos Please make Maya videos And ❤ from India

[@InspirationTuts]

Thanks for watching, More on the way!

[@jcsfx710]

Lightwave 3D is coming back by the end of the year... so don't call it out of the race yet!!

[@dynamicrenderings3358]

Yes and hopefully they bring out a nice variety of pricing options as well to make it a nice alternative or additional software for freelancers and small studios.

[@hyperunboxing9304]

Star Wars episode 2 2:27 Instead shows episode 3😑

[@Skycers]

Sad but True, was the king!

[@igrtsib]

Creating rigs in Maya, in my opinion, is one of the most inconvenient. Working with animations without scripts and plugins is also not the fastest. Joints instead of bones are also not the most intuitive solution. Maya has many other useful solutions, but for me this program has never become my favorite.

[@cursivecrow]

hard disagree, joints are *far* superior to bones. I hate having to have two points for every thing I want to move. I don't need them, and neither does the model. It also makes rigging work in blender unnecessarily frustrating. It's a problem blender doesn't need to have, but the blender institute is committed to doing things ass-backwards because "its how blender does it".

[@LordLuigi_Rigs]

You tryna start WW3? 😂

[@SkintSNIPER262]

I don't know. I've certainly heard quite a few disgruntled Maya users ramble on for ages about how much they love Blender's tools and features. Stuff you'd have to pay hundreds in tools/addons for Maya you can get for free for Blender.

[@sundaylee91]

I can't even get educational version of Maya, I used to have it but this year they discontinue my license, so I am planning to teach Blender from now on in one university and part time job in a college, , \ and I am not the only one who does it, so in future many studio in China will use Blender for two reasons, 1. Maya is too expensive for them to use 2. many new employees only use Blender, if you want to hire people who use Maya costs more money.

[@modernmarrow1411]

I tried it, but found the Autodesk software to be incredibly intrusive, installing itself deep into my files to the point where it took me multiple days to get it fully uninstalled and deleted off my system. I don't think I'll be using autodesk again purely due to this reason, though if they ever change it, I'd be down to try again.

[@realmoonknight]

you cracked it didn't you ?

[@moonstrobe]

"The best"? Pretty sure it depends on the artist using it. Love that all the affiliate links under your video are Blender oriented.

[@nithinbonagiri6330]

Which one is best Maya or blender for modeling

[@TheHighFlys]

blender for modeling maya for animation but 3DCoat is better for sculpting/modeling hard surface impo

[@zacksterxenres8589]

@@TheHighFlys Blender Is Full 3D Package Thats The Only Advantage Of Blender, 3D Coat Modelling Is Much More Better With High Resolution It Can Handel But Blender Cant As It Cant Do High Res Sculpting As Well As Sculpting And UV Wrapping So Good And Retopology Is Much Better In 3D Coat And Texturing Is Also Better In 3D Coat But Render Engine Of Blender Is Better Cycles But In Real Its Not Even Good As Other Render Engine Such As Redshift , Arnold, Vray , Renderman And Octane! As Octane Is Insane In 2023! Discplacement Is Insane!! You Wont Believe And Blender Cant Handel High Poly And Heavy Scenes But Others Can, Well Blenders Alternative Are Much Better Than Blender On Long Shot But Blender Is Free And Others Arent So You Have To Cope With This But If You See Its Not Even That Much Bad But Its Bad Compare To Others So Thats How It Is I Say And Houdini Is Much Better For Procedural Things And Simulation In Blender Is Really Hard Cause It Fks Up Blender As Well As Cloth And Lighting Isnt High Quality As Other Softwares, But Blender Is Good For Concept Art And All But If You Want To Animate It.....Blender Isnt For That

[@MindMeld929]

Blender modeling ,maya for animation amd rigging (big studio, or medium bcs expensive ) if you poor blender its good choice

[@manoj7575]

Blender with 3Ds max

[@dynamicrenderings3358]

I have used both plenty and I would say Blender is probably better for modeling although Maya does a decent enough job now compared to what it used to be capable of.

[@ariehendrawan9784]

Long time ago, XSI is so much better than maya when it comes to rigging and animation

[@TheFuriousMulatto]

Maya might be the best, but Blender is free and likely can do a LOT of the same things, so I'll just stick with that. :^)

[@roswarmth]

who asked?

[@simonzhang3D]

understandable but you should absolutely be open to learn maya the moment you step into a professional studio. But especailly for animation you can transfer skills really easily. It wont change that much. Its always the same thing no matter the software.

[@ariial9164]

"do a LOT of the same things..." ?, I think no

[@MindMeld929]

If you are hobby or small studio blender is good choice , maya used for medium and big studio Small studio , blender houdini (good workflow ) Medium studio/big studio ,maya houdini (perfect workflow)

[@TheFuriousMulatto]

@@ariial9164 Okay, name some of the things Maya can do that Blender cannot then.

[@bilosofie]

To be honest .. Blender is kicking Maya's butt so hard.. everytime i watch a tutorial like this i try go back and play around with maya .. but just coz i love ur videos bro .. not coz maya is better .. i love maya ,, but man blender has few very cheap addons that makes me question why should i ever go back to maya (unless i got hired for a big studio or something) then i will have to go back to maya i guess just because the studio wants me to .. not coz maya is a better tool .. anyways i love ur videos man ,, keep at it ..

[@realmoonknight]

Nah kicking butt hard would be when production around the world drops maya and adopts blender into pipeline which has not happened.

[@bilosofie]

@@realmoonknight true .. yet im still using maya lol .. the more addons i get the more clutter i have .. the more things get complicated in blender .. 😄

[@neo.8923]

Blender is kicking maya's butt ?. With what ?. More then 90% of the people here can only make a box appear on the screen and saying that they are a real artist. And did u see the lionking 2019, or Avatar. Or all those other movies ? All done in Maya.. not Blender, so u mean Maya is kicking Blender his butt ??. But its all just a tool.. But Blemder sucks for me it crashes so many times and the fx and rigging and animation is horrible. So we don't care if u like Blender.

[@bilosofie]

@@neo.8923 well that is your experience and as long as you are making art .. thats good for you .. and you dont have to care about anything i like or not .. nobody should .. thats called personal preference ..

[@JasonVidaEnt]

I wouldn't want my animators to use Maya because it's very expensive.

[@neo.8923]

That's why u ll never own a big studio u don't know the point here and also why Maya is ind standaard. Going to explain for dummies. Behind Autodesk is a big company that if there is a problem with there software they can demand to fix it or to release a quick solution for it. Blender is free and there is no hot fix hotline or techinical dep, to solve a problem that fast. So they can't relay on a free software..

[@mareknovotny5833]

well blender, c4d even houdini have same controll as you describe as six features... boender, c4d use seen nodes, geometry nodes, xpresso, and python. no new language in matter of houdini can read python, c languages, vex, vops... yeah thas how addons work in blender houdini and C4D exactly. multithreated maya... yeah but this is standart in other softwares now days. yeah that just c4d houdini can do, blender can to. no school support they throw off you need to be licenced school otherwiesly you cant get maya student licence by legal way easyli. i hoped for some intersting information but you info looks outdated.

[@eternalguy6023]

Now:maya is king in animation The winter is Coming(blender animation 2025)

[@132medianetwork]

That's not funny😒☹

[@MrQuantumCodes]

Keep dreaming fanboy

[@xox8717]

Blender is trying to add features that are already in Maya decades ago. For example Maya had rigging nodes since first day so it works well within the software, Blender didn't have any so to add all these nodes and features and make them work well in a software is going to take few years before it even reaches Maya level of proficiency. Not only that Blender focus on armatrure rigging which is very limiting if you want to use different ways to rig especially for facial rigs, In Maya you can use many things like curves, hair follicles, deformers and so on...giving riggers more power to build high quality rigs. It's very hard to achieve that in Blender at least for now.

[@winstonchurchill8300]

What is this lifeless depressing animation in your video? Even animation in Tim Burton movies has more soul and zest. What's going on here?

[@fingfufar9878]

Maya the best so far, but hopefully blender will catch!

[@howitworks101]

They can't

[@fingfufar9878]

@@howitworks101 yes, but who knows 🕶️ anything can happen in life

[@gedrgesfsdfwe4046]

Because video's author never touched Blender

[@NunYaBiz1313]

He just showed and told u what studios use Maya which is everyone.

[@gedrgesfsdfwe4046]

@@NunYaBiz1313 most indie studios (who are the majority) don't use it

[@baboom-wof]

@@gedrgesfsdfwe4046 majority by numbers means little since money is a bit more important as far as jobs go

[@DaniMra12]

You're telling me that to mirror a rig I need to know Mel? When in blender I just need literally two clicks?

[@miz6294]

No