What is the BEST 3D Software? Maya vs 3dsMax vs Cinema 4D vs Houdini vs Blender

[@SurfacedStudio]

Hey everyone! This is a forum for discussing, not flinging poo at each other. I kindly ask that you are respectful in your communications with each other. I hold (and will use) the power to remove your comments (or hide your user from the channel) if I think you're just adding brown stuff to the conversation 😉

[@amirkafae]

Hello Master, thank you for the good and excellent content you are posting

[@JingDa-s5i]

❤

[@ProGamer-ho7lz]

I use cinema 4D to design 3D motion graphics on my 2D screen using my 1D brain

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D

[@epicmaster833]

Lol bruh

[@androtchitchinadze3450]

My teacher actually roasted me once, when we were learning dimensions in Physics.

[@asrafalilaskar6955]

Lmao

[@psy237]

@Zayd Andres yes we all wanna try because we suck as much as you do!!!

[@RexArtTv]

PowerPoint

[@dylanlockemp3]

Word

[@RexArtTv]

@@dylanlockemp3 Windows 7

[@dylanlockemp3]

windows movie maker

[@kim12d65]

i use Paint to make models

[@RexArtTv]

coding your game is easier than you think. you know, you should try this online udemy course

[@emiloiu]

I used 3ds max for 14 years for 3D modeling, photo renderings and sometimes animations. But in the last years Blender was like a magnet for me for so many reasons. 3 months ago I decided to spend some time and learn Blender. In 2 weeks I made the complete transition. For my projects and workflow Blender is so much better than Max. My vote is for Blender 100%.

[@emiloiu]

@@claudiamatteolo1459 You are either a beginner or paid by one of the companies, but one thing is sure: you don't know Blender. It is not that the software is free or not, it's all about its abilities and performance. That's why Ubisoft switched to Blender and other companies too. Cheers

[@kanifis]

@@claudiamatteolo1459 Whats with the attitude? You don't know anything about that guy and you go off on them for no reason. If they like blender, why the weird gatekeeping?

[@kanifis]

@@claudiamatteolo1459 Why are you 'quoting' every other 'word'. You are 'literally' spewing worthless garbage from your 'mouth'. Not a single 'person' asked for your 'expertise', so 'kindly' shut the fuck up and 'gfto'.

[@kanifis]

@@claudiamatteolo1459 It's youtube comments, and its getting pretty sad to see how seriously you take them. I'd find a better way to spend your free time.

[@swgn3d]

@@claudiamatteolo1459 lol reddit neckbeard spotted in the wild

[@Redeagle5747]

Cinema4D is truly the easiest, really user friendly and easy to get into if youre new Great comparison btw

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you :) C4D is nice and easy. Blender since version 2.8 is quite similar, still a bit rough around the edges, but a long way from earlier versions

[@wokk9543]

​@Ice Leopard torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents torrents

[@SkintSNIPER262]

@@SurfacedStudio I don't want to overwhelm myself with too many software programs. Could you achieve similar Cinema 4D stuff with Blender + Houdini?

[@djunn]

I'm currently retraining from 3d max to cinema 4d and it's not easy and user friendly AT ALL. It's a real pain in the ass and a killer of nerve cells. At every step you stumble and don't know what to do because the program just locks up and doesn't do anything and im spend hours for found whats wrong. In ~15 years in 3d max I don't remember encountering such annoying problems for no reason at all, and here it's just every step of the way. Cinema 4d have many cool feautures but its not friendly at all, it's a frustration generator.

[@zhansayabulegenova358]

@@djunnhey there. Have you been able to try Maya after 3dsmax?

[@Divineshot]

I'm new here, I'm going to try out blender.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Give it a shot! I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Check out my Blender beginner series here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmbPpnSEg7Coe8U

[@FOGrainforest]

Me too dude

[@pitiwazou]

The only thing I'll add is that Blender is not only for hobbyists. People should stop talking about free noobish software, it far from that now and with 2.8 it'll be yet another story.

[@2009heyhow]

I am a student game design, and here at my school they changed from 3DS Max to Blender. Now a few years later i don't have many trouble to share files with users of different software. As long as we make good agreements on how to export the files everything is fine in most cases. Also imagine how much it saved me as a student. The study is not even considered ''expansive'' anymore, so more people will be able to go for it now. Also Blender has always been a bit behind. But with the real-time raytracing coming up soon in Blender 2.8 they will take the lead when it comes to rendering, and maybe even entirely when it comes to make animated movies.

[@alexmayer8943]

Of course they changed, it's free!!!

[@FrancoFrames]

blender was always free...

[@Jgvcfguy]

Until studios start using it doesn't feel very useful learning it.

[@pitiwazou]

Sorry but you can use it in a studio if the studio allows it and for modeling IMO blender is the best.

[@JuanHernandez-ze3si]

I went to school for Maya and used it for a couple of years while working in post-production studios. But once I became a freelancer I began to use Cinema 4D. I haven't used Maya again since. Maya is designed for big studios with lots of people in which each person does a very particular task. Cinema 4D is easier and better for a one-man or small studio. This would be the path I recommend. As for Blender, I tried it for like 30 minutes and the interface was way too complicated. Also, you can get away with pretty good VFX by just using Cinema 4D and After Effects.

[@blissfulchants]

Is it straightforward to learn? Thanks!

[@AkimboFennec]

That is sad that you found blender not appealing. I started using Maya when i had a class in 3d modeling. I got so upset with 3dmodelling. Maya was so unfriendly to a user, lots of buttons, crashing.. Blender is a piece of cake. It is so good. Trust me give it a shot. It is the best software for 3D modellling and unwrapping. There is nothing out there that is as good in modeling as Blender.

[@CGMiller]

I don't understand how Blender's interface is too complicated... Maybe since I learned adobe suite stuff first, but blender just seems to be pretty much set up like those. I hit the ground running right when I started using it. Though I am very early on in 3D work so maybe there's something I'm missing or those other programs would seem wayyy easier to me.

[@hvroblox]

Try blender 2.8 or up

[@soysource3218]

@@AkimboFennec I agree. At first the UI may look daunting with its many buttons like a plane cockpit. If you get to know what each tab roughly does everything, Blender is a really simple program to work. Super user friendly and tons of community support in terms of information.

[@SumanJKD]

Blender is much more light weight then any other animation software Blender is around 300-350 MB. Actually it saves all the Disk Space in my PC and it also easy to work with blender environment I Love Blender !!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Blender is an awesome tool and I can't wait for 2.8 to officially get released! I mainly use Blender and then Houdini for all the more complex stuff that you can't really do (easily) in any of the other programs :)

[@alimantado373]

If your doing 3d and worrying about disk space , what kind of work are you doing?, you need max ram max GPU max CPU to even start doing interesting projects , does Blender have network rendering at all? can you texture from within Blender? Nurbs? Sculpting? what render engine comes with it? a light MB software doesn't equal anything in 3d software. Just my experience of 10 years or so .

[@chosenideahandle]

@@alimantado373 You don't necessarily need max anything to work on interesting projects, and what is and is not interesting is also an individual's own decision. Yes, Blender comes with all of those things you mentioned, including three different renderers (for CPU, GPU, and real-time). Blender also has fur, hair, particle, and fluid systems that are in the same league with products you have to buy as plug-ins with other software. Blender also includes it's own compositor, a game engine, and an excellent camera tracker. For free software that's not too bad, but just my 25 years working in the industry (or so).

[@kuldipsingh-eq6vn]

Can u share the download link plss

[@gevorkbabayan]

Who cares. Does it do what other softwares can? If not who cares about space

[@sottozen]

Autodesk bought also softimage xsi, best animation software at the time in my opinion. And then kill it ! After that I started using blender and I have to say that I am today very happy. Blender is fastly growing up and becoming more powerful version after version.

[@toxic7516]

How you feeling now? What software use for movies?

[@tlilmiztli]

@@toxic7516 Nothing changed. I was using Blender for over decade and always heard that soon it will become "industry standard SOON". The "soon" never came to be and this video is just as actual as it was years ago.

[@mequable]

I think `Autodesk is gatekeeping this industry.

[@mequable]

By the way I just received the Maxon newsletter that says their all-in-one subscription now includes everything - including C4D and apparently Zbrush, which I had missed they bought. So they are doing the opposite, making it pretty affordable.

[@mikomausisa6828]

Lets just say *MUCH LOVE FOR BLENDER

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D

[@leonardliebler3510]

@xOr Blender 2.8 was a game changer. This video is kinda outdated. Go for it. GameDev myself.

[@sagesurya7221]

@xOr dude, you know UNITY c# scripting?

[@Zeriel00]

3DS Max - Architecture, product design, it used to be used heavily for games in the past Maya - Animation and Video games Cinema4D - Motion graphics, advertisement and TV industry Blender - Indy development, personal use Houdini - Visual FXs Industry, it can be used for anything that requires extensive simulations like fluid, fire, explosions, smoke, grass, crowds etc. Modo - Excellent tools for hard surface modeling, can be used for any type of 3D design/concepts. It's really fast but tends to create poor topology, not a problem for hard surface but bad for animation. 3DCoat - Jack of all trades/master of none, it's used mainly for texture painting and retopology but it has tools for sculpting, UV Unwrap and other things. Zbrush - Sculpting and Concept art, used for high levels o detail. Models need to be retopologized but they can be used to bake normal maps.

[@iSyriux]

*indie

[@chosenideahandle]

It's not a bad general assessment of how things are currently.

[@dondon3421]

just what if they just mixed it all the programs.

[@Romando.Rameez]

i want to learn character modelling should i learn Modo??? please help i am so confused

[@gendalfgray7889]

pin this pls

[@bharat5194]

C4D + Houdini = Everything a VFX/Motion Graphic artist would ever need!

[@brendanthompson2082]

One thing that needs to be pointed out is that once you've learned one 3D application it is much easier to learn the competitors. They all have, for example, a way to add edge loops, extrude etc. The important thing is to get the core concepts (Houdini is the exception and not for the faint of heart)

[@RamSingh87]

Lets divide industry in 4 Layers The leaders - Disney, Pixar, Blizzard, Imageworks Here people make their own software, render engines, production tools etc and use them in the mix with leading packages such as Maya, Houdini. Top Tier - Studios handling daily special fx and movie production work - These are the ones exchanging heavy data across multiples production houses and have to stick to common product pipeline. Mid Tier - Design and Animation Studios making mid-scale production such as Game Trailers, TV Ads, Music Videos etc. at this scale, you will see studio doing 2D Animation, 3D Animation, Cutout Animation, Stop Motion and other misc mediums etc and are very flexible about tools. Indie and Small Teams - Here basically anything works. I have seen blender making its way up, Its definitely used a lot by Indie and Small Teams, Because its one for all software and can easily give all solutions within itself. Mid Tier Studios are also using the Blender as its easy to exchange formats at this level. Top Tier and Leaders - no question only sticking to packages which have been running for years and it's going to take sometime before Blender reaches there. Now I have seen studios using 3DS Max for heavy cinematics, Maya for Motion Graphics, and Cinema4D for character animation as well, all of these are capable of handling much more than what their marketing team projects them as. To sum it up - There is no one software to rule all. There is no one software for one particular industry. There is no certainty how long the leading packages will last ( RIP softimage XSI and get well soon 3DS Max ) Now to make it more easier for you - Modeing - Is not completely handeled in one software ( nerds do ) but industry uses it in combination such as zbrush+maya -Texturing- Substance , Mari , 3D Coat etc - Animation - Fundamentals are same ( xyz, curve editor , motion capture workflow etc) - Rendering- All the render engines work exactly same across all packages. - Lighting - Is more of a theory thing you need to clear, and less of a software thing. - Fx- Realflow, Thinking Particles, Crowd simulation softwares etc are external plugins and these if required you can easily learn . Now i doubt if one person should be actually doing all of it. Pick one or two specializations. I understand the idea of your favorite package not being used in industry is nightmare, but you cannot be sure of any package that way. Now those who came here for blender - Its a superb software, Imagine i had to use it in production because team was using blender and i felt handicapped for almost 3 months ( coming from max and maya ). But guess what - after i used it, i just cannot go back. Its like a magic wand - You will be doing much more than what you came in for - in blender : ) My index finger hurts, as i type with one finger, Apologies to grammer nazis as i am not english person. www.crossmind.com/tbt/

[@SurfacedStudio]

Hi Ram, thank you SO much for this massively detailed comment! I really stoked for Blender and can't wait for 2.8 to be released, but I also appreciate all the other great insight and information you provided in your comment :) I only have a limited view so it's always great to get everyone else's view and experience and opinions! :)

[@jannchavez9257]

I thought C4D is best at motion graphics and Maya is best for character animation.

[@RamSingh87]

i meant, people do motion graphic in maya and character animation in c4d as well. just because they are market that way doesn't mean they are not capable. :P ------------------------- www.crossmind.com/tbt/

[@trancerp2411]

@Sasori Tobi , I know the feeling. I invested half my life in 3ds Max, but I am very disappointed how Autodesk has only made cosmetic changes to it for the past 18 years, yet now wants to charge a subscription at a hefty price. My feeling is that many users will simply choose alternatives, especially now that machine learning, AI, and programming are making developing amazing tools a piece of cake. Blender alone now is almost too tempting to keep hobbling along with 3ds Max, especially now that I do a lot of my work upfront with ZBrush and I can do the box modeling part with an old license of Silo or simply use Blender.

[@IamNeighborlee]

Except, NOT be able to edit , in any meaningful REAL-TIME way, edit meshs of the size around 2 MIL tris. I know , its crap. Be honest!

[@stef1896]

Learn Blender because it's free, so you don't need to bother with licenses. Which software you will learn first is irrelevant: the most important thing is to learn fundamentals like understanding topology, UV mapping, texturing, the type of maps... All these things you can learn in any of these softwares. And start as environment artist because this is where demand is. Later on you can try with animation, effects, 'specialization'... Learning fundamentals is what most important is. Learning new software is a minor thing. Once you learn one software and grasp fundamentals you will see how easy really is to learn a new software. So don't bother too much with which software is the best (it's like bothering which car is the best. It's irrelevant! The most important is to learn to drive: once you learn to drive a car you can swich the brands easily), just pick a Blender and you will be just fine.

[@KellySmith555]

Thank you. That's good advice.

[@bazonga9085]

Yeah don’t listen to this guy if you’re reading this.

[@Luxalpa]

As someone who has switched a lot between Blender, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Maya, Mudbox, 3ds Max and ZBrush (during college we had free access to all of these) I have to say that this is unfortunately not true. Sure, dropping in some objects and moving polygons is the same in all software but that's pretty much where the similarities end and pretty much all of the noted tools have significant custom toolings that you won't find in their respective counterparts, but are crucial to use. Rigging your character with CAT or envelopes in max for example is completely different from rigging it in Cinema or Maya.

[@KellySmith555]

+Smaug Then what tool should you learn? I know Zbrush is must for sculpting organic models, but what about for other things? Like rigging a model? Or working with particle effects? Any advice?

[@shekhrussel6304]

well said bro... such a grt advice😍

[@intothevoid2046]

It is never a question "what" you can do with a software, but "how fast and efficient" can you do it. Learn all 3d applications to really understand their strength and weaknesses. You'll be using a variety of tools anyway if you want to work in the professional world. Never stop learning.

[@Charly_Chive]

Blender is great for concept artist since it’s more an external part of production, and it’s already becoming real time :)

[@avatr7109]

I didn't get you? i love concept art but also want to be in Film industry... and i started with Blender

[@syedasadbukhari615]

And i remember your first blender tutorial video when you said, : " If you mix MAYA , 3D Max, and Cinema 4D , ...don't be afraid....you get Blender!" lol, completely agree with you.

[@GoldenArtsOnline]

I have used C4D for a long time and I know some important details about Houdini and 3dsMax. If you are new to the 3D scene so to speak and not sure what path you should go I would honestly say Houdini, the possibilities and flexibility I have seen with it are amazing, you can do a lot more but I think it also demands a bigger learning curve. Smoke, fire, water, explosions, etc, if this is what you are going to focus on, particle driven animations, go for 3dsMax. Cinema 4D has a clean and somewhat logic layout with good bits from all different perspectives and it shines at text, logos, commercial work as well as interiors, cloning systems and it also has good character system, animation system, a built-in motion tracker for live footage to use 3D objects with. It has now with R19 a really good fracture tool where you can break apart your models and control the breaking in various ways. Cinema has as I said a little of everything but it does not come close to anything you can do with the other 2 programs I mentioned when it comes to particle control, maybe not even with X-Particles, still, C4D is far from a bad choice because a lot of studios and websites/companies use it/demands it if you want to get paid for your work. What I'm trying to say is that to get some really excellent stuff out of C4D you really need to THINK outside the box because you are somewhat kinda limited to its tools and unable to go around them. I would go for Houdini if I had to suggest something. Just look at different animations or still images made with different programs. I prefer still images for now because I dont have the best computer.

[@jjcosmio2225]

But Maya is future!

[@chosenideahandle]

I think you meant Houdini for smoke, fire, water, explosions. The particle stuff is where Houdini's reputation is. 3DS Max requires 3rd party plug-ins to make any of that look decent (Realflow, FumeFx, and so on), and it definitely wouldn't be relied upon for any major VFX work.

[@m0rph3u5.]

This is definitely one of the best 3D software comparison.. well explained and unbiased.. coming from someone who is switching from Maya to Blender

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you very much for the comment. I myself have travelled from 3dsMax/C4D over to Blender + Houdini these days :)

[@milkbread5036]

@@SurfacedStudio thank you!

[@AkimboFennec]

I tried Maya, not sure whether animations are that great as everyone says, but 3D modeling in Maya is very unintuitive. When i stumbled across Blender, i shifted from totally hating 3D modeling to loving it and modeling in my free time.

[@ehehjehehe5673]

Nok Nok who's is it Blender 2.8

[@zentrocs]

Nice English dumbass

[@flashicles]

@@zentrocs bet you feel like some kind of badass by name calling someone who probably doesn't even speak English as a first language, fuck off.

[@Naz-jh6qn]

Can't wait for 2.81 soon

[@Alexander-mk4qf]

@@zentrocs more rude..more loser

[@Nesggy]

Knock Knock*

[@bity-bite]

From personal experience, I use Cinema 4D above Blender; I've tried both, Blender took me LONG time to learn, but yet Cinema 4D few weeks and I'm feeling home.

[@bradstoonz4703]

me too.

[@fabiof4946]

Do you have any tutorial sugestions for C4D ?

[@bradstoonz4703]

@@fabiof4946 check out greyscale gorilla, eyedesyn and cinversity and check for the basics. Its all u need to know as a beginner.

[@soysource3218]

For me I learnt Blender really quickly as well. But I never used C4D as it costs a real price.

[@Gireshahid33]

I love Cinema 4D, I'm doing everything in there vfx, motion graphics etc..

[@elitefew8537]

how is it with character animation? I've been using maya for a year and it is still highly unintuitive imo. I see it's power and all but everything seems to not flow very well. Does cinema 4d have capability of rendering fur? I'm a character artist so I render a multitude of beasts.

[@Gireshahid33]

Chaney TV check out in Internet,,, C4D is very capable software,, you ask for fur!! Check out man vs machine website they mad amazing animals come to alive! Totally insane work with C4D! I hope you manvsmachine studio!

[@kangddan8228]

I am C4D rigging er, I am now ready to learn Maya, I think Maya can let me learn more, C4D has many problems that I have to give up.

[@Gireshahid33]

Kangd dan what kind of problems!?? rigging in C4D! C4d have very good tool for rigging and animating stuff related I saw...

[@kangddan8228]

I uploaded some of my demo rells, you can click on my channel, indeed, Maya can do C4D can also do, but C4D has priority issues, this is a particularly troublesome problem when I make complex Rigging, I will take a long time to try to solve it, but Maya handles the priority a lot easier, we don't need to worry about the general animation logic, so C4D is relatively backward in this method.

[@abdullaishfaq3166]

The most professional softwares I've learnt, in order: 1. Blender 2. Paint 3D 3. PowerPoint

[@isuruthiwanka9448]

hey buddy? Can I use blender instead of Solidwork? is it worth than solidwork? Can we do simulations as in Solidwork?

[@abdullaishfaq3166]

@@isuruthiwanka9448 I don't know about Solidworks but blender is free and open source, you can animate, model, rig, texture models and even do VFX. Physics has something to be desired but it still is a great package

[@johncyril5117]

@@isuruthiwanka9448 bro solidworks is for mechanical engineers it doesn't do animation blender is for film animation artist

[@isuruthiwanka9448]

@@johncyril5117 yup.. I know.. Dunno that is there any alternative for linux instead solidwork?

[@haydenzadeh4978]

Coming from15 years of working with almost all of the professional 3D DCC tools (3ds Max is my Core), seeing how Blender is growing is very exciting. It's the 80/20 rule which is universal and can be seen in many fields. Once the Blender can achieve 80% of the work that professional DCC can do (which is almost there), since it's free it'll surpass all of these traditional 3D tools. If you say studios don't use it, that is because their work pipelines have been developed at a time when Blender wasn't there. I'm not saying 3Ds Max, Maya or C4D will die and Blender will takeover. I'm saying a lot of new studios are using Blender and once they grow, you'll see more job ads asking for Blender Artists. I worked with blender 2.8 a few weeks ago and the shift from 2.7 to 2.8 is so amazing. Houdini is a different story, there is nothing capable of what it's doing in the market. So if you invest learning it, you'll have a safe desk in VFX industry. Regarding the 3D renders, I'd like to point out to the rise of real-time render engines (game engines). This is totally new area and right now it is dominated by UE4 and Unity. If you are new to 3D and would like to work on 3d render for Visualization, I'd encourage you to learn UE4 and possibly a little bit of coding. All of these offline render engines don't have to offer more than image+video and that is where game engines start shining, giving you the opportunity to create interactive apps on different platform (desktop, touch devices, VR headsets etc etc..)

[@Ghartanker]

I have tried to use Unreal Engine at work and it is hard to master for visualization work. The assets it leaves on the hard drive is ludicrous and bloats up very fast (it is a game engine primarily). A lot of things are frustrating and don't make sense. Ex: I can enable transparency selection with keyboard "T". Works great for selecting parts through a glass door in a big assembly (over 3000 parts)... but only in the perspective view!!! If I need to do the same in an orthographic view from the front or any sides... guess what!!?

[@johnmr568]

Thank you for that comment :)

[@fhuzman]

subbed cause he went straight to the fvcking point

[@OskarBravo]

Blender all the way.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Same for me :) Just made a video for 2.8 coming out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJmVamCQnLR_rrs

[@ziadmoghazy6429]

@i .candy then you shouldn't learn any 3d program in general since they all require a decent pc at least for most scenarios , unless of course you are planning on getting a decent pc later on

[@ziadmoghazy6429]

@i .candy been learning blender for over 2 months now and i'm kinda struggling with these specs Ryzen 3600 Gtx 1080 16GB RAM

[@bakastep3107]

@@ziadmoghazy6429 Really? i have a gtx 1070, 16gb ram, and an i7 4790k. I'm doing fine :o

[@ziadmoghazy6429]

@@bakastep3107 good for you but since I'm aiming to become an environment artist usually my scenes get really dense so quickly

[@SanneBerkhuizen]

2020, wanna make a flim? Blender + Unreal + quixel. And you're good to go

[@SanneBerkhuizen]

@Lance Anthony lmao, the answer to your question might be Ian Hubert. He makes movies and stuff in blender. But maybe I haven't started correctly that blender might be a tool to make stuff for unreal. And Unreal is being used to make... Well the mandalorian. No that's not a film it's a web television series. To finish up, have you heard about the Lion King? They used quixel assets.. So yeah, I think it's safe to say that people actually do use these tools for professional film production.

[@sulaimanMk]

Wow thnks

[@archcast5550]

@Lance Anthony you live in mars dude? wake up blender is the future

[@apang1831]

​@@archcast5550 Open source software can't survive in the big industry tho. In case you're producing in the indie or small movie industry, it will be fine.

[@archcast5550]

@@apang1831 what makes you think blender is only used in movies. I use it on construction industry.

[@Helloworldandyou]

Wow the blender community really has grown. I remember I chose to learn Maya because it was “industry standard “ & at the time the blender show reels looked corny but honestly I think I will transition to Blender.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Blender 2.8 is looking amazing and I can't wait for it (in fact, I didn't wait and am using the daily build): kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJmVamCQnLR_rrs It's going to be amazing!

[@tryctan2399]

well, now it's just one of, if not the best program for 3d. it quite literally has everything and the community made addons just makes it better

[@wallacesousuke1433]

@@tryctan2399 is it as good as Maya for animations? Be honest plz

[@alimantado373]

hands down C4d everything is there. in one program or you have plugins for it. you dont have to leave the software except for post production in Photoshp or After Effects. Ive been using it for many years tried the rest , this program has the quickest learning curve.

[@chosenideahandle]

I'm a C4D user as well, but you don't even need to leave Blender for compositing (regardless your comparing it to software that costs thousands of dollars). Blender of course has loads of incredibly powerful add-ons that you might pay a few hundred dollars for in total, vs. spending perhaps two hundred, five hundred or more for each C4D plug-in. I haven't even had to use any documentation to start using Blender, so I'd say it's not very difficult to learn either. I do really enjoy working with C4D, but it's kind of goofy not having Blender on my machine when it costs nothing.

[@zampoo7114]

Hail blender 2.8

[@chosenideahandle]

Troy Lewis yeah C4D is solid, and has been my main tool at work for the last five years. The place I’m working now is heavily invested in plugins (we bought into Redshift early on as well). I’m in some plug-in as often as the native tools. We’ve spent close to as much in plug-ins as we did for C4D itself, but not much choice for things like advanced particles and fluid sims. At home for my freelance work, moving to Blender makes more financial sense, and it’s amazing what you can do without any add-ons (even if they’re dirt cheap to buy anyway). I really enjoy both C4D and Blender for what they offer.

[@MegaBexon]

@@chosenideahandle C4D Plugins, 2000$ ??? Lets try it.. X-Particles + Cycle 4D 700$, Turbulence FD 480$, RealFlow 600$, Octane 600$, Redshift 500$, Forester 300$, Few Grayscalegorila Plugins 500$,... I think another 3500$ will be the best guess for the Plugins... Don't get me wrong they're all awesome tools but expensive .

[@MasterYoda389]

​@@chosenideahandle question, I've been using 3ds mostly but I need to start branching out. Is there somewhere like a compiled template of plugins with blender I can refer to? When you've customized the crap out of your software it's uncomfortable moving to another , I need reassurance :( ....

[@tesha4444]

This video is exactly what I was looking for to get a direct, comparative overview of the different types of 3D software. Thank you so much!!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

You are very welcome :) I hope it's still relevant somewhere haha

[@EastFame]

finally someone with clear answers. All other videos conclude with a standard phrase "it depends on individual" and you are at the same point where you started

[@SurfacedStudio]

Haha, in the end my own answer is really a 'it depends' as well - and that's just the honest truth :) Everyone's situation, requirements and preferences are so different if someone tells you to 'use X' they're likely just guessing. All you can do is learn as much as you can about all of them and make the best choice you can for yourself :)

[@EastFame]

@@SurfacedStudio , I understamd the logic, but the main audience of these videos are people who are confused after their own research and want some ouside source, who would just make the decision on their behalf

[@derschimpanse8399]

I use Houdini and I think its the best 3D software because you can do everything so detailed. And there are so many features. And its also good for motiongraphics. And I like the procedual workflow.

[@SyrDoN]

I agree. Once the logic makes sense, houdini has become the only app I need. I use Adobe cc on occasion. Plus the ability to look into nodes and understand how they work and how we can create our own or remove parts that we don't need. All the buttons on the top shelf seems to scare so many off. I find it ironic that the shelf tools are not even needed.

[@DeificSirenic]

I am inclined to agree

[@xpez9694]

ok ok...I got Houdini. I have been not getting into it as I should. reading this gives me more faith...

[@brightgarinson3099]

@@xpez9694 With you there. I'm a dynamics guy so it's a long road ahead.

[@AntonioKowatsch]

I've been using blender for years now but lately made the switch to Autodesk programs because of the projects that I was working on at that time. Blender hasn't been getting enough love in the "professional" community. That's at least my experience.

[@orozcoapaza1660]

Bug fixing is faster in Blender than the other proprietary alternatives...., and Blender and Houdini are way faster programs than the Autodesk ones.

[@ahmadazizi9983]

agreed

[@glorious_help]

why having bugs in the first place... says it all

[@evrenfenerli]

Houdini is fast???

[@jwadaow]

+GLR MAYA-88663 Crash when undoing everything on blendshape targets with sculpting tools. Maya had a bug in it that caused a crash check mate autodesk. Collect one free Nobel prize when you make bug free software de rigeur. Please check you are living in the _real_ world when you leave comments. Here is a litany of some of the bugs created by autodesk (what monsters): knowledge.autodesk.com/sites/default/files/Maya_2018.2_Update_ReleaseNotes_enu.htm

[@Luxalpa]

this is only true for individuals / hobbyists. Studios have special contracts that prioritizes their bugfixes, which is the reason why these programs are so slow at fixing your bugs.

[@Persephone01]

I’m trying to learn Maya on my own, I’m an independent animator that traditionally uses 2D animation software (Dragonframe).

[@SurfacedStudio]

Never too late (or early) to learn anything (and everything) :D

[@ananthuom4902]

It's easy to learn your self.

[@devadev12118]

I think blender is great free 3d software

[@SurfacedStudio]

I concur! That's why I've started a tutorial series for it :)

[@3dvfxprofessor]

Yes, it is and it's just a matter of time that it will find its place in the professional industry.

[@Aiduss]

el profesor it allready did. i use it in my studio. ps. switched from 3ds max more than year ago and god im happy i did so

[@richardpitak9669]

i changed from 3dmax to blender, cant understand why so late :-D

[@3dvfxprofessor]

Same here. I am running my own business for almost 25 years. Started with Softimage in 1992 and we (were forced) to replace Softimage with Blender in 2016. We miss Softimage but it was a very good move.

[@unfa00]

I'm pretty sure if you wanted to use Blender in a big movie production, you could get a deal on developer support with the Blender devs.

[@marwaalmufatesh4426]

I just wanted to hear ( it's the easiest ) thank you ... it's cinema 4D

[@erenjeager2003]

3.999K

[@frenchyproductions9692]

Blender is a good place to learn the basics of modeling and animation, though once you have the basics you should move onto learning some industry standard software.

[@OnePrintMan]

I love my Blender 2.8! Funny thing though is everyone has pretty much forgotten about Lightwave. I really enjoyed it with my trial version.

[@SurfacedStudio]

I have to admit I never used Lightwave. I do have to agree on Blender 2.8 though, that's a really nice tool and gaining more traction now :D

[@n.s.1184]

For those who are interested, where the companies are located (Server locations): 3DStudio Max and Maya: Autodesk - San José, USA Houdini: SideFX - Toronto, Canada Cinema4D: Maxon - Frankfurt, Germany Blender: Blender Foundation - Amsterdam, Netherlands

[@zakyabdellouche2525]

Thanks

[@modernodj]

C4D and Houdini is my favorite soft!

[@Asta_Dena]

I'm in the industry since 1994, started with 3D Studio R3, loved the first release of 3D Studio Max but soon learned to know Alias Power Animator and a bit of Softimage. The step from Alias (Power Animator) to Maya wasn't that big, so arround the year 1998 Maya became my weapon of choice. Today i mostly use cinema 4D because my focus shifted to Motion Design and for that, in my opinion, Maxons Software is the best you can get. All of the mentioned softwares have a speciallity, so it depends on your needs, what is the best 3D Software for You!

[@AniMatrix0101]

Blender has a license option for studios that would like technical support, it's about the same or maybe cheaper than Maya's monthly subscription so there is that

[@SurfacedStudio]

A few CLARIFICATIONS and ADDITIONAL INFO - also thanks to the feedback from so many friendly people!! 1) I apologise if I came across as 'dismissive' towards Blender - that was not at all my intention. I personally love Blender. It's what I use for all my 3D work. That, and a bit of Houdini. It can be (and has been) used for many professional projects and will gain a ton more power with the upcoming release of version 2.8 :) However, as of right now, it is not as widespread in the industry as Maya or Houdini. Hence why I am - at this point - recommending Maya over Blender if you want to get a job in one of the big studios. 2) Houdini has been around for a long time actually. However, only comparatively recently has it exploded as THE tool to use in the VFX industry for destruction, fluids, energy effects and the like. So calling it a 'new player' might not have been the best choice of words, but I feel it's steep rise to stardom has been fairly recent :) 3) Blender has a LOT of support. Bugs are more likely to be fixed much quicker than in the big players like Maya, C4D or 3dsMax. However, there is no *legal* liability for the Blender foundation (or the open source devs) to provide this support. And it's the lack of this *legal* support that is one of (many) facets that adds to Blender being taken up rather slowly in established studios. Let me know your thoughts and I will update this comment as required to provide the clearest information I can :)

[@MakiNoAtorie]

Hey! thanks for the video it helped a lot! However, I wonder if can you guide me a little bit more. Im a total beginner in 3d, my goal is to make static cartoony or anime style figures, nothing too much realistic but not that simple either as well as make 3d sketch of backgrounds for my 2d artworks. So I was thinking 3dsmax or blender would be the best option for me but im now quite sure. Im already practicing with Zbrush but I would like to learn a more "traditional" 3d software. Hope you can help me.

[@deuswulf6193]

You forgot Modo, which is right up there with the rest. In fact its one of the first to have VR support within the 3D viewport itself.

[@bowblend1396]

:)

[@kandysman86]

Lol, blender is fixed faster with no government regulations, yet people don't use it cause they want regulation. I hate people .

[@daveindezmenez]

I personally know of one animation studio that has dropped using Maya and is now using Blender exclusively. Why? Because the high fee to license Maya was breaking the studio. If, by "the big studios", you mean places like Pixar, Disney, and Dreamworks, I should point out that they have their own proprietary software that they are using and that Maya is not it. As for Maya being an industry standard, it shouldn't be written off as a possibility that there may be upstarts who aren't married to AutoDesk and their high license fees (as well as others in your list) and might use Blender so they can devote their resources elsewhere.

[@tarviky]

Blender has to be and will be number 1 software one day. You can do the whole workflow in Blender including texture painting, compositing and video editing. In Maya you can't do that.

[@SurfacedStudio]

I really hope it will :) I'm pumped for 2.8! Not sure I'd drop AE or PP for my compositing and editing tools, but for 3D, it's my weapon of choice already

[@Ahtisham]

As someone who never used any 3D software before I started out with blender and in just 2 months I am very confident in modelling and little bit of texturing, currently learning substance painter and I think these 2 are the only software you need to make realistic renders and its really fun to use.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear you found your weapons of choice 😄

[@sairupesh1344]

who started learning blender 2019 2020: who else stoped learning learning blender :D

[@komailahmed8903]

Me :)

[@subeg]

🙌

[@delightfulsquirtle316]

me, too :)

[@oussamababaahmed8475]

me today lol

[@hesamdesigns]

I'm starting right now 2020 :)

[@marcusunivers]

I think Blender, from version 2.8, is becoming more and more of programs like Cinema 4D. Many tools and design changes on the interface of Blender show how Blender wants to approach the competition. I think that when 2.8 is done, more companies will be able to switch to Blender more easily. Sorry for my bad english ^^

[@SurfacedStudio]

I am really looking forward to 2.8 - there's so much awesomeness coming that I can't wait for. Well, technically I'm already halfway there as I like using the experimental builds :) It might still take some time for companies to switch to Blender (due to established pipelines), but the better Blender becomes the more incentive there will be for them to upgrade

[@CZTUTORIALS]

I think, its not about software in last few years, more then about peoples, who doing in these programs. Every 3D package like Maya, Max, Cinema have good results in same things, renderers are available for each of them, so it depends how skilled is artist in the software. But future is ofcourse Houdini.

[@cherrydragon3120]

CZTUTORIALS depends on what you wanna do. I watch some webseries done in Maya. And they're pretty good. Made by an actual company. You don't nescesarily need houdini. It depends what you're familiar with and what you want

[@danteart373]

Nope, we will all need to learn Houdini soon or later. Its all about data, a flexibilities.

[@thripper5332]

I think Houdini is absolutely amazing on simulations, but not really on anything else, it's great on a pipeline, where you are a TD artist working alongside other 3D artists, I started learning Houdini after seeing options to switch from c4d, and went with Maya, it suited better as a general 3D package for my needs, but I do agree Houdini is out of this world on what it does and there's nothing close to it.

[@Advection357]

Houdini isn't for everybody... it's a heavy low level fx & animation programming environment... artsy & non-programming/math oriented users that don't like dealing with numbers have no business with Houdini imo... there's more artist friendly programs out there. But if you're a technically inclined artist... Houdini is a dream ;-)

[@_yuri]

Blender is not spelled as Houdini lmao

[@jazzdan]

Your video clarified the confusion I was feeling being overstimulated by different programs

[@cg.man_aka_kevin]

My 3D software that I will use in the future in my life : - Blender - Maya - Cinema 4D

[@kareemj4332]

Conclujtion : 3Ds Max= best for modeling & rendering & designing Maya : Animation Cinema 4D : motion graphic Houdini : it's very different and quite hard Blender : if it's just a hobby for you it's not used in large companies & it's the easiest it's FREE

[@iskamag]

Kareem J also if you are using unity

[@KeikoFXDesigns]

I use after effects but, I keep running into road blocks. So I decided to go with Blender as my second tool. Combine both After Effects and Blender I think it's good enough for what I need.

[@henrymeinesz759]

What an articulate no nonsense guy you are! Awesome!

[@zhoumadeit]

Self-taught Blender for two years straight. Then had this huge argument with college professor because he thinks Cinema 4D is the best thing in the world and “looks down upon Blender.” At the end I ask him “Who decide the software used in the pipelines then?” He reply: “The company’s boss of course.” I said: “Good...then I will be the boss who makes the pipelines Blender.” Anyway I did still learn something from his class, so he is not bad as a teacher, but since I mainly do concept arts for myself and can not careless about the advertising industry Blender is always the way too go☕️.

[@barbe00brune]

I learned 3dsMax in school and I like it for everything. I even do animation and some rigging in it. of course I use zbrush also for my high poly. Ill try some other programs at some point when Im comfortable enough with 3dsmax

[@SurfacedStudio]

Sounds good - learn one tool properly first, it'll make transitioning a whole lot easier in the future as you'll know all of the basics. In the end, all of these tools work very much the same (except for Houdini) so knowledge is easily transferred from one to the other

[@Yukina._]

I Use C4D To Make My Mc Intro And... The Quaility Is Godly Good!!!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Everyone likes something different and as long as it works for you, that's all that matters :)

[@Yukina._]

@@SurfacedStudio Thats Right Dude :)

[@theweeknd8399]

hawaiizFX do you mean that c4d has the best quality

[@XionaZiba]

Wih ada hawaiizfx

[@Yukina._]

@@XionaZiba 🗿

[@PowerWildMetal]

I chose cinema 4D because I like the dynamic link with after effect, interface is user friendly, main tasks i'm gonna learn are environnement creation, camera tracking, and compositing, my purpose is to target music video clips on green screen, architecture, commercial product showreel, so this software fits with what I'm looking for.

[@AoOniTV]

How do people even afford Maya?

[@educate3d]

青鬼TV by working.the return on investment. But theres different versions of maya. You can buy the lt license, its around 250 a year i think. But 1450 a year for the software when you are using it to produce income is nnothing in cost

[@Qayzee]

Free for students dude.

[@steve00alt70]

Maya LT for freelancers and indie devs is 250 a year hardly breaking the bank

[@ElmoElbadry]

Piracy afford it, we don't.

[@alfahalfah5304]

they simply crack it

[@mrstanlez]

Blender, coze its free, has 84 MB, a lot of specials in one program.

[@EliasDaoud]

Hello, can Blender let me do the following request? is to draw an object and attribute to it all physical properties, and physics law is vouch to let the object go in motion and state (if liquid or gelatine) to a stable state and position.

[@Smittel]

@@EliasDaoud i feel like there is either a language barrier or you are deliberately trying to describe your "request" as complicated as possible, but what you are describing is called soft body physics, and blender has done that for a good decade or so, maybe even longer, but thats when I first used soft body in blender

[@pabloezequielpadula7278]

Blenderrrrrrrr for ever♥️

[@epicmaster833]

Yeah free

[@tubedaduda5164]

You just won a subscriber, thank you for providing subtitles in Portuguese!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the support! I’m pretty sure it’s a community contribution :)

[@psclip3309]

Blender is future

[@SurfacedStudio]

I really hope it is! I'm really enjoying it and 2.8 will be amazing!

[@leonaluceid2388]

I hope that will happen :)

[@SumoLife]

@@Kumodot check out 2.8

[@dariyuskabraji4609]

@@SurfacedStudio I just downloaded the new version today, what do you think of 2.9? As you said, I'm just checking it out as a beginner's hobby sort of use

[@MichaelLangmayer]

I don't think so....

[@munyaradziferemenga3359]

For me blender is the best. #Blender2.8

[@SurfacedStudio]

Can't wait for 2.8! Been playing with the experimental builds and there is so much awesome coming soon :D

[@manda3dprojects966]

Blender 2.8 Release Candidate will be released in October 2018

[@DouglasEKnappMSAOM]

@M Hurly Still looking at a march release. The first 2.7 was really bad and I don't hope for much more with 2.8. By 2.79a it was becoming really great. Still 2.7 was WAY better than 2.6. This is just how it goes.

[@Don-h4d]

Yeah because you are broken.

[@hazimzufar3023]

Open source software is always the best 👍

[@_mamoniem]

Max was "Discreet" originally, not Autodesk. So yes, Autodesk got Max & Maya to dominate the market and killed XSI later ;(

[@am1624-t2m]

mamoniem i think before 'Discreet' 3DSMax was released by 'Kinetix' which was at the time Autodesk's division for media and entertainment.

[@manda3dprojects966]

Autodesk XSI is dead, I attended the funeral of XSI.

[@daveedwardsconsulting6916]

Before the 3D Studio DOS product, its was the Cyber Studio on the Atari ST.

[@tredfxman]

To bad XSI is dead. Ithin kit was rly good modeling wise. But as its French made.. its not exactly a LOGICAL layout like 3DS MAX or German C4D... hehehe No offense French visitors.. But its exactly the same with the French FL Studio, its amazing so many people grasped the concepts of such DUMB Layouts isnt it ??? Look at Cubase & the far lesser known Synase Audio Orion Studio (which isnt availible anymore) They were both German Made & THUS Extremely Well Organized & Logical..... Thats how software shoul be in case your supposed to fcking understand & work proper with them !!! - Yes iv Aspergers - And if our kind know anything about human kind it is if they have STUPIDILY organized software !!! Go German Or Die !!! LoL No wonder German are best in everything.

[@daddy3d1972]

Max was by autodesk first. 3D Studio Dos was before max was also autodesk. Around version 2.5 of max kinetics and Discreet. By version 6 or so it was back to autodesk.

[@SOLMediaAZ]

This was a FANTASTIC explanation of the pros and cons of everything. Cleared up a lot thank you.

[@SurfacedStudio]

You are very welcome, thank you very much for your comment :D

[@morname8731]

based on years of experience working with most of 3d software you can think of, i would say the best software is Houdini followed by blender. in no company you would use one software to do everything. in most places you can choose to work with any software that you are more comfortable with. most of the big companies have their own tools and software, so the idea of i am going to use maya because pixar or dream work use maya is pretty wrong as they have their own in-house softwares. no matter how good the modeling and texturing of one of these packages are you will eventually end up using zbrush ,mari and substance. and finally if i was about to learn just one software it would definitely be blender , don't worry about the industry standard .

[@mightythor136]

your saying this because they are free softwares. but if i want to be honest, houdini is so hard to be learned and blender is not powerful.

[@DouglasEKnappMSAOM]

@@mightythor136 Blender is super powerful. Where do you see it lacking?

[@DouglasEKnappMSAOM]

They just used Blender to Make Next Gen on Netflix. It is almost 100% Blender and that was with the old version. 2.8 is 10 time more powerful!

[@gamersworld7926]

Simpal one by one learn everything 🔥😃

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D

[@rezo856]

Really awesome explanation. I loved this video tobias really! This is exactly what most people need to see :) From 3D programs I have tried out all of this and I choose Cinema 4D Because its the easiest 3D program (More easier then blender) and its professional too. I was learning it over 2 years. 3ds Max doesn't fit on me. Maya was too hard to understand. Later I started blender and I really liked it! I love when I see people created awesome arts with blender! Blender is totally worth it to learn it. Its really amazing 3D program with its main awesome photorealistic render engine. And really finally in the end I have found Houdini. The program which fits on me 100%. This is and will always be a 3D program that I want. I love making vfx the most so houdini is definitely super beast for that. Maya is very awesome too for vfx but mostly its beast for animation. So I would say these two are one of the most used 3D programs in Filmmaking/Animation/VFX. You are right about everything you said in this video! Its about which program fits on you. Its about what you want to do. I want to do vfx mostly for film so I choose houdini. While houdini is for creating highest quality vfx! I found that it can also be used perfectly for other things too like modeling. animation. etc. It has everything that I need! What makes me so much happy is that it doesn't need any plugins and it doesn't even have any plugins. It has absolutely everything that you need to create highest quality vfx and so on. I m learning houdini since 8 months now and I hope I will have more great skills! ( Since it needs many years to have awesome knowledge). Anyway. Really amazing video. Again I loved this video so much! Its totally worth it to watch! There is another video on youtube which uses almost the same name as this video 'What's the Best 3D Software?' By FlippedNormals. Which has more in depth explanation. So with that said! I Liked this video and plus added to favorites :) Cheers Tobias!

[@weez]

reading through hundreds of comments and blender is 100% the favorite among the people, the fact it can keep up with its new update and it completely free kinda takes the win it seems. also its not just about the program but what you are able to accomplish with it.

[@The_Curious_Cat]

The only thing I disagree about the video is the part if you want to model mechanical things (like cars), if you want to be an industrial or automotive designer don´t learn 3DsMax, learn Rhinoceros or Alias, you need to know how to model in CAD and parametric modelling. 3DsMax is a polygonal modelling program, so not that good for the industry. Also the thing missing on the video when talking about 3DsMax is that it´s much more oriented to the gaming industry, modelling, texturing, light sculpt tools, rendering, rigging, animation, it´s all there. While Maya is for the filming industry, 3dmax is for the gaming industry and architecture industry (realistic rendering/animation). Cinema 4D is very similar to 3dmax in tools and general aim, but seems to be much more intuitive, that´s why it´s getting to be used by the industry more and more (and I assume the lifetime licenses help).

[@alimantado373]

umm C4d along with Maxwell render is good enough for architecture, mechanical components, as it uses real world measurements.

[@iamdeepakbhandari]

Now blender is the easy to learn then others because of handy interface!

[@SurfacedStudio]

They all have handy interfaces :) Blender 2.80 is pretty darn good though, finally on par with some of the big players in terms of UX

[@1Robertwaterworth]

Don't forget LightWave 3D it's very popular with some studios and it is one of the oldest 3D applications out there. I actually started with light wave and then moved to Maya. I would say Maya is probably the most commonly used application with Studios that work on television and film. I'm a freelancer, and I used Maya exclusively these days. It's a pretty safe bet that just about every Studio that is looking to hire Freelancers uses Maya. Not yet come across a job that I couldn't take it on because I didn't have the right skill set. The largest Studios will use more than one 3D package. But my attempts to be the common denominator. So if you learn by your safe oh, your odds of Landing a job or really good. But again I'm speaking specifically about film and television.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Good info :) Thanks for sharing!

[@beruangloncat]

Absolutely correct! Many younger studios use blender since it is free and powerful enough to support the professional needed at certain level. I am a big fan of Blender after 3ds Max in Architectural industry.

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D I love using Blender (bugs and all) and I go to Houdini for some of the advanced stuff (e.g. sims)

[@RafKing]

is houdini One Time Price or is it rental based price ??

[@SurfacedStudio]

You can find all the licensing options on the SideFX website :) www.sidefx.com/buy

[@maiamaya6083]

I think you already know the answer 😭

[@Decco6306]

@@maiamaya6083 TRY BELNDER. its changed so much sense this videos release

[@moonsdonut5188]

@@maiamaya6083 it's torrents based also😂

[@typingcat]

The choice is simple: "Are you RICH?" -----|-------YES-------> 3DX, Maya, Houdini... |--------NO--------> Blender

[@SurfacedStudio]

There's probably a little bit more to it if you consider your long term aspirations ;) There's also free apprentice version for Houdini and some of the other packages have educational editions that you can use for free (or cheap) if you intend to work in one of the big studios.

[@sirrenainfinitiholmes8229]

yea maya offers 3 years to students too and houdini offers a free apprentiship version. You can use these and when you build a solid portfolio you can work for a studio or office that can afford the liscence :) **edit: *whispers* theres always torrenting too

[@MichaelLangmayer]

It's not about being rich. It's about if you need a studio tool or not...

[@voguart]

it is your experience that will make the difference and your wealth not the software.

[@archcast5550]

money does not interest Blender developers

[@KabeeshS]

the best explanation so far on the internet. started learning cinema4d ... great video

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the comment, glad you liked the video :)

[@alirezarezaei2976]

Houdini always does best in what does the name remind us about...MAGIC!!!

[@krypto61]

The point with blender that when something in production goes wrong you cant just call somebody to fix it; you're right, I never thought about it :D You could write the developers like Ton and I think they would fix it really soon since their team got bigger in the last weeks with their new Blender building :) And you forgot to mention that Blender is changing right now with 2.8 to a much more massive tool but a lot is different, very different than before

[@SurfacedStudio]

I am VERY actively following the development of 2.8 (got experimental builds on my machine) and really excited. 2.8 will be HUGE, but I doubt that it'll change the dynamics in the industry - at least in the short term. I'll be making plenty of videos for Blender 2.8 for sure!

[@cherrydragon3120]

Krypto am kinda afraid i won't be knowing any ore what to do with blender once the change comes :(

[@krypto61]

yeah I'm following each channel too and I'm not sure what to think about it. I'm playing with it right now but I dont like the new collection system (layers were better), the smoke/fluid simulation doesnt work for me (anyone else? :D). When opening projects of 2.79 with 2.8, every material has a converter node added for the displacement output but in fact that turns my material into black and I have to delete it so it works again normally. But for every material...its annoying :/ And I've got a weird window in the node editor that wont disappear since the last update. It crashes of course A LOT but thats normal since the official release will come out soon

[@Regnareb]

Actually you have more chance to get support with Blender than with any Autodesk product :/

[@DouglasEKnappMSAOM]

Really you can just call someone! When I run into a bug I just put it in the bug tracker and it is fixed the next day. In some cases I go to IRC blender developers and ask there and get an answer within minutes. One day I wanted greases pencil for my team so I went on IRC and talked with dev and he added it about one week later. Can you do that with ANY of the pay programs? On top of that, if you have the programmers or cash you can buy the answer you want. It is OPEN source. The main point is not free but OPEN!

[@mosog8829]

Blender all the way. 😎😎😎😎

[@SurfacedStudio]

Same for me :) Except a little bit of Houdini on the side

[@ben-btl]

cuz its free '-'

[@ZK-ff2ru]

Crybaby Sucks? Search Blender renders in google.

[@captainfantastic3490]

nothing beat ZBrush... so ZBrush all the way sir

[@雷禾鈞]

@@ben-btl it opens in 4 seconds. I can install it on any public computer and start learning

[@chinmaytamhane]

Thanks man, this video really helped me clear my confusion around all this softwares... my vision ahead is now more clearer... 😇😇

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear! Thank you for the comment :)

[@CJ-yf5cr]

Thank you so much for making this video!!!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

You're very welcome :)

[@mihailazar2487]

BLENDAAAR MASTER RACE !

[@BS-bd5uq]

It feels like 3ds Max has been dropping its relevance over the years...when something great came out, 3ds Max is probably the last one to get it

[@shahriartanvir977]

Learning HOUDINI changed how I see stuff. My brain and PC neither has any idea what they're doing. But, I still love the way it works.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Houdini is a completely different beast - but it's amazing if you can get a hang of it. Kudos for getting into it, that's not an easy feat :D

[@Himesh4241]

Every one is saying C4D but i personally like 3dsmax and i use it in my daily workflow

[@Remour]

Arjun Subramanian Yeah, I switched to 3dsmax 4 years ago, and I love it

[@vandammage1747]

Arjun Subramanian, I love 3ds max too but vfx, cloth etc are a pain though and so many old modifiers and features like cloth, hair & fur, pflow etc has been untouched for years. I've recently started using houdini and it's not that hard really. Actually for a generalist I would argue it's easier than max because everything you learn can be used anywhere in Houdini whereas in max you have to learn and remember custom features for every plugin and feature.

[@REDSOURCE]

I am an Indie game developer and 3D modeler. I think that Houdini is absolutely amazing when you know what your doing, because it is basically every single plugin and software capabilities in one software. So I definitely recommend learning Houdini. It's hard but It's worth it I assure you :3 Blender is free and it is also a BEAST of a software, it can do anything and I have been using it for little over 5-4 years now. And Zbrush is definitely where I spend most of my time because it is just SO powerful in sculpting and organic modeling! However I will say that Zbrush probably has one of the worst UI's I have seen. So before you jump into it I recommend designing the UI in a way that you see fit. It will help you a lot

[@Bobbie25RB]

I've done 3D work for 18 years, I use C4D and Maya mostly but its always dependent on what the job requires. So the best is whats required by the client. I say know the basics of them all, my favorite is C4D, but I can do the job in them all.

[@JuanHernandez-ze3si]

I've done 3D work for some time as well and Maya was always the tool I used when I worked at studios. However, since I became a solo freelancer I only use C4D, I work mostly doing motion graphics and product visualization. I find a much faster workflow with C4D.

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D

[@Topntop]

Which is easiest for modeling in all

[@STUNTSTHEREALONE]

They are all good at certain things. Maya and Blender are generally good at everything, 3ds is great for architecture, C4D is great for animation and compositing and Houdini is the go to program for simulations.

[@_Vishhh_]

Just what I wanted :)

[@SurfacedStudio]

Great to hear!

[@infinityuniverse]

“Flight to the Universe”, our upcoming space film, used Maya student version for 3D animation and rendering. Later, we’re switching over to Blender for our science series, “Scienceland”.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses :) Only you know what's 'best' for you (at any given point in time)

[@3dvfxprofessor]

Thanks for your time to give us your opinion. But I have strongly to disagree to your statement about the support. The support of the big developers like Autodesk is the worst support I've ever experienced. You'll get nothing but some random updates per year with new bugs. Just take a look at Maya 2019. They stopped the development after it was released because it's broken. And now they released a 2018.6 update a few days ago? It looks like that 2019 is on hold. It's a desaster for small scale studios to deal with all these little annyoing issues what forces you to get used to weird workarounds all the time. This costs so much lifetime and money at the end. Blender has the best support I've ever experienced. You can file bug reports on their fantastic plattform developer.blender.org, the devs react immediately and the easy ones will be fixed within 24 to 48 hours in the next daily build. What is a 117MB Zip file only and not several gigabytes of painful installation. I've posted a lot of bug reports and they got nearly all fixed within 24 hours. Just one critcial CUDA error took 4 weeks. This is absolutely amazing and the progress of development is really impressive. You will not get 1 percent of this by Autodesk. You'll even get no info what happens next and when. But the Blender dev team does this constantly. You feel like a part of the development. It's embarrassing to pay per seat EUR 240 per month for nothing but to wait for the next broken release on an Alpha and if it runs OK ... Beta level. And Blender is doing a short like SPRING as a complex case study to boost the development of 2.80. And you have access to scenes and tutorials about their shorts. How cool is this? The Beta version might be rated as unstable but we use it right now for our commercial productions. Autodesk would have the money to do the same easily. But this company is shareholder value driven and is not a customer friendly developer. Just my 2 cent as a 3d veteran since 1987. ;-)

[@SurfacedStudio]

I appreciate all opinions and feedback so thank you (and thank you for it not just being a rant like so many others I seem to get on this particular video hehe) :) I've pinned a few more explanations in the comments section as well to clarify what I meant as the video is likely not clear enough on what I was trying to say. To me, one of the biggest challenges Blender has to overcome is not 'lack of support' but the fact that with open source, there is no legal liability. Support may be 1000% better than for Autodesk, but if something does go wrong and costs a big studio somewhere a lot of money, they can't go and sue Blender... and it's simply a risk that a lot of studios are not willing to take, hence it adds to the reluctance to fully embrace it. I myself am a Blender person - that and Houdini - and didn't mean to 'smack talk' it or praise Autodesk for their fantastic support :) Blender 2.8 is amazing and I can't wait for it to get released officially (I already made a few videos on it). I'm keen to see where things will go in the future and I'm all for Blender taking over - at the moment that's not the case however so I feel a lot of people wanting to get into the industry now are slightly better advised to learn Maya/Houdini - and then likely some Blender in case it just explodes in the coming years :D Again, thank you for your extensive comments - agree with a lot of points in there, just might not have been clear in my video :D

[@PeterKoperdan]

Wow, really great perspective!

[@ahnaftawsifkhan2197]

I just rewatched this video and realized how far blender has came in about 3 years.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Haha, this video is pretty old! Blender has indeed come a long way, especially since 2.8, and I've got tons of tutorials for it on my channel now :) If you intend to work in the VFX or film making industry though I'd still recommend getting into Houdini or Maya or C4D

[@MichaelLangmayer]

Max forever!!!! Unbeatable production machine!

[@digbysirchickentf2315]

C4D isn't designed to do motion graphics, thats just one thing it does well, among many others, Please think beyond internet memes / product marketing

[@danteart373]

Oh you are the C4D user, I was wondering why does other always talk just about motion graphics in C4D when its 10GB Software. I got x-particles Realflow, Octane, Cycle4D its a powerfull endine. I hope it will be much faster with R20.

[@tnetroP]

Thanks. This is very useful. Out of interest what happened to Lightwave 3D? Back in the era of Babylon 5 it seemed to be widely used and a real competitor for 3D Studio. But it seems to have all but disappeared now.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Great to hear you found it useful! Lightwave 3D used to be pretty big, but for some reason doesn't seem to be used (as) extensively any more. Lots of other programs seem to have taken the front seat so I'm not sure where it's at :) Maybe someone else has a better view on it than me.

[@MiklosHajma]

I was a huge lightwave fan back then. If I remember correctly, there was some internal trouble between the devs, and the ones having new ideas left and created Modo.

[@3DJapan]

LightWave is one of the top 3D programs in the industry right now. It's used in almost every TV show that uses 3D not to mention many of the big films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, etc.. Don't know why he didn't mention it. Version 2018 is out now and has already been updated 5 times. What's amazing is how it can do almost everything you need at a very low price.

[@katliberty6724]

Autodesk has spent untold millions of dollars on trying to kill LightWave3D over the last 20+ years. They could never crack the TV VFX market because of it and only recently have they been able to do so and VFX production in TV is being sent out of the country in large amounts now for tax credit savings because the costs of using AD products and their lack of speed when you are up against the hard dead line of "we air in 2 days" means you have to add more staff and that means more pipeline which actually can slow you down even more. It's really fucked up because LightWave3D was (and to a certain extent still is) Hollywood's secret weapon but its like people just "forgot" suddenly and that was that. By people, I mean the people who used to get shows made because of LightWave3D being able to do better work for less money on time. VFX supervisors, VFX producers, Executive producers, directors.. who didn't have their heads up their ass... all knew this.. then poof.. just like that... Curious isn't it? Well, that's autodesk at work and their push of the pipeline and an entrenched pipeline pushing generation if not 3 now of "we only know of the may... and the max..." Thugee (indiana jones.. remember?) cult/zombies drowing out anything else. But LW was a specific problem for AD and it still is a problem. LightWave artists don't need pipelines. WE ARE THE PIPELINE. If LW ever got certain things sorted out, well... yikes! But it keeps getting kicked in the balls every time it starts to recover, the users being the ones instrumental in "course" corrections when shit goes sideways. Who makes it go side ways? People with a hate on for LW or NewTek, yet end up in a position of control over the product. They come in a few styles. 1. They try and walk out the back door with it and make it their own types. 2. sign up saying "im just lik you, I love lightwave3d", yet secretly want it dead, so they can make there own dream app for 3D, but only deliver nightmares, before signing up, during the time on deck, or since departure, or 3. A combination of if they can't get what they want done to it (which is based in a whole lot of fucking wrong), they try again to walk it out the back door, doing damage to it as much as they can if they don't succeed, while also hoping NT will just give up and not care. Pretty strange for a packge no one uses any more for the last... 20 years since "Industry standards" were established by Autodesk, Alias/WaveFront and SGI and Softimage. But NewTek does care, even though they have had their share of incidents over their history which I won't get into because I could write a book on it. Including how LW saved the company, twice. Yeah, its strange... But that's why its such a threat and the proof is there, even today. LightWave3D has survived 3 major assassination attempts. The first being the luxology split, pulling the original 2 developers away with the 3D product manager in the lead.. as he deleted the LW bug list on the way out the door. Cute. The second being Jay Roth (former Electric Image president and founder of EIAS who went to NewTek after EIAS fired him, twiceI believe, and went in and almost immediately to work on a "new" LightWave which had nothing to do with LW in terms of workflow, GUI or power with ZERO consultation from the user base about it. he wasn't building an al know more powerful LightWave. He was building his baby andif he succeeded or failed it was about one thing and only one thing for him. Killing the 3D program which effectively killed Electric Image (EIAS is actually still around, the app they support most for file formats.. LightWave3D) as an industry player. He was very close with LightWave CORE, being an abject failure from day 1, with nearly 40%, from what I understand of the LW user base having left after the LW CORE reveal. It would have been 100% if we had not stood up and had him removed, hoping his replacement would be better. Strangely enough, during the 9.6 cycle it was here that LW got is groove back with 1devloper working on it, fixing a shwack of stuff while the rest worked on LWCORE. the biggest technology leap really since 5.6 in the late 90s which was HUGE for LighWave3D, came with 9.6 and a massive amont of LW users are still on that version today, but a large amount of them having upgraded to LW 2018 too. We saw some very interesting 3rd party plug-ins come out as a result. Stuff that gave LW the power of XSI and even Houdini at the time, but stupidly easy to use. LWCORE though was the big threat and needed to be stopped. Otherwise 9.6 was going to be it. No more LightWave as LightWave. Oh prayers be anwered! Then comes in the false messiah to unfuck the product finally...At least we thought.. like this is NOT HARD TO DO, we all know what has to be done.. RIGHT...? To get it right? Well.. Core Dies as it should and correctly Rob understood what we all knew about LightWave, regarding its potential and why...here to song and dance and scream and yell , Rob "Jim Cameron loves me!" Powers, signs on. and then... oh man..What are you doing buddy? Don't name it using the yearly convention shit like AD does? oh wait a SECOND! Well...Fuck... noo... not again!! IMPOSSIBLE! this is not good. It was certainly an awful feeling to discover for myself. More upsetting being the finer details. For whatever reason.. there was for them, some other reason for their motivations for being there. really. I do find it curious though... Who forgot to tell NewTek it seems that they used to work for Autodesk before being hired by them? plain and simple...a massive waste of time and money for all of us LightWave users and NewTek, and awful for the developers. just like Jay Roth. He took a real cheap shot on the way out too.. too bad it backfired! nice try there "WannaBrad". 0 points for originality. And things started to really get fun... if not curious.. when people from the modo camp start circling over head (smelling blood in the water, sending in a shark to boot- hah hah.. funny. sharknado was all LW, and not the product you push, pixelcheesers) saying LW is dead just days before the news breaks he's been shit canned. Then posting almost scripted attacks, looking to pick off LightWave users once the news hits - believing they had won a prize... knowing about it in advance...Hmmm... this strangeness was confirmation of something else we had been suspicious of for some time. The coordination factor. It's not just a conspiracy theory folks, if they really are out to get you. but while rob was pouting in a corner for 18 months, sucking a paycheck (if he cared about he product he could have resigned so that money would have gone to the devs or more of them.. but nope... kept cashing checks) nowhere to be found by the community, the developers it seems were rocking and rolling and were ready. And boom!NT/LWG Announces 2018 for release Jan 1. 2 weeks after they blow him out of the water finally and they send a few of his minions packing two who did jack squat but suck a pay check just like him. So who was holding up the release exactly? Who was holding the product back? 20 years of being kicked in the nuts, being assaulted by autodesk underhandedness (threatening schools and studios for teaching or using LightWave3D if they also did AD products, lies spread about its in ability to work in pipelines, about its inability to do X, about it not being made anymore, the bullshit we always here about lack of a unified modeler/layout, you name it)... AND YET IT IS STILL HERE, with LightWave3D 2018.0.6 just released 2 weeks ago. Word is 2019 in full on development. Not sure what we will see, and get when it comes out, but onee thing is for sure, we are going to get it. And we are going to continue on despite all of these best efforts to have it crushed. And thats why its such a threat.... we are still using it and if not we can pick it back up almost instantly having not touched it in years, because of one of the "secrets" that it holds and hasn't fucked up. What would happen if LW got certain things sorted out finally...? Impossible? Tell me how it's still around after going through all that which I just described, what is possible vs. impossible when so many of you out there assumed all the work that LW did and continues to do, was done with AD products because "what else would you use?". Then you blender folks jumping up and down about the power of that product and its progress, unaware of anything else other than AD or C4D. Because what else is there to use? Maybe houdini? Wel.. interesting you bring that up... Remember 9.6... If you don't know why LW is still such a threat, and has been for so long, surviving this history and moving forward, you might want to fiugure it out. Especially if LW gets some more of the lead out.Which doens't require a "re-write" or oldcode vs. new code swap out to get to a place peole mistakenly believe LightWave can't get to without going through. It's a lie that LW needs a full "re-write" like what had to happen with 3d Studio becoming max and with softImage SI3D becoming XSI . It's always been a lie. It just takes doing. ultimately, LW has the potential to very easily become a "Houdini light" while staying all LightWave. Because that's what it is and demonstrated as such 10 years ago with the 9.x cycle and where by the time of the 9.6 release that power was in front of us and being used almost universally by LW artists and carried us forward to get to 2018 on that advancement almost ENTIRELY on its own. Now, 2018 where massive changes done in the year prior to release represent the greatest technology shift since 5.6. and this is outside of the new shader/volumetrics and render engine, geometry engine and other stuff listed o the site as advances. It's actually not listed. But it's already becoming a big fucking deal. Figuring this out yet? You should. Just in case... right?

[@blendedplanet]

I gave up on lightwave long ago mainly b/c the renderer was stupidly slow compared to everyone else's. And now we see them touting new modeler features in 2018 like ... erm ... latice deform??!?? Blender had that in 1999!

[@APRICEPRODUCTION]

Back in 2004, I purchased a physical copy of Lightwave 8 and at the time, Lightwave was used quite a lot in the industry, not so much anymore I don't think. I remember paying about £200-£300 at the time. Even though I used the software I didn't delve deep into learning the 3D. However Blender has absolutely astonished me, how powerful a FREE open source 3D software can be. I would probably say in terms features. It's better than what I bought back in 2004. Blender is so fun, and it's really sparked my interest/inspiration MORE with 3D because it's built and designed around creativity and it's users rather than financial greed like a lot of companies. Yeah it might not be 100% behind Maya or 3D Max in power or features, but it's constantly growing I think in the future it's going become a bigger powerhouse...

[@SurfacedStudio]

I hope Blender keeps getting more and more love across the community (and more dev support). I really enjoy using it and mainly use Blender + Houdini for my 3D work these days