I went the wrong way somehow, and went for freeware and free software… They all want you use Max or Maya. In my area, it was Max. I had to learn it, at least to a point of being useful with it for the teams. In my experience though, modeling in whatever you prefer, just the polygons, is not big issue, but… My best advice is go with one of the latest Max and/or Maya all the way,(so, another +1) for gaming industry. Ideally have deep knowledge of one first, then go and convert that knowledge to the other package. Is really easier once you have mastered ONE of them… It seems Maya is used a lot in animation, and loved by studios for its scripting and workflow posibilities. But Max is very solid in games too, and 2012 version is good. In the end, is a hard task, so, I’d say see the trials, give them a very good try of weeks of work each. If you have experience with Blender, you at least know the deal in 3D, and can transfer the base of it to other package. It’s always quite some work, but you get it, progresively.
For freelancing, well, here I might agree less. Maybe Michael is talking of a bigger type of deal, working with Sony and EA. I have done freelancing but only for some bucks, and usualy casuals, sharewares, indies, ppl deving for iphone, new generation mobiles in general, XNA, etc. This kind of thing, if take the time to dig for the needed workflow + formats + tools, well, this allow me to use the softwares I prefer for each stage. A kind of gig like M.W say, would be silly to do so, as he says, games this years use a lot of shaders, special maps, a lot of interaction, plugins, complex studio owrkflows… Giving them a max or maya file is the only sensible way, and there can still be issues. But imo, that’s a kind of gig, it depends on if you expect to be able to hunt those gigs, or if you are going to go for any kind of 2d/3d project, be it games or not, or be it high end game stuff, or smaller things.
For the games career thing, it’s a fact, go with one of those 2.
PD: Where I don’t regret it is for the modeling part. And am not alone, several great pros(not saying am a great pro, lol ) do use Silo, Modo or other for modeling, but just like me they do need then to provide then an absolutely perfect integration with the team work, or your nice fav app has 2 seconds remaining at your work comp. They (several places) did always allow me use my whatever polygon pusher for nice speed modeling(maybe I have not worked with ‘uber fast’ guys at modeling, dunno), and because were not EA or Valve, but small studios,(but paid my bills for years…) even if with nice/medium projects in their production. Anyway, is a hard path, I don’t recommend it. A lot of fights with bosses, an added pressure (as if weren’t enough, game industry is quite hard) as one can’t fail like your mates are allowed to (I mean, sort of more than you) : they’re using “the right tool”, or that is what is stablished. Much easier just to master fully Max and/or Maya, imo. As in the end, you have to get really deep knowledge of those, anyway…
Last note: Having a job as stress-full and demanding as games rarely leaves enough time and energies for additional freelancing . So, that case is Max/Maya and that’s all. Having (in my very , very personal opinion) a job of other type which allows you to have a better life (current situation) does leave you with a better option to make “some” little work as freelance or indy, and there, you’re not forced to anything, so might prefer to cook the thing at your will, in my case that is Wings, Blender, etc.
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