What about XSI, nobody seem to use it and it seems to be the big hit now with the new features giga polygon core, 64 bit, gator and ultimapper to name just a few.
I too want to start learning something to be able to get hired and i’m so inclined to Max but Softimage could be the big hit as price and features and many studios could addopt it.
it’s not the program that matters, it’s what you do with it.
If you do wonders in bryce you’ll be taken more seriously than if you do crap in maya. That’s it.
So stick with your favorite until you do wonders, and then learn the alternatives.
I’ve had to learn 3DMax because of school, plus I’ve used Maya (I also use StudioTools from Alias, but that’s a bit different category) and Cinema4D.
About Max: yes, it’s easier to learn than blender, and yes it’s an industry standard. And yes, it has more features than a boeing cockpit. But trust me, even if you’ve been doing 3D graphics for ages, you will not need 75% of its features. But i still prefer to use Blender, there are simply some quirks of max that I can’t get used to. And it IS a resource hog, at about 100000-200000 polys the screen updates gets choppy, while in Blender I can go up to 500000-1million without problems. Oh, and am I the only one, or does Max really crash all the time?!
And I don’t really like its renderer, but then again, if you can afford Max, you can afford a renderer as well, plus lately mentalray is bundled with it anyways…
Maya: that’s what I would get if I had the money and the choice right now, harder to learn, but seems better in the long run.
Besides that, if you are really concerned about getting a cg job, then Max is more mainstream, but if you do freelance or maybe a small startup, then use what gets the job done for you, in good quality, “for yesterday”. And for me, that program still is: Blender 
JepMasterAce
well as far as i know max 8 stil uses an aged kernel.
well that might change with the new technology injection from alias.
talking about quality and subdivsurf, i am curious why nobery mentiones electric image?
Dont be silly.
Theres about a zillion features in blender that do not have a hotkey assigned to them. Theres also hotkeys ‘wasted’ on functions that very few people use or even know exists (‘ctrl- - display texture alpha in wireframe’ anyone?) Furthermore since blender has pretty much run out of hotkeys there is no way in the world you would be able to assign every function to a hotkey even if we had the capability to do custom keybindings (its coming).
The original posters comment metioned that labels get cut off a lot… this really only happens in the ‘buttons’ screen space when you have the buttons scaled too small. Since 99 percent of the functionality accessed through the ‘buttons’ screen space type is not mapped to hotkeys, or even to the toolbox/3d view popups, the original poster’s point still stands as being valid in my mind.
Cheers
Xarf
Well I stand corrected.
My point was more that if you don’t use any hot-keys you will have to waste time navigating the menus which is a horrible way to get work done IMO.
Maybe it’s just me but when people talk blender’s UI being bad or “worst they’ve ever seen” I can’t help but think they don’t know any keyboard short-cuts and spend their time using the menus to access everything.
some people think it’s dead because most core developers left and founded luxology a few years ago. i also read that a complete rewrite would take them too long so they will have to keep making improvements to the quite outdated architecture.
max is overpriced and coming from apps like houdini and maya i find it’s an ugly usability nightmare (exactly like many people think of blender :)). it can be quite unstable, it runs only on windows, you will probably need lots of plugins, the animation features are weak,…
lightwave is interesting because of its low price (even if the future is kind of uncertain).
i would also look into the $500 xsi and in 1-2 years modo will become an interesting full 3d-suite.
…and of course always keep using blender besides your other tools! 
some people think it’s dead because most core developers left and founded luxology a few years ago. i also read that a complete rewrite would take them too long so they will have to keep making improvements to the quite outdated architecture.[/quote]
Actually, the new dev team began reconstructing the core quite some time ago. And they’re doing a very nice job of balancing that along with adding new features and fixing bugs. Many LightWave users are quite grateful that the old dev team left, because they were “running LW into the ground.”
Its future isn’t uncertain. In fact, things have never looked better for LightWave. 
some people think it’s dead because most core developers left and founded luxology a few years ago. i also read that a complete rewrite would take them too long so they will have to keep making improvements to the quite outdated architecture.
[/quote]
Blenders architecture is similarly outdated and would take a long while to rewrite from scratch. That dosnt stop people from making improvments to it 
Its not just you. See, your reaction seemed to me to be the typical ‘knee jerk’ reaction that has afflicted so many blender users over the past 7+ years. In these situations someone usually makes a good point about some faults in blender but then an overzealous user jumps to the programs defense. During the course of defending Blender these users usually make it obvious that they didnt stop to think about the signifigance of the critical input being given by the original poster. Instead they just go off on a tangent that is (only sometimes) vaguely related.
I dont see how scaring off those who would give usefull input helps blender grow any.
Regards
Xarf[/quote]
i was under the impression that they left because they wanted to do the rewrite? and after they weren’t allowed to do it they started their own thing from scratch.
i know (and they also are similar in some other regards) but lightwave has some very tough competition and blender doesn’t directly have to compete with anyone.
Yes maybe you’re right Zarf, it’s hard not to do that sometimes. Not just Blender but any open source app seems to get railed on alot because of that sole fact so you tend to go into battle mode whenever someone starts to comment. I do find it disturbing though that so many seemingly new users say “While I just started to use blender and I am currently writing tutorials on it, blender has the worst UI I ever saw.”, maybe that’s why I just assumed the worst, I apologize.
I just personally feel that you can’t really point out faults or needed changes untill you take the time to learn what you’re talking about. Of course that isn’t to say that first time observations are meaningless or unfounded and you are right they should be given a chance to be heard.
3d is a great hobby. Some folks just wanna have fun with 3d.
“if you want to get into the industry”… I see that statement all of the time in post like this. But in reality 3d is 3d. Seriously, if you are able to produce work to the level of the Project Orange team with Blender you’ll be able to work in the “industry”. Don’t count on your purchase of 3d Max or Lightwave turning you into a solid contender in the 3d industry. You gotta get the skills to…Ya know?
ja forreal, i think what he meant by that, partially atleast, is actually learning the program. Say you want to get a job in the industry, they going to see how well you know the program. You cant just get a job saying your highly skilled in Blender. They are going to be using professional apps, such as Maya,3ds and so on…not Blender
If you had the choice between hiring someone who has skills and someone who knows the app you use, who would you choose ?
“max is overpriced and coming from apps like houdini and maya i find it’s an ugly usability nightmare (exactly like many people think of blender ). it can be quite unstable, it runs only on windows, you will probably need lots of plugins, the animation features are weak,…”
---- Max is just the right price. It took many programmers, mathematicians, physics personel, etc to make it what it is today. It is made for companies that’ll make millions using autodesks little $4000.00 software. So when you say it’s too overpriced, it’s not. In usability, max tops them all because it’s Object Oriented and has the best UI where every single aspect is customizable, from the colors of the work area to the colors of the buttons can be changed much like firefox. This means it’s not ugly because you can make it look anyway you feel comfortable. Not even maya is as customizable as Max. It doesn’t have rounded buttons because the UI is not rendered in OGL like blender. Who needs rounded buttons anyway? People complaining about the “ugyiness” of max really never checked out the customize menu %| . You don’t NEED plugins. If you’re creative enough (“like me”) you’ll find a way to do what you want to do without the use of plugins. Plugins are there for 1. If you don’t know how to do a certain effect for example, make a landscape. You can do anything in max without plugins but if you need to save time for an otherwise difficult effect, plugins are there for your convenience. I think we took this simple question wayy out of proportion! I think “the maker” maybe more confused at this point as what software to get.
So question: 3ds Max vs LightWave? Answer: 3ds Max buttom line.
Question: Which one should I get? Answer: Depends on your will and your pocket.
Tip: I suggest you really research both software. It will help you get a better idea of what’s right for you.
What I did when I had to make the decission: I downloaded the demos for all software and played with them for 30 days. In the end I noticed I accomplished more using 3ds Max. Everything was straight foward and easy to remember. The help file was very educational and teaches you real world issues such as in lighting and cameras. All this and the fact that my favorite playstation games eg. metal gear solid was made using max for the models and environments, helped me make my decission. Good Luck "The Maker " 8)
i wasn’t talking about the look and the color of the buttons but about usability and workflow and i find maya is a lot more customizeable than max. 
it’s overpriced if you compare what you get for < $3000 from the competition (maya, xsi, cinema4d, houdini, lightwave,… or maybe they are underpriced :P) but if he just wants to use it for learning there are educational prices so the whole thing looks different anyway.
but i agree with you that it’s best to try out the demos and see what you like best.
you have to have skills but you also have to have knowledge about the 3d program the studio uses.
also keep in mind there are texture painters, modelers, animator, ADs, light designer and and and
this are all special positions. well a modeler is not the best. AD are more challanging. each position requires specific skills.
If I was using my own inhouse 3d app like a lot of the big guys do for my main pipeline, skills would be the ticket.
I’ve been a Max user for quite some time now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t dip into Blender now and then(mostly for using with the game engine Irrlicht).
When I started using Max, I found it very easy to get it into; it has great documentation(no online stuff, it’s all compiled HTML), tutorials, and UI. Like the other people here were saying, it’s a customizable program; I have a toolbar I use all the time for modelling/animation on the left side of my screen.
Unlike Blender, Max is not a hotkey-type program, though you can assign your own if you like. Someone joked on CGtalk that it’s the only program he has where can be modelling with one hand and holding coffee in the other.
The modelling tools are also very good…I find them fast to use…so I usually model something in Max first then bring it into Blender. The program’s Skinning is also similar to Blender’s in some ways, since it uses Envelopes. Just don’t get too excited about the weight-painting system though; it’s very value-based as opposed to a slider(Blender/Lightwave/Maya/XSI/etc…), so it is difficult to use.
I have no personal experience with Lightwave though, so I can’t say anything for or against it…spend a few hours researching both programs, ask questions on CGTalk, look up tutorials…download the Trial versions if you have a cable modem…and see which one you like best.
You could really bypass 3d apps like Max and Lightwave if you are really trying to get into the highend film industry. With the low cost option of XSI which is a very good industry app, we can choose highend 3d. The middle ground 3d apps have a place in the game industries and small screen media. But there is a big difference in using 3d apps like Maya and XSI.
It’s good to see that Blenders getting some of the powerful features like material nodes. The big 3d apps have had this functionality for years. I imagine that the Project Orange code additions will get even more advanced as time goes on. The Orange build is like having our own inhouse 3d app in the making. If we get advanced renderman output features…