Dear BlenderArtists,
Comming monday I am gonna start college at the NHTV Breda and study ‘Visual Arts’ for Game-Achitecture-and-Design.
However, they are using Maya as their sofware of choice which means I am gonna have to swich from Blender to Maya.
Do any of you have had simular experiences and could share your story/tips/advice on the matter?
Anything I should be aware of or should pay extra close attention to?
Or is it simply booting the new software and see where it goes?
Cheers,
Max
Don’t give up Blender, as there are many studio companies taking an increasing interest in Blender. Sure, many use Maya and Studio 3D Max, but some of their artists are switching over to Blender. Some have previously used Maya or 3ds Max for YEARS and are now using Blender. Companies like seeing their artists taking keen interest in latest affordable softwares, whatever that can help beat tight deadlines, save time and labour in production, keep down overheads, etc. Knowledge in Blender for your resume or CV would be very advantageous.
While you are a student, do vary your interests in softwares and also in art apps. Get interested in not just the big-name softwares, also their rivals. Some upcoming rivals are getting better and more affordable.
For planning 3D models ahead, I always rough out my ideas first on iPad or Samsung Galaxy Note. I use Samsung Note 10.1 for Autodesk Sketchbook pro and iPad for Artrage and Procreate. I use Samsung NOTE (not Samsung Tab) for mostly sketching or inking because of it fine-tipped stylus that works like a Wacom, but you can’t get Artrage or Procreate on Android - it is a pity. iPad doesn’t have fine-tipped stylus, but I use it for painting.
Dear RitaG, I waited with replying till I actually had had my first day of school 
Thanks so much for your advice,
It sounds all very reasonable, and I most definitly wasn’t planning on giving up on Blender.
As a student I am most definitly planning on learning about as many different software as possible, inclusing Maya, Zbrush and Illustrator.
So far the teachers are very flexable in which software we prefer though they insist that we use Maya for their assignments because they want every student to be on the same page. I most say I really enjoy working with Maya so far, and the trasfer seems to be kindda natural… though the interface does still feel a bit more sloppy.
Thanks again for sharing your story,
Max
I had a similar experience when I took CG summer classes at a local community college and had to use 3DS Max. I lost a lot of modeling ‘muscle memory’ and speed because the mouse movements and hotkeys are different. I spent time doing MAX beginner tutorials for stuff I had already done in Blender to get used to the differences.
Pay particular attention to work flow, you will get used to the new keystrokes quickly enough, but knowing what to do first to set things up is vital. MAX has very nice presets for materials, and a decent library of models built in to the basic software. I found it really hard to model decent topology, though, and nobody seemed to know how to get MAX’s bipedal rig to work. Rigify is the model of clarity and ease in comparison.
That’s the spirit!
For every one facing the same challenge: In this business there is nothing more important than the will and ability to learn new stuff every day. In the end it will not matter what software you use or love but whether you are able to solve problems or not. Knowing a great variety of workflows and knowing what is done best with what helps you survive in the industry a lot.
And the more blender people get their foot in the doors of commercial production houses, the better 
but you will most likely not start with blender there.
Maya is good software to learn and students can do various animation scenes using it ,it’s a fun working on maya.