[citation][nom]falchard[/nom]I know the standard for 3D modeling is Autodesk's products, but I just can't justify them in games. They are gearing too much towards movies. They treat work for games as: If they can make it for a movie then it should have the functionalities needed to make models for games. They were even touting their better "cinematic" offerings at GDC. The annoying part about Autodesk is the junk that might come along for the ride when transferring something to a game engine or another modeling program. That and its difficult to get the Maya renderer to sufficiently decrease its calculations so the model would appear as it does in a game. With Max, you can use a DirectX shader directly.Personally, I prefer Blender because its free. It uses Python as a scripting extension. Its texture mapping is based on powers of 2. It has a built in game engine. Its units are actually whole units and not 0.999999999999 of something. It also works with models cleanly, and forces the user to work faster with hotkeys.[/citation]
can't justify them in game s ? all your points only tell me that you haven't used 3ds max in along long time. granted i'm no fan of maya , but 3ds max itself is far more user friendly and speedy to work with on game models than blender. what's more si that autodesk is still regularly updated while blender is not. there is better tech support in 3ds max as well , keep in mind these programs ARE designed for game developer companies , not ameture modders.
if you are just a modder looking for good software on the cheap by all means go with blender it'll get you there , but if you expect to work professionally in the industry knowing 3ds max or maya is a must as nearly all of the game industry uses one of these two products to create models.
Now on another note , since I'm still a student and will still be a student in april I'll likely get to grab these for free as autodesk has had a deal with our school to give their suites free under a student license for the past 3 years running. so can't wait to dive into the new features.