3ds max alternatives?

[zeronove]

In regards to starting "yet another full blown package". I am not fond of that route. It would take ages. I mean, that is exactly what luxology did. They started in 2001 according to Wikipedia. It took them 3 years to present on siggraph. And now, 11 years later (!) it still is not a complete replacement from what i hear.

I totally understand your point but what's the consequence? we have stand the adks dictatorship all life long?

[instinct]

What is your consequence then? Hope for someone to start a new package and wait 20 years for it to compete? I don't see that as an option. If you cannot stand ADSK for any reason, or if you dislike all of their products you're better of switching instead of asking for something new. There's quite some other tools out there. If Max or Maya still suits you best, then you might have to stick with it. But having the best option on the Market is hardly "dictatorship" in my eyes.

Just my two cents.

Regards,
Thorsten

[zeronove]

Good for you if you are really happy with adsk way of development.
What I know for sure is that if I ever provide that kind of service to one of my client I will be fired in minute because there are zillion of architect of there able to do my job.
It's a fact that maybe for me the real point is that max is way oversized so every year I have to pay for something that I don't use and survive to unacceptable bugs losing a lot of my time to find workarounds (it's the same story every year, we're aware all 'bout it). That's why I'm looking for a stripped down tool able to satify my needs; I don't know if it exists, if not I'll be forced to stay with adsk.
But, yes I'm really sure that adsk way of doing is more similar to what I said than to something else; elaborating a bit further I could say "monopolistic dictatorship". I'm sorry but I don't see how "to be the best option on the market" could be an argument.
I really have no interest turning this post into a flame vs. adsk, simply it's my point of view after almost 15 years of adsk issues.

[instinct]

I never said i am happy with the decisions made or the directions taken for the record. I just stated they were on track in regards to the surveys and feedback channels.

If the service is as bad then why don't you switch? (Am serious, not trying to be witty or anything)

[bardo]

In my dreams I'd like to have a full 3d app from Chaos, mainly because his wonderful support and attention to customers.

But in the real world it's true that Chaos should invest in it for years so , because I like the "small" things, I prefer that they continue to develop Vray as they did until now (and better if it's possible ).

[zeronove]

If the service is as bad then why don't you switch? (Am serious, not trying to be witty or anything)

Actually I'm seriously starting to look around for viable alternatives.

[Neilg]

What I know for sure is that if I ever provide that kind of service to one of my client I will be fired in minute because there are zillion of architect of there able to do my job.

There arent a zillion other autodesks though, i don't get what your point is. you cant compare the two.

For what it's worth i think the past few updates have been pretty good. it's so much more stable than it's ever been & the viewports are amazing now.

[flino2004]

everybody have the same thoughts about Autodesk.....Cinema4D is growing very fast and a lot people use it in motion graphics as well...Dynamics seems very easy to use as well.
regarding Modelling, I never use max for that....so I use different applications depending of the type of project, buy pretty much Sketchup is my main tool because is super quick...licenses is good too, you could have everybody in one studio using the free version and few Pro licenses for importing/exporting CAD files.....so it's super affordable!!
I don't know if I would use Sketchup and Vray to generate final renderings, I feel that I don't have the full control of wahat I want and having assets in max is a plus because I inverted a lot money on those!....but I would move to Cinema4D for sure!

Fernando

[instinct]

regarding Modelling, I never use max for that....so I use different applications depending of the type of project, buy pretty much Sketchup is my main tool because is super quick...licenses is good too, you could have everybody in one studio using the free version and few Pro licenses for importing/exporting CAD files.....so it's super affordable!!

Let's see how long that will stay this way...now that it was sold to trimble...

[beestee]

Why not merge all of the ideas presented in this thread together and someone with dev connections put together a "make blender a contender" kickstarter to boost blender development?

The pledges could be feature releated, so that if you want a feature to gain priority on the development list, you pledge to get it implemented.

For it to be successful, this would also probably need the support of at least one of the developers that is already active in blender development to keep it grounded in reality.

What better way to fund software development than to know that the money you spend is going directly into the features you want?

[instinct]

While it sounds tempting at first it leaves a whole lot of costly things out of the loop. Support, maintenance, QA and alike. In addition everytime i decide to give blender another try i de-install it pretty quickly. It's not anywhere near what i'd want in any way.

[glorybound]

I have been reading and posting in forums forever, and with every release people complain. There isn't a software solution out there that doesn't have its own issues. We are people, and people complain.

[zeronove]

There arent a zillion other autodesks though

I suppose you missed a fundamental info: maybe nothing can compare to 3dsmax, but, as I've already said, I realized 3dsmax is probably too much for me (ex. I don't make any animation, only still images). Time ago there was asdk viz (more or less max minus animation tools); fine, it was cheaper and good enough for me. I must admit I've gained not so much pruductivity switching to 3dsmaxdesign, sorry but I could say they were mainly bugs, but adsk had earned more money from me and, afaik they aren't so buggy ...so why I should be happy about it?
Not to mention it seems adsk will raise subscription fee in the following years, business is down and they think to raise fee? ...funny idea.

[zeronove]

There isn't a software solution out there that doesn't have its own issues.

I'm aware about it but you know some software has less and some others has more, some is cheaper and some it's not
...pick the ones you like it more

[YoyoBoy]

It would be interesting if Pixologic ever decided to turn Z-Brush into a full animation app. I would agree that they make some truly bizarre decisions with their UI, but they otherwise seem to always be cranking out cutting edge tech.