max future

[jonnybefree]

Hi there,
just curios what your thoughts on this is.
We're a small film production, main focus on commercial / image film. one other 3d guy and me.
our reseller told us yesterday that we have to think about a switch to cinema 4d.
His first argument was that no one is teaching 3dsmax anymore, even the game industry is switching to cinema. So any freelancer or future applicant will work on cinema or maya.
His 2nd argument was that autodesk would kick max one day to another if its not profitable anymore. (wich isn't too fare away in his opinion).
We're owning 2 cinema licenses allready, and mograph is realy powerfull. Love X-particles too. So a switch to cinema isn't such unrealistic. (ciao Autodesk)
The only big barrier for me is Vray.
It's a bummer that the vray plugIn for cinema isn't in direct chaosgroup hands.
So maybe some of you have some thoughts about it or some deep insider highly secret Autodesk knowledge to share maybe

best regards
Jonas

[lukx]

oh my... sad times are to come

[jonnybefree]

i don't know. Maybe just a silly sales pitch..
beside the Archivz guys i know, there aren't many on max though..

[glorybound]

MAX and AutoCAD are Autodesk's cash cow. I don't believe it and I have been hearing this for about 20 years.

[vlado]

Max is not going away. (Even if Autodesk is not interested in it anymore, it makes way more sense to sell it to someone that is.)

Also, it really pains me to say it, but we have found out that resellers will often say things that help them make more money.

Best regards,
Vlado

[kosso_olli]

Take a look at the M&E sections of the annual report from Autodesk. Max has WAY more users and active licenses then Maya. If they want to save some money, I would say stopping development for Maya would be the better idea... If, and only if they need to save money.

[Ihno]

I think it depends on the country. It's definitely the case here in Germany (cinema's home town) but max is way more important on the international market.
I had no student coming from the university in 8 years who had any max skills. But they pick it up quite quickly.
Most of them learn cinema. And some learn Maya.
But from what I know, the bigger studios, even in Germany are still mostly using max.
I think plugins and compatibility with international studios playing a big role.

[gadzooks]

I agree with what Vlado and Glorybound both said! Max is not going anywhere.

[Morbid Angel]

staying or not, one thing is certain; right now the 3ds max and maya development hit a brick wall. Its usability / stability at record low. I opted out of max subscription and moved to maya / houdini only. I don't see any reason for using max anymore. What made us use max before and always was variety of plugins and options, but now you pay a lot of money for software that barely works and bloated with useless features, then you have to pay on top for a plugin which has its own issues etc etc (not talking about vray) We figured houdini has all of this to offer in one package and its been great so far. Maya is in the same boat. Can't use maya17,18 with all the service packs its just unbareble.

[Richard7666]

Max is not going away. (Even if Autodesk is not interested in it anymore, it makes way more sense to sell it to someone that is.)

Also, it really pains me to say it, but we have found out that resellers will often say things that help them make more money.

Best regards,
Vlado

They didn't sell Softimage off though, just killed it.

I agree though, the domination Max has in the architectural and design industries means I can't imagine it going away any time soon.

[theedge]

This topic keeps coming up every now and then and every time the answers are so simplisitc. Like the now classic "I switched to houdini and I'm so glad I did"
But people often forget to mention the specifics : in what field are you working (doing archviz vs cinema or games is literally worlds apart), are you solo, small team, large firm, etc. For some uses 3ds max still does the job better than anything out there while for others it is awful.

[Companioncube]

no one is teaching 3dsmax anymore, even the game industry is switching to cinema.

that is just not true, don't trust this person. there are still lots of schools around the world teaching max and masses of new online every month. the games industry is still completely dominated by Maya and Max with some using blender, there is maybe a tiny tiny amount using c4d for game dev but i can't think of any examples.

[jonnybefree]

Max is not going away. (Even if Autodesk is not interested in it anymore, it makes way more sense to sell it to someone that is.)

are you? please do so!!

just a side node, i don't won't to assume our reseller the intention to talk bullshit for selling his products. He's a nice guy, and as Ihno mentioned here in germany cinema's playing a big role.
But there's just one point in life where you don't want or can switch to other packages just like that, on top when you have to do your daily buisiness and family, and on top top, packages like houdini wich i would love to learn, but recognized in ealry stage that i'm totaly far away from node based systems like that..

[squintnic]

max will be gone in a couple of years
not changed at all since 2012 except for a few buggy viewport upgrades
everything good about it is external plug ins

[LudvikKoutny]

Max development has been really on a decline past few years, but that being said, even despite Autodesk's execs effort, it's still very capable software. While at the current moment, its future doesn't look very bright, especially with second wave of layoffs, Cinema 4D is still nowhere near its capabilities. C4D is lacking behind 3ds Max in pretty much everything maybe except motion graphics toolset and UI redrawing performance. Yes, to be safe in the future, it would make sense to look for alternatives, but unless you do motion graphics, then C4D is one of the worse choices when it comes to 3ds Max alternatives.