Maya vs. C4D vs. LightWave

[cube]

What are the pros and cons of:

- Maya Complete 8.5
- Cinema 4D R10 STUDIO
- LightWave 9

I think C4D is the only one which is 64-bit. When are the others supposed to be too?

It also seems C4D has the best workflow (After Effects, Combusion, Motion, FCP integration).

C4D also has very nice upgrade pricing.

C4D does not use a dongle. The others do.

But C4D and LW use their own scripting languages, while in Maya it's also possible to use Python.

LW does not support 3dconnexion, so it's a no go.

Better wait until SIGGRAPH.

 

[TJB]

i'd go for either Maya or Cinema. I work with Maya mainly but have tried the other 2 as well and found LW... uncomfortable.

Both Cinema and Maya are very able.

In the long run if you go with Maya it is likely you will be able to do everything faster and with more stunning results then you would with Cinema. Just to start out you'll likely be a lot slower in Maya.

In the long term I think Maya is better, however if you're looking at getting good quick go with Cinema. Cinema can come out with stunning stuff itself.

I wouldn't worry about integration. Both can integrate with practically anything, just the process is sometime different.

note: there's a free version of both of them

 

[banjomamo]

You are way off on some of your pros and cons

Maya does not need a dongle. I have 8.0 and 8.5 on different machines and neither uses a dongle. I dont use Lightwave anymore but I have used it on machines that had no dongle.

C4D uses python as its scripting language just like Maya. However it does have a UI based scripting engine called Xpresso.

Maya is 64 bit as well as C4D. Both are Universal Binary. Lightwave I wouldnt know.

Im not going to compare Lightwave since I have only used it briefly in the past and really didnt like it but to me the main difference between Maya and C4D is workflow. Maya is robust and full featured but its a big learning curve. Its pretty overwhelming without some real training. C4D is much quicker to pick up and use but its got some limitations that Maya doesn't.

The thing to really that should be more of a talking point is what kind of 3D is it you want to do. Im assuming animation since youre referring to AFX compatibility. If youre going for more of a motion graphics route C4D would be the way to go. The new mograph module makes it really quick and easy to do some awesome things without scripting. Maya on the other hand would be a lot more suitable for visual fx and character animation as it has better fluids and particles simulation. I really like C4D a lot and recommend using it whenever possible but Maya is definitely the industry standard for a reason.

One more thing: Maya is definitely stable on a Mac but in my experience its slower than it is on the PC. However I have never used it on a newer Intel box but on my Quad G5 it feels sluggish a lot.

 

[bozigle]

I got myself LW9 some time ago... on the base that i liked imagine in my amiga's time. This is a great program... however... after reading more (not based on experienced) i would probably go for C4D but it is twice the price.
If you're on budget you can have fun with cheetah http://www.cheetah3d.com/
bozigle

 

[TJB]

I'm pretty sure that the Mac version of Maya is only 32bit right now. The Windows version supports 64bit.

Also, I run a intel mac and don't have any problems with Maya running slowly... unless i get up to a few million tris

Also, I agree with the above post that if you're looking at just doing really casual stuff cheetah 3d is great. But i wouldn't go with it if you're looking to go any deeper then casual.

And it probably isn't worth it to get that 3dconnexion device. A mouse is more then capable of navigating 3d space.

 

[ianh]

I got myself LW9 some time ago... on the base that i liked imagine in my amiga's time. This is a great program... however... after reading more (not based on experienced) i would probably go for C4D but it is twice the price.
If you're on budget you can have fun with cheetah http://www.cheetah3d.com/
bozigle

Cheetah3D is a solid Mac OS app built in Cocoa. The renderer is amazing and the character animation stuff is very good. Well worth a look in.