Possible? Got a shouting from a friend last nite, who said i was wasting my time with bryce. (even though a cple of my images will be up at an art festival end of this week).. said that jobs are available for those who know maya, and that it was time to upgrade from bryce to maya. Said I was a lazy bum (ok, dunno about that one!)and that I ought to learn maya..and move on in life. I so dunno what to do..I tried telling him how I love bryce, that there isn't anything like it, though yes, I do have qualms given it's uncertain future. I guess I'm so petrified stepping into a maya world... I tried terragen..and I loved it.. but I still stuck to bryce. I love it's interface, it's way of working..barring the render times. I love this forum too.......WAAAHHH!!!! It's a scary decision.

well if you are actually seeking to become a professional 3D artist in the pro level of the CG industry then its a no brainer...... learn MAYA!! if you only plan on doing personal art and posting still images in web galleries and local venues then stick with bryce

You can actually find out how much you like working with Maya without paying a penny for it. Maya has a free version, Maya PLE (Personal Learning Edition), that you can download and use for free. It has a few limitations (renders are watermarked, can only save in it's own native format, can't be used for commercial applications, things like that), but it features the entire toolset of Maya Complete. The only thing that you lose is a little bit of time downloading the program. It even has it's own community on Wavefront's site, where you can download models, shaders, and scripts that other users have come up with. If you want to try Maya, there is no better way. HTH, Mike

Oh, BTW, almost everyone else has learning editions, too. So you can try out all the big boys without putting down a lot of cash. In fact, no cash at all. :-) You can try out: Softimage (XSI Experience) 3d Studio Max (GMax) Truespace (Gamespace) I'm not sure if Lightwave has one yet, but I could be wrong.

thanks a lot you guys.. gulp gulp..will take the first step tonite. miden1138, will download the learning edition..

It's worth it!

erosia, if you want to work in professional animation, learn Maya. Or better yet, learn Max. But if all that you want to do is illustration, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Bryce. Of course, adding more programs will not hurt, especially Photoshop, Painter and similar programs. There are professional illustrators who use Bryce and don't see anything wrong with it. I'm currently trying Zbrush and it can do a zillion things, like mix 3D and 2D in the same pic, but it's frustratingly obscure, even more so than Max. The company needs somebody to redesign the interface and workflow from ground up.

IMHO, XSI is the best of the bunch, but it's got the associated price tag, Maya Vs Max Vs Lightwave really is into the personal choice thing, I've tried all three and Max is my preference (given I can't get my company to cough for XSI). The other consideration is cinema, it's significantly cheaper then the others but still offers pro level features and is used at a pro level in some animation shops. The other question is what do you want to do? Games, Films, Adverts? then pick the packages best suited, Max is predominant in the Games world and also popular for TV, Maya and XSI probably have an edge in the film world.

strangely..I haven't decide which path I want to go to.. Gog.Whether films, adworld, tv. I guess it's creating that's more important now. Stupid me.. really. impractical. As per price..it's pretty ok... I'll use the learning version till I get the hang of it..then get an actual. Here..in India..max and maya are the packages everyone uses. I love bryce..but..but..getting a job with it..is not cake. maybe i'll fiddle around with maya and max..decide what to get into.

Another program worth learning is Rhinoceros. The demo, is the full product, the limitaiton is only 25 saves or exports, but it works forever, so you can keep learning it.. Learn all the siftware you can, if you want a job, having many skills in your toolbox is an asset.. Definately learn Maya if you want to go down the paths that use Maya porfessionally.. kaom

I've tried Maya and the controls and stuff are very close to Bryce, it's just a matter of learning HOW to do things in Maya vs Bryce. Materials are very different from the two programs and of course many more features. But as far as creating, moving, resizing objects and such it's almost like the Bryce environment. A HELL of a lot easier than Max!

"I've tried Maya and the controls and stuff are very close to Bryce" ?? I suppose you're kidding? Not ONE control is similar!!! T J

I agree get MayaPLE and you can show that you Know Maya and get Gmax so you cn show that skill off too,But Gamespace is a Pay for program NOT Free...I am useing MayaPLE and Truespace6.6 and Bryce5 to get content into Unreal Tournament 2004....

Foleypro, I thought that Gamespace was free. My fault entirely. Sorry about that.

No need to be sorry,I wish it was free and to buyers of T6.6 you would think they would but nope...Even 50$ would be awesome...

"I've tried Maya and the controls and stuff are very close to Bryce, it's just a matter of learning HOW to do things in Maya vs Bryce. Materials are very different from the two programs and of course many more features." sorry Aldaron, gotta agree with Joker...no controls are the same (thinking about I dont think there is even one). They are as different as night and day...maybe even more different if thats possible :-) Just cause you learn Maya doesnt mean you have to give up Bryce. But it can be hard to get back into it. Ive been working with Max for about 1.5yrs and now exclusively Maya for 6months or so. And its hard to step back into Bryce which I tried last week and got really frustrated because the interface/controls and EVERYTHING is completey different. Once you get so used to one its hard to switch back. Obviously if you are looking for professional work, its damn hard to accomplish that with a pure Bryce BG. So you'll want to pick up a high end app or two and lock yourself in a room and practice :-) P.S. Maya's render systems are wonderful :-) (not trying to sway you, just some knowledge that may help you take the leap into the high-end 3d world).

Thanks guys...I got my answer. I will bite into the maya chocolate, and take sips of bryce when I need to. I'm sorta chicken when it comes to the profesional world..(been in one too long).. esp when it comes to new stuff. I quake with uncertainity. BUT..will surely bite into the forbidden sweet now! Thanks...

Well guess I'll just have to disagree with both of you. I found the way that objects are moved, resized, etc very similar to Bryce. Naturally the UI is totally different but the way things work was very similar as opposed to Max where to resize/change objects you must add modifiers and such.

Truespace has similar controls too and all 3 I use and its like I am in Bryce just with extra Abilities...Maybe hopefully Bryce6 will include much of what the "Big Dogs" carry....

aldaron, I dont want to start an argument, but you do NOT have to add a modifier to resize an object in Max. You simply resize it (shorcut is the "r" key) as is the same in Maya. and if you mean change by editing vertices/polys then yes, just right click and change to editable poly/mesh. If you found the maya and bryce controls to be similar than thats your opinion. But I just want to make it clear to erosiaart that knowing Bryce's controls/UI will most likely not translate into knowing Maya's.

Innovator, I would say Aldaron is right and wrong. True as you say you don't have to add a modifier to resize etc. However if you do a non-uniform resize at the end of a stack, you have to reset transforms or collapse all to meshes before saving as 3ds, I'm not sure if that's what Aldaron was trying to say, but there is a similar operation that needs to be performed in almost every app in the same situation so it's not just Max!

Hey I see all the transforming that I do in MayPLE on my Wizard Character and I wonder how I can collapse the Transformed Model Down without Loseing any of the Transformations and none of the UV Mappin I have done in UV Editor...See before I UV Mapped my character I could get into UNreal Game Engine and run around and do the animations now this week I cant,I just UV mapped this week and that is about it and now i get no animations and the character just stands there...Frustrating as all get out when the Unreal Tournament Contest Deadline is the 30th of this month and I cant get my character done....