"Also can Maya create backgrounds and scenery within itself or do i need to use another program such as Vue Infinite?"

Sure, Maya can create fully animated, rich content environments of it's own, without the need for 3rd party software like Vue.

However, ILM recently announced the addition of Vue Infinite into their pipeline for creating environments, and not just for mat painting, but fully animated CG environments, and rendered entirely in Vue. If it's good enough for ILM, it's got to be good enough for you, right? ;-)

I use 3dsmax myself, and it's also perfectly capable of doing everything I need from start to finish. Environments, character animation, etc. However, when you make the financial investment by purchasing hi-end software, you're also investing a great deal of your time. You will certainly need time and patience to learn your new software, which undoubtedly will have a much higher learning curve than Poser or Vue. Message edited on: 03/08/2006 11:31

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.