Can any one give me a comparison between the major 3d animation IDE's? The ones I would like comments on are the low end, Poser, Bryce, and the high end, Maya, 3ds Max, LightWave and SoftImage. I would like to have comparisons in detail, please, of: 1. ease and type animation features. 2. ability to create and manipulate characters 3. ability to create and manipulate effects, including backgound, terrain, lighting and animation effects. 4. Different animation features, internal programs, plugins, accessability of export or multi-format support. 5. ease of key frame manipulation and general animation details. The latter should be your personal experiences with the editor in general, the specific functionality etc. Any input you give would be GREAT! I apprieciate your professional opinions.

Who are you?

Does it matter Edgar.... In my opinion Maya is the best and Bryce is the easiest to use.

Very detailed comparison there, ttops.

A major factor is your taste and how far you get with the UI - why don't you get yourself demo versions and try them out? Maya PLE comes with a couple of tutorials, discreet offers a 3ds Max demo, Maxon offers a Cinema4D demo...

Edgar, I left the details to you. ;)

Could you guys be more specific? Iam just getting the grips on Bryce 5 and am starting with poser and 3D max...Is it possible in one life time (I do have a job and family life)to master them all before they become obsolete? Introducing myself : I am a illustrator and a lost soul for 20 years , now getting it together again . Recently discovered these beautifull programs which at last run on my fast PC . (My former computer was not fast enough) I would realy like to master the production of animated alien lifeforms and self contructed organic life forms . I just like science fiction you know.. greetings rendermaniacs Almere Netherlands

I've been working in Poser 4 w/ Pro Pac and a program called Carrara now for about three years. Think I have a pretty good grasp of hos it all works... Just started learning MAYA about 6 months ago. The nice thing is that the principles of 3D animation are pretty much universal. What you learn in Carrara (low end 'Maya' type program) transfers over to MAYA. True, you need to learn the interfaces of the various programs, but it's definately not starting from scratch. I'd recommend dedicating your time to one of the higher end programs if you're sure you want to master 3D animation. Poser and Carrara are both good programs (Bryce as well), but if you really want to have full access I'd go for MAYA or 3D Studio Max or Cinema 4D. Unfortunately I don't have time to explain all the details... And I haven't worked in enough different progams to make good comparisons, so...