Personally, I recommend 3D Studio MAX. It is hands down the best tool out there. And before you lot start talking about other tools being better, don't. I've used them all, and so far the only one that even compares to 3DSM is Maya. And that is not suited for game graphics.
I won't sit here and name all the benefits of 3DSM, but I assure you there are many.
The three biggest benefits that I see is:
1. Ãœber polygon modeling features. It's very easy and efficient to make low-poly models in 3DSM. Many good options and tools for poly-modeling.
2. The texturing and everything about it. I have yet to come across a tool which is so useful for texturing. The Unwrap UVW tool gives you precision control over your texture placement and with the TexPorter plugin (PM me if you want it, IMO it should be apart of 3DSM) you can create textures really easy. Also the vertex paint options are very nice.
3. The interface is quite easy to learn. It doesn't take quite as long to begin modeling in 3DSM as with other softwares (Again, I have tried them so I do know)
So, I would go with 3DSM.
Also, I don't know what you are talking about with this scripting.
There's a language called MaxScript for 3DSM which lets you create small scripts to help you do things you do often. Let's say you do four or five operations in a row, and you do that very often, you can write a MaxScript which will do those operations automatically.
I don't know about LightWave, but for Maya there's MEL (Maya Embedded Language) which works in the same way.
Then you get a Max SDK when you purchase 3DSM, the same with Maya, which are used to write new plugins.
Those are all extra features that are not needed in any way. You can by all means just find others' MaxScripts and plugins and use those if you aren't a programmer yourself.
Cheers, KTottE
Topic: Just a small question (Read 1296 times)