If you are working on a 3D game, picking the right software which well suits your needs is a tough task to do, though. It can include everything from creatures to characters, to other objects such as fences, buildings and even trash cans. A game with no assets is no less than empty placeholders lying around which are not being put to any good use. Here, in this 3DS Max vs Blender article, we are going to provide you a comparison among the two most popular tools 3DS Max vs Blender on the basis of features, available plans, pricing conditions, user satisfaction level as well as the scores and ratings given to each of them. Before we deep dive into comparisons, lets first have a basic idea about the 3DS Max vs Blender.
Autodesk 3D max was primarily known as 3D Studio Max is a professional and a popular 3D graphics program for the creation of models, animations, images, and games. It is a product of AutoDesk Media and Entertainment which has a flexible plugin-based architecture and modeling capabilities to be used on Windows-based OS. The main customers to use this software include the game developers, architectural visualization studios, and TV commercial studios. Movie pre-visualization and effects are some other characteristics possessed by this tool.
Blender, on the other hand, is an open-source, a professional tool used for 3D computer graphics. This software is used to create animated films, art, 3D prints based models, visual effects, interactive 3D applications along with video games.
3D max’s features include shaders (those related with ambient occlusion and scattering), particle systems, dynamic simulation, radiosity, rendering and normal map creation, global illumination, customizable new icons, user interface and its scripting language.
Features of blenders include rigging, UV unwrapping, 3D modeling, texturing, skinning, raster graphics editing, fluid and smoke based simulation, soft body simulation, particle simulation, animating, sculpting, match moving, animating, rendering, camera tracking, video editing, motion graphics and compositing and game engine.
Head To Head Comparison Between Auto desk 3DS Max and Blender
Below Is The Top 12 Comparison Between 3DS Max vs Blender
Key Differences Between 3DS Max and Blender
Below is the list of points describes the difference:
- By using 3ds max users can create various animations with a set of robust tools which helps them in managing and editing their animations. The users will be able to build computer animations and effects to be applied to films, broadcasts, computer games, forensic presentations and medical illustrations whereas in case of Blender, there is a render engine which is ray traced known as Cycles which is a set of codes used to control the usage of lightning and materials and how the rendered image appears in 3D scenes. It provides more realistic lighting as it traces the path of light in the form of pixels of an image and thus stimulates its effects on other objects.
- 3D max has a Material editor dialog tool where users can create and edit materials, maps in the scenes. They are used to apply creative textures, simulative reflections, refractions and other effects needed to assign materials to objects whereas Blender has its VFX features of the software type which includes a compositor wherein users can access multiple nodes in a way they create the camera effects, color grading and vignettes. OpenEXR files can also be rendered which is a high definition image file format used in movies like MIB and Harry Potter.
- Autodesk software uses multiple animation controllers. The animation key values and procedural animation settings are stored by the software. It works in linking all of the objects together whereas, in case of blender, cycles are used to provide rendering performance which makes use of graphics card and not the CPU (known as GPU rendering), thereby speeding up the process to allow multiple number-crunching at once, which is again another way of performing 3D calculations for developing video games and rich 3D based heavy applications.
Comparison Table Between 3DS Max vs Blender
Following is the Comparison:
| The basis of Comparison | Blender | Autodesk 3ds MAX |
| Overview | An open source tool for 3D creation and a complete suit for professional artists, small teams and enables them to build arts, visual effects, animated movies, 3D printed models, video games and 3D applications | A 3D modeling, rendering software for animation and game designing, game development, designing visualization, thereby providing its users the choice of creating and editing animations, environment and visual effects |
| Price | Free | $185 |
| Client Experience | 98% | 98% |
| Features | – Production Path Tracer – Rendering – GPU Rendering – Animation Toolset – Game Creation – Visual Effects – Fast rigging – Masking – Camera Motion Tracking – Object Motion tracking – Compositing – Video editing – Modeling – Simulation – Can be integrated with pipelined tools – Customizable User Interface | – 3D animation and dynamics – Character Animation tools – Rigging tools – Particle flow effects – Motion Paths – 3ds max fluids – Simulation data import – Graph creation controllers – Voxel and Heatmap skinning – Active Shade rendering – 3D rendering – Arnold – Raytracer Renderer – Workflow, UI, and pipeline – Asset library – Scene converter – Customizable workspaces – Asset Packaging – Spline Workflows – MAX to LMV – Mesh and surface modeling – Hair- fur and data channel modifier – Texture assignment – Blended box map |
| Customer types | Freelancers, small to medium enterprises | Small, medium, large enterprises and freelancers |
| Languages it supports | English | English, German, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish |
| OS supported | Mac, Windows, Linux, Web-based | Windows, Mac, web-based |
| Pricing type | Free, Monthly payment and annual subscription | Monthly payment and annual subscription |
| Support Types | Live support, support ticket, training | Live Support, Phone, Training, Ticket |
| Support email address | cloudsupport@blender.org | Customercare.abc@autodesk.com |
| Client division | Division LLC, Fusion VFX academy, Dwarf Animation Studio | Tata interactive systems, Riva animation, VFX and Digital Art Pvt. Ltd. |
| Alternatives to this tool | – Adobe Illustrator CC – Inkscape – Autodesk SketchBook – Fatpaint – Snappa | – Inkscape – DrawPad – SVG-edit – Fotor – PaintTool |
Conclusion
Each enterprise has its own features and a unique set of characteristics. It’s not always that the enterprise tool will be a better choice than its free counterpart but vice versa is also not true. Analyze the requirement and the need and feasibility which should give you a fairer idea of what your organization needs the most. Hope you liked this Blender vs 3DS MAX article.
Source: educba.com
