Autodesk Maya or Blender for 3D Modeling for a Beginner?
I have been very excited and curious about making 2D and 3D animations since my school time. Over the past 2 years, I invested a fair share of my time in learning about 2D animations in Adobe After Effects.
I always found 3D modeling as a very interesting topic. Therefore, with the beginning of the quarantine period, I thought of investing my time in learning 3D modeling and animations.
One of the main problems I faced when I thought of starting was selecting a good and user friendly software. There are many industry-standard software available in the market for 3D modeling and each of these has its own pros and cons.
Mentioned below are some of the most popular and widely used 3D modeling software along with their subscription types.
- Autodesk Maya — Paid(Free version available for University students for one year)
- Autodesk 3Ds Max — Paid
- Blender — Open Source
- Houdini — Variable price plans(Free version available for University students)
- Z brush — Variable price plans
From the above comparison, you can see that these software are not free and they are not cheap at all(you can check their price plans in their official websites), therefore one must really know what they’re doing.
Talking about these products, each of them has their specialized areas such as visual effects, 3D modeling, character rigging, sculpting, etc. However, all of them are capable of performing all the basic functions at a beginner level.
So back to the topic, I was still stuck at making a choice and was able to narrow it down to two tools, namely, Maya and Blender. The main reason for this decision was the prices. Blender was an open-source software and Maya gave a 1-year subscription for university students. So I thought of trying out both of them.
Maya has been the industry standard for 3D modeling for years whereas Blender is a new addition to the pool with some cool and reliable features.
With some extensive research, I found out some key areas that we need to consider when starting 3D modeling and animations as a beginner.
1. Complexity of the software
Although 3D animations and models are very pleasing and attractive, the behind the scenes process in converting an idea into reality is very complex and time-consuming. If you just look at the interface of a 3D modeling software, you are more likely to get lost as there are thousands of controls.
When comparing Maya and Blender, complexity wise Maya is more advanced than Blender. The main reason for that is that Maya is well established in the industry with a proven history. On the other hand, Blender is relatively less used in the industry. Although it’s lagging behind to some extent, it’s catching up soon with its competitors.
The given diagrams show the interfaces of these 2 software. (Top one is Maya, bottom is Blender.)
You can see that Blender has a simpler interface. As a beginner, it’s always better to start small and then improve. Therefore, Blender is a better choice with its simple interface. But don’t get yourself fooled with its simplicity as Blender is capable of performing almost every task as Maya.
Maya gives extra customizability with its huge control base. Therefore, if someone knows exactly what they are doing, then Maya would be the go-to choice.
2.Price point
Although both of these software are free (Maya being free for University students for a period of 1-year), Blender is completely open-source. Which means it’s completely free of charge. You will have to pay after the end of 1-year free subscription for Maya.
3. Free Learning
As Blender is an open-source and beginner-friendly software, there are many free sources available for learning including YouTube, which is the go-to learning platform for most of us. On the other hand, Maya being an industry-standard software with a high price point limits the number of resources available for free learning when compared to Blender. This doesn’t mean that there are no resources, of course, there are many resources, but compared to Blender it’s limited.
4.Scripting Language
Scripting language used is another important factor. Scripts give extra functionality and speed for the editing process. As a beginner, having a simple scripting language is quite important although one might not start scripts right at the beginning, but they will start at some point.
Maya uses its own language, MEL(Maya Embedded Language) based on Python whereas Blender uses Python 3 directly which is a very popular and easy to use language.
Above mentioned are some of the key factors I considered when selecting what to start with. After trying both of them for some time, I decided to start off with Blender.
Apart from the above-mentioned factors, one thing I noticed while learning was, that Maya is highly customizable. You can simply create anything, literally from nothing using Maya if you properly know the workspace and functions. Blender, on the other hand, is quite simple and fun to learn. If I elaborate on this a little more, suppose you want to create a simple model of a Donut. In Maya, you’ll take twice the time you take in Blender to create it but of course, the model you create from Maya can have twice the details than Blender.
So the best adaptation would be to start with blender and then move on to Maya if you are interested in chasing your VFX dream!
Until the next article, Happy Modeling!
