I want to know that....both programs are for 3d modeling and both belong to the same enterprise....So, i want to know the practic difference

Which is better for Crysis wars mod , no CE3.?

I've been wondering the same thing... from what I know Maya seems to be focused on the animating and rendering areas more, while 3DS Max appears to be on the modeling side. I believe all the CryEngine SDKs and such have plugins for 3DS Max but I see a lot of people using Maya. Most of the plugins for textures are usually for Photoshop. I'd make the conclusion that 3DS Max is better(or at least better supported)...though many people are definitely going to disagree...

Autodesk bought Maya (formerly developed by Alias) some years ago, that's why they're developing two very similar software products. It's a handy way of getting rid of the competition on the market.

hmm...Acording to the http://www.iddevnet.comthe Doom 3 sdk only acept MAYA eskeletal animations (maya binary), not 3DSMAX...Well there are custom importers...

Thats why I want to know...because a proyect i have...

The-Grim is correct on his statement concerning Autodesk, they are trying to corner the CG market. They have stated that both 3d packages are excellent tools for, film, and game, assets creation /animation, etc, but, they are gearing both packages for specific markets.
Maya for film, Max for gaming.
This may change soon migrating Maya more towards the game industry in the future, but at this time this is Autodesk's stand on both packages.

Cheers

VinnieMc

When it comes to DCC (Digital Content Creation) packages, in terms of a 'standard' NextGen pipeline, at the moment 3ds Max + ZBrush + Photoshop are considered to be the usual game industry tools.

The advantages of staying with these products are that they are well-supported, by game engines (say Crytek or Unreal), by plugin developers (like Flatiron), with plenty of advice on the forums, tons of tutorials available (free or paid, like Digital Tutors), also for employment... like moving between studios.

However, lots of people use (and are successful with) Maya, Blender, Mudbox, Gimp etc. etc. Studios differ as to which DCC products they use. I think it helps to go the 'standard' route, but if you can output great models and textures with any DCC package, and somehow get them into CE3, you'll do very well.

When it comes to Cryengine, I'd say the 3ds Max workflow is more streamlined than the Maya one. I haven't exactly used Maya so can't say how easy or difficult it is to export models in the engine, but judging by the documentation there's a difference. Max exporter is simply "add object to list & click export" while Maya requires you to add objects to a group named specifically by the object name you're exporting, and that group needs to be inside another group with a special name for the cryexportnode. Materials need to be in special material groups as well, and physicalization properties need to be edited using Maya's attribute editor.

As I said I haven't used Maya so I can't tell if this is a common workflow when working with Maya objects, but by the description it sounds very odd and complicated.

I have to use both a lot because of school, there are a few significant differences that are worth looking at. Mostly Maya is good at animation and rigging. I wouldn't say rendering, since its the same between the two. they both use Mental Ray.

3dsmax has superior modeling and texturing tools at this time. However, this might separate itself at the next cycle. aka 2013 software.

Maya is more streamlined than Max, its interface is less complex. However this causes issues with usability, once you get good it impedes your speed. And this is essential to being successful in the game industry. Only way to fix that is the custom menu's you can create and share. Of course its easy enough to do that in both packages.

If your an animator, Maya is a good software. If your Anything else, Max is faster once you get the hang of the interface.

This is of course just my experience, im sure there are others who have had the opposite. For whatever reasons.

I've used both (went to school for Maya) and I prefer max for game content. My opinion of the two is basically exactly as themodman101 stated above.

They can both do the same, but the UIs are geared towards different functions. Maya's very friendly for animators while Max is geared towards modeling.

Autodesk has also been focusing on 3ds Max when it comes to content creation in terms of tools and making sure they work as intended. Going using Maya, I find that even the most simple tools (bridge, etc.) often dont work.

Cryengine has only support for Max , as Max has much to offer than Maya. I know very little about Maya and I am using Max to make the 3d car models. So, according to me Max is perfect.

I think this is basically the same question of crytek bought the Unreal engine and then asking whats better

Yup, everyone is a a 3DS Max fanboy here. Especially TheModMan who I think is a has confused himself with what Maya and 3DS Max are. Max is easier and more streamlined to use whereas Maya is more complex and has a larger range of features. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are absolutely stupid.

I think that almost all the facts stated here are wrong and this thread should be closed.

I don't know where you are getting this from but maya is just as diverse and you can achieve the same results as users of 3ds max. It isn't a discussion of which is better, but which you prefer. Choose what suits you, and you can only find out by trying!