Rifht now i have installed 3ds max7 but since now there is the 8 version, i want to know what are the new features, and if its worth to change to this new version. Cause sometimes the changes in the new versions, are oriented to just some of the users, for example for users who use the software for arquitechture, or for character animation or something like that. Anyone know the pros and cons?

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If i were i would buy Maya 7.0. generally speaking maya is more like a professional tool than 3DMax is. Offcourse 3DMax has a lot of tools and equipments but its basic architecture sucks. Maya uses a Node Structure which means everything in Maya is defined as a Node which gives you so mcuh power in working whith this unique software. If you have a powerfull pc you can have all the history of your project and can turn back any point in your project for further improvement or manipulations. one strong point of Maya is its MEL Programming language which gives so many flexibility to program and you can add more abbility to your sotware by few months of programming with this Language.

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3DSMax is generally used for game development where Maya is generally used for animation. That being said, the people who own 3DSMax recently bought Maya, so I'm not sure what's going to happen to them respectively. Also, most people who use Maya tend to use Maya 4.5, with half of the code written in-house. Maya 7.0 has a fair amount of bloatware. Also, MEL is the unholy child of c++/java, and isn't really to be praised.
For other 3D modeling and animating applications I highly suggest Blender 3D (opensource and free), and I've heard very good things about XSI -- including from people who've used Maya for years.

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Never used 3ds max, but have used gmax, its free and does the same. But there are some glitches and to be honest from people that I know, they prefere 3ds max. I might try it.

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