Autodesk has announced that it’s no longer offering Gmax.
If you’ve been putting off creating that F8U-3 Crusader or FPS Zergling of your dreams, grab the program now before Autodesk disappears it from the net.
You can still find it as of this writing at:
http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax
[edit: If you grab it, install it, and make a backup of the Autodesk reg key in case you ever want to install it again later… Activation won’t be supported after November.]
Did Gmax ever get much support? It seemed like a cool idea early on, but never seemed to generate much traction.
In a day and age where PC devs and pubs cut things so tight that Day One patches have almost become the norm, Gmax support seems like a luxury that would be one of the first things cut from most projects.
As of October 6, 2005, Autodesk will no longer offer Gmax® software as a stand-alone product. If you are interested in other 3D animation, modeling, and rendering applications from Autodesk please check out Autodesk® 3ds Max® software.
yes, because we all have several thousand dollars to shell out for our hobby of modding on weekends.
Wow, that is a pretty dumb move. I guess they want people to use the free XSI then… unless they plan to release something else.
Well, let’s put it this way…the marquee title they launched with, I believe, was Command and Conquer: Renegade. :roll:
I don’t think it ever really got much attention from developers.
It’s huge in the MS Flight Sim 2004 market. Used to create hundreds of payware and thousands of freeware planes and sceneries…
I believe the real reason for not catching the market is pirated downloads of programs from this realm (Max, Xsi, Lightwave and Maya).
All the aforementioned programs tend to be quite expensive for a teenager or even student modding. Yet they all seem to have it.
It’ll be pointed out Max is also the most expensive on the market out of the rest programs, so not going for the crowd is something Max could afford simply because they have more popularity (still) in the gaming market.
-Shiroko
(In case you’re wondering about prices, Unlike the rest that will get you what you need for $500 and not more probably, MAX sells for over $2000 and even much more.)
What?
3d Studio Max 8 Physically shipped = $3495
Maya = ‘Maya Unlimited 7 - node-locked’ $6999
Unless you’re talking about the standard (Maya Complete) which is $1999
It sells for considerably more than $2000, but so does every other professional 3D package. Max is cheaper than a lot of the other heavy hitters, though (like Lightwave, and Maya, and SoftImage). For the most part, only enthusiast 3D programs sell in the $500 range (though ZBrush is a noteable exception). Even good standalone modellers like Rhino sell for twice that.
Doesn’t Maya have a fully functional free version as long as you do not use it for profit / commerical purposes?
There is, though that’s relatively new (and a sign, perhaps, that Alias recognizes how far behind the competition Maya has fallen in terms of features and useability), and it has a bunch of limitations. Watermarks on all renders, and limited file saving and export functionality, IIRC.
I think it’s great that programs like Blender exist, but man, is it ever a long ways from being something that a professional artist could use. It has an incredibly clunky user interface and modelling tools, poor workflow, and sketchy documentation. With the high-end programs, you pay a premium for ease of use. But in a professional production environment, an artist’s time is money, and that premium is a good investment.
I think Gmax’s lack of Character Studio (the character rigging and animating module) support really doomed it. How were people supposed to make mods for games that used it? And if a developer knows that Gmax won’t be very useful for modding their game then there’s little motive to support it.
It sells for considerably more than $2000, but so does every other professional 3D package. Max is cheaper than a lot of the other heavy hitters, though (like Lightwave, and Maya, and SoftImage). For the most part, only enthusiast 3D programs sell in the $500 range (though ZBrush is a noteable exception). Even good standalone modellers like Rhino sell for twice that.[/quote]
Your information is pretty much 100% wrong.
Lightwave 8.5 Full (right now with a bonus of Eon Vue 5, a landscape design/rendering program) is $895.
XSI Foundation can be had for a “mere” $495.
Maya complete is, however, still $2k.
3DS Max - $3495
The bargain there is XSI, obviously. Lightwave has it’s followers, but seems to have been lagging behind the industry in many ways for the past few years. 3DS has the name brand recognition and has done very well at making people think it’s the “best”. Every package has it’s strengths and weaknesses. The real issue is whether or not you can get things from whatever format you may choose to use (read: XSI or Lightwave for cheapness) to whatever format the games use (generally maya based or Max based, unfortunately). Converting the actual meshes is usually not that big of a deal; converting animation information is a much taller order, unfortunately.
As far as Maya goes, with Autodesk buying Alias, I’d imagine it’ll be folded into Max eventually.
Yeah, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. Consolidating the two most expensive products leaves just one stupidly expensive product.
I haven’t used anything but lightwave, so I can’t speak from experience, but I can’t imagine there’s enough difference in product quality/capability to justify the $2600 premium that 3DS has over the other guys. (And, as far as I know, it’s not even that 3DS ships with all the bells and whistles inherently enabled… character studio is extra on top of that IIRC, as well as their advanced particle and physics packages.)
Huh. You’re right. It’s been about a year and a half since I priced out 3D packages, but at that time the prices were a lot higher. I specifically remember that XSI Foundation used to sell for $2000 (the full package was something like $5000). So $495 is an awesome price.
Lightwave also used to be a lot more expensive than that. Max is pretty much the same price it’s always been, though.