Hi there!!
I am faily new to this architectural vis stuff, but it is an area which I plan to branch off into. I am currently working in the movie industry as an effects TD, using a software package known as Houdini Master to achieve our effects. Although in my opinion, it is an extremely powerful package, it is not a feasable solution for architectural visualisations.
Now before I spend much time learning packages I would like to receive honest opinions from others on what their views are for the 'best package for architectural visualisations' is. The 2 I had in mind and couldn't choose between was either 3Ds Max 9 or Maya Complete 8.5.
Either case I would use the mental ray rendering engine, since I am familiar with this. Maya Complete is cheaper than 3Ds max, but does it have all the features which would be requires to make certain things like grass, curtains, table cloths and the use of photometric lights?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I am sorry if this question has been asked before.
Thanks in advanced...
Sotiris