viz and max comparison please..

[aping]

Hi,

I'm using 3d Studio Viz 3 for my work, I often experience some crash or the file I'm working on would 'auto shutdown', sometimes it's fine, sometimes the file is corrupted. Got no idea whether it's cause by hardware or software problem, or because I'm using free Vray render for 3d viz 3. I notice the crash almost always happen to files with Vray.

One way hopefully can stop this problem, my company consider to upgrade my software, either to later version of viz or max. But the price difference is almost double for max 6 and viz 4, so they ask me to find out what are the main difference for this two software, and whether viz 4 would be enough.

can anybody share their experience for which one should I choose, and what are the positive and negative of viz and max?

Thanks a lot!

[mbr]

I've never used Viz, so my comments are purely from reading other's responses (it's an old question). But because I may be advising on a purchase soon, I'll add my comments and hopefully someone with more knowledge will add some more.

 

Viz:

Bad: limited animation (Viz 4 has the equavilent of Max 3 or 4) - which, I am assuming, means you won't have character animation controls and less snazzy stuff (that most here don't/won't use), no Mental Ray, no post production (like lens flares, combustion effects - stuff for film and broadcast)

 

Good: cheap, arch viz add ons, most plugins still work (like Final Render, Vray, etc.)

 

That's about all I know. Their sites do nothing to help distinguish each software from each other (probably on purpose).

 

Anyone else?

[eagle]

maybe just wait until may when viz 5 realsed, I think they will include mental ray in viz5. If you just use it for illustration, viz is far enough, you don't need max, it provides too many useless addons for architectual illustration.

[mbr]

Oh, almost forgot, the Bionatics plugin comes with Max 6, but not Viz. That's pretty big for our profession and is worth several hundred.

But even if you buy it afterwards (I personally like XFrog's models, although I haven't tried their software), Viz will still be cheaper.

 

Viz 5 should be out, right? It mentions nothing on Autodesk's website.

[David Knourek]

I was under the impression that Autodesk was killing viz after version 4 and forcing the viz users to "upgrade" to 3dsmax?

 

-dave

[Fran]

I was under the impression that Autodesk was killing viz after version 4 and forcing the viz users to "upgrade" to 3dsmax?

 

-dave

 

At gunpoint?

 

Sorry, that just struck my funny bone.

[aping]

thank you for all your replies

I heard that Autodesk had canceled the killings

indeed, my company would surely go for the cheapest one, but my immediate supervisor ask me to list down the good and bad among those two so it would help him decide whether it's worth to fight for additional 3k.

my worries is that viz 4 is not stable as viz 3 i currently using, because the main reason of purchasing is to solve this bugging problem, I need to make sure that at least the upgrade would help.

sighhh