Viz 5 or Max 6?

[Kerry Thompson]

Hi All

 

 

With the release of Viz 5, I am faced with the decision to upgrade my Viz 4 to Viz 5, or go up to Max 6? What are the comparisons and what advantage do I get with Viz 5 as opposed to Max 6, and vice versa?

 

 

Most of my work tends to be stills rather than full animations but I do some product animations for the web from time to time. I do a lot of my architectural modelling in ADT.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Kerry

[Elliot]

Kerry,

 

I got my copy of Viz 5 about two weeks ago. At the same time I downloaded the Max 6 demo. Go with Max 6. Viz 5 is an under power version of Max. I will get Max 6 in the next few days. Of course, I dont have full use for Max 6. However, the last three days I wanted to do several things that only Mx 6 can do, like particles.

 

Somebody told me there is enough plugins to make Viz behave like Max 6. The difference is about 800 dollars on the upgrades.

 

I am finding that Mental Ray will require that I learn quite a few new tricks. I dont have the patience anymore..... I got the VRay demo and was up an running very quickly....

 

Good Luck

Elliot

[RJL]

Maybe this will put things into perspective: Autodesk has been waivering back and forth on the issue of Viz. A little over a year ago they said they would not be releasing any more versions of Viz, only to change their position some months later when they announced the release of Viz 5. You can rest assured that the same thing will not happen with Discreet and Max so my vote would be to go with it even if there are things you wouldn't use. Plus, once you get a taste of the functionality of Max (over Viz) you may want to expand your repertoire.

[bigcahunak]

hmmm

hmmm again

Just adding some more question here:

 

Particles - anyone knows about a plugin for VIZ for it (snow, waterfall and maybe smoke)? Particles are probably the only think I might be wanting to add to the VIZ toolset list.

 

Assuming Kerry pays the extra to go to MAX; will MAX upgrades be in the range of the VIZ upgrades prices in the future, or would this be double every time...?

[abicalho]

The VIZ infra structure will not allow for particles, not even if there was a plugin for such. VIZ does not support Sub-object animation.

 

The only way to simulate particles is by using animated bitmaps.

 

Alexander

[stefkeB]

If you need the features of max, upgrade to max. It's that simple. You get what you pay for.

 

VIZ is perfectly fine for all architectural work (now even more, with the latest upgrade), but max has (a lot of) things that aren't in VIZ and if you need them, well, you have no choice.

[Kerry Thompson]

Hi

 

Thanks for the input, it seems that the subscription for Max is 40% more than Viz ($NZ565 for Viz, $NZ795 for Max)

Viz 5 probably meets my immediate needs but I cannot find a comparison list of the marginal differences between Viz and Max so I can get a feel of what I am missing with Viz - and what extra potential I would have with Max?.

 

Cheers

 

 

Kerry

[stefkeB]

max = VIZ + extra's:

 

What can max do that VIZ can't?

 

- character tools (bones, skin, flex, character studio, biped, ...)

- camera matching (not only still but also from animation)

- sub-object animation (animate parameters of a modifier, from a material, from most settings all over the place)

- the famous teapot (correction: VIZ 2005 finally has a teapot)

- particles (using regular particles & the new particle flow)

- dynamics (reactor, springs, space warps, gravity fields...)

- video post (compositing tools inside max)

 

It used to be that render2texture and unwrapping wasn't available, but this is solved in VIZ 2005.

 

That said, I suggest starting with VIZ and only making the upgrade when you need the features of max. After all, you have to pay for it with the work you do.

[sdp777]

For the community's benefit, I have created an online comparison of Viz 4, Viz Render 2005, Viz 2005 and Max 6.

 

It can be found at: http://www.vizdepot.com/modules.php?s=&name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=32

[spud_2011]

Kerry,

 

I got my copy of Viz 5 about two weeks ago.....

.....I got the VRay demo and was up an running very quickly....

 

Good Luck

Elliot

 

HI elliot.. which version of vray is working with VIZ 2005?

thanks

[stefkeB]

HI elliot.. which version of vray is working with VIZ 2005?

thanks

I guess max 6

[momentum]

i will put in a great note for the viz argument. I have always used 3d max. And just this last week i got a copy of viz5. 2 great points for vix are

1. you can link viz it to you autocad DWG files, so if you update your cad files viz can also be updated.(intergrates realy well with ADT, still testing to see how it works with Revit)

2. Viz uses the BLOCK objects that that autodesk products create to help keep everything in order

 

3d max is completly overpowered to do architectural visualization. The only real missing tool in viz5 is the particles.

I have found my models cleaner in importing to to viz than to max ( which = less clean up time). I will never leave my max but for me viz5 is the bettre solution for for architectural content.