/3/ - 3DCG

>>731596
it doesn't matter if you know one you practically transfer to the other packages in a matter of days. I first learned blender cause I made tiny gifs of abstract morphing shapes (that was cool back in the days) and I ended with maya cause of character animation. Sometimes I just use a different software to get a fresh view on things. They're all manageable. If you are starting out and want to get in 3D start with either: 3ds Max (u like gaymes), Maya (you like pixar), Cinema4D (you like graphic design) or Blender (you like communal learning). Have fun anon!

>>731596
>what do you look at when choosing your first software
What will I use this software for?(animation, modeling, rigging, rendering?All of the above?)
What are the chances of needing to learn a different software if i get a job?
Are there well established production pipelines and workflows that I can use/steal for my own learning/personal projects?
How advanced are the features compared to other software and how available and useful are the available comercial and non comercial plug ins
What is the overall skill level of the community and how helpful are they on giving pointers?
How well structured, how advanced and how easily available are the tutorials for this software?
What software do the people whose art level you want to emulate use when they create their art?

You might also want to consider that in these days very few people use just one software. The normal practice is to have the best specialized soft for each step of the pipeline(maya for animation and hardsurface modeling, zbrush for sculpting, substance painter or mari for texturing, topogun for retopology, knald for baking, etc)

>>731596
1. Does the software have all the features I want, maybe even features that I didn't think of?
2. Is there some "skill ceiling"? Could I add my own features if I wanted to, could I use the software itself to extend it (nodetrees are a good example and the main reason why Houdini is insanely powerful)?
3. Is there a perpetual license available? I despise subscriptions models and they're almost always a reason for me not to buy the software
4. How frequently are updates distributed and are they "quality updates"? ("hi guise 5 bugfixes" every year vs "2 new features and 50 bugfixes" every 4 months)
5. How well does the software interact with other software I use (common file formats, maybe even some "GoZ" bridge kind of thing)
6. How much does it cost?

>>731596
Literally try them all. Student license lasts a year or whatever
I use Blender because it runs on my shit computer and the UI + hotkeys make sense to me (probably due to playing too much EVE)

Maya / Max are objectively better, and ZBrush is pretty essential, as is substance painter

>>731596

but who was

>>Houdini
>>ZBrush
>>Substance

if you don't jump on these then you're just jerking off into a sock