What Should I Buy

[maya_n00b]

Hi, nice to meet you all. I look to start somewhere for computer graphic because I have always been interested in special effects for the feature films. After a brief research, I found Maya very popular and useful. And how come all these softwares are so expensive. $7,000 for Unlimited Edition? Damn! My only chance seems to be a student edition for Maya. Is this going to be good enough?

Thanks.

[fortner_mike]

Yep, sure it will be good enough. At least for now...

Why are they so expensive? hmm... I'm not sure, but it may have something to do with the fact that there aren't many people who will use this software compared to other programs. For example MS word is probably in everyones computer, everyone writes text. And how many people do 3d? Other reason may be that this software is really awesome and powerful.

[joojaa]

Most professional software have a cost at that level. In fact maya unlimited used to cost 14,000$. But nte maya complete wichh takes you long way costs 2000$

But the reason for this is clear, the softwares are geared for industrial use. So they arent even designed to be sold to private persons (altough they will). As such 7000$ is nothing in comparasion t what it costs to keep yourself running. The average wager in Europe and states gets paid 2500-3500$ every month thats 30,000-42,000 and thets just one of the running costs, you need a lot more to get it working. Now in the overall look of things 7000$ is nothing really, so if you have a company with developpers, support and coders then you have to ask customers for money like that just to survive. But more importantly the proce is not going to be significant to the customer either. Bear in mind something like mayas not a bulk product.

Secondly money in companies work a bit differently than in consumer world. Fisrt off they dont usually pay taxes on op of what they pay (because they pay i in their sales but they can usualy cut their sales taxes by amount of bought ones). And secondly they can usually subvent their buying cost so that they get it back in 3 years tax allotment, provided they earn much more than what they paid. So basically all their cost sums up to is teh cost for workers plus rent and other running overhead.

[maya_n00b]

Thank you all for the posts. Very educating! You guys seem knowledgeable. I am glad I found this forum If I may, I want to ask you one more question. Where did you start? Did you pay for the software or start with a student edition? Or PLE (free version)? Are you self taught? Because all these training school cost crazy (e.g $1600 for 5-day training) How often do you study? And How long have you been using the software? Volunteers?

Thanks!

[joojaa]

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Did you pay for the software or start with a student edition?

Well i started of in 2d animation with deluxe paint, back then you had not much choice on the matter tough. You bought the software, begged or borrowed computer time . Then later when i was a student i could get some of my apps as educational (remember ple idea is not that old).

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Are you self taught?

Well i do have a university background in engineering and i taught myself 3d on the side (because there wasn't a single school to teach CG at the time), its helped me immensely on many subjects. Such as programming, computation and conceptualization. So i doubt id be here without that, as it helpped me understand how things are constructed.

But yes moist of it is self taught, even university degrees are. In retrospect this is fine for me because i cant take the way normal education works anyway. But looking back i could have used my time better, and saved 3 years of education, so today id pick a good school. But how driven you are is most important factor here.

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Because all these training school cost crazy (e.g $1600 for 5-day training)

Well thats about right, thats in similar cost range as our basic training. Again its meant for people who plan to use these software professionally. So its not really that much money. (industrially thinking everything that has a payback time of less than 3 mounts is considered free, anything under a year feasible and anything under 3 possible)

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How often do you study?

Every to every other day, roughly 2-5 hours at a time. Continiously, and i plan to do thsids forever.

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And How long have you been using the software?

3d about 15 years maya 8 or 9 years.

[maya_n00b]

9 years.. I am daunted by that number. Me like, 5 mins. urgh. I just learned that you design all these objects from primitive form (polygon). It's not even easy to follow the tutorial to make a hammer. What a long way to go for me. Anyways, thank you very much =

[fortner_mike]

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Where did you start?

I started at game development as a modeler with Wings 3d (i only recently stopped using it), later i saw what cool things 3D imagery can do and over time i gradually left game dev. I started with PLE Version of maya.

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Are you self taught?

Completely yes, i have never heard of anyone or seen any website of people who are also doing this in my country. I may be the only one, or there are very few. I learned everything from forums like this and tutorials. Heh, thats where i learned English to...

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How often do you study?

Since this is my hobby (so i should ENJOY it), i study whenever i'm in the mood and have time, but that is at least 10-15 hour a week.

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And How long have you been using the software?

Since 1999-98 up to now. But first few years had nothing to do with maya.

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Volunteers?

err...?

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Because all these training school cost crazy (e.g $1600 for 5-day training)

heh, just get all digital tutors videos and you'll be a pro in a week (or whatever the time it takes to watch them all), and the price i think will be few hundreds $ less.