text: maya or 3ds max? which one is better? i was working with 3ds max for about 3 years.but i want to go to learn maya.i think it is more powerful than 3ds max! but i was always afraid about learning maya! i just want to know is it wasting the time for learnig maya or not?can i learn maya or not? maya. as a former 3ds max person myself, i found the transition easy. i mean there are hot keys, icon placement, and all that to learn. but it's not really that tough if you have experience with another 3d program, especially max. i would have to say for ease of use, max is better. it just seems more user friendly. the biggest problem is that you need a lot of plugins to do all the cool stuff, at least i did. maya has most of the cool stuff already in the program, but it is harder to work with. it's not really much harder, just a slightly steeper learning curve. in the end, i would say it is good to know both if you plan to have a job in the field of 3d modeling or animation. makes your resume look a lot better.