I googled 3ds prices. At yahoo answers people were saying that the student version is like $100
and the commercial version is about $3500. I bet all of you guys have the student version. Could I just use the trial version. But what if it runs out? Can I just install and reinstall over and over again :D? Or would Gmax be fine if we're only talking about Halo? (I already have it). Also, which version of 3DS would be the most worth it?

if you dont have the money gmax is your best bet but if you want more bang for your buck get student 3ds

Nope.
Not at all.

-zekilk
Edited by cyboryxmen on Mar 16, 2011 at 05:18 AM

Gmax is your best bet. With others, you would have to fix and convert through gmax anyway.

Student version is free actually. If you have any school email you should be able to get it for free.

think it's a 3 year licence for students.

3ds max is great. I recommend 2010 because it's more comparable with all the previous versions than 2011 is.

Wrong. I can not even imagine why you would think that.

Edit: after a chat, i can see how you might think that the material editor is now hard to understand, i would agree.
You can go back to the old style material editor by going into the material editor then "mode" tab,
compact editor.
Edited by Maniac1000 on Mar 18, 2011 at 11:03 PM

I use 3ds, and it's the best of all I've tried (I have tried Blender, Gmax, Milkshape, and Sketchup.)

I use MAX12, it's a powerful son of a gun. However, I don't model seriously, I only use it to animate/view marker locations.

From what I've heard Maya's allright. but not for halo.

So should I get an older version of 3DS? Halo was made with v 5.1
Should I get like v7 or something. Or should I just get the newest? Is it possible to download 3DS for free?

if your just going to use it for editing other peoples maps then gmax should suit you fine.
i reckon you already no by now 3ds is a paid for software.
you can however get a trial for free but you already knew that :S

It's possible, not exactly legal ;)

and if you get it that way.then you should definetly allow any updates.

So to get it that way, I would have to use torrents correct? I kind of want v7 or something. The new looks to flashy and confusing. I like plain and simple. :P

Wait, you're actually serious about this...with moderators...here...where you may even get banned from the internet entirely...for doing something...illegal?

Okay, if you really don't want to pay, why don't you just use Blender? It is a free alternative to Autodesk and is just as good. The only reason why people don't like to use Blender is because of the lack of tutorials and the UI which is drastically changed in version 5. Also, individual websites such as BlenderGuru and BlenderCookie had already provided a wide range of tutorials about blender. Don't believe me, look at the Wow Factor book http://www.wowfactorbook.com/.
-zekilk

or wings 3d.
http://www.wings3d.com/

Do you read the posts in your thread or just skim them? It's already been stated that the student version is free, you get it directly from Autodesk.

Yeah, well I decided not to do that. I will probably end up staying with Gmax, it works fine. Although I might try out one of those programs. But I heard that Blender doesn't work well for Halo because you have to export through Gmax or something.

Can you use a product key more than once? My friend bought it for no apparent reason, even though he sucks at computing, he just has rich parents. :-P

Use 3ds max 8 , that is the last version that Gearboxes exporter works with.
Other exporters give ghost errors.

Your going to have to go through Max or Gmax no matter what program your using since there isn't a way to export a .JMS from other applications.

Alright, well I'll stick with Gmax, free, good, and works well with Halo. Thanks guys.