Adobe Animate vs. Autodesk 3ds Max

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Animate
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Animate (or Animate CC) supports but replaces the former Adobe Flash, and allows users to design interactive animations for games, TV shows, and the web. With it, the vendor states users can bring cartoons and banner ads to life, create animated doodles and avatars, and add action to eLearning content and infographics. With Animate, users can publish to multiple platforms in many formats, and reach viewers on any screen.
$20.99
per month
Autodesk 3ds Max
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Autodesk offers 3ds Max, 3D modeling and rendering software for design visualization, games, and animation. The vendor states that users can produce professional-quality 3D animations, renders, and models with an efficient and flexible toolset to help create better 3D content in less time.
$235
per month per user
Pricing
Adobe AnimateAutodesk 3ds Max
Editions & Modules
Annual Plan, Paid Monthly
$20.99
per month
Monthly Plan
$31.49
per month
Annual Plan, Prepaid
$239.88
per year
Monthly Subscription
$235
per month per user
Yearly Subscription
$1875
per year per user
3-Year Subscription
$5625
3 years per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AnimateAutodesk 3ds Max
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details—Flex pricing available for limited usage. Minimum plan $300 for 100 tokens. 3ds Max costs 6 tokens per day.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AnimateAutodesk 3ds Max
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe AnimateAutodesk 3ds Max
Small Businesses
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 7.9 out of 10
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Maya
Score 7.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Blender
Blender
Score 9.2 out of 10
Onshape
Onshape
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects
Score 8.7 out of 10
Rhino
Rhino
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AnimateAutodesk 3ds Max
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(27 ratings)
8.9
(10 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
6.0
(1 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AnimateAutodesk 3ds Max
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
Scenarios where Adobe Animate is well suited:2D animation for web, mobile, and video games: Adobe Animate is well suited for creating 2D animations for web, mobile, and video games. With its vector-based drawing tools, bone rigging, and inverse kinematics features, it's easy to create smooth, scalable graphics and realistic movement.Scenarios where Adobe Animate is less appropriate:Complex 3D animation: Adobe Animate is primarily a 2D animation software, and while it does have some basic 3D features, it is not as robust as specialized 3D animation software like Autodesk Maya or Blender.
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Autodesk
I've used many 3d programs I've not found any more capable or well suited for about anything you throw at it. I've had scenes with over 20million polys that I can work in just fine. It's well suited to produce absolute photorealistic renders especially when you pair it with plugins like V-Ray Render. One area where is may not be as suitable is if you have to model something in a coordinate space that is a long way from 0,0,0. Max is not double precision, so when a model is very tiny or very large or a long way from the origin, odd things occur. But, this is easily mitigated by modeling near the origin or reducing or enlarging the scene by some factor to make it not too small or too large. Then, after you are finished, you can scale it up or down by that factor again and export a perfectly scaled model for use in some other program
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Pros
Adobe
  • The adaptability of what Adobe Animate can do makes it so helpful. You can accomplish something basic like make a ball bob on-screen over certain letters prior to showing your logo, or something more mind-boggling like building up a vivified short to show.
  • Utilizing Adobe Animate recordings on sites is typical, so individuals are accustomed to seeing it and have the essential modules introduced as of now.
  • The records are little, and the pressure is extremely smooth. This aids in the event that you are attempting to send substance to cell phones or essentially keep your site impression little to guarantee quick stacking times.
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Autodesk
  • 3ds Max includes some of the inbuild modifiers which can be very good in the case of beginners.
  • 3rd party Rendering support makes 3ds Max a powerful software for rendering out realistic images.
  • Autodesk 3ds max in comparison to its rivals is lightweight and fast, also the animation case also.
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Cons
Adobe
  • There are too many updates and they are constantly popping up - especially during the middle of a projects, which causes me to shut down the application and restart the program. Wastes time.
  • There is no mobile browser or device support. Limits a lot of projects - especially apps.
  • Flash player can require a lot of RAM and battery
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Autodesk
  • working in 2d is very frustrating and unreliable. It just lacks the precision
  • How scaling affects units (or doesn't) There needs to be a way for modifiers to address a change of scale in the object.
  • Booleans are not intuitive. Especially for architecture, creating an opening and putting a door or a window is an incredibly cumbersome process.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
It satisfies 95% of my 3d visualization need. The left over 5% is handled by a few other programs. If Max just can't perform a specific task I can do that elsewhere and then bring it back to Max to finish up. But, it's rare that this occurs in my work
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Usability
Adobe
Flash is usable but definitely has a learning curve that a novice user may need to Google a few tutorials prior. The seamless integration with other Adobe software products is nice for loading content from the cloud. Plus it's great for storing and saving work on the go.
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Autodesk
This is not a 3ds Max fault, it's like any powerful software, "you have to spend time to learn it." It, like most all others as powerful, have a "learning curve" that can be steep depending on your knowledgebase. I'm glad it's not "so simple a caveman can use it" or I'd be out of business. Everyone in the world would have it and my skills would not be needed. Having said that, it's as intuitive and any other software. If you understand 3d principles, 3ds Max will not be difficult to wrap your head around. It uses normal and expected conventions
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Support Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Autodesk
I have contacted support many times and have had a good experience. They have always been helpful
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Adobe Animate was always the preferred software as the support was much better than the competition. And the ease of rendering was also a deciding factor. Results with character animations are much more crisp with Adobe Animate than in any other 2d based animation software.
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Autodesk
In Autodesk 3ds Max you can do camera animation with ease, its complex in Cinema 4D. Even I think same with light setup. Setting up light is quite easy in Autodesk 3ds Max as compare to Cinema 4D. Overall Autodesk 3ds Max is less complex in compare to other 3D softwares.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Negative, anyone who spent time learning the program now feels sad that it's going away.
  • Animation that was done on Flash but can now be made with Toon Boom or even Adobe After Effects.
  • On the plus side, since it's an Adobe product, you can rent it instead of buying the full license. That means potentially people could use it for a little longer without having to shell out as much money.
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Autodesk
  • Allows us to meet deadlines quickly - render times are minutes, not days.
  • Digs into profits due to licensing fees - just a single seat can set us back thousands.
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