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[Mittens]

Im wanting to make and sell games, and I want to be legit and legal about it but the liscence for 3ds max is $3500, photoshp id over $1000 , for an indie prices like this seem insane, so i wanted to ask if you guys know of a way that we can be legit with these industry standard programs but on a budget, (something like yearly liscences oposed toonce off buys)

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

student licenses/discounts are one possibility

another is buying used copies on ebay (just make sure they are the official thing and not illicit copies)

also you can use free or cheap alternatives (e.g. gimp instead of photoshop, which is almost as good for most purposes and costs nothing). that's what most indies do

[Mittens]

Yeah, i thought people would suggest the alternate cheap/free software like blender but i would asume that would mean i would have to bin all/any work ive done up untill now within 3dsmax

[BlueSweatshirt]

GIMP
Paint.NET
GraphicsGale
Blender
Wings3D
Inkscape

^ all free


Morally objectionable approaches:
Pirate the software for now and buy legitimate copies later,
Find a friend who has the software and ask them for one of their keys.


Also, don't worry about being "legit with the industry standards [of applications]". People don't give a damn about what software you use to create, they only care what you can produce with it. Now, the capability of the software in question *can* be a limiting factor, but all of the software mentioned above is both just as capable and widely used.

Also Pt.2, there are converter tools to convert model files between formats. Actually, I think Blender may even be able to import/export 3ds max files natively, if I remember correctly.

[Nix]

also you can use free or cheap alternatives (e.g. gimp instead of photoshop, which is almost as good for most purposes and costs nothing). that's what most indies do

you absolutely don't need 3ds max or photoshop to make games. It's easy to fall into the trap thinking that you need the most expensive stuff "that everyone uses" to make good games. You said you already did 3ds max work but a lot of those skills carry over to other 3d modelling software (blender is the popular free one).

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Yeah, i thought people would suggest the alternate cheap/free software like blender but i would asume that would mean i would have to bin all/any work ive done up untill now within 3dsmax

i don't believe you have to throw away your old work at all! different programs can read the file formats of one another

[Mittens]

Yeah, i thought people would suggest the alternate cheap/free software like blender but i would asume that would mean i would have to bin all/any work ive done up untill now within 3dsmax

i don't believe you have to throw away your old work at all! different programs can read the file formats of one another

Yeh, but im thinking more along the lines of what autodesk or whoever would consider legal, i asume they would have grounds to sue you if you sold assets made in a non- comercial educational liscene and then imported into a new software package. You know? I dont want to be half-legit, if im going to try and be legal about all this then i want to go all the way to sleeping well at night

[Nix]

in that case quit complainin' and get a full license

[eld]

It's only a standard within your company, get blender and gimp for an equally working but free solution.

[dustin]

find someone who works at the company (or a friend of someone who does etc.) and get them to buy you a heavily discounted version.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

Student licenses often dont allow you to commercialize anything you make with the program. MAke sure you check the fine print.

You could also consider some of the newer cheaper packages like Modo or Silo. I'm personally looking forward to not working in Max anymore and moving to something like Silo. They have the benefit of not developing on a 20 year old codebase.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

used copies on ebay are probably your best choice then; you can get pretty good discounts on something if it's used. although some software licenses explicitly say you can't resell their software, so you need to watch out for that too

[Klaim]

You Should Be Using Microsoft BizSpark
Microsoft BizSpark (homepage, faq) is a program designed to give Microsoft software to software development start-ups for free. If you’ve never heard of it then you aren’t alone. If you have heard of it then you can confirm it’s awesome. This is my Public Service Announcement to assist fellow devs.

What Software
What software does Microsoft provide to BizSpark members? All of it. Well, damn near close. Here’s are some highlights:

Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate
Windows 7 – Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Home Server
Windows Vista – Home Premium, Business, Ultimate
Windows XP – Home, Professional
Office Ultimate
SQL Server
Exchange
Outlook
Project
Access
Sharepoint
Visio
One Note
Azure

Source: http://altdevblogaday.com/2011/12/03/you-should-be-using-microsoft-bizspark/

So, for 3D, Blender is really good once you've learn the fundamentals of it's interface design.
Next, 2D, this might be the only real problem. If Paint.Net isn't enough for you, then buy Photoshop, it's worth it. Inkscape and GIMP are so badly designed that they might easily hurt your productivity on the long term, while Blender is well thought but a bit alien at first.

For libraries, they often provide indie-specific prices, but if not then choose an alternative. I've searched for everything and never got stuck in finding a good alternative.
Oh wait, once I got stuck. I then asked the author(s) of the library if there could be an indie license. The following month they provided it officially.