Differences in Creating and Editing Models

As mentioned, the most striking difference is that Maya does not divide tasks with a separate modeler. Maya Complete offers two types of modeling, NURBS and polygons, but LightWave offers metaballs, patch modeling, and polygons. LightWave's MetaNURBS are not NURBS in the true sense; they are a kind of subdivided polygonal object. Maya NURBS are truly parametric B-spline “based surfaces that are flexible and powerful. You can edit and even animate the control points that govern the shape of NURBS objects. NURBS are ideal for complex but smooth surfaces usually seen in man-made sculpted objects, such as cell phones.

Maya has a full set of polygon modeling tools as well. Maya's Polygon Subdivide option can achieve a smoothing effect that's similar to LightWave's metaNURBS. The Maya Unlimited version of Maya includes Subdivision Surfaces modeling, which is most like metaNURBS, and this method offers a great deal of organic modeling power.