2D / 3D Animation

In terms of visual pleasure, no other media can probably match the power of 3D animations. 3D has come up late, but is coming up at a very fast rate. Many young people are coming up with their creative minds in this field, creating a revolution. The animation industry is a great scope for people who love to bring their imaginations and creativity to life. Advantage of 3D are:
3D animation is more realistic and exciting.
New technologies are being developed every day and the overall viewing experience is becoming exponentially better on a very rapid scale.
3D models made for a particular project can be reused for future projects. This lowers the cost of production over the years for a 3D animation studio.
The current generation of children are now used to 3D animation. They may not no easily relate to 2D animation.
Many animators are now shifting their skills to 3D animation, so it is not very difficult to find a talented workforce anymore.

Animation in simple terms, can be defined as moving images created from drawings, models, etc. that are created by a computers.
Animation involves two types: 2D and 3D animation. 2D animators create flat images, which have width and height but no depth. 3D animation is more realistic because of the addition of depth. Adding depth creates more life-like characters.
In animation field, one can get job roles, such as:
1)2D animator
2)3D modelling and texturing artist
3)Roto artist
4)VFX Artist
5)3D animator
6) Concept artist
Job prospects:
3D/2D animators can work in film and video production studios, public relations offices, advertising agencies, for software publishers, graphic design firms, computer systems design firms, web design firms, and teach at colleges and universities.
As there is an increased demand for visual effects in video games, television, and movies, as well as in graphic design and animation, the future scope these jobs is expected to grow.

Maya is a proprietary scripting language. MEL is highly customizable, and that is one reason why Maya can be found a lot in the film industry because studios like to be able to create their own set of tools that can help them achieve their job much easier. Maya has really been know as the go-to app for 3D animators in the industry for its robust rigging and animation tools and its animator friendly workflow. You also have the choice of Maya LT which is a huge benefit among new game developers as it's a relatively cheap subscription cost, of course, you don't have access to as many of the features of the full version of Maya, but you still have the most important to a game designer, like modeling, animation and texturing.
Where 3Ds Max shines:
3Ds Max has been known for its powerful modelling tools, allowing you to create complex 3D models with a very fast workflow and robust modifiers, with the entire poly modelling tools contained in one area of the UI. It also has some really great architectural visualization capabilities that Maya really doesn't have. If you're brand new to CG 3Ds Max can be a little simpler to grasp, and can seem a little less daunting than Maya, making it a bit more user-friendly.
The big factor:
The biggest factor in choosing between the two actually has nothing to do with the application's toolset, but your operating system. Maya is available for Windows, Linux, and OSX platforms. 3Ds Max, on the other hand, is only available for Windows operating systems, which means if you're a Mac or Linux user, 3Ds Max is probably not the best choice.
The verdict:
You should really know what you're going to use the app for because this can help you decide which program to choose, and each program has different strengths when it comes to the different tasks, like modelling, or animation. If you want to get into character animation, Maya may be the best choice. However, 3Ds Max still has great animation capabilities, but Maya has a slight edge over it with its deeper list of tools. When it comes to modelling, either software is going to get the job done; it really comes down to which workflow you like more. 3Ds Max has a robust modelling toolset, but Maya has recently enhanced their tools as well. 3ds Max has typically been seen as the 3D app for the game industry, and it is known to have a bit more flexibility and options. However, Maya LT is also a great cost-effective choice when it comes to game development.

There are many colleges in India for 2D and 3D animation which provide better education. In 2D and 3D animation, students mainly learn about character sketching, background artistic animator modular and illustrator.
Here are some of the best colleges for 2D and 3D animation:
1. MAAC-Pune
This is a premier private institute by Andhra Pradesh Tech. established in 2007 affiliated to IGNOU. This college offers better placements to the students and awarded as best the placement college for animation in last 2 year.
2. Arena Animation
This Institute provides the national and international level of learning in 2D and 3D animation. This institute has trained and certified faculty members which provide better education to their student. This institute has better placement scope as in past years almost 5K students got placed.
3. IIFA Multimedia
This institute is one of the best choices for graphics, animation, designing, fashion and jewellery field in Bangalore est. in 1991. This institute has a high tech. lab for students.

Autodesk 3Ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. [1] It has modelling capabilities and a flexible plugin architecture and can be used on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is frequently used by video game developers, many TV commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. So, 3Ds Max is a great rendering program. Modeling in 3Ds Max is something you need to get used to (I come from inventor so it's completely different). You can do Cars/ Interior ect in 3Ds Max. You can even do animation. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. For its modelling and animation tools, the latest version of 3Ds Max also features shaders.

Game designers obviously focus on designing games. This is quite different in terms of the work vs. animators who usually work on movies or commercials. Whether it be game design or animation, there are many specific skills to learn and to concentrate in. You have the modeling of the characters (which is akin to digital sculpture), character animation, which requires good fine art skills and drawing of faces, environmental design, which is essentially designing the background for the characters, texturing (for skin and fur), lighting, rigging (to get the character to move correctly) and more.
I guess the bottom line is that:
1. You need to decide whether you want the programming side or the design side.
2. If design, majoring in either game design or animation would probably be just as good for developing the above-mentioned design skills. However, if you want character animation or environmental design, it is crucial that you develop your drawing and illustration skills particularly of characters. Other aspects of animation don't need this as much.
3Ds Max
3Ds Max offers better interoperability with other Autodesk products.
Many prefer 3Ds Max for materials and rendering due to the ease of materials setup.
Getting the most out of 3Ds Max can require some scripting using MaxScript.

According to me, Game design and development is much better as compare to 3DS Max, because by learning any software you can't give great output, for a great output, you have to work on your things in some manner and you should decide some goal so for that you can choose Game design and development.
There is a vast difference between learning a tool and learn to using that tool for your own work, if you will learn how to use any tool for your own work, you will be able to complete your work in a proper manner or if you are focusing only tool, then you will not be able to work beyond that. By learning only 3DS Max, you are making your own limits. But, to survive or to create something you should learn how to use 3DS Max or any other software for your own concept.
So, go through Game Design and Development and learn the way to use tools, not only the tool by that you can execute your own ideas and thoughts. And by learning 3DS Max, you can do so many work, but that also will be limited, because you will not be able to draw the things in that and you will not be able to make any video and present your own thoughts.