Giles is by far the best affordable lightmapping tool avaliable, particularly if you use blitz. High end 3D apps can produce better results but also requre more work and understanding of the tools. Whether it's worth that extra effort I'm not sure. I guess it depends on whether you want to sdpend a considerable ammount of extra time :)
I've used max a lot and dabbled with giles on occasion, The part I like best of all with Giles is the Auto UV mapping, which is superior to any general purpose 3D art tool I have used. That and not having to plan to far in advance as to what objects share which lightmaps, which is kind of nice as it takes away a lot of prep time before you actualy start the lightmapping itself.
I've used max a lot and dabbled with giles on occasion, The part I like best of all with Giles is the Auto UV mapping, which is superior to any general purpose 3D art tool I have used. That and not having to plan to far in advance as to what objects share which lightmaps, which is kind of nice as it takes away a lot of prep time before you actualy start the lightmapping itself.