3D
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- imakedesign
i want to get into 3d work, i have used swift 3d a bit, but i want to step it up. What software should i use? any good books?
cheers,
G
- ********0
i use http://www.formz.com but it's a hard app to learn... i would go with 3d Studio Max.. tons of books for it and easy to get started with http://www4.discreet.com/3dsmax/…
also hear Rhino is suppose to be good... and cheap!
http://www.rhino3d.com/
- clerk0
get 3ds max! it's kinda tricky in the beginning but you'll get a hang of it pretty fast. i can recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido…
and of course 3d buzz's many videotuts
- imakedesign0
thanks guys, 3ds max looks pretty extensive, formz looks intresting to, as does rhino.
will i be out of mt depth with 3ds max as i have only used swift before? oh and does anyone use cinema 4d?
- clerk0
i've tried c4d and it's perhaps a little easier to learn in the beginning, not much tho. 3ds have a much larger community so help and support is never far away.
- quamb0
best to know 3ds, maya or lightwave. pick what tickles ya fancy, they all do very similar things.
- digitalsource0
Don't start with 3DS Max, none of the production houses and few of the game companies still use it.
Best choices are Maya or Lightwave for animation/post production/games and Softimage XSI for other video/film applications.
3D Studio was only ever adopted by games companies and home users in the mid nineties because pirate copies for PC were freely available whereas Alias (which evolved into Maya) needed dedicated Silicon Graphics workstations to run it at the time.
Ask game coders, you snap a vertex to a grid at 0,0,0 (x,y,z) in 3DS Max and it will output actual coordinates of 0.009, 0.008. 0.009 etc at different times or from different viewing angles.
- imakedesign0
does maya and/or lightwave have good internet community support?
is maya not quite a big step up from 3ds max?
- digitalsource0
Maya has basically the same functionality and purpose as 3DS Max but is just far better designed and implementedand has vast amounts of online support (do a search for 'learning maya' someone asked for links here yesterday).
Maya also comes with very good documentation which will ease you through the first basic steps of using the package right through to more complex use.
- fate0
digitalsource, most of what you said was bullshit hearsay. 3dsmax has the popularity it does because of the community behind it ranging from artists to developers.
The MAIN reason to learn it though is because so many gameStudios, big and small, use it. Why? Because DirectX likes 3dsmax and the .x format. That's why beautiful games which truly pushed DirectX's abilities like Splinter Cell were made with 3dsmax, as well as dozens of other hit titles on the Xbox. duh.
- imakedesign0
thank you for all the advice.
so the choice is seems to between 3ds max and maya, which one is going to be most future proof and valuable to learn?
any ideas?
- unfittoprint0
3D Studio MAX.
And u can use a swift 3d plugin with it for vector output.
- imakedesign0
ah, that would be very useful.
- digitalsource0
fate - sorry but I worked at a couple of games companies who got busted for the numerous pirate copies of 3DS they were using.
One went on to use Maya when the price point was lowered from $15000 or whatever it originally was and the Builder/Complete versions were released a couple of years ago, the other one went on to wite their own propriety poly modelling tools.
Ask any game tools coder who has wrote an extractor for 3DS about the inconsistencies and innaccuracies.
Where's the bullshit in that?
- Nairn0
this is all well and good - but how does someone who doesn't have a couple of grand to blow start their learning curve? Don't get me wrong, I have a pirated copy of 3DSMax which I have occasional battles with - but if I didn't, how the hell could I learn?
This is different from learning PShop and Illustrator, both of which are commonly available at companies (and are the only pieces of software I proudly own! :), but going 3D is a branching out in a distinct (one might say discreet, ho ho) direction...
- killwhitey0
Maya has a free educational version available on their site.
- ********0
All you 3D guys, are any of you looking for a new job?
I've got inroads in supplying quite a well known (known well to those that know them well I suppose) company with top quality 3D developers/designers.
Another question - from what I see on here, there's only a few of you that are in this arena - is there another forum where more of you gather?
- mbr0
Go to http://www.cgtalk.com for more opinions. In the end, it'll be like a Mac versus a PC (although you should know, 3D Studio does not work on a Mac).
I use Max and can tell you that there are plenty fo people in the industry that use it - it's not going away anytime soon.
It is by far the most common format and you can find almost anything on the web (importatn for me, 'cause I use furniture and things and need to get them fast). Maya has only a fraction of the online models, tutorials, books, etc.
Depending on your field, it will be, most likely, between Maya and Max. But there are other ones that are worth thinking about.
If I had to pay for a full version (I got a really good deal on my Max copy and have both 6 and 7 at work) again, I can't say I'd go with Max ($3500 is just outrageous), but I also don't use all of it's components. If you want to do character work, then Max is a pretty good deal.If money is a large factor, look at XSI (I've never used it, but for $500 it's going to catch on) and Cinema 4D (that has a rapidly growing online community).
I like Max, though, and didn't care for the few weeks I used Maya (just too cumbersome to do simple things). I just wish it were a modular purchasing program.
Oh, and I love Final Render as an after market renderer (no other program has so many plugins that do some pretty awesome stuff).
- imakedesign0
thank you MBR
- chimchim0
I use maya and cinema4d. Go with cinema4d - it's the artists tool. It will be much much easier for you to figure out lighting, materials/shading, and rendering - things that are more difficult and abstract in maya.
- fadeproof0
All about Lightwave -
I've seen some people who are downright DANGEROUS with that program - I wouldn't lie to ya'.