3D
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- tkmeister0
i've used form-z for like 6yrs. then 3Dmax, Rhino, a little bit of Maya. I think once you learn the basic of 3d program, the rest is easy. Transitioning from one program to another is bitch not because it's hard, it's mainly because of what you are used to. we all get too comfortable with one.
Picking the right program is pretty much on what you want to do with it. Not everyone is going to be a super 3d master. When i design furniture concept, i just use Rhino, easy and quick. If i want to do detailed architecture 3d, i use Max. if i am doing complex modeling and animation, then maya. though i have to say, i hated doing 3d. i wanted to be the one who does the sketch and hand that down to the 3d artist and tell him to do it.
- jrichmond0
beach boy: email me. i am looking for 3D work. currently work for a small game company. project i am on is wrapping up.
- adamfinger0
The fact is all 3D apps can essentially produce the same results--some easier at certain aspects than others.
In NYC it seems most of the architectural places are looking for 3DS Max people because the program is tied in so well with Autocad. The commercial industry seems to be heading towards XSI, although it's probably still split between XSI and MAYA.
I really don't know too much about Lightwave or C4D's impact on the industry over here.
- mbr0
More good points. I'd like to further emphasize that it is the Artist, not the Software that makes things nice. The programs are so advanced these days that you can do almost anything in any of them. Most beginners think it's up to the program.
So, if you made a really sweet portfolio, a good design house would assume you could learn whatever t hey used quickly.
I am also a FormZ user, but wouldn't recommend it for general 3D, it's more for architecture and product design/ID. I love it, though.
- ********0
You can use Illustrator CS these days to do nice minimal looking 3D.
- dcdomain0
Designerror, TKMeister what schools did you attend? I'm just wondering because I attended Carnegie Mellon and they forced FormZ down our throats. I think we started out at version 3.0, damn that was buggy software. Don't know how many students lost countless hours worth of work. I was jealous too because the incoming freshman for the past two years learned Maya instead of FormZ.
In the end, I believe all the programs are similar in what they can do, except some have strengths in certain areas. The problem is learning the interface and the process that one takes to get something done.
I haven't really been able to relearn my 3d modeling process on other software so I've ended up doing the modeling on Form-Z and then using 3DSMax to render/animate it. Now I'm trying to jump over to Maya because it models a bit more 'sculpturally' than 3DSMax which I concur with the others works really well for architects.
I wish we had started out using 3DSMax or Maya instead of Form-Z...
- -_MU_-0
I cut my teeth on Cinema 4D 7, went from no knowledge and taught myself. I found cinema very easy to learn based on Maxons documantation and tutorials. I still use it and like it, but as others have said before me, if you are looking for professional emploment as a 3D modeller/artist whatever, it may be better to go with one of the more established platforms. Make sure you learn HDRI dude, it will make your renders look sweet!
my 2 penneth
- tkmeister0
mbr,
has formz did any major update to their program? they weren't the best when it comes to doing NURBS.i agree that 3d program has improved so much that you can do whatever you wish and even more. when i first started 10yrs ago, it took about 8 hours to render a 8x11" 300dpi image. now you can do that in 5min. It's crazy...
- imakedesign0
thanks another excellent reply.
i am just looking to get into 3D as a hobby that will also help me out with work.
i am getting what you guys mean about using the software you feel comfortable with. The guy at http://www.rustboy.com/ proves this. He is still using ifini-d and produces amazing stuff.
- dcdomain0
Oh yeah, missed that, MBR uses FormZ too, I'm curious as to how all of you guys found FormZ and why you chose that program (hence the question before about what schools you guys attended).
The change from 3.0 to 4.0 was pretty phenomenol though it took me an hour or two to get used to the new icons (they weren't very intuitive). It looks like they just released 5.0... as long as it's more stable that would be enough of a reason to upgrade...
- r_gaberz0
if you'r a student Softimage XSI 4 + a tutorial dvd only costs you 245 USD.
That's quite cheap for what it can do.
- fate0
digitalsource, here's the valid point you make
"Ask any game tools coder who has wrote an extractor for 3DS about the inconsistencies and innaccuracies."
Will you enlighten me and provide links to a discussion on those inconsistencies you mentioned? Something that explains why so many Game Developers using 3dsmax are wrong and should stop using it?
- digitalsource0
Well for starters from www.thechaosengine.com
(are you a member there?)
'Well, it would appear that no current version of 3Ds Max works properly with XP service pack 2...
Unfortunately we only discovered this as we decided to patch up to sp2 to fix the latest MS exploit that (of course) allows remote execution and effects every bloody product under the sun. Max fairly immediately started crashing all over the place, especially in anything scripty. After much searching the web I found suspiciously few complaints, and in fact this was the only real mention of it I found.
Discrete, being Discrete are, of course pretty much refusing point blank to help (such a lovely company) - the second problem being we are mostly running v5, so I dont think there is any hope of a patch.
So, have people just not noticed this yet, or is there a workaround. or will we just have to wait until v7 for our pcs to be secure again???'
- tkmeister0
i came to use formZ at school, ohio state, which happened to be the one Chris Yessios, founder of formz did research at.
i stopped using around version 3.7 come out. i started to play more with Rhino cheap easy program. i was doing product and furniture concept design as a side biz.i was often amazed by the realistic rendering images and was obsessed with them. i think many 3d people have the same issue. you get so obsessed that takes out the creative process. you spend more time making it realistic and spend less time designing... that's why i kinda stopped doing so much 3d.
i can use autocad, 3dmax, formz, rhino, etc. remember kids, it's just a tool.
- toastie0
Get XSI EXP, the free version of XSI! ( http://www.softimage.com ) Perfect for getting started in 3D, and while a version behind the full release, I still highly recommend it. Also, check out wings3d ( http://www.wings3d.com ), one of the best free modeling tools available.
- digitalsource0
And again from the chaos engine forum:
I can only speak for Bay area trends, so hopefully others can chime in.
A lot of smaller places still use Max but the trend is definitely going to full Maya. Why? It's just plain better to model, rig and animate, in my opinion. It is especially powerful for environments when you use it in tandem with Mental Ray, the global lighting solution that is being included in Maya 5 (I believe). I used to use Max in our pipeline and it is impossible to set something at the origin and have the data actually give you (0, 0, 0). It will always give you some crap like (0.0000005, 0.00003, 0.000000002). Those were painful days.
- fate0
digitalsource, if you're talking about perfomance issues you are most liekly correct, Max has always been iffy with very long loads and such. But the end result is still telling, it's a good choice.
- toastie0
digitalsource, that's highly untrue, as of version 6, Max is bundled with MentalRay (one of the things that set it behind other packages in the past was an absense of a decent default renderer) and is just as powerful as Maya, and is way ahead of most others, aside from maybe XSI. Alot of people in the industry seem to dislike it, but it's just a matter of preference in my opinion, it's a tool, and a powerful tool at that. You have to use them all and see what you feel most comfortable with.
- fate0
And in all honesty I just finished a project with Maya because that's what the other guy I was working with used, and the results were spectacular, but I'm not going to dismiss 3dsmax. It has a huge user base and its obviously doing something right beyond the .000000001 inaccuracies.
- toastie0
my only beef with max is that it's windows only. I run linux most of the time and use maya and XSI in it, but for max i have to boot back to windows, something i dont like doing :)