Autodesk

[Dj Ad Work]

I’m new to this forum so I’m very sorry if I putted my question in a wrong post.

I just received Autodesk few days ago and I’m not sure if it’s a right program to use for 3D graphics. I would really appreciate if someone would give me some advice on it or suggestion of purchasing a new product. Thank you !!!!

[agentxi]

autodesk is a company name, they have multiple programs, they now have maya, 3ds max, autocad, motionbuilder, and i think even revit


i personally use maya 7, i hear bleh things about maya8 (the first version release since autodesk has bought out alias) so i'm sticking wtih maya 7 for now.

but what are you using your program for?

personal work? client/freelance work? or are you starting up a company?

if you are learning software, there are demo's and "personal learning edition" versions of any of the big programs out there.
there are also free programs such as blender, wings3d, etc... just check out the thread in these forums about the free programs...

anyways, let us knwo what you are wanting to do, and we'll help you out. the more the info the better

[Dj Ad Work]

I’ve bought 3ds max 8 sorry for not putting it in. I wanted 2 start designs of my own 3D projects; like a lot of metal forms (could be just construction of it) but also 3D pictures. A lot of my work is based on single objects. I need program that is not complicated and I don’t think that 3ds max 8 is the best choice. I was also thinking of purchasing adobe acrobat 3D is it a good program?

[agentxi]

well i think you're in a bit of a pickle; 3d and "not complicated" doesn't really go together. All 3d programs have a very steep learning curve at the start, and even more so if you're teaching yourself, It won't really matter which program you get it will take time to learn and some dedication to get good at it.

I use maya, but that program is as complicated as 3ds max, although it is a little more user friendly than max is.

I know there is a large cinema4d group on this forum, and from what i hear it's a good program to use.

If you don't want to spend the 1000's of dollars for a new program AGAIN... then I would suggest using blender 3d

or even try out maya with mayaPLE (personal learning edition)

blender.org - Home

Autodesk - Autodesk Maya - Personal Learning Edition

if you decide you like maya better, then you can ask them if they'd take 3ds max back in exchange for maya.

but i do suggest you try out some demo's or explore the free 3d software scene before you go out and spend 3-7 thousand dollars on the program

[unleash]

And I do beleive 3dsmax is a good 3dprog to start with, the most are its just how many time and effort you want to put into it. Then acrobat 3D is unknown to me, you could try out google's 3d prgo but thats really basic....

The link to that prog is somewhere around, at the forum.

O and if you have any questions about that prog you purchased you can always put them in the 3D thread and there will be a lot of biorusteers to help you out!!

[Dj Ad Work]

Well i guess i stick with that program...
Thank you for your help

[Metecra]

Originally Posted by Dj Ad Work

Well i guess i stick with that program...
Thank you for your help

Well, for the people who are new at 3D design, Cinema 4D has always been the best choice, as it's easy to use, and produces rather great results. So, if you have the money, buy it. If you don't have the money, you could always join the dark side and download it off the net for free... (Though that's both illegal and immoral)


~Amanda

[Dj Ad Work]

As for now I'm kind of broke... But maybe in future..

[unleash]

Originally Posted by Metecra

Well, for the people who are new at 3D design, Cinema 4D has always been the best choice.

I must disagree with you here, I'm currently working in alias maya but I could never use cinema 4d without having some serious start up problems. Then the beginner doesn't have this problems, but he has no preferences either.....then there should no programm be the "best" for the beginner, because every programm does have its plusses and minuses.

Cinema 4D is a good programm, I know because I've seen lots of people produce nifty thing with it. But its not the best, its just like cars. volvo's have very good braking systems, but renault has a better structure......So it depents on what you want to do with it, what you find important, to decide which is "best"

Unleash

[agentxi]

well it seems like you're sticking with 3ds max. It has a great renderer, and if you are using "metal forms" (btw i'm not sure what that means) but you said metal, so here's a decent tutorial on how to create reflective/metalish type shaders in 3ds max.
3dm3.com Since 2001- FREE 3DS MAX MODELS FREE 3DS MAX TUTORIALS MODELING CAR BLUEPRINTS 3D GALLERY 3D GIRLS CG MOVIES DOWNLOADS

(this tutorial shows how to create a shader and use mental ray, so for a model all i would use is a sphere to test out the shader, etc...once you get the effect you want, then save it and apply it to some of your models, etc)

Also max comes with some very excellent help files, I feel they are probably the best of the help files out of all the 3d programs that i've used. So if you don't quite understand a tutorial just hit F1 and type in the word they used in the tutorial that you don't quite understand and it should help explain some things for ya

For organic modelling I would learn to use NURBS or NURMS (it's been a bit so i dunno if max still calls it "nurms") NURBS modeling uses vector splines to create it's surface, thus creating really free flowing /smooth shapes etc. but for structures (like buildings, spaceships, books/props, etc), and more complex objects (like tree's, robots, humans, etc) I would probably just stick with polygon modeling, max has a good "smoothing" feature (i think it's called turbo smooth) to help get rid of the hard corners that polygons tend to create.

Anyways that is way more than enough to get you started on your "metal forms" good luck, and post up some work! we'll help you get you on your way

-agentxi-

[DaRk_f0x]

i'm a bit of partial with my opinion because i've never tried all of the programs out there, but from those i have tried (maya, c4d, bryce and blender) i can say cinema 4d was the one that allowed me to take more advantage out of it, mainly because i didn't use it professionaly and it gives rather good results. to really start off i would suggest blender for the cash needed =D as it gives good results too. Maya was just too complicated for me, probably because i already used c4d for 1 1/2 year before trying and was too used to it.