Best 3D program?

[kushi1up]

What is the best 3D modeling program? At least name a few.

[Tamlin]

3D modeling program - Google Search

[unleash]

Aah this is fun Tamlin has another go with google....

About the 3D progies,

Im going with Maya 8.5 (that's what I mostly use)
but here is a list of some of them:

• bryce
• blender
• studio max
• cinema
• lightwave
• poser

And this is a list of free 3D progies (a bit dated but works )
http://forums.biorust.com/3d-modelli...modellers.html (Free 3d Modellers)

[synthetic]

IMHO... best 3D program is more preference and feature need than really being best

what do you want to use the 3D program for?

Carrera basic is a decent all around 3D for low cost and interface resembles Poser and Bryce

Bryce is great for landscapes and those just learning to do 3D for low cost.

Poser good for beginning character design and animation and those already familiar with the Bryce or Carrera interface.

Hexagon while a little flakey is awesome with creating organic looking 3D objects quickly.

Cinema4D is good for working with Flash and After Effects and highly regarded app

3DMax Studio seems to be a popular choice for many 3D studios and animators

Maya is right up there with Cinema4D and 3DMax but doesn't seem as popular

Blender is a decent 3D program but likely not as good as most of the others mentioned for various reasons.

DAZ Studio is great for a free program and you can use it with Photoshop CS3 with a plugin

Strata 3D is a good choice for those that are familiar with Photoshop and especially if running CS3 because they have a plugin I think that works with Photoshop and the newest version of their software uses tools and panels that resemble Photoshop

[Tamlin]

That's a pretty awesome post, Dean. You must have a lot of experience in 3D apps.

[unleash]

Impressive list!

I do have to add, that maya isn't that "unpopular" as you suggest, its just to expensive for lone artists and is therefore more used in studios.....

Oh BTW if you are into organic modeling you should get your hands on a Zbrush license! Do note that you will need a program like 3DSmax to make a base object and than import it into zbrush for sculpting

[Tamlin]

unleash: I've tried ZBrush. I couldn't get on with it, but I'm guessing I didn't really know what I was doing. Is it possible to import objects created in Poser into ZBrush - and if so, how do you do it?

[unleash]

Well Im not sure if poser can

But the idea of Zbrush is that you make a base mesh of a organic thingy, like a head. THat basic mesh should be very blocky as you are going to sculpt it...you could make it in any program that exports files as .obj...

Im not completely sure how to import it, as my trail version has expired and I neither have the funds or the contacts to get my hands on a full license...but I think agentxi can help you out with that one

[Tamlin]

OK, thanks - that's helpful. You can export Poser figures as .obj files, so it should work OK.

[unleash]

no thanks

And really send agentxi a pm....he knows his 3D

[synthetic]

Originally Posted by tamlin

That's a pretty awesome post, Dean. You must have a lot of experience in 3D apps.

thanks... don't have lots of experience... but do have a little. I was really into 3D about a couple of years ago. Still am really but just had to sit it aside for a while while I was developing my web building skills etc.

I started out using Bryce when it was in version 2 or 3. I tried creating some complex scenes in it and found the rendering was WAY TOO SLOW and since I just have one machine and no render farm... I looked into alternatives. I still use it for simple landscapes and to generate things like moving clouds for background .mov clips etc but wanted more for non landscape generation.

That is when I fell in love with Cinema4D. Hard to explain why but... I was able to decipher the workings better than a few of the others I guess. I won my first 3D competition using C4D on a little C4D forum with this low poly weapon (attached pic) that I made. That was biggest claim to fame in 3D

My father is art director for a media group that developed 3D animations of planes and other military equipment for a local defense base. I used to go in and pick the 3D artist's brain a once in a while. He was a whiz at 3D. Liked 3DSMax best. It was amazing how quick he could generate models.

But from what I seen on the net and the 3D artist employed for my father had told me... it seemed 3DSMax was more in use than both Maya and Cinema4D. It could be one of those things that just depends who you talk to I guess.

so... I plan to jump back into 3D one day here soon... just don't know when time will allow though

[agentxi]

wierd that i JUSt saw this post...

as for the comment about maya, I believe it is probably one of the most popular programs used by studios out there. Studios that started up more than 8yrs ago though, will probably of used 3ds max as it was the cheapest of the 3 major programs out at the time, which was Maya, 3ds max and Softimage (which is now known as XSI)

As far as "the best program" goes, I would have to say that all of these programs mentioned above are just tools, to which the artists will use as needed. My personal preference above all, is maya, but I will admit that 3ds max's rendering capabilities (out of box) is a lot better, than maya's, Maya has made vast improvements over the past couple of versions to kinda even the playing field, but a couple of years ago, Autodesk, owner of programs such as AutoCAD, and 3ds Max, now owns Mudbox (an amazing high poly modeling program, similar to zbrush) and Maya.
making these programs more easily compatible.

Most major film studios will use a few different programs, as their strengths all differ, then use internal programmers to make the exsisting software more proprietory depending on the job that they need to do, my friend has been using 3ds max for 5 years in the film fx industry and hates it, but said that he doesn't even remember what the "out of the box" 3ds max looks like, as they've customized it so much to make the work pipelines far more efficient, etc.

If you are new to the 3d world, and love a challenge, and would like to be able to output work that could be considered on par with maya and 3ds max, I would suggest you to learn blender. It is an open source program that is increasing it's power and ability to achieve what the big company names can produce. oh and it's free!

The only downfall to this program is that the initial learning curve to this program is pretty high, but once you learn it, the sky is the limit.

another free modeling program is Wings3D

I've used it for a while and Loved it, although I found that i was slightly faster and more efficient with my modeling using maya, so in the end I've stayed with maya.

Tamlin!

yes, zbrush can handle .obj's

but don't forget that zbrush has a default character and head that you can use, it's not as much detail as the poser models, but it is a solid start for you to start adding your details, so you can export the model out to your favorite rendering program...

also tamllin if you dont like zbrush much

mudbox is another excellent program that does pretty much what zbrush does, and for me at least, feels like it's more user friendly... its my program of choice, i picked it up after 5minutes, where after a couple hrs i'm still lost in zbrush...

cinema 4D i don't know why, but has increased in popularity over the last couple of years. while lightwave has decreased it's popularity.

but in the end, 3d programs are merely tools for the artist to play with, you can achieve similar outputs using any program for the most part.

oh, forgot to mention rhino3d and animation master for 2 more programs that can be used. rhino3d is a good nurbs/organic modeling program and animation master has continued to improve it's quality as an all around 3d program.

so my suggestion is to try out multiple programs and see which one tickles your fancy

wow long post, my appologies ...and an e-cookie for those who actually read through it all.

~agentxi~

[unleash]

I WANT MY COOKIE!!!

Lol huge amount of info there agentxi I hope that one day I will be able to decipher it all......

[agentxi]

Here you go Unleash,

and yeah, it's kind of a confusing post, I wrote it while I was super sleepy...

[synthetic]

I noticed a few more freebies than I knew about... interesting

oh... and then there's Terragen too... free 3D landscape app