The Best Modelling Program

hokai

hokai

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Anyne got views on the best modelling prog out there? Forget about personal opinion for the moment, what's the best for all round usability/effectiveness etc.?
I'm currently using MilkShape 3D, and it's okay... I would like a prog thats a little more "in depth" though.

Cheers. :thumbs:
 
Well, there has to be a peronal opinion, since it's all up to how u feel for the program yourself. Some may think that 3ds max has the best layout on tools and effectiveness and then somebody else comes along but think that maya is the best. It's easier to just try them all. And i think that there are free versions of all of them to try.

The best programs atm are:

Maya
XSI
3DS Max
Lightwave

U can create amasing images in any of these programs.
 
Radeon said:
Well, there has to be a peronal opinion, since it's all up to how u feel for the program yourself. Some may think that 3ds max has the best layout on tools and effectiveness and then somebody else comes along but think that maya is the best. It's easier to just try them all. And i think that there are free versions of all of them to try.

The best programs atm are:

Maya
XSI
3DS Max
Lightwave

U can create amasing images in any of these programs.
Click to expand...

Negative....

Houdini is the best 3d graphic program for capabilitys. It just happens to cost over 20,000 dollors and even the warez people can't afford it.

I heard that in houdini you can have snow thats falls and layers, creating a realistic enviroment. I think its the only 3d graphics program that can do that to date. Its the same with water. If can form puddles without aniamtion. I think thats write anyway. I just read an article on 3dbuzz ages ago about it.
 
I've used 3dsmax for a long time, but I've recently aquired Softimage|XSI EXP and altough I can't do any decent modeling with it yet, the features look awesome and more impressive than what any other package offers. But I'm sure it has it's some down sides too.
So it kinda depends on what you're making.
 
Houdini is the best 3d graphic program for capabilitys. It just happens to cost over 20,000 dollors and even the warez people can't afford it.
Click to expand...


Just to let you know the warez people can afford it :naughty:
 
IchI said:
Negative....

Houdini is the best 3d graphic program for capabilitys. It just happens to cost over 20,000 dollors and even the warez people can't afford it.

I heard that in houdini you can have snow thats falls and layers, creating a realistic enviroment. I think its the only 3d graphics program that can do that to date. Its the same with water. If can form puddles without aniamtion. I think thats write anyway. I just read an article on 3dbuzz ages ago about it.
Click to expand...
Houdini is king when it comes to particles, thats true. It's a stinker of an app to learn though, but incredibly powerful, and the way you model with it is pretty cool, just far removed from the methods of others (it kinda makes sense but at the same time bowls you for six) It's one of those you'll struggle with trying to understand, then suddenly go "ohhh yeah" then if your not careful forget seconds later heh.

The particle system is amazing though. Other apps can do pretty cool particles but nothing like Houdini. It's just not for the faint hearted. I'm only learning it cause I need it for work and would seriously not recommend it to anyone that doesn't know pretty much all the other major apps backwards, cause it doesn't hold your hand for anything.

You can have particles layering in other apps, Lightwave's Particle FX can do it out of the box, XSI and Maya can also. But Houdini does it perfectly. Very few studio's use Houdini and those that do will often only use it for the particle engine and composite with frames from other apps. CORE Digital was the only company I know that used Houdini as its main app

I'd suggest learning on Lightwave and/or Max, then if you prefer Lightwave, upgrading to Softimage once you start earning enough ($3k+ p/w), or if you prefer Max, upgrade to Maya.

Only a few then will successfully move onto Houdini and past that, the really high end stuff like the proprietary in-house software which often comes complete without a UI or any help atall (the hard part) and running alongside Renderman software (the easy bit).

Pretty much the only people who can run those programs correctly are the ones who developed them.. I'll never reach that level cause I just can't program :) So Houdini is currently as high as I can hope to go until the next one is ready... but that program is a secret other than the odd rumor, apparantly wont be available to the public (so only for large companies), is said to wipe the floor with everything thats gone before. Supposedly is capable of doing LotR's effects in its sleep with near realtime rendering at film resolution without using DX or OGL or other specialist hardware, (which I entirely believe is possible, since Worley Labs are currently finishing up work on F-Prime, an almost realtime render engine for Lightwave.) Quite a beast, and I imagine will require similar behemoth like hardware too, especially storage space.

But.. it comes with a price tag to match, and will probably never run on windows ever :(

So I'll be waiting quite a while before I can get near that lol
 
Jammydodger said:
Just to let you know the warez people can afford it :naughty:
Click to expand...
OMFG 20,000 Dollars?! Thats a LOT of cash! :O
 
They probably get a hand of it in another way than buying.
 
Warez sucks, so does leeching and piracy, it should be a death penalty on downloading warez!:p
 
Zakat, we don't approve of warez here. And don't forget I can screw up the chances of anyone wanting to go into the business if they use warez

Think on this old line "If you can't afford it, you don't need it" Unless your doing it for a living you don't need any of these applications, use the freebie versions that are legally provided if you have to. Most just want them to sound cool, none will learn how to use them properly, and when your asked to prove you owned them when applying for work, your gonna have a job on convincing anyone when they can just check your details with the companies database of registered users.... Why screw up your future just to save a few grand on a piece of software you couldn't hope to learn anyway. It's madness.
 
Btw, I have a free edition of XSI, and it's good.:) The legal learning one.
 
Well, I've got that and I can't make head nor tail of it, yet. Still learning...
 
luckily I get to use my schools copies of all this stuff,, I'm screwed when I leave tho :D

hopefully I'll get a job with a copy of something pretty quick out of school
 
Shinobi said:
luckily I get to use my schools copies of all this stuff,, I'm screwed when I leave tho :D

hopefully I'll get a job with a copy of something pretty quick out of school
Click to expand...
What school you at? There's a few in the US (ironicaly I dunno about the UK even though I live here) that once you've gone through the courses your pretty much straight into a job. Usually ILM or Pixar, though some of the others have similar programs with a few specialist schools.. The only problem being a lot of them, possibly all of them, and certainly the best ones, are expensive to get into. Though you do get very good discounts on software, often the commercial licence too I hear. Which in the end are far more useful than educational licences (where you can't make money from anything done with them) Not to mention you get taught by some of the best talent out there and learn a lot of tricks of the trade.
 
I am 16 and im also taking a class on 3d programs (Maya). But, hey, if the person is learning it but can't afford to buy a $750, then i think its ok to use a pirated version. Luckly i get to use the schools version.
 
Fenric said:
What school you at? There's a few in the US (ironicaly I dunno about the UK even though I live here) that once you've gone through the courses your pretty much straight into a job. Usually ILM or Pixar, though some of the others have similar programs with a few specialist schools.. The only problem being a lot of them, possibly all of them, and certainly the best ones, are expensive to get into. Though you do get very good discounts on software, often the commercial licence too I hear. Which in the end are far more useful than educational licences (where you can't make money from anything done with them) Not to mention you get taught by some of the best talent out there and learn a lot of tricks of the trade.
Click to expand...


I'm at CIA, school of game art and design.. website addy is www.gamercollege.com

curriculum is specifically targertted for game design.. and the school seems to have spawned out of the sudden need for game developers in Vancouver,, there's a story to why Vancouver became a new mecca for video game developers, but it's a long one....

I've been attending for 2 weeks so far on an 8000$ partial scholarship ( 19000$ for the full program).

So far it's been really good, my maya teacher was one of the most senior employees in mocap at EA (their main development studio is 20 mins away from the school) and he's been REALLY helpful with my stupid questions :D

We've already got a deadline to hand in portfolios to rockstar (5 min walk from the school), then I think we're susposed to hand in portfolios again at the end of the year to guage progress. There are only 9 people in my entire year which started in feruary, but my class consists solely of people who won scholarships, the teacher to student ratio is 7-9 :D there are 3 different sets of students currently enrolled and another one starts in june. Our first term project is to make a commercial cell phone game on some proprietary 3D engine (we have a 1500 poly max), and if our teacher and his business associates deem it acceptable, there's a chance to get it published.. he said we'd be lucky to get half a dollar an hour for our time but the point is to learn..

but as I said, I've only been here for 3 weeks, I'll make a post in a couple months with a more accurate overall impression

(www.gamercollege.com)
 
Shinobi, sounds like you've got it all planned out well. Good luck mate :)
-

operative x, piracy is wrong no matter what the excuse. If someone desperately needs a particular program, then they can go and take any old job to pay for it. Or do as Shinobi did and get on a proper course. Doing it the legit way brings more than just the satisfaction of having not broken the law and conned the very people your future career will rely on. It also brings a good chance of getting a job
 
operative x said:
I am 16 and im also taking a class on 3d programs (Maya). But, hey, if the person is learning it but can't afford to buy a $750, then i think its ok to use a pirated version. Luckly i get to use the schools version.
Click to expand...
Maybe if you can't afford a certain piece of software, you might not need it yet?
It's easy to d/l free software from Kazaa etc., but why rip off the software and games companies when all that does is jeapordize your chances of breaking into that industry in a few years?
Anyway, i've heard that when appying for a modelling/animation etc. job you are required to provide proof of purchase for these programs. I don't think you'd get away with saying that everything on your showreel was created in paint!!!
 
Not if you plan on buying it eventually:) Oh and shinobi your paying $8,000?! :LOL: I am taking this Maya class for free:)
 
operative x said:
Not if you plan on buying it eventually:) Oh and shinobi your paying $8,000?! :LOL: I am taking this Maya class for free:)
Click to expand...
Okay, fair enough then. Why not just d/l the free trials instead? It's all legal! :thumbs:
 
"Okay, fair enough then. Why not just d/l the free trials instead? It's all legal!" why not concentrate completly on the "real" tool instead of the striped one? It is just a waste of time:(
 
operative x said:
Not if you plan on buying it eventually:) Oh and shinobi your paying $8,000?! :LOL: I am taking this Maya class for free:)
Click to expand...

I'm not paying 8000$,,, that's the amount of money I won in a scholarship competition to get into the school


I'm paying 11000$ and it's not just for maya,, see my previous post
 
Pendragon said:
Can you list/link to some of them? Would they happen to include the Art Institutes? My school happened to be visited today by a representative, and the information she gave us was rather intriguing. (Like the course selection, teaching style, and 90% job placement within 6 months)
Click to expand...
The one I hear most about is the Dave school (US) apparantly thats a good place to go

ok was gonna list them but found this instead, has links and such so infinitely more useful

http://www.animationarena.com/cg-school.html

There are lots more though, one good way of finding out is contacting the larger studios and asking them for advice on such things. Be polite and most will be really helpful about it, since for all they know you could one day be their lead animator and making them millions :E
 
Just thought I'd add my views to some of the subjects raised here.

1. 3D software - Most companies will use whatever software is needed to do the shot. Lets take the film market as an example. Package X might be excellent for all round capabilities, but a certain feature is better/more productive/more flexible in another. Hence, when a job comes in they are broken down to see where they fit in the pipeline.
Most studios will have a package they prefer to use as a backbone to the pipeline, e.g. for ILM thats XSI, but they still use other commercial and custom tools if needed.

If you want to work in Film, I would say learn XSI and Maya. Both are currently used extensively in this market, even though the balance btween them is rapidly changing. :)

For games it depends a lot where you are. E.g. in Japan Softimage has a 90% market share. In the USA and Europe, Max has been the traditional software of choice simply because it has always been windows based and much more accessible price wise. With gaming hardware evolving faster and 3D softeare price changes, many companies are choosing to upgrade from MAX to more capable programs in terms of scalability, quality and productivity.

i.e. Valve moving software for HL2.

Its not just a question of tools, but also how the software deals with data and presents it to the user.

E.g. Imagine a word processor where if you want to make a word bold you first have add a "Change format" modifier, then change the font, and you can only load 3,000 pages. Compare that with another where you simple press Cntrl+B and load 20,000 pages.

So that's a very brief overview of choosing a 3D software.

2. Warez - the is no excuse anymore. You can buy all the 3D software (except Houdini) for under $4K. That's a years weekend work in a store for example.
While you are working weekends you can use the free version of XSI, Maya, Max and Houdini to learn the basics.
When I first joined Softimage, we were selling SOFTIMAGE|3D for £25,00 having just been reduced from over 60K. So now the price of the software has come down, R&D is no less expensive these days. And we spend A LOT on R&D. Every license that isn't paid for eats into where the technology can go.

3. 3D courses - these vary widely in quality an focus. I would say go to uni for a decent course. Aviod courses which are package specific or don't include 2D work, compositing training, group work, open workshops and, most of all, lecturers experienced in production.
The are a number of companies around that offer short courses (a week or so) for training on a package. You will just learn where the buttons are.
 
Do you know of any Uni's that do 3D modelling courses? I heard that Essex Uni does but I couldn't find the course on the website...
 
Nice one Shinobi that site really helped :thumbs:
 
NP. This uni seems to do a lot of computer courses (like about half the people I meet are doing some sort of computing course hehe). I think it also does quite a bit of virtual reality stuff, there are courses on that too.
 
You said that a few of your friends attend that Uni. Which courses are they doing?
 
Two of my housemates are doing 3D Animation, well I think that is what he said the course title is, I'll check when they get back over the weekend. I'm doing a forensics degree here though hehe, just taking up the modelling as a hobby :) .
 
hokai said:
Nice one Shinobi that site really helped :thumbs:
Click to expand...


here's a little tip not many people realise and I am yet to take advantage of (since I don't have the skills yet :D),, but if you donate to 3dbuzz, they will give you access to ultra rare VTM's explaining REALLY complex stuff in various packages,,
 
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