I have basically no knowledge what-so-ever about this field at the moment. I'm looking to learn, though. So far, here's what I have been looking at: Maya 3DS Max Lightwave 3D Cinema 4D Which one should I go with? I figure it's going to take a while to learn and a shit ton of work. I may as well learn the best. Any opinions?
Well, to get in some good practice, and some ideas flowing. I'd try Blender, it's Open Source. So, playing around in it is free, plus, you can muster some pretty detailed and epic renders. Google Blender for more. Another one that comes to mind is Ryhno (not sure if that's the spelling), but it's a CAD program of sorts.
Get a free modeller that has lots of tutorials for it. Both Maya and 3DSMax costs thousands of dollars, but Softimage Mod Tool (formally XSI) is a free modeller made by the same company. There are heaps of other free modellers, including Gmax and Truespace 7.6
You should start with 3DS Max because it will make your base. At the moment starting with very high tools such as 3D Maya will not be a right decision. Take a start from 3DS Max
Hi, Carrara 6 pro is free on the DVD of some recently issue of art magazine such as digital arts. Here's some details on Carrara's spec and the magazines that comes with it I personally use both Blender and Carrrara. Why I am recommending Carrara is because it is the easiest of all the high-end 3D programs. It's rendering is fast and quite good too. Since version 6 is now free, might as well give it a try. Have fun.
Blender is great - but the interface isn't like any of the others - so you might learn that but will have difficulty carrying the skills over to other applications. Cinema 4D is available in a basic format and is good for dipping your toes into - it will give you a transferable skill-set without breaking the bank. 3DS Max and Maya are highly expensive - buy those when you have a business doing 3D!
as said every SW has its own merits and demerits. but every tool offers all the possibilty to achive the end result. with 3dsmax 2010, lot of features make it a cutting edge tool. But I also advice Blender because it offers more than any other also open source. See the power of Blender in Big Buck Bunny a short movie. entire short movie including compositing was done in Blender. I personally feel it will be the future tool of studios worldwide.
What exactly are you trying to do? Do you want to make movies, animated videos or just learn mapping in the 3D environment? If you want to learn how to make 3D maps that you can walk through, take a look at Steam - http://store.steampowered.com/ Steam is free and it provides a Software Developer Kit (SDK) for 3D games. Some examples of the games include Half-Life 1 & 2, team fortress 2, left 4 dead. You might have to buy a game to get the SDK. But who knows, you might already be a gamer and have steam. To record the footage, use a program called Fraps. Which records in game action and saves it in AVI format.
I think the single greatest question is: What do YOU plan to do with the 3D software. There are obviously so many different tools, because they each do different tasks well. Some are better at characters and animation, some don't have animation capabilities at all. Some are great for scenery, some have everything. Give us a list of what you NEED or plan to do and we'll actually be able to give you meaningful feedback, but until then, asking which is best is like coming on here and asking which screwdriver is best. they're all great tools, but you often don't need all of them, and if you get the wrong screwdriver for the job even though it is great it might be just not at all what you need. Aside from my advice, a great full-featured 3D program that is one of those 'hard-to-learn-all-at-once-but-will-do-everything-youd-ever-need-it-to-do' programs is blender. And luckily, you can download it for free (so why not, even if you end up getting another one anyway) It's a great way to try your hand at it, and it's VERY capable at a lot of things. 3DSmax will set you back a few dollars, blender3d is free - it's worth checking out at least.
Cheers! But that was the April issue, not the current May issue No worries, Carrara is bound to be back on it soon. Digital Arts rocks! They always have great cover discs.
I use Cinema4D and found it useful for getting started, it's not too difficult either. But I havn't tried 3DMax or Maya.
it all depends for what you want do, tecnical modeling , choose max, character maya, if you are broke, choose blender!