3d User's help needed

[zeldafreak]

I think i just need some help, i currently am in high school, and i have a huge desire to do 3d art/animation. And i need someone to recommend a good 3d program. I want to be able to start out basic, but get complicated from there. I have learned Maya once, and it was not difficult (the basic stuff). But i do not know if 3ds max or A:M is better. it would be awesome if someone could recommend a good program for beginners that can be very advanced in the future. thank you.
here i have a couple of the prices. (these are academic versions)
Maya Complete 7 Student Bundle = $289.95
Maya Unlimited 7 Student Bundle = $379.95 (little high)
3ds max 8 = $389.95 (little higher)
Animation master(commercial) = $300.00
Cinema 4D R9.5 XL Bundle = $489.95 (high)
the rest are here. (http://www.academicsuperstore.com/market/market.html?category_id=255475)
I do know there is a list of 3d programs in the stickied thread, but im trying to get a users review sort of thing.

[.soulty]

well its a difficult question to answer, because you as the end user can determine which application best feels comfortable with you (or makes more sense to you). At the end of the day your going to use the application and someone elses opinion as open-minded as it could be will still be a little favoured to their application of choice which best suites them.

To add to your list though i would also look into Cinema 4d. Right now im not sure what is going to happen to maya/3d max since discreet (3dmax) has actually aquired alias (maya) so im not too sure on its future. I know it would be phased out but im not sure if there will be a combining of the two or a specialised field for both application or something of that nature.

Id say revise the 3dprograms sticky again, get as many trials as possible and then just play around. like i said in the sticky.


Remember you will not lose time with learning a 3d application (learning the basics of 3d.. moving/rotating/scaling object, editing vertices, texturing, rendering, animating) all 3d apps are similar to what they can create, the differences are the step to achieve a similar result.

;)

[zeldafreak]

ok i will try a couple of different trials, but i cant get 3ds max trial, for some reason the downloads wont work. but also what i am asking is, what are some of the programs you guys use?

[.soulty]

well in my 3d days..(seem so many years ago) :sigh: .. lol yeah i used maya for a while and why was because the ui i believed was intuitive and i liked the 3 button method of viewing ports..etc.. etc..

[zeldafreak]

im definatly thinking maya, because i recall it being a good interface, and i know it can become as advanced as a i want it. but, what is motion builder? cause i want to be able to animate, and it looks like motion builder is good for that, but i dont think i can build stuff in that.

[.soulty]

motion builder is pretty neat, i had a thread about here a while ago before alias bought it off kaydara (thats testing my memory). Its basically a really powerful animating application which uses opengl so you can animate/pose your character in full texture and lighting at real time, also whats neat is you could save a animation sequence to use for any imported character as long as you set up the bone structure correct with the correct naming conventions.

edit:: oh found the link: http://www.kirupa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41391&highlight=motionbuilder

[bootiteq]

You should also check what the industry standard is in your area of the world. Difficult getting a job doing 3D if you know Maya and say they use Max.

Check an employment site. Was a time when I wanted a career in 3D but could only find very occasional work, lucky it was well paid.

edit:: All the Big 3d packages can have amazing results. Depends on the users knowledge. Each product seems to have its share of downfalls.

[jsn.greenbag]

if you already know a little maya and it is animation you're interested in (rather then modeling for games etc.) ..go for maya.

i have used maya for two years in my school and use it almost every day now. love it.
i haven't used any other 3D software so i can't really compare it but i really like the customizability of everything, and that there are tons of free tutorials, plugins, scripts, etc. out there to help, customize, speed up work flow and so on. you can completely fit the software after you're needs and that's pretty unique compared to other non-3d software i use. but like i said i don't know if its the same with 3ds and all the other 3d applications since i haven't tried them.


and btw.. this is from the autodesk press release about the acquisition:


Autodesk does not anticipate any changes with respect to planned product releases from either company, including the Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Alias’ Maya products. The combined company’s research and development priority is to link Autodesk’s and Alias’ existing products, delivering increased interoperability and improved data management. Our goal is to strengthen Autodesk’s 3D product portfolio to provide customers with future innovation, better data management and best-of-breed technology.

[DDD]

If I could do it all over again I think I would have jumped on the XSI bandwagon. But I use Lightwave and I love it. Using LW with Fprime and G2 beats everythign for me right now. A good app also is modo. It is soon going to change the landscape of the 3d game. I would jump on that train now since you are starting new. But to be honest all 3d apps are technically even. It is just what the user gets used to. You need to know area interests you much as some apps are better geared for lets say effects and soft body stuff, where as another one may be better for animation only because the accessibility of tools and interface. SO evaluate all of them, then go from there. Check out CGtalk for some good inside points of each.

[mlk]

The final year students of my school tend to agree that 3ds is much better for students (who need to finish a short) becasue it churns out better images in less time (I guess the renderer is integrated better) and is nicer for poly modeling, but say that Maya is much better for the industry (easier for bigger teams with specific tasks: modelling, rigging, animating, using particle fx, rendering) and is more stable (but has less plug-ins and a smaller userbase).

XSI uses nodes a lot (you could compare XSI to 3ds like after effects to shake). And as DDD pointed out it's becoming more and more popular (it feels the team working on the app does a lot more research&development than other companies).

I know it shouldn't be compared that way, but what you can do is check the CGTalk 3d CGChoice gallery: http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=121 and see what combination of apps are used to produce such good images...

Anyways, models are built/animated/textured in the same fashion in almost all packages (excluding zbrush), it shouldn't be a tough decision (i'd let money decide... =))

[.soulty]

Maya is much better for the industry (easier for bigger teams with specific tasks: modelling, rigging, animating, using particle fx, rendering)Thats a very true statment. With maya being able to completely customize the UI with the availablility of creating custom UI shelfs and tools (using MEL) you can basically set up maya to perform that particular task and that alone, so it can really streamline that workers environment with all the tools they require available to them without other tools cluttering their workspace. nice pick up there mlk ;)

Regarding Xsi, When i used it back a while ago (4 years ago) i was quite amazed at what i could do, rendering was super quick and looked great even as a default render (possibly because of the metal ray being intergrated in its core) and it was the first time i had seen such amazing styling tools for hair and fur, which you can find now similar tools in most highend 3d app tools now.

3dmax i had always got the feeling it was a community application and not neccessarly a 'profressional' app, much the reason for its popularity is that so many internet based people were involved with it that you could always get help regarding it and find all these fantastic 3rd party plugins. That in one way was always a pleasing aspect to it but in another way gave out a almost open source feel to the app and to me gave it a cheaper, less profressional tagline, thats just my opinion.

One thing i really liked about max though was its method of stacking deformation properties, i like how you could add a twist (easily) then a bump then a wave and very easy go back to twist alter it via a rolldown window and adjust your settings allowing the rest to adjust in connection to the rest of the stack, I was always impressed by that, but other than that i could not see anything else that maya could not do for me.

So maya like i said is my tool of choice and has been for years now, im by no means a expert and well any profressional would tell you that to master maya is basically not possible since the tools is sooo freakin huge and involved, lol. But thats not to say you can't master or become profressional at one aspect of the app. All in all the choice is up to you and that choice can only be made from experiences with the tools you tried and experimented with.

[cr125rider]

I am a Maya person, the viewing is awesome, and it has the capabilities to get super complex if you want it too. The dynamics in it are also amazing!