NationStates Jolt Archive

Here's a question for anyone who knows their way around the various 3D Modelling softwares we've got available to us.

What, in your opinion, is the best 3D program?

Sure, various programs for various tastes, but I am looking for a sort of "run down" of any potential pros and cons of the programs you may know of so I can make an informed decision regarding which to look for myself.

A little background on me:

I have *some* experience with 3D and actually got fairly 'good' (read. Average) with Maya 3D. I had obtained a copy from a friend of mine and spent quite a good few months working intensely with tutorials on modelling, texturing, lighting (you know, The Works) and really, truly enjoyed it. I am in school now studying Graphic Design (damn straight. Print Design and some webdesign.) and have seriously considered, perhaps, taking up 3D modelling for the sake of either getting into the 3D modelling for gaming or simply using it as an extention of my design and whatever other projects may come up that would require use of 3D.

Problem is, this was all late last year, and I haven't booted up Maya in a good, long time. I have look around, done research, and read forums but really haven't seen any good discussion on the various programs, and at this point I am considering trying my hand with a new one. Maya is fun, fairly intuitive, but I haven't seen much professional work done through Maya (save the film Industry. Spiderman 1-2 and Lord of the Rings? Yeah, that's Maya), and for most everything else, 3D Studio Max is the reigning king. Problem is, I couldn't quite get 3D Studio quite right. In the amount of time I spent learning the basics in 3D Studio, I had already gone much farther ahead with Maya. Perhaps it is because the general basics of understanding 3D modelling mechanics had already been covered in 3D Studio, or maybe Maya is just that much easier - but for whatever reasons, I just didn't quite get that one right.

I'll append some links at the end of the post to show some of what I achieved in Maya as well as 3D Studio so you can see at what "level" I am working at (or will be once I get a month or so back into it to refresh my memory).

So, in short, what is your favorite 3D program? What do you consider to be the best? Why? Pros and Cons?



Links to some of my amateur work:

Maya:

I had started a model of a hand for fun, but never finished it.
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/HandNail2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/HandNail3.jpg

With the guidance of a great tutorial, a completed project including post-processing.
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/church3.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/church5.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/church5.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/church4.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/churchfinal.jpg

Just a random desktop I made to share on the forums for an upcoming (although likely vapourware) game.
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/DarkfallDesktop.jpg

3D Studio Max
Yeah, these are all pretty crappy...


The only somewhat-decent of the 3D Studio renders
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/FreakinGoodLandscape2.jpg

This is so bad, I just HAD to put it up.
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/FreakinDeformedTree.jpg
Fear the disconnected, floating branch of despair!

Like how all my 3D studio file names begin with "Freakin"? Only two posted, but there are a few more around my comp somewhere that aren't worth the time it took to render. Yes, they all also begin with "Freakin". The 3D Studio ones were done almost 2 1/2 years ago, if not longer and the Maya ones were done at the end of last year.

If the links don't work and you really want to see 'em, copy-pasting into the address bar should do the trick.

Anyone?

Not even comments of, "Damn you SUCK,"?

How just a tap? Tappity tap tappy? :p

Its realy good.

Those are nice programs, doga is good for people with little to no experience with 3D programs. There is a new open source program out now called blender that a lot of the people that use 3D Studio Max is going to.

Heres the link. I havent got a chance to try it but it seems good.

http://www.blender3d.org/cms/About%20Blender.20.0.html

i like the church.

a long time ago i modeled an fnp90 for rainbow six: rogue spear (urban operations was the expansion pack) and i remember it looked so fucking sweet in 3dstudio max. then i got it in game and it was kinda meh. except for the time when it was 3 times the size of the player :P that was kinda funny. or the 6 foot long muzzle flash.

My boyfriend has a degree in 3D Animation and all he uses is Lightwave.

Check out his stuff: www.bigmech.com
Look Section- his demo, some artwork
Listen Section- his music (electronic)

My boyfriend has a degree in 3D Animation and all he uses is Lightwave.

Check out his stuff: www.bigmech.com
Look Section- his demo, some artwork
Listen Section- his music (electronic)

I've heard some good things about Lightwave, for the most part. That annoying, Crazy Frog video was made in lightwave by this younger guy.

I like your boyfriend's work, though. He's especially got a really good eye for general composition for his work, so it is in general very, very pleasing to look at.

Nice. I only use Lightwave and Maya. Lightwave's extremely easy to animate. Nice renderings. The church is plain awesome.

I've heard some good things about Lightwave, for the most part. That annoying, Crazy Frog video was made in lightwave by this younger guy.

I like your boyfriend's work, though. He's especially got a really good eye for general composition for his work, so it is in general very, very pleasing to look at.

I told him what you said and he said, "Thank you, composition is one thing I pay special attention to.." :) His demo is a couple years old, but I think it still looks good.

He told me tonight Lightwave has two programs: one for modeling and one for animating, so you might want to check it out if you haven't already.

Call me crazy, but I have yet to see the Crazy Frog thing...

Yeah, I ended up getting extremely distracted by Maya and started to reconsider the possibility of just buying that one.

I started working on a new project as well, so I'm pretty excited. It's been awhile since I was hit by the bug of creativity this hard.

I won't talk much about what the actual scene is going to be, but this model is what I've been working on today, and so far I can say I had forgotten how much fun I have doing this stuff. Not to mention that I haven't even touched Maya in around a year... Hell, I'd consider a carreer in this field if it weren't so unlikely for it to actually happen. :p

Anyways, for the curious, I put up a few pictures of the model. Some at earlier stages than others - the most recent being the one with the strings.

http://www.geocities.com/goty02/render5.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/render7.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/render8.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/goty02/render11.jpg



I told him what you said and he said, "Thank you, composition is one thing I pay special attention to.." :) His demo is a couple years old, but I think it still looks good.

He told me tonight Lightwave has two programs: one for modeling and one for animating, so you might want to check it out if you haven't already.

Call me crazy, but I have yet to see the Crazy Frog thing...


That's cool. It shows in his work that he pays close attention to those details.

As far as the Crazy Frog thing, just be glad you haven't seen it. In fact, don't look for it either. It's one of those things that never, ever leaves your memory no matter how hard you may try to forget you ever saw it. Truly, truly annoying. :eek: