PlaneShift
Fan Area => Fan Art => Topic started by: Arangol on March 20, 2006, 04:37:04 pm
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Well yes...wich one should i chose?
I\'m not new in 3D modelling but not that good.
So, what do you think whould be the best of them for a not-new-but-still-not-that-good?
(The one I\'m using now is Blender)
btw. First post :)
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First of all: What is the reason to move away from Blender?
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Indeed, I use blender myself and it\'s very capable and free .
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*cough* *cough*
Someone who\'s a beginner in modeling is probably going to be getting maya *cough* or max *cough* free *triple cough*
I would say the interface for Blender is more similar to Max, but someone who knows better correct me if I\'m wrong.
I really didn\'t like Maya\'s layout when I tried it. 3DS Max was extremely intuitive for me. Easiest to use out of all the major modeling packages I tried. I think it\'s also one of the more cheaper ones.
I don\'t like yafray(sp) just because it looks even worse than Max\'s default scanline renderer. And if you can figure out how to use mentalray (I\'m still trying) you can get some serious photorealistic stuff going on.
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When I read the topic, I first thought: \"Not one of those flamethreads again ...\"
But, it turned out well.
Back to topic:
I think you can\'t simply say which one is better. You can have an opinion on it, but nothing more than that.
So, if you want to hear advices, you should specify why you want to leave Blender. Only then could you get some helpful answers.
By the way:
Do you know what Maya and 3dsMax cost?
Do you think their possible advantages over free Apps is worth the money for you?
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Being fairly proficient at both I\'d say they\'re about equal. I like max\'s modeling tools a bit better, but I\'m probably biased since that\'s what I learned with. Plenty of companies swear by both programs. If you want to try them out, there are free versions of both so that you can compare them a bit. If you\'re trying to decide between them...I don\'t know what to tell ya, besides try them and see which you feel most comfortable with (and by try them, I mean for a few weeks each, since playing with them for 2 hours each accomplishes nothing).
:emerald:
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A friend of mine said that they should be much better than Blender so i tought about it and want to ask what you think.
And i don\'t think I want to buy them yet. Just asking what you think.
And Rolf i know what they cost.
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Just wanted to make sure ... ;-)
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If you can have any of them, I\'d say go Maya, its becoming very popular.
Any of them is infinitely better than Blender anyway, so if you can have them, get them.
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Except I wonder whether they will continue to be releasing Maya, or will autodesk merge it with their 3DS Max package. Or even 3DS Maya!
Autodesk owns the world now.
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Of course, just forget about blender... :(
It\'s very capable, it\'s opensource, it\'s free, but it sucks right?
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There will still be maya and 3ds max, autodesk just owns alias. Maya has too big a niche to get rid of it I think.
Also, blender doesn\'t suck, it just isn\'t developed to the point that some of the others are. Blender can be very powerful if you can learn everything it has to offer.
:emerald:
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You don\'t think that in the future they\'ll try to merge the technologies?
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Even though each package has quite a following, it\'s a bit too hard and expensive for Autodesk to support two giant products like 3dsmax and Maya, so most likely we will see both of these products merged into a single one in the future.
One of the typical responses you\'ll hear about either package is that if you\'re in a gaming industry, go with 3dsmax, and if you\'re in a film industry, go with Maya. Or even with Softimage|XSI, which is exellent, by the way. However, either package has \"leaked\" into different fields and is being used successfully.
If you ask the same question at \"CG Society\" forum, you\'ll probably be flamed because they\'re tired of them and the answer is in the sticky.
Honestly, you could really pick either one and be great, since it\'s the artist and not software that makes the art.
However, if you still can\'t decide and want to get inspired, go to this \"CG Choice Gallery 3D\" forum, where cream-of-the-crop 3D renderings are posted, and the artists list what software they used. If you find a particular style or an artist that becomes your favorite, you might end up using the same software as they do. But remember, that they could probably create the same in either of the top packages. Their choice is often influenced by what they\'ve started with, what their sponsors have invested in, and so on.
CG Choice Gallery 3D (http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?s=c70cca427658f30952438871722f8eaa&f=121)
I like looking at the character renderings, especially faces, and there are quite a few 3dsmax users, although plenty of Maya and other packages as well. If you ignore the quantity and look at quality, you\'ll see that they all are very comparable.
Try out a demo of each package and see for yourself. You might end up hating one software\'s interface and loving the other\'s, which might make a big difference for you.
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Well I cant judge about Maya or 3dsMax, considering that I never used Maya and well just a stone age version of Max, however I can say, that as long as you are not very talented or experienced (or both) AND try to take a step in mentioned industries, Blender will fit all your needs.
My advice would be to learn the basics in blender, and then decide if you want to head for a higher niveau.
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Maya or 3Ds: the age old question.
I use Maya exclusivly(sp) for high-poly photorealistic renderings since Mental Ray (a rendering plugin) does a great job with it. I also like the Maya user interface better then MAX\'s. It\'s just more built for how I think.
If your going to be doing lots of stuff for Planeshift you should get MAX though since Cal3D actually has a lot of documentation for outputting to it...and an exporter. While I have yet to find any support for exporting animation from Maya into that. [if someone else does know info --> point me to it, please!]
Lightwave is also a good choice since it outputs \'.obj\' files nativley and costs way less in its full version then either of these other programs. Just in case you had not heard. (As I throw another fish on the fire.)
Blender is a powerful tool and actually great since it is free and fully supported for this project. My only reason for never getting proficient with it is that its cross-intuitive for me (meaning that it works the opposite of how I do ;) )
But you should use that and save your money if you are going to be working on PS with your \"skillz playa\'.\"
[unofficial] I\'ve heard there is a $45 (USD) version of Maya for people that are taking it in school. I\'m not sure how much of the functionality has been Nerfed but if you are trying to get into Photorealistics and Animation it might be worth the cash.
PS: I\'m back...and I\'m smokin\' hot.
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I had to use Lightwave all last semester, and I would definitely steer away from it for game stuff. It\'s great for high poly characters, but for game stuff it really isn\'t that great. The modeling workflow in max and maya, even blender, is much better suited to low poly game models than lightwave is. Not to mention, LW has virtually no support anywhere in the gaming community. It\'s really suited to smaller cg companies than it is games or large production houses.
:emerald:
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Just in addition to what\'s been said - MAX can easily be used for high poly photorealistic renders as well. In fact, if you go to that CG Choice 3D Gallery link I posted earlier, there are more photorealistic character renders done with MAX than Maya. But both can be used successfully for that sort of thing.
For gaming industry, whether you\'re making high poly models for 3D cinematics or low poly for in-game stuff, you\'ll probably want MAX. Although everything else is used as well, depending on a gaming company.
For example, look at Blizzard job application for different positions, it\'s all - MAX, MAX, MAX, and occassionally Maya. If you look at their \"legendary 3D cinematics\" position, they want you to know MAX.
And if you look at stuff like \"Prince of Persia\", they used both, Softimage|XSI and MAX.
Guys that made \"The Lord of the Rings\" computer effects, including Gollum, used Maya. However, after the movie was done, their studio made a switch to Softimage|XSI. Some of them were against it, others were for it. Although the move had probably more to do with a closer relationship between both of the companies. That means they get more discounts and better support.
Guys who worked on \"Babylon 5\" show used Lightwave, same with \"Star Trek: Enterprise\" show.
\"Farscape\" - 3D Studio Max.
And so on...
In the end, either of those programs would work well.
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I heard that Lord Of The Rings Online is using maya too and their screenshots look very good. (http://lotro.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=66)
Same with Pirates Of The Burning Sea (screenshots http://www.burningsea.com/gallery.php?gal_section=0)
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Even when 3d max is a superb tool, it is kind of costly,
i saw, installed but never used really, blender and it is a very capable free tool.
but if you want to try a "big one", there is a free version in the alias website, it does everything the full version does, it only put a watermark on your renders.
you can actualy save the objs and render them with some rendering software...
and by the way, does any one tried zbrush ? or poser? i mean, for the purposes of creating PS characters
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I don't have a lot of experience in this, but I did use Zbrush to quickly make an Enkidukai model (http://karyuu.livejournal.com/121885.html#cutid1) that was easily exported for use with 3DS Max and Blender. My problem was that I then didn't know how to take it further ;) Zbrush is absolutely awesome though - Zspheres make modeling very easy, and quite fun.
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karyuu,
check the pixologic website or 3dlinks, i think there are some cool tutoriales over there,
you should also try texturing that pretty cat you made :)
i´ll show you later a couple of works, currently i am at the office so my boss wont like me to be 3d modelling kitties
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I have several really good video tutorials on Zbrush even, so if I have the time I'll definitely play around with it more. The problem is that lack of time and then not understanding the rest of the process :P UV mapping, rigging, animating, exporting to CS (a nightmare if you don't have an experienced someone to guide you step-by-step), etc. I think I'll stick to 2D art ;)
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I've heard that Zbrush can easily make the polygon amount nearly 1 mil and that Zbrush isn't so good for game art, more for high poly renders. But thats just what I've heard. Never used it myself. ;D
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Yep, you're right - Zbrush is more for modeling that never makes it into games but is supposed to stand on its own, or for really intense-crazy-woah sort of projects :) It's -very- easy to take a low-poly model and complicate it, but it's also very easy to create that low-poly model, and export it before the complicating takes place.
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Hmmm.. so I got it this way... You mean there's just a low-low-poly mode and then the high-high-poly mode, nothing in between with Zbrush, either low poly or either 900k polys? Sounds good for movies I think ;)
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Not quite :) It's easy to make a low-poly model using the Zsphere tool, but the main purpose of Zbrush is to then expand on that model by almost painting with 3D pixels, so you end up with millions by the time you are "done". You can stop at any stage you want.
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yeahp karyuu is right,
however, there are two things i want to add
1. i read about the movie Underworld II on the pixologic website, they figure it out to use zbrush and made low poly model, still have superb quality
2. dont forget that since it allows you to paint with lots of amazing tools the object you can create super textures and they will get a perfect mappig :)
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Seriously, the textures some people end up with are just stunning. A neat gallery can be found here (http://209.132.69.82/gallery/gallery.html).
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Wow, those models are the \\o// \\o//!
The bad thing about Zbrush is that you mostly still end up with a lot of polys :whistling:.
I think its very nice but it isn't used in so many games.
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i just found out this article on Blender,
i think it is quite intersting, even when i still think 3d max is great tooll, however i am a fan of open source also , what a dilemma :-[
http://www.gfxartist.com/features/articles/9002
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Talking about Open-source, in what language is blender writen? Just want to know cause I now a bit C++ and Java.
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Talking about Open-source, in what language is blender writen? Just want to know cause I now a bit C++ and Java.
Looks like it's mostly C.