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Graphics Software

3D Modelling Apps for a Former Modeller? 40

Posted by Cliff from the back-into-the-saddle dept.
capsteve asks: "I've gotten back into 3D modelling after YEARS of absence in the 3D scene, and I'm having some difficulty sorting out the chaff from the wheat. I cut my teeth on 3D back in college, learning a dead end system called Z-Grass then moving into Super3D and StrataVision, shortly thereafter. Recently, I've gotten back into doing 3D modelling using Blender, Wings, and a tiny bit of POVray and YAFray for rendering. I'm looking for an all around 3D modeller that has the ability to perform subdivision modelling, particle effects, and HDRI rendering (to name a few options), yet still have an intuitive interface. Also, my platform of choice is a Mac. I'm pretty happy working between Blender and Wings, but I wonder if there are others out there who've had experience with some commercial apps that would be comparable with the ones already mentioned?"
"I'm not opposed to working between several apps, but I think in order to really get my skill up to snuff, I need to settle on a single one. I'd love to get Maya or Cinema 4D, but i think my wife would kill me, and I was wondering if some of the entry level apps (like Silo or Modo) would help me build my skills up to the point where i could migrate to a Maya/Cinema at a later date? Any thoughts?"
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3D Modelling Apps for a Former Modeller? More

3D Modelling Apps for a Former Modeller?

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  • One Word: (Score:2, Informative)

    by ksdd ( 634242 )
    Modo. [modo3d.com]

    Great modeler from some former LightWave devs. There's a free, unrestricted, "production evaluation" version available for Mac OS X and Windows. Have at it.

    • And it costs a lot.

      I would recomment Silo for speedy organic modeling, and if you need rendering maybe a basic version of Cinema4d 9 (quite a good modeler by itself: poly + nurbs), plus the advanced rendering module. And I believe it would come cheaper than modo. And you get the possiblity to buy more Cinema modules, as you need them.
      • according to 3d world [3dworldmag.com] silo scores a little higher than modo. i've tried both silo and modo (briefly) and both feel pretty smooth. i can't really asy if i agree with the review scores as i haven't had enough time under my belt with either of these apps. one thing that i did like about silo(although i can see where one might get enamored and caught up in the customization) is the ability to build button interfaces for commonly used functions. doesn't matter what tool you use (photoshop, maya, gimp, etc) once

  • Hmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BrynM ( 217883 ) * on Saturday May 28, 2005 @06:56PM (#12666501) Homepage Journal
    Though it won't get you very ready for the Maya mindset and you may want more, GMax [discreet.com] is free and will train you to use 3D Studio Max. Game modelling is quite an art nowadays, so if you lurk the game development message boards you'll find lots of information about free/cheap packages. There are plenty of people doing some great photo-quality stuff, but a lot of them know little when compared to the serious game dev folks. Game developers are your friends. They know about the latest hardware, software and some good technique.

    Blender was a good pick. The developers are doing a good job of maturing it to a professional level app for any type of content (including film). It's the only other modelling app I have installed or ever use since I found the grail... When it comes down to it, I'm a Maya guy (big bullet to bite $$$). I can't really see myself going back to anything else after I started using it. It is a complete package with versatility that is unmatched. Whatever you do, try Maya last or you'll end up begging your wife until she lets you blow that $2500 :D.

    Please ignore the guy who posted the crack and torrent to Maya - especially if you ever plan to do serious work. When you show/submit/release what you create, Alias may very well come asking how you ended up with Maya and have no license for it on record (I've seen it happen now and it's ugly). It's a good feeling to say that "this was created with Maya and Photoshop" without looking over your shoulder. People are usually genuinely impressed that you have a Maya license. It makes you look a bit more professional. Conversly, saying that "I can't tell you" or some other vague excuse for how you created your work makes you look more foolish than mysterious.

    Good luck. Nice to have you back.

    • BrynM, i agree with you wholeheartedly regarding the crack and torrent post... i'm not interested in warez or crackz.
      thanks for validating your thought regarding blender, i think it's quite a powerful app, and it seems that besides the syntax peculiarities and tool description, it has many of the tools the powerful commercial apps(maya,lightwave) have.
      incidentally i was initially motivated to make a blender to maya transition based on the experience that landis fields [landisfields.com] had. he started with blender and trans

  • Maya and Lightwave for OS X (Score:3, Interesting)

    by aibrahim ( 59031 ) <slashmailNO@SPAMzenera.com> on Saturday May 28, 2005 @08:31PM (#12667003) Homepage Journal
    Despite what many fools here seem to say, OS X is a valid and growing platform for 3D content creation.

    Lightwave and Maya have both had native versions since the pre-OS X days, and while both were a bit slow out the gate with their OS X versions, both are current and feature complete.

    I personally prefer LIghtwave, but I have yet to get a license of my own for an OS X ready version. Having used other workstations for both Maya and Lightwave I can say that they are both stable and fast.

    As someone else pointed out Linux is gaining ground very fast in content creation and nowhere is it gaining faster than in 3D. I think this is because 3D users are the most technically minded of creative users, with the possible exception of Digital Compositors. (I'd argue that anyway.) Again Maya is leading the pack. Lightwave has a render client, but no modeling or layout.

    As to Blender, I am never happy with it. The guys keep improving it and it is a good tool, but I see it as comparable to things like Truespace. You are definitely stepping up if you move to either LW or Maya.

    I don't know modo, but I am trying it NOW. It seems quite promising.

    Best of luck

    Oh, and as to the aforementioned fools, please read my .sig
    • My only issue with Macs and 3D is that no company that I know of has released a high end 3D developmental video card such as the Wildcats, FireGLs, or Quadro's for the Mac as of yet, which prevents them from entering the high-end 3D market. I worked in a studio using Maya with both G5s and Opteron workstations, and while the G5s were plenty fast for a majority of tasks, when it came to the more complex scenes with large meshes, textures and such, there was a marked difference in the response-time of Maya, o
  • But I see you're limited to the Mac.

    So on that end, you COULD get the lowest end Maya which won't totally break the bank. Also look into Lightwave. And while I started out on the precurser to Lightwave on the Amiga (called Videoscape...Alan Hastings first 3D app before going to Newtek), it is still two seperate apps with Modeler and Lightwave, which is kind of cumbersome in some instances.

    The reason I was going to suggest XSI is because it's not that expensive for the base configuration and it's still a v
  • It's pretty clear that Maya is the best tool out there - if you can't get a decent Mac version, the cost of a Linux PC to run it on will be totally dwarfed by the cost of Maya itself!
  • Mirai [izware.com] is the step up from Wings 3D (see also Nendo on that same site, although Wings has surpassed Nendo in most areas at this point). I don't know if you can even get Mirai but if you can it's quite fun. It's like Wings 3D on steroids. Animation, etc...

    Of course there is Maya and other stuff like 3DSMAX, both of which you can get free versions to play around with. You're still stuck with their ass interfaces though. Although if you're a Blender user then obviously that must not matter to you. 3DS wa
  • You can find a lot of nice 3D software on a Mac. First let me ask, are you doing professional work or are you just looking for something to play with? If you just want more practice you can always download the Maya Personal Learning Edition [alias.com].

    Other good programs are Light Wave [newtek.com], Cinema 4D [maxon.net], and Modo.

    All of these programs can be used at the professional level and are relatively cheap.

    • i'm not doing any pro work, but i hope to take a crack at it. before i plunk the serious cash for maya(and possibly training), i was hoping there might be another package that could help me build the skills so i could make the transition and lessen the steep learning curve. i've considered maya PLE, but i'm unsure how much i'll be hindered by the crippled features.
      • If you do use the Personal Learning edition, know that you probably won't get to port your projects over to the real thing. Projects made with PLE from what I've heard, do not open in Maya full version. You can pay alias to convert it for you.

        Blender is awesome... it may not do everything, but neither does maya. Blender's interface is better than Maya, and it's control over the 3D environment is better too.. middle mouse button drag swivels the 3D axis.

        Also, pro animation houses, modify maya using it's
        • yeah, that's my fear with maya PLE is that files once created in PLE are not accessible in the full version. considering that modelling is often a multi-session process, going back and refining previously created files, the version locking didn't seem very cool to me.

          i concur with you middle mouse(especially wheel mice) allow for rotation/drag/scaling/zooming that i've not experienced to the same degree. it's feels more natural than having to use a keyboard modifier to do the same. wings is the closest in

  • Lightwave 3D is nice, especially if you can manage an educational discount. For a straight, very inexpensive, modeler, try Silo [nevercenter.com] from nevercenter.com.

  • Simple, cheap, infinite polygons, instant render times.

  • BURP (Score:2, Interesting)

    by DramaGeek ( 806258 )
    For everyone who uses Blender, take a look at the BURP [boinc.dk] project. It's a distributed computing project that runs on BOINC [berkeley.edu]. BURP aims to develop a publicly distributed system for rendering 3D animations. Eventually, the goal is for people to be able to submit work for rendering, though they're not that far yet. The code is still in development, so workunits are just to clean bugs out of the system right now.
  • Another sugestion here. You can get the most basic version of XSI for less than $500 (or even less than $200 if you're a student), most of the modelling tools are there plus you'll get a few animation tools that you won't get with a modeller only app, plus you have one of the best free trial versions there is.

    I've personally tried 3D Studio Max, Maya (taking a maya course now), XSI and Houdini (out of the "big boys", that is), and I found XSI to have the best poly/subdivs modelling tools, and of the free

  • Animation Master [hash.com] is a very cool application. Only $299 supports Mac and PC. Its animation tools are brilliant. However it is spline only tool which takes some getting used to. Check out AM Stills [hash.com] and AM Films [hash.com] for work done with the product.

  • I recently purchased Carrara 3D Basics 2 and Hexagon from Eovia [eovia.com] and have been quite pleased. The combination provides quite a bit of bang for the buck. 3D Toolkit 2.5 from DVgarage [dvgarage.com] provides a low-cost version of Electric Image Universe, also a solid package.

    Love the power of Blender. A shame that it has such an awful interface...

  • I've been tracking Art of Illusion (http://www.artofillusion.org/ [artofillusion.org]) for some time, and I like it more and more. It's Maya-ish, and provides impressive modelling, animating, and rendering. It's much more capable than you'd guess at first glance, and it can be extended in many ways with Beanshell scripts.

    It's in Java and it's open source and free. The Mac front end is reasonably Macified, and the documentation and tutorials are pretty good. Give it a spin.

    ab
  • ...then 3D Max - whatever technical/feature failings it may have are made up for by its intuitive interface, and the modelling 'stack' should be a feature of every 3D and 2D graphics program - no debate.

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