3D Software?
- Thread starter JoshC
- Start date
I use 3ds Max but I just got Lightwave.
I use 3ds Max and Lightwave. I just got Lightwave and I like it much better than Max.
i mainly like blender it's really the only one i'v 
e used
e usedI've used LightWave, LightWave, and, um...LightWave.
Seriously, I was given (no kidding) a legal copy of LW 5 way back in 1999...minus the manuals. I played around with it for about a month, but couldn't figure out how to do squat, so I put it away.
A couple of years later I decided to give it a go again. Sadly, I couldn't find my copy.
There was much gnashing of teeth.
I did get a copy of LW 6.0 through, um, alternative means, but once again life stepped in and made me too busy to work with it.
Finally, in 2004, my wife bought me LW 8.0 on special, with about $400.00 worth of learning materials covered with the price. I'm still learning, and have even upgraded to LW 9.0...and I'm just now making models that look like what they're supposed to look like.
Moral of this story?
1. Be prepared to invest time.
2. Be prepared to invest money.
3. Don't give up. It will get easier.
Avindair
Seriously, I was given (no kidding) a legal copy of LW 5 way back in 1999...minus the manuals. I played around with it for about a month, but couldn't figure out how to do squat, so I put it away.
A couple of years later I decided to give it a go again. Sadly, I couldn't find my copy.
There was much gnashing of teeth.
I did get a copy of LW 6.0 through, um, alternative means, but once again life stepped in and made me too busy to work with it.
Finally, in 2004, my wife bought me LW 8.0 on special, with about $400.00 worth of learning materials covered with the price. I'm still learning, and have even upgraded to LW 9.0...and I'm just now making models that look like what they're supposed to look like.
Moral of this story?
1. Be prepared to invest time.
2. Be prepared to invest money.
3. Don't give up. It will get easier.
Avindair
Hello, everyone. I've looked through this thread and I haven't noticed any definitive suggestions as to what software is best for a beginner (i.e. someone with no computer graphics experience). I've been looking at other people's work for so long, and I finally have an idea I'd really like to see happen, that I'm motivated to learn 3D modeling. Any suggestions as to a program to start with? Thanks!
AudioBridge, I don't think there IS a difinitive suggestion, and wars have begun by saying that there is. 
MY answer would be in two parts:
Google SketchUp is freakishly intuitive and it's free. But it's not very versatile. (Not as versatile as many other packages at any rate.) To get your feet wet, this might be a place to start.
Blender (YAY! Blender!) is NOT intuitive (until you learn it, then it becomes like breathing), but it IS versatile, it's ALSO free, and it has a community that is almost rabid in it's willingness to help.
Pretty much any 3D app has an almost straight-up learning curve, so be ready for that. Get one that strikes your fancy (another reason to go for the free stuff to begin with) and expect to be building simple things for a little while. Just hang in there. Crawl, walk, run, fly, warp drive, right? Eventually you will be Dennis Bailey or Vektor!
Good luck!
MY answer would be in two parts:
Google SketchUp is freakishly intuitive and it's free. But it's not very versatile. (Not as versatile as many other packages at any rate.) To get your feet wet, this might be a place to start.
Blender (YAY! Blender!) is NOT intuitive (until you learn it, then it becomes like breathing), but it IS versatile, it's ALSO free, and it has a community that is almost rabid in it's willingness to help.
Pretty much any 3D app has an almost straight-up learning curve, so be ready for that. Get one that strikes your fancy (another reason to go for the free stuff to begin with) and expect to be building simple things for a little while. Just hang in there. Crawl, walk, run, fly, warp drive, right? Eventually you will be Dennis Bailey or Vektor!
Good luck!
Thanks for the tips, Tallguy. I'll give Google SketchUp a shot and go from there!
I'll second the easy learning curve with Strata products... I'm using Strata Vision 3D (a 1995 version, mid-range) and I've been able to pick it up very quickly in a couple months. I grabbed a copy of Strata Studio Pro (from around the same period) on ebay for $25 (to see how it is different and to get the printed documentation... I think it also has motion blur for animation as I recall). I've been toying with getting a newer version, but I'll most likely give Blender a try first.
I have a copy on the same PowerBook 3400c I've been using for Vision 3D... I flipped a coin to decide on which I was going to try first (and Vision 3D won out).
I personally use Blender fairly extensively. I've played around with Maya quite a bit as well and I've found that Blender is the easiest for what I like to do. (ie simple modeling and other non organic renders) Maya is really stinking awesome and fairly simple to use, but it's just too much for modeling the Enterprise or something like that.
The only problem with Blender, that I can see, is that there's a huge learning curve. It's not like anything else out there. If you've been stuck with Windows all your life, and are not used to using different types of control schemes, Blender is going to through you for a loop. The good news is that it just takes practice. Build a few simple things first, to get your bearings, and then build from there.
The only problem with Blender, that I can see, is that there's a huge learning curve. It's not like anything else out there. If you've been stuck with Windows all your life, and are not used to using different types of control schemes, Blender is going to through you for a loop. The good news is that it just takes practice. Build a few simple things first, to get your bearings, and then build from there.
Free version of softimage xsi. can import/export .x limited to 13,500 polies. Of course, "Where there's a will, there's a way."
http://www.softimage.com/downloads/XSI_Mod_Tool_4.2/default.aspx
Free version of cinema 4d (old version, but still it's C4D!) It's being offered by an Italian site. Either learn Italian or use google translate
Link removed - no proof that this site is authorized to offer this software for free; even software offered by its publisher for free often restricts its use and republishing - better to err on the side of caution - Ptrope
I must have missed where this was suggested, but gmax is virtually the same as 3Dmax 5 for free. There's even a workaround to export .obj now.
http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax
This is a UV mapping program that I use and it's amazing, IMO. It's free while it's in beta and it doesn't look like it's going final any time soon.
http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=38
Blender has been suggested and is very good. It's interface is "different" though.
As far as a recommendation goes... Any of the top animation packages can do it all. It's really a matter of which one you can wrap your head around the easiest. I prefer Cinema 4D for it's features, and ease of use.
http://www.softimage.com/downloads/XSI_Mod_Tool_4.2/default.aspx
Free version of cinema 4d (old version, but still it's C4D!) It's being offered by an Italian site. Either learn Italian or use google translate
Link removed - no proof that this site is authorized to offer this software for free; even software offered by its publisher for free often restricts its use and republishing - better to err on the side of caution - Ptrope
I must have missed where this was suggested, but gmax is virtually the same as 3Dmax 5 for free. There's even a workaround to export .obj now.
http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax
This is a UV mapping program that I use and it's amazing, IMO. It's free while it's in beta and it doesn't look like it's going final any time soon.
http://www.uvlayout.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=38
Blender has been suggested and is very good. It's interface is "different" though.
As far as a recommendation goes... Any of the top animation packages can do it all. It's really a matter of which one you can wrap your head around the easiest. I prefer Cinema 4D for it's features, and ease of use.
It takes a bit of getting used to for ships. Headus (the designer) is open functionality requests. He's added a lot of "snap" type functionality for mapping mechanical designs. If you use it and think that it'd be better if it could do x, y, or z, just tell him (Be sure to explain why you need it.) and typically he'll add it.
I've always had a problem with even pixel density while mapping. It's automatic with this though.
I've always had a problem with even pixel density while mapping. It's automatic with this though.
Blender question
Well after seeing this thread pinned here for years I decided to give Blender a go last night. I started out with the Blender 3D: Noob to Pro tutorial and went as far as Mesh Modeling. So far I like it and I'll definitely do more of the tutorial tonight.
I just have one question about the Python scripting. When I start Blender i get the following message:
"Compiled with Python version 2.5.
'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
Warning: could not determine argv[0] path
Checking for installed Python... No installed Python found.
Only built-in modules are available. Some scripts may not run.
Continuing happily."
I presume I just need to download and install Python to make this error go away but it would be nice to get some confirmation on this. Thanks!
Well after seeing this thread pinned here for years I decided to give Blender a go last night. I started out with the Blender 3D: Noob to Pro tutorial and went as far as Mesh Modeling. So far I like it and I'll definitely do more of the tutorial tonight.
I just have one question about the Python scripting. When I start Blender i get the following message:
"Compiled with Python version 2.5.
'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
Warning: could not determine argv[0] path
Checking for installed Python... No installed Python found.
Only built-in modules are available. Some scripts may not run.
Continuing happily."
I presume I just need to download and install Python to make this error go away but it would be nice to get some confirmation on this. Thanks!
Re: Blender question
This is typical for installs where you don't have a full Python installation. This is not a problem with the majority of Blender scripts (Note: There was an error in the 2.44 build where several python modules that are normally included were left out, which caused MANY of the scripts to not run -- but this has been fixed in the 2.45 build that just came out).
So unless you find a script you really need/want that requires it, a full Python install is not necessary. However if you want the those last few lines of the output to change to "Python found" (or something like that -- I don't have a full Python install so I don't really know what it would say) then you can install it.
I would recommend against the full install if you are going to write Python scripts for Blender as many people don't have the full Python install and the desire is to not require one for a script to run.
This is typical for installs where you don't have a full Python installation. This is not a problem with the majority of Blender scripts (Note: There was an error in the 2.44 build where several python modules that are normally included were left out, which caused MANY of the scripts to not run -- but this has been fixed in the 2.45 build that just came out).
So unless you find a script you really need/want that requires it, a full Python install is not necessary. However if you want the those last few lines of the output to change to "Python found" (or something like that -- I don't have a full Python install so I don't really know what it would say) then you can install it.
I would recommend against the full install if you are going to write Python scripts for Blender as many people don't have the full Python install and the desire is to not require one for a script to run.
Re: Blender question
Thanks! I was hoping you would reply!
I'm still so new at this that scripts are not really on my radar at this point, so I think I can live without them. I'll just concentrate on the tutorials for now and hope that I can be good enough to need a script one day!
Thanks! I was hoping you would reply!
I'm still so new at this that scripts are not really on my radar at this point, so I think I can live without them. I'll just concentrate on the tutorials for now and hope that I can be good enough to need a script one day!
Re: Blender question
Well it's not really a question of being good. The scripts were written to extend Blender. There are many useful scripts that do what Blender can not yet do natively or similar things in different ways.
For example my Layer Manager script extends Blender so that you can name layers and create layer groups (and a few other things) where as Blender "out of the box" doe not. There are in fact a few scripts that are quite handy so you might want to nose around in them at some point. Don't forget that the scripts are separated into categories and are accessible not only from the scripts window but from the menus. If you are in edit mode you get the list of edit mode scripts, if you are in object mode you get the list of object mode scirpts, and so forth.
Well it's not really a question of being good. The scripts were written to extend Blender. There are many useful scripts that do what Blender can not yet do natively or similar things in different ways.
For example my Layer Manager script extends Blender so that you can name layers and create layer groups (and a few other things) where as Blender "out of the box" doe not. There are in fact a few scripts that are quite handy so you might want to nose around in them at some point. Don't forget that the scripts are separated into categories and are accessible not only from the scripts window but from the menus. If you are in edit mode you get the list of edit mode scripts, if you are in object mode you get the list of object mode scirpts, and so forth.
Um, forgive me but is Modo better than LW? Isn't modo made by the guys who made Lightwave, but left newtek?
Well, it sort of depends. If you have no particular goal in your modeling (ie. exporting to a particular game's format), then I'd recommend checking out Google's SketchUp. If you like it, you can get the pro version really cheaply. If all you want to do is mess around with quick 3D drawings, it's great.
On the other hand, if you are seriously wanting to get into 3D modeling, then the package you use will either be dictated by the end result required, (ie. it has to be exported in a certain format, from a certain program), or by what you have the budget to buy.
While a skilled person can create a given model in Maya, or 3DSMax, for example, if you are going to develop for MS products, then you will need to use Max.
IMHO, as you will invest a considerable amount of time learning your first app, you will want to pick one that is main stream and capable of doing what you want. Ultimately, if you get into the business, you will wind up learning them all if you are good. The first takes the longest, and then after this it is easier as you just have to learn the different approach another program takes.
Beware, some programs will not do both surface and poly modeling, and if you are wanting/needing to do both, you will have a problem.
Personally, I would recommend Max, but then you have to be seriously into this to spend $3500 bucks. But, you can start with the free GMax.
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