New 3-D CGI Artist Question

[erifah]

Let's say that there was a promising young artist who gave up art to pursue a regular job, but always wanted to work seriously in 3-D, at least as a serious hobby.

Let's say this same artist still prays, 3 times a day, while facing Andy Probert's studios.

Let's say this is an artist who is now much older, but now has a LOT of money on hand all of a sudden, and plenty of free time, and he's inspired and amazed by what you young whipper-snappers are doing.

Where should he begin?

Oh, I've read the sticky suggesting Blender, ect., but I mean, what type of computer should I (I mean, he) buy? Apple? PC? Electronic sketch pad? What programs should he buy that are user-friendly, but also can be scaled up?

Seriously,though we're not talking Bill Gates kinda money, we ARE talking about a big enough budget for a hobby-minded person to really do it right the first time.

 

[erifah]

Here's another quick question for 3-D artists.

Do you find it easier to work up your designs in 2-D first, and do the orthographic views? Or do you brainstorm and create right there in the 3-D environment?

Or a little of both?

 

[RichMerk]

If you have the bucks, skip Blender and go straight for the stuff the pro's use. Most of the starship models and such seem to be made using 3DS Max.

If I could afford it, I'm sure that's what I'd be using.

So far most of my 3D attempts have been with a 2D image in mind. http://3d.merknet.com/startrek.php

 

[Relayer]

Choose a 3D ap you like. They all offer trial versions. In no particular order: Max, Softimage, Houdini, Blender, Lightwave, C4D, Maya.

I use C4D mainly. It doesn't have the best modeling tools though. From what I've seen Max or Softimage have the best modeling tools (and I prefer Softimage, of the 2). I've also heard real good things about Houdini, but I think that's referring more to being a complete animation package. I've no experience with it though. C4D, for my money, is the most intuitive and easiest to use of the major 3D modeling packages and has the best painting tools. It also has great workflow between it and Max, Lightwave, Softimage, Maya, and/or Adobe programs like photoshop and After Effects. I'd also highly recommend photoshop. There are other painting programs you can use, but 20% of photoshop is better than 100% of anything else I've tried. (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, but not much. )

In the end you can create great art in any of them. They are all probably more powerful than the avg. to even advanced hobbyist will ever use.

 

[Dac]

Choose a 3D ap you like. They all offer trial versions. In no particular order: Max, Softimage, Houdini, Blender, Lightwave, C4D, Maya.

I use C4D mainly. It doesn't have the best modeling tools though. From what I've seen Max or Softimage have the best modeling tools (and I prefer Softimage, of the 2). I've also heard real good things about Houdini, but I think that's referring more to being a complete animation package. I've no experience with it though. C4D, for my money, is the most intuitive and easiest to use of the major 3D modeling packages and has the best painting tools. It also has great workflow between it and Max, Lightwave, Softimage, Maya, and/or Adobe programs like photoshop and After Effects. I'd also highly recommend photoshop. There are other painting programs you can use, but 20% of photoshop is better than 100% of anything else I've tried. (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration, but not much. )

In the end you can create great art in any of them. They are all probably more powerful than the avg. to even advanced hobbyist will ever use.

What this guy said, Ive been using Cinema 4D for about 6 years now, and while at first it will make you want to smash your head against a brick wall, compared to many other apps (except for maybe Lightwave and Maya) it is the easiest to get into with the most intuitive UI. As for Max, who the HELL thought it would be a good idea to keep the Extrude tool in a drop down menu that itself is in several tabs?!

Now, although I love Cinema 4D, its not used much in the professional industry, and seeing as Im trying to get into said industry myself its not doing me any favours. I suggest learning Maya, as its the most *like* cinema 4D UI wise, its a bit harder to learn, but its used pretty much everywhere, and if you can half learn Maya to a certain extent, you'll pretty much be able to apply for any job anywhere.

 

[john titor]

You can get affordable versions of Maya I think, some retail for 17,000 so obviously you'd want something a bit more reasonable. In terms of modeling, its useful to use all four views, depending on what you want to do, you kinda learn from experience and what you're working on. For example if you're modelling a head you might start of in the persp, position a sphere, scale it and then work for a while in the side view, then go back and check it in the persp, or go to the front for whatever else. You'll also need a program like photoshop to open up UV snapshots. When you want to apply a texture, like colours etc to a model there are a number of ways to do it, one of the most frequently used is to open the UV texture editor and sew all the faces of the model together. In essence you're joining up all the polygonal faces of the model. Then you would create a jpeg of it, a snapshot, open it in photoshop and paint on it or whatever, export it out, import it into your 3d program and if you've done it right it should map onto the model properly. After Effects is another powerful program for compositing, you could import footage of say a 3d ship and create an amazing space background with lasers in AE, although you could also do this in Maya, I think.

 

[REB_Studios]

There is also Hexagon 2 originally a French program, but now marketed from Daz3d. Freebie wise Wings 3d Blender which was mentioned before or Anim8tor which again free.
I have used Hexagon, Blender and several demos of the more expensive ones out there. But I keep drifting back to wings 3d.

REB

 

[Rattrap]

If you just want to produce pretty single frame pictures, the 3D Studio Max is excellent. However, it has a major flaw. The only software that can use 3DSMax files is 3DSMax.

If you want to do animation, and to be able to share your work, then the magic word is Lightwave. Deep Space Nine seasons 6 & 7, Voyager, Enterprise, NuGalactica, Stargate- Lightwave. Maya is also really popular.

Mac or PC? Go with whichever one you're already happy with. Versions of most major software are available for both. Most important is to get the fastest processor, most ram and biggest drives you can afford. Think about one or two dedicated externals for storing video, and make redundant backups often. Video is hard on a drive, and your failure rate is going to be much higher than the person just running Excel and Word.

Most importantly, get tryout copies and see what you like, then have fun!

 

[xraydeltaone]

It really depends on whether you actually want to work in the industry or not. If your goal is to become a knowledgeable hobbyist then the above are all good suggestions. Download a few trial versions, buy some training DVDs and get a feel for what you're comfortable with. These days the computer isn't a big limitation as any reasonably powerful Windows PC will get you a long way. I'm using a MacBook Pro that's a few years old running Windows through bootcamp, and I get by fine.
As far as software, things like Blender are a great way to get started, but if you ever wanted to work more seriously in CG you would really want a good working knowledge of apps like 3DS Max, Lightwave, Modo, Maya & XSI. Knowing any of those well will get you a long way. Each tends to occupy a slightly different niche, so if you did want to get serious about a career in CG you might want to consider what you'd like to do ultimately. Max tends to be more games orientated, Maya more for visual effects for instance.

If your goal is to do CG professionally, I'd do all of the above for a year or two to get a bit of a working knowledge of how things work. Once you're comfortable with the basics, your best bet is to apply to a good school that has good industry connections. I see a lot of people coming out of Savannah College of Art and Design that seem to do well for themselves.

Good luck.

 

[TowerPower]

Since someone opened this up, I've been wondering how to best create deck layouts that could be used in a game for exploring the environment. Several who post here have their own way of doing it. One poster suggested VRML, but I found it really had to get my head around. I'm thinking more along the lines of the Elite Force mod, Spacestation K-7's Argas Effect, the Quake editors, etc - stuff like that. Has anyone actually done their own deck layouts using something like I mentioned? I'd appreciate the help. I'd really like something quality like the Argas Effect.
Thanks.

 

[erifah]

Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it. I'm not looking to get into the business, not at all. I just want build things the way Vector does. I dare say I MIGHT have a sense of design as good as Vector's but I'll NEVER know if I don't develop the technical skills.

I don't see animating the darned things, but I want to be able to texture and light them. I'd want to use programs that are commonly used, in the event someone digs what I've come up with, and wants to work with it on their own system.

 

[erifah]

OK, so I just dropped some serious coin and picked up a nice Wacom Cintiq 21UX.

I figure that the first order of business is to graduate from stone knives and bearskins (or what I like to call "pencil" and "paper") and lean how to do art in the digital environment. I think my experience with MS Paint and a mouse does not count.

But first, I have to figure out how to USE the bloody thing. What are all these knobs and buttons and winky-blinky lights for?!?!?!?

 

[judge alba]

not sure if this will be any use but have you tried googles sketch up?
it's what i use. Its pretty easy to use and may help get you used to 3d drawing.
Not sure about animation though I havent looked into that part of things.