Hi all, I need some opinions, please.... I am wondering which of the 3D graphics program - in your estimation - ranks as the best combination of affordability, functionality, and - of course - usefulness to Poser. I currently own Amapi v5.15 and Blender v1.27, but I suspect that they wouldn't rate highly seeing as neither of them have much to do with .OBJ files, and nobody mentions them in this forum. My guess is that 3DS Max will be the clear winner, seeing as this is the one that everyone seems to be raving about. But, if so ... then why .... and what does it cost ? Looking forward to your feedback. regards, Andrew

I don't rate max at all, to complex and bloated IMHO..(i'll get it in the neck for that LOL)...i like Cinema 4d, nice and simple unless you want to dig deep and get complex and works well with poser.....having said all that you might try it hate it and love max...you may try both hate them and love LW so in the end you need to see what you like and use what suits you...Take Amapi as an example i have it and have tryed it but just can't get my head around the interface but i KNOW its a great app coz some folks here do some amazing stuff with it (Dolly springs to mind but there are lots of others)...Rhino also must be considered especially seeing you want something to work in conjunction with poser, there are a lot of folks working with it as a modeler and then rendering in much more expensive apps....anyway less rambling LOL whichever you pick make sure you give the demos some serious hammer before you drop all that dosh ;o).......Steve

The best 3D program is (in no particular order): Wings3D Cinema4D Lightwave3D Houdini SoftImage XSI 3DSMax Vue d'Espirit Bryce Amapi3D Maya Imagine PovRay ... ;0) The best 3D program is the one that you can afford, has the functionality that you desire, and, of course, is useful to Poser. There are hundreds of 3D modeling applications out there and all of them have pros and cons. 3DSMax is a good application, but, IMHO, is too overpriced - I purchased both Cinema4D XL and Lightwave3D for less than the cost of 3DSMax. The best way to determine the best 3D application for you is to get the demos and try them. If you are constrained financially, then only demo those within that constraint - otherwise, you may find yourself loving an application that you cannot possibly afford, leaving yourself in a dismal conundrum. Kuroyume

What do you need in the app? Do you want a polygon modeler, NURBS, subdivisons? Do you want caustics or global illuminaton? There are quite a few cheap and powerful applications like Carrara or TrueSpace. Real3D could be an option if you're interested in Linux, the Linux version costs only half as much as the Windows version. HIgher priced applications like Lighwave, 3ds, Maya and maybe Cinema4D (depends on your definition of high priced) are only worth it when you're really serious about it. They offer more functionality, but also demand more from the user. It would be wasted money if you bought Maya or 3ds max just to create morph targets or props for your Poser scenes.

It's a very subjective decision. I've got...oh..Amapi 4.15, 5.15, Strata 2.5.3 Anim8tor, Wings 3d, Poser 3, 4, Corel 8, Bryce 5, Truespace 3, Vue 2, and a host of other stuff that was got from magazines, downloads, or whatever
How much of it do I use? Wings 3d, Anim8tor (for file type conversions, of all things), Doga L1 (which is a fun program, but does 90% of the work for you), Bryce, and Poser. Just depends on what you want to do. Go by the 3d links forum here, look for my 'googly' posting, and you'll have all the free or cheap software that ever clogged a hard drive..;)
Best is what's best for you..just have fun, and eventually you'll find something that you like.

Amapi does not handle OBJ files though, does it ? ... that must be a huge downer if you are a Poser user .... or is it ? I'm thinking in terms of creating Poser props, or perhaps manipulating the OBJ file for a particular character .... I've noticed that Wing3D and Anim8tor (both free) have received much kudos in the Poser community. They seem to be very useful as an assistant to Poser. Is that the case ? .... and what do people think of Blender ?

I can't really comment on too many programs as my experience is limited to poser, povray, wings3d and a friend's old version of 3dsmax I played with for a couple of hours. Personally, I prefer povray (and poseray to convert poser characters). It's an excellent renderer (and free), but some of the features requires learning it's scripting language. Everybody has a different opinion, but I don't think it's really difficult to learn - just need a different mindset. All things considered (and this probably doesn't help much, but...), I think the best is whatever you are most comfortable with. I've seen some pretty amazing images from just about every app out there.

For my money, quality vs price Lightwave is my app of choice: one of the best modeller and gorgeous render engine, very good UV mapping tools, good obj export since ver 7.5 (especially with Daz's freebie morph_obj lscripts). Tons of tutorial on the web. A pretty good collection of built-in plug-ins, a lot of free ones around. Some very good user forums. A bit daunting at first, you need a forklift for the manual, but a very rich deep program. 3dMax, Lightwave, Maya, Softimage...are expensive professionnal programs, you need to invest time to master them. The program you choose should depend on your level of commitment to 3d and of course your pocketbook.

Do some TOC ;o) What's your goal, and your constraints ? As an example, I want to do lots of Poser clothing quickly and cheaply, since I'm an poor amateur working in my spare time ;o) So my constraints => key criteria were o cheap or free app (and legal, I'm too chicken to use warez) o strong modeling (don't need materials or rendering) o flat learning curve (minimum learning time) o low system requirements (hey, I only have my home PC!) o high ease-of-use (minimum model creation time) o can exchange files w/ Poser (and UVmapper) The high-end do-it-all apps are marvellous pieces of software - but they don't fall within the above criteria. Which is why I'm still using TrueSpace 4.3 w/ a few plugins such as LUUV for OBJ exchange (and Amapi as example tool in tutorials). Your constraints or key criteria may be different - but figuring them out is usually a good idea. Often saves lots of $ and time ;o)

.... and what do people think of Blender ? Blender is great. You will need additional Python scripts for OBJ import and export and the first few steps in Blender are a little hard, but it's really worth it! Blender is free, fast, has low system requirements and I really like it for polygon modeling. You should give it a try, at a price of $0 there's nothing to lose.

Attached Link: http://www.wings3d.com

i mostly use amapi 5.x for modelling - though there are some bugs. mostly i creat very simple shaped objects - export them as 3ds file format - import them into poser - and re-export them as obj. last step: i use uvmapper to create an uv-map, split vertices (for sharp edges), re-import them into poser, assemble them and save them into the poser library palette. this works good for architecture and scifi stuff. with organic shapes i have noc experience at all ... joek