hello everybody, I'am a beginner in 3D and i would like to know what software is the best for my projects. I would like work in modeling (figure, architecture...), video and texturing. for the moment I selected two softwares Maya or 3DS max but it's a very expensive and my computer isn't a 3d workstation. thanks, chrysalide have a good day

the best thing you can do is try free software like Maya personal learning edition or lightwave dicovery. There are also programs that are given away for free if you keep a lookout. Realsoft 3d v4 was recently given away on a magazine cover. Try as many as you can before buying because you may take to working with one program better than another, it's better to find this out before you part with cash. You can start in 3d with NO CASH. There are lots of freebees out there . I started with copies of Vue 2, terragen and Amapi 4. All free. If you really want to spend though look for software that has good overall strengths. Lightwave in my opinion is the best value as it is a complete system with all the bells and whistles for a relatively small outlay. Cinema 4d is truly outstanding and with bodypaint becomes hard to beat. Both of these have outstanding renderers and are relatively easy to learn. good luck and don't rush into buying.

There are also demo versions of 3DStudio Max and other programs available. If you are looking just to make models, why not try some of the Free programs linked above? WINGS is excellent and updated almost every week if not every other day. As TonyJ said, you may like the workflow and interface of one program more than another. Remember, it's not the program that makes great art, it's the person using it. The fastest way to do your best work is to find a program you are comfortable with.

hello, thank you for your answer, i appreciate your help, i know a little three softwares in trial demo : 3DS max, a good soft but a bad "render" (in french rendu) cinema 4d, i don't understand its interface ( jumble) but a nice render, and Maya personal learning, a good render but with the personnal edition it's not cool.

Attached Link: http://p212.ezboard.com/fnendowingsmiraifrm1.showMessage?topicID=2152.topic

That's a link to a thread in the Wings Official Develoopment Forum the other week about French documentation. I added this because you mentioned French in your last post.

Wings 3D is a very capable modeller and well worth a look. As it's free you have nothing to lose. There's a Wings forum here on Renderosity if you have any questions.

As tonyJ said, there are a lot of freebies around if you keep an eye on magazine covers. If you're just starting working in 3D and on a budget this route has a lot to recommend it. Good luck in finding a program you feel comfortable with. :)

swishy

Hello, first visit in this Forum. Im one of the people who currently work on translating and writting some doc for Wings3D in french, as talked on the the thread of which Swishy has just given the link, above. We're still working on drafts so far, but if you'd really like to try your hands at Wings, i've translated the first four chapters of the official manual. - Fenrer.

Have you tried the Carrara 3 demo? It is a great renderer If you buy the program, it comes with Amapi 3D 5.15 which is great for modeling.

hello, thanks everybody, i tried carrara but a have a problem with his interface but the software has a good render. for the moment a don't download wings 3D.

TrueSpace has a free full featured version (Version 3 - old but a good renderer). It has a strange user interface but some people love it. It is a German product and MAY have French documentation. It has many English video tutorials on the site for later versions but many things are the same for beginners.

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

Considering your future 3d work mentioned would be architecture, I would suggest 3ds max6. It is by far the best all round software for the needs that you stated. It also has exellent compatability with 'AUTOCAD' the most widely used 3d proffessional software in the world, and most other proffessional AUTODESK 3d software (about 20 of them). This is invaluable when working as with others people businesses. Despite what was stated above 3dsmax6 has awesome lighting and rendering abilities. Radiosity, Light tracing and the Mental-ray renderer give it the latest in technology and realism. The material editor is also well set up with real-life material presets built in. (They look and act as the real-life material would) Just remember once you start down the track of one software is is very hard to swap to another. Hope this helps You can see 3dsmax at work in my gallery here.

If you're a one-man-show you might wanna take a look at Animation Master. . . IF you're a one-man-show. It has a better character animation toolset than all the major apps and a pretty elegant interface. You'll read on various boards posts from people who use Maya/Max/LW in their day jobs and AM for their own stuff, mainly for the faster workflow if you don't have a bunch of people on a team working with you. You also don't have to spend thousands of dollars for plug-ins to get the features you want. The only 'must have' plug-in I've found was 30 bucks. It's not so strong on the rendering side, though. Some people just hate patch modeling, but I've grown to love it. Stability used to be a major issue, but Hash seems to have licked that problem pretty well. Last time I crashed it it was because I applied hair to the ground plane. hehe. If you plan to make a career of 3d animation then you might be better off learning Maya/Max/LW from the start, but your workflow as a 'soloist' will almost certainly be slower. You might need a big pile of money to get those apps to do what you want, too. You mention your comp "isn't a 3d workstation". I'd be very careful on that point if I were you. Hate to see you spend buncha money on an otherwise good app only to see it crash a lot because of your hardware limitations. 3d is a blast. Read as much as you can on the boards over at cgtalk.com, too, before you commit to a financial black hole ;) Good luck!

Message edited on: 05/25/2004 13:02

I guess its a matter of opinion. If you ask a Maya user he or she will say that Maya is the best. The same goes for Max. If its a matter of render quality Both Maya and Max have Mental Ray Built in which is the best renderer out right now in my opinion. I am a Maya user and ive tried Max too and i personally think maya is a little more straight forward and easier to use but that could be just because ive been using it for a lot longer lol. Also I have been using auto CAD for about 5 years and it works pretty good with maya too. Solids seem to come out as curves though but the workaround to that is just export your model from Auto CAD as a 3d studio file and import it into maya and it will convert it into a poly mesh which is easier to work with anyway. One main diffrence that ive found between the two programs it the texturing systems. I dont really like the way the material editor is set up in Max. Maya's Hypershade is much easier to pick up and has much more to offer when it comes to making complex shaders. AS modeling goes i think they are pretty much the same and have about the same exact tools, to my knowledge anyway. One other diffrence ive found is that Maya has a whole lot more tutorials out there than Max does so it may be a little easier to learn if you are willing to do the research to find them. All i can really say is try them both and make your own mind. Thats the best way to find out which one you like better. Good luck.

Message edited on: 06/02/2004 14:54