been working wit Poser 5 almost since it came out give or take a month. I have learned alot useing poser. befor I used poser or evan worked with it . i worked with PS7.
ok with that said i tried in the begening of my 3D career
i started with Maya 5 not recommended 4 the novice. So then i tried 3Dmax5 also not for the novice.Then i found poser with its easy interface i was hooked.So now its been a year or 2 and im feeling a little limited on creation in poser except textures. Im trying to make this not just a hobbie but a sourse of income.

so my ? is i have Maya 5, 3DMAX5,lightwave 7,at my disposel.

And i want to start working with one of these 3d programs and start taking classes at san francisco Art Acadamy or Ther are many schools in the North Cali
1.? :are these 3 prog. basicly the same ?
2.?: i like working with .obj&3ds i know what the proceedures are for them. do they all support each other format?
basicly i want to know whitch one is used by most professionals today And will cotinue to be used in years to come .

also is one of them used the same terminalgie as poser uses.
or same stucture and vocabulary and poser.
and if you can tell me the up side and down side of each,if ther are any.

they have the same general functions, but are very different. Maya is used a bit for making characters, but so are the other 2. They're all high-end (well, to me, I use Wings 3d..;) programs, any one of which could probably meet your needs.
I think Posers' commands are fairly unique to Poser, except maybe Daz Studio (ok, there, I've said it..tie me to the stake, and pile on the brushwood..;).
As for what's used professionally, there's at least 2 things you can try..go to the local magazine/book store, and look for 3D World, Computer Art, Digit and magazines like that. There are classifieds in there, and you can see what they're asking for. Or check your local classifieds, or look in the Forums for each of the above (there's a Max, Lightwave, and Maya forum here..that you can ask questions of..tho they may be biased..;) good luck.

Attached Link: http://http://www.rendermagix.com/trinity/index.htm

Well all i know is this.. Maya is used by alot of proffesionals for makeing movies (I.E. Pixar studios makers of toystory 1 and 2) 3ds max is used by alot of gameing proffessionals to make large scale games, and is used by most people i know. i dont know much about lightwave 7 i do know that maya uses obj's mainly and there is now a plugin in the works to import poser items into maya and still be able to use poses morph channels and textures (see attached url)which to me looks amazeing especialy the pharoh pic M3 looks alomst too real to me. almost and it is still in development but there is a beta version available. well there were my 2 cents and now im broke lol i hope this helps you some. tring to help Grace37

Maya is more a group-tool than an individual one. I mean: it is used in studios by several people who work together. Although it has lost some of its plumes, it is still a reference for people who don't know any better (I am NOT saying it isn't a very good tool, only that it doesn't have that supremacy aura anymore in many 3D circles. Max is now about the most expensive. No that easy to learn I am told, but by far the most used in the game industry. Lightwave is also a bit slowing down. All three are high end, but if it is for finding a job...3D land is changing, and who knows what will be in two years from now? So say you have to go for Max or Maya is an opinion on what now is, but a guess for where the future's concerned. My suggestion is: go and talk with the teachers, and if possible, see them in action. And decide based on that. A good teacher is more important than an app. If you ever go to a studio, they will look at what you made (technical and creativity) and then thy will ask you what app. If you know one, you can easily learn another one. But if you're not creative, they won't take you. My two cents

You might wanna lurk the forums at cgtalk.com. It's almost depressing to see people with excellent credentials struggling for a long time to get a job, though. I love 3d as a hobby, but making a living at it appears to be difficult at best and getting more difficult because it's a field where outsourcing overseas is getting more and more common. I tip my hat to anybody who can feed themselves with this wonderful awful thing called 3d cg ;)

Message edited on: 08/10/2004 17:10

Attached Link: satisfaction is the death of desire

well im mostly into makeing movie animations i have already wrote 3 different kind of 30- 45 min movies with no less than 8 characters. as for imaginaion i think i have alot to offer threw trials & tribulation of my life I followed the gratful dead around the country for bout 6 years.Then i was homeless for bout 3 years on the streets of SF CA.Just with those stories alone i have pleanty material.To top it off Did 3 years in San Quinten State Penn. That s is a very dark and morbied place where bad thing happen to the weak and and strong still has to out smart the bonified die hard psyco'sConvicts . So im just saying i have alot of creativty .Good & evil stories to to exress tru my artnow i think bout it they could be games to. Have to research thanks 4 the input folks. take a gander at my gallery i have some of my chracters posted there.

Message edited on: 08/10/2004 17:40

My take on the high-end apps... 3ds - Complete package - lots of features. Difficult to learn. The most complete set of bi-ped modeling tools. For me (playing with V3 models) was buggy as hell. Kept crashing, so I flicked it. Probably very good for lower poly stuff. Maya - For me, was a lot me stable than max. Lots of features, but they seemed easier to use than max (ie. the physics system is awesome). Cimema 4d - Loved it (although didn't get to use it for long). Much easier to learn then the top 2. Material room is great. Not as complete as max or maya (doesn't have cloth or hair).

Just too complete what "face off" wrote. Lightwave - Complete pakage - lots of features (I do not really know what that means).If you are into modelling for Poser (it handles OBJ-files, UV:s and groups very nicely), not much competition here. If it's animating you're into I would really suggest Maya. Softimage - Complete pakage - lots of features (I do not really know what that means).Kind of somewhere in the middle between Maya and Lightwave.

Attached Link: http://www.zaon.org/showthread.php?t=299

After all what I have heard, you should probably try lightwave if you want to do animations and do it for your own, since the renderer can handle it and it's a complete package.

You can find a thread about 3D applications here - I found it very intresting. Just follow the Link.