I am in the process of purchasing a higher end software. I have narrowed it down to Maya 6, Cinema 4d and Rhino. Of thease software choices what is the best one for what i want to do. What i want is a total software soloution that will allow for modeling and rendering that will render High end graphics. I am leaning more to Cinema 4d or Maya 6 and i would like to know others opinions.

Cinema 4d would be a good choice, it's much cheaper than Maya and the results are stunning. Rhino is pretty much a modelling program. But if you can afford Maya, I'd get that.

I'm with doug on this. Rhino in the current version is basically just a modelling program. Wait till version 4 to get Brazil renderer, although I don't know whether it will have to be purchased separately. Haven't tried Maya, but Cinema is great. Comparatively easy to learn, great results and so on. Take into account that for some stuff you'll have to buy separate modules, like Advanced Render or Thinking Particles.

Softimage XSI. Production professional level program which comes with quite a few things that other software make you pay extra for. http://www.softimage.com/home/ Maya is an extremely powerful piece of software, lots of scripts and plugins and a huge investment in time and money, not to mention training. You "can" learn the software yourself but training is assumed to be necessary because of the program's complexity. Test drive the PLE version. Cinema 4D also a professional level production app, Several movies have employed Cinema for CG components and a couple have used it exclusively. Also lots of options but you'll find that you will need some of the module additions in order to do things. Great software though. Demo available, currently just released in Version 9. In the end it's a personal choice what you buy. I'd suggest you check out the demo versions first and see which one suits you before you lay out vast sums of cash

Thanks for the imput. I have test riven all of the software and i am partial to Maya although for what i would pay for Maya i can get Cinema 4d with Body paint 3d r2 and all the Maxon Plugins for the same price now that they are offering a $700.00 discount for the Studiw Bundle to those that have a comparable product. Mine being Shade. I guess my delima now is price verses product. Thanks again for your help:)

The other thing you need to consider with Maya will be the extra expense of purchasing a renderer. The built in render engine leaves quite a bit to be desired and as far as I know doesn't offer radiosity a couple other production tools. My personal taste ran to Cinema and I've not been disappointed with it yet - although I paid a tad more than it's offered for now. :(

I was considering the Maya 6 unlimited does it too come with the sub-standard rendering engine? as for the addons I like many that i have seen on the Maya website,and have taken that into concideration. Thanks :)

You'll have to check in the Maya forum or at one of the other CG websites (CGTalk etc) because I'm not certain. However most people I've spoken to who have Maya complain quite bitterly about the built in render options and several of those have invested in Renderman or similar. The last I heard the standard IPR renderer included with Maya 6 is faster than before, but still doesn't have raytracing enabled and still isn't entirely satisfactory. Which leaves Mental Ray, Renderman etc as sensible requirements.

Cool do you know where i can get Renderman?

One option is available from Pixar https://renderman.pixar.com/products/tools/index.htm Renderman is really a set of compliance guidelines created by Pixar that are employed by render engines. That's the home of it. From there you'll find a couple recommendations as well as Pixar's own offerings. Mental Ray which is renderman compliant is available from http://www.mentalimages.com/ Product page http://www.mentalimages.com/2_1_0_mentalray/ There are other options available and it might be worth checking around.

MentalRay is standard in Maya. There is a big write up on it in the alais website. Humm I am confussed now lol, long day :)

Well, you'll be happy to know I'm confused as well, because at least one person I spoke to this evening was quite adamant that the renderer in Maya sucked like a wind tunnel. I'll have to ask what version he's using and see if the current version carries the full renderer or a cut down offering.

LMAO! "Sux Like a Win Tunnel" DOnt ask me why but that hit me as being so funny! I almost fell out of my chair. Did you go to the alias site and see the write up? they also sell it as a stand alone. I do appreciate your help. and thanks so much for the laugh:)

Yes I did, it looks like a full version renderer. So, I'm now officially clueless. :) At least you had a laugh out of all this kerfuffle. :)

OK You had to make me ask what the heck is a kerfuffle? LOL And to be honest no matter how clueless you are I am willing to bet that i am way more than you :)

kerfuffle. Fuss, confusion, mess, brain fart... :) Colloquiolism from the nether regions of the UK where civilised people fear to tread - in case they get their feet wet - or worse...

HEHE Ok Not one that I have heard on "Are You Being Served?" When i get the software I will help to lessen your confusion. or at least i hope too lol Thanks so much for your help :)

The other thing you need to consider with Maya will be the extra expense of purchasing a renderer. Actually, there are a number of open source or otherwise free renderers available that you can use with Maya easily. Also, the lastest version comes with MentalRay, which isn't too shabby. It may or may not suit all purposes, of course, but it's pretty good as these things go. bonni

Cool thank you so much :)

Is there some reason you're avoiding 3D Studio MAX? Given the choice, I'd go with MAX or as second choice, Lightwave.

The main reason i am leaning tword Maya is that that seems to be the industry standard in film and television. I am looking to take classes in Special effects anamation, Modeling among many other things. Maya is the software they teach. My Dream job would be to work at ILM so that is the main reason I choose the school i did and the software.

SoftImage and Maya are widely used, and Lightwave is actually used by some professional production companies (Jimmy Neutron is all done in Lightwave, for example). 3D Studio Max is also "professional league" software used by a number of production houses. Most studios, though, do use a combination of commercial and proprietary software that they develop in-house. (Just FYI :-) My personal reflection is that if you're seriously wanting to go into professional 3D work and you can afford it, Maya would be the best to start with. If you can master the concepts there, you should be able to apply them to other programs without too terribly much difficulty. It's a very big, very complex, very powerful program, and if you can invest the time in learning it, I think that investment will pay off. That's just my personal opinion, though. :-) bonni

Thanks for your opinion:) I agree with you and your help in confirming what i was thinking only makes me more confident in my desision:) thank you so much :)

I just heard about one limitation of Mental Ray (from a XSI user) - it needs 1MB of RAM per 1000 polygons in the scene.

well, she's right in one respect. Most of the schools that teach 3D and animation for film use Maya. Whereas schools that concentrate on game design use MAX. So it really depends on what you want to do. Elizabyte is right too, in the real world most companies use a combination of programs, most often Maya and MAX, as well as plugins and render solutions they wtite themselves. And most comapnies use renderman hooked up to a renderfarm to render it out. As well as using Boujou and Combustion a lot for motion matching and compositing while matching 3D with live action. You're also going to need to learn Photoshop.