Hello to everybody! I plan to make a no-profit association to share knowledges and experiences in the realm of 3D graphics, with the aim, may be far in the future, to make short movies. I'm trying to figure out what could be an effective, low cost, production pipeline. Assuming the association will be eligible for the educational prices, I was considering Poser 6 ( + DAZ Mimic ) and Carrara 4 for a cost above 2000 euro ( more than 3000 euro if we'll use Hexagon ); unfortunately Transposer 2 doesn't work with Poser 6 but, by the time we'll need this, it probably would. Another option could be Daz Studio and Bryce ( they will be cheaper ) but we'll not have dynamic hair and clothes, but we'll have network rendering. I don't know the Bryce animation capabilities: the characters act as in DAZ Studio ( speak, move, walk )? Another option could be Blender: I've never used it but I read it is powerful and free ( but what about lip synching and ease of use? ) On the modeller side, I'm considering Wings and Hexagon: I found the first most suitable for morph targets. Of course we'll need more software ( 2D painting, video compositing, sound .... ) but these other application just increase my confusion... so I launch a poll: what are your opinion/suggestion about this matter? Keep in mind we will not be able anyway, to make Pixar's quality movies!! Thank in advance for your opinion Fulvio

Vue 5 infinite would be much better than bryce for background scenes and poser, it might cost more but it is much better and it can import poser animations. Daz studio is not really good enough yet for using with poser files, poser 6 is much better and much more configurable I.E. you can edit figures and clothing etc much more using poser 6 than you can using daz studio and clothing morphs don`t work in daz studio yet which could cause more problems.

Some computer magazines have free versions of programs with them (bryce 4 was free with a magazine recently). Sometimes the full program is free but you don`t usually get the latest version of the programs, it is still a good way to try out some of the programs that you might want to use to see if they are the ones you want.

I would get Silo for modeling. (Look at what Silo2 is going to offer, and free for registered users), Poser for Posing (take a look a blacksmith's morpher), some Poser content (free V3 and M3 at DAZ), evt. UVMapper pro, Terragen,...all cheap or free. Don't forget that there are courses in Cinema4D you can take, and it automatically gives you a limited version of 6 and a student license for 9

Many thanks for your precious suggestions, but I wonder why none of you have considered Carrara, at least its renderer is faster than Poser renderer... Hope to see your answer Best regards Fulvio

I think that vue 5 infinite has better poser integration than carrara and cinema 4d has plugins available for poser, I dont know much about carrara which is why I didnt mention it.