Hi,
I'm a new Poser user and I want to take a step up. What is the best 3d program I can use under $250.00. I would like to be able to export and import  to and from Poser and of course make my own objects. Any ideas or is this going to cost me an arm leg to do this? I had a look at Carrara 5 but I'm unsure if this the way to go. To many choices in this area.

Bladeeport

It's like asking which are your favorite children..;)

Well, let's see. Bryce (6), Daz Studio, Wings 3d (free), Anim8tor (free), Blender(free), Truespace (you can get some older versions free on the web), Silo (not free, but in your price range), the list goes on and on. Many of these programs have forums here, so stop by, and discover why each one thinks it's the best..;)

I think there's a special on Carrara at Daz. If you're a Platinum Club member (don't it always come back to that? Give 'em the razor..;)

Stand by for dozens of more (there's hundreds, actually) suggestions for different packages.

you might want to double you're budget, not sure but i think Zbrush and C4d and shade and carrera are about twice you're current budget, personally i am debating between Zbrush and C4d.

You might find a deal about still if you just bought poser that might give you money off on one of those programs, most likely shade or carrera. i think both of those have a beginner to pro version, so the lower version might be in your price range.

sorry cross-post

BTW pakled which of your children is your favourite then?

Was that carrera deal the $9 thing recently?

The $9 offer is for Carrara Basics (which is not unlike Vue Easel. If that offer is still good, I'd suggest going for that. You'd have to join the Platinum club, but IMO it would be worth it to get Carrara Basic for that price.
The only reason I didn't get it is that I already have Carrara 5 pro.
but for modelling I recommend Wings3d to start with since it's free. That way if you decide modeling isn't your thing, you haven't lost any money. (I could never understand those people who start with 3dsMax or Maya because if it doesn't work out they've lost several grand).

for how much 3dsmax and maya cost, they must come with a "make art" button though.

i would want a "make Toy story 3" button for me to get one of them.

They are very high-end and are mainly aimed at professionals, but are also good (maybe even essentia) for the very advanced modelers and animators who need all the extra features they have.
Toy Story, btw, was made in 3dsMax 3. Maya was used for some of the stuff in the Final fantasy movie.

Thank you guys,
I think I'm going for the $9 Carrara deal to get my feet wet before I dish out the big bucks. New area of art for me and maybe to steep on the learning part. Do not want $200 sitting on my computer doing nothing. You gave good info.

bladeeport

i think pixar use a modified version of maya now as renderman made a plugin for it, just guessing though 'cause it has Alias Wavefront in the credits all the time. i wish pixar posted here. one of the modelors for the final fantasy stuff post over at CGSociety.

Poser, of course ;)

You can try the tandem POV-Ray/PoseRay. Very improved renders with a great prize: they're free

About modellers, i would also suggest trying one of the free or inexpensive ones like wings, blender etc. When you are ready to move on to more expensive ones i would suggest trying silo, probably the best modeller for the price. I personally use XSI which at $495 hits the sweet spot for me in terms of price and capability. But then i also do lots of print work so its rendering quality / speed comes in very handy for me. Probably overkill if all you want is a pure modeller for poser stuff tho.

Also AFAIK Pixar dont use any off the shelf software for majority of their work. They use their own software for animation, called 'marionette'. Its supposed to be miles ahead of everything else out there and many animators would sell their left err personal junk for a chance at it :p Of course this doesn't stop all the 3d companies from hyping them up as clients, even if their software was only used to animate a toenail or something...

As for CGSociety / CGTalk, well thats a pretty pro place (with an attitude to match) so yeh you get lots of people from Pixar, ILM, Weta and so on posting there. They even run some of the contests there, like the lighting TD from Pixar runs the lighting challenge. I'd love to participate too, if only i wasn't scared to death of the talent that haunts that site ha !

I tried Blender which is free and shade, which I got with Poser and a couple of others but I could not get warm with them. Mostly my fault, I did not persevere long enough to get over the initial bump in the learning curve. Then I found    S I L O . Finally a 3d program that does not force a particular way of doing things on the user. Yu can set it up to work exactly as you want to work.

There is a free demo version. Have a look if you want if this is for you.

http://nevercenter.com

Bryce is free on 3D World magazine this month. But it's rubbish so don't bother.

BEST 3D modelling program is new - MOI (www.moi3d.com) - it's currently in free Beta and is made by a Rhino3D-defector. VERY easy to use & NURBS supporting (won't mean anything to you unless you're wanting to create solid objects for manufacture).

cheers for that info tekmonk! i had thought they just had "super" version of maya with their own stuff attached.

i know what you mean about CGTalk being intimidating, i saw some stills and models put up for critique from the Final Fantasy people, after i had seen the demo reel for FFXII, i was flabbergasted by the reel , thought it was just stunning work, but the critique just seemed to be slagging it off "you're clothes are just getting too weird..." and stuff like that,couldn't believe it.

i think if you post there you have to read in between the lines, as most of them are pros, they are all competing with each other to get commissions for game covers and the like, so if you don't read truely constructive critisism, that will actually direct you to improving your image, from say someone who's work you admire, then i think you could interprite it as a kind of jealousy that their comments were meant to put you off posting there( they might see you as someone that could take a commission off of them), you have to be very confident in what you are doing and what direction you are going in to take that stuff on the chin and keep posting, so i take my hat off to those who do post there, as you can't help but get inspired by some of the stuff up there, beautiful site but you won't get your back rubbed there until you are well established.

It all depends on what are you planning to do with.  A 3D-program can be a lot of things. Do you want it for modelling, for rendering or landscaping. As tekmonk mentioned for the modelling start with a free program like wings3D, or animator. Moi is a good program for modelling, it has the same feel as Rhino, but more suited for mesh-handling, I haven't tried the latest release yet. I think blender is less suited for a beginner because of the interface, altough you can do amazing things with it.
Bryce isn't rubbish IMNSHO, it has a great tradition in making sceneries and a great renderer, it works well wit DAZ-studio but not so good with Poser.  Vue and Carrara are more suited for that, but you'll need to buy the import plugins if you don't have the top-end products which cost more tham $250,-

There is a big deference between Zbrush and C4D.

you can not put z,c4d in the same category.

2 totally deferent app's,that work totally deferent.

the only other app like Z that I no of is mud.

Z's $500

C4D basic $900

C4D Studios $3500

C4D'ers use Z as a plug.

Z's micro displacements for textures that actually make geometry,it razes the polycount up really high.but looks good.it's a form of hupernurbs.

zBrsuh meshes our mostly really high polycounts

RorrKonn
http://www.atomic-3d.com

Hexagon is great if it will run properly on your system. Still waiting for Daz to do something with this gem though. no renderer just a modeller, works great for making stuff for poser

Truespace is great, high end app low end price. Renders too, plugs for landscapes skies physics, particles, rigging everything you would need. will import exported obj's from poser not native import.

Vue easle, not a modeller but you can use primitives to make stuff., will import poser native files, animations etc...landscape modeller, no export back to poser (other vue's will export some other vues will ecport all. 

i had no idea C4d had gotten so expensive!!! i think i had a demo with a deal the last time i saw it, wasn't that much though. i wonder if they will do haggling, couldn't get my Zbrush demo open because 30 days had passed from downloading it to me unzipping it (friendly) i've seen a few demo reels of stuff made with C4d so was almost sold on it, but i liked the sound of Zbrush(sounded like i could basically draw my models), so are you saying Zbrush is a bit poo then Rorrkonn, but are recommending C4d?

zBrush is pretty good, but it isn't exactly a modeller. It is more of a sculpting and texturing tool really, works best if you model a low detail mesh in silo or hexagon or something, then import it into zBrush for details and textures/bumps/displacement maps. These maps are then applied to the original low rez mesh with displacement for the details so it renders and animates fast.

Not saying you cant model something from scratch in it but if you do, you will end up with a very dense, multi million poly mesh that is hard to use in poser (or most other apps)

TrueSpace is not considered a high end app.

Does not render landscapes like vue,bryce.

Does not have morphs for rigs.

Does not have a Poser plug.

Like Maya,Max,C4D have here.

http://www.e-frontier.com/go/poser/addons

$400 to upgrade from ts6 to ts7.

zBrush'er mostly load a sphere and use magnet like tools to manipulate the mesh to look like what ever,

mostly organic characters.

not for modeling car or mechanical things.

thay do have a very original system for modeling with out magnets.

I have not meshes with it much.don't care to model that way.

I learned to model in the main app Polygon modeling way,TrueSpace,Lightwave,C4D.

All polygon model the same way.

Rhino is a Spline modeler

C4D if ya keep all the mods upgraded you would spend $500 to $1000 a year.

3D is not cheep software / hardware upgrades takes some $$$.

As a general rule the recommendation goes.

Get all the app's demos one at a time see what clicks with you.

But it would take months to do this.

Moths to learn the app you finaly decide on

Months to get good at it.

Everyone climes the latter no so mater what app thay started in thay keep getting bigger and bader apps

So buy the time thay get to the $7000 apps thay have a collection of app's.

it go's LW to MAX to XSI or TS to C4D to XSI

XSI seems to be the finish line.

So lets shorten the list.

LW $900_has alot of tools and is very affordable.

it's not the fastest app to work in so if ya a pro pushed for time.

Modo $900_LW coders left LW started Modo.

it's a new app,looks promising.if thay keep there price down will be nice.

Promotes it's self as part of the production line.

XSI Foundation $600_so when you get to the $7000 version ya use to the UI,that I hate.

XSI Advanced has always been one of the ruling kings of 3D.

Don't see anyone knocking it off it's thrown ever.

Basic C4D $900_Love the UI,took them to C4D9 to have nGons don't know about that one.

Will not subdivide a Triangle most app's wount only XSI,LW will that i know of.

Very stable app, has really been rising in popularity,I would buy stock in C4D.

"C4D's BodyPaint $900 also a plug for XSI."

Links to most the main apps and some specialty apps.

http://www.atomic-3d.com/RK_Link/00_Link_Main.htm