Searching for the right 3D app...
I'm interested in getting into 3D. This will be a new world for me. I've discovered a slew of 3D apps out there:
Maya, Amapi, Blender, CINEMA 4D, Electric Image, LightWave 3D, modo, PiXELS3D, Shade 7, Silo, SketchUp, Strata 3D and ZBrush... Whaaaa!!! I'm overwhelmed.
I'm leaning towards CINEMA 4D, LightWave 3D, modo, Shade 7 or Strata 3D.
Before I make the investment in both time and money I would like to be sure I get into the right 3D app. My intention is to learn 3D to design furniture as well as designing some mechanical stuff I have twirling in my head. I also have interest in using 3D to design a car I have in mind as well as some animations.
Your expertise on the subject is much appreciated.
Maya, Amapi, Blender, CINEMA 4D, Electric Image, LightWave 3D, modo, PiXELS3D, Shade 7, Silo, SketchUp, Strata 3D and ZBrush... Whaaaa!!! I'm overwhelmed.
I'm leaning towards CINEMA 4D, LightWave 3D, modo, Shade 7 or Strata 3D.
Before I make the investment in both time and money I would like to be sure I get into the right 3D app. My intention is to learn 3D to design furniture as well as designing some mechanical stuff I have twirling in my head. I also have interest in using 3D to design a car I have in mind as well as some animations.
Your expertise on the subject is much appreciated.
Comments
I was way too intimidated by Maya, but I sprung to Cinema 4D. If Apple made a 3D product, it would feel like C4D.
Eovia have a trial version you can download.
Placebo, I agree with you about Cinema 4D. I've downloaded the following demos Maya, Amapi, Blender, CINEMA 4D, modo, Neon, PiXELS3D, Shade 7, Silo, SketchUp and ZBrush...
CINEMA 4D and modo have the best UI, modo being my favorite, unfortunately it doesn't do animation. LightWave looks like it has a nice UI as well, however I do not have a demo for that. I didn't know that Electric Image has 3 DIFFERENT APPS for animation, modeling, and rendering. That's the kind of info I'm looking for. Forget about Electric Image in that case.
Now, CINEMA 4D R9 sells for $695 and CINEMA 4D R9 XL Bundle for $1895. Will CINEMA 4D R9 do animation, modeling, and rendering or do I need to get CINEMA 4D R9 XL Bundle in order to do all of that?
PBG4 Dude, I've played around with Blender. Definitely appealing in that it's free, however it's UI is alien to me.
Phutyle, I hadn't looked at Eovia Carrara 4. I will download a demo to check it out. How do you like it's UI? Does it do all under the same app?
Originally posted by iPeon
Phutyle, I hadn't looked at Eovia Carrara 4. I will download a demo to check it out. How do you like it's UI? Does it do all under the same app?
Yeah, Carrara does it all in one app. You click bettween different icons to switch between screens (Assemble, Model, Texture, etc). Timeline and Keyframes for animation are down the bottom of the Assemble screen.
The UI takes a bit of geting used to, as it's about as non-standard as i've seen. It completly takes over the screen, a bit like Bryce, but it has internal windows and dockable pallets. It works well with a dual monitor setup, though.
The reason I got it was that I was looking for a general 3D modelling app, with terrain creation, that could output to Shockwave 3D's W3D format (and that didn't cost an arma and a leg) for my MA project. It fit the bill on all fronts.
Originally posted by PBG4 Dude
Is Carrarra more stable than Ray Dream Studio?
It hasn't crashed on me yet ;-)
I never used Ray Dream Studio, so I don't know about it's stability. I used to use infini-D years ago, and that was one of the reasons I chose Carrara this time round.
I'm using it for general model and terrain development for a Shockwave 3D project. It's been very reliable for me so far. I haven't used it for any animation or rendering yet, so I can't comment of those sides of the app.
But I've certainly had no stability issues.