Now I asked a question in my last post about why CG artists have to rebuild CAD models before rendering them - do any of you have experience with this phenomenon?
I wouldn't call it a phenomenon, it's just necessary. If I get a cad model that's 9 million polys, I obviously can't use that to bring into the game engine, and sometimes its best to just use the cad model as a reference for size and spacing, and model around it.
By simulation, I meant what is commonly referred to as "serious games" (even though I and most people that do this kind of work hate that title). Same pipeline as developing for games.
And like oil and gas, every military simulation company I've worked for personally or been involved in some sort of development process with has used Max.
But still, your description of Max sounds like the tone of someone that just flat out doesn't like it. I really don't get the point of this article.
The point of this article is to introduce a set of questions that people could ask themselves that would give them a starting point towards choosing the proper 3d modeling package for their desired use.
The rest of the article is me explaining different criteria that could be used to evaluate what software would be best for them and introducing some important concepts.
The last part, my thoughts on software, is just what I think of software from my perspective as a 3d modeler and designer.
At the moment I'm working hard here in Boston to try and further the education of the next generation in the arts, sciences, technologies and design-engineering practices of the future. My focus on 3d and design comes from my independent game and cg and professional design-engineering backgrounds.
For all this talk about 3d printers, personal factories, virtual worlds, etc, none of it will be of any use without people that know how to design using these new tools.
That's the real reason I wrote this article and will continue to try and find better ways of educating the next generation of people in the 3d arts. I would love it if I could keep getting feedback from the Polycount community on this topic, because I mean it when I say this thread has been an extremely useful source of information for me in improving this article - but if we could talk about something other than 3DS Max now, I would be so happy.
If you're looking to give people a starting point in choosing what 3d tools to use then you might want to actually talk about the specific advantage of each one and break them down into simpler terms so people can differentiate. That should be the challenge, not just removing the offensive stuff and calling it a day. Less opinion, more facts that are easy to digest.
So with Maya, it's geared towards animation and pipeline integration, skeleton setup/ rigging, modeling, powerful scripting language, and history based.
Or Max. good out of the box solution, geared towards modeling with a modifier stack that makes modeling very non-destructive, animation tools are decent but more out of date compared to maya".
Or Modo, geared towards modeling, tool-pipe, great UV tools, animation tools are new but getting better, cost effective.
I would recommend breaking those aspect down if you think they are too complicated, but that is the meat of what people need to know, not "meh, don't bother" or "i only recommend this because other people use it". There is just very little substance to what you are writing right now.
Replies
I wouldn't call it a phenomenon, it's just necessary. If I get a cad model that's 9 million polys, I obviously can't use that to bring into the game engine, and sometimes its best to just use the cad model as a reference for size and spacing, and model around it.
By simulation, I meant what is commonly referred to as "serious games" (even though I and most people that do this kind of work hate that title). Same pipeline as developing for games.
And like oil and gas, every military simulation company I've worked for personally or been involved in some sort of development process with has used Max.
But still, your description of Max sounds like the tone of someone that just flat out doesn't like it. I really don't get the point of this article.
The rest of the article is me explaining different criteria that could be used to evaluate what software would be best for them and introducing some important concepts.
The last part, my thoughts on software, is just what I think of software from my perspective as a 3d modeler and designer.
At the moment I'm working hard here in Boston to try and further the education of the next generation in the arts, sciences, technologies and design-engineering practices of the future. My focus on 3d and design comes from my independent game and cg and professional design-engineering backgrounds.
For all this talk about 3d printers, personal factories, virtual worlds, etc, none of it will be of any use without people that know how to design using these new tools.
That's the real reason I wrote this article and will continue to try and find better ways of educating the next generation of people in the 3d arts. I would love it if I could keep getting feedback from the Polycount community on this topic, because I mean it when I say this thread has been an extremely useful source of information for me in improving this article - but if we could talk about something other than 3DS Max now, I would be so happy.
Cheers,
~IV
So with Maya, it's geared towards animation and pipeline integration, skeleton setup/ rigging, modeling, powerful scripting language, and history based.
Or Max. good out of the box solution, geared towards modeling with a modifier stack that makes modeling very non-destructive, animation tools are decent but more out of date compared to maya".
Or Modo, geared towards modeling, tool-pipe, great UV tools, animation tools are new but getting better, cost effective.
I would recommend breaking those aspect down if you think they are too complicated, but that is the meat of what people need to know, not "meh, don't bother" or "i only recommend this because other people use it". There is just very little substance to what you are writing right now.