If your task is early in the pipeline, ie: designing, modeling, texture painting, then Blender is fine.
mayhaps.
Reasons why not:
a) The TA team will likely not be able to help you with Blender problems; Any problems cause because of you using Blender (crashes, lost work) are entirely your fault for using this software. i.e. use at your own risk.
Basically if something happens the blame will be entirely on your because you had to pick a non-standard software. Some studios prohibit non approved software right from the start, because of this.
b) The company's integrated pipeline tools - modeling tools, exporters, shaders, asset management tools, quality checking tools are likely not available for blender. You will have to go back and forth between Blender and an "official" program like Maya or Max, which will of course cost you time. Producers won't like that, and for the same reason may not allow you to use Blender.
Some companies are more liberal than others.
But I would strongly suggest to at least look at either Max or Maya.
I work for a big outsourcing company, and I haven't come across studios that used Blender on a broad basis. Individual artists may or may not use it (see above reasons). I've seen big studios use XSI and even old Max 9.0 (back in 2014!) as main package but not Blender. Although the OSS fanboi in me would like to see Blender eventually succeed.
On one hand, all the remarks made by Kwarmm are perfectly valid. At the current time Blender is considered to be a non-standard tool, and it still suffers from a strong stigma related to its userbase. But on the other hand, if you present Blender as an art tool just like Zbrush and Mudbox, that is to say something completely separated from the (already established) asset authoring pipeline and export process of a studio, then I see no reason for it to be frown upon.
Now of course you will need to be familiar with Max and Maya when it comes to the later stages of a pipeline, but from a purely artistic standpoint those don't matter much. In other words : you will be hired based on the qulity of your portfolio and (to a lesser extent) on your ability to work with various engines - not according to the fact that you used X or Y software to do so.
1. Model with whatever you want, as long as it's somewhat industry standard.
2. When you get to the company, it should be pretty easy to switch to their software. Took me about 1 month to really learn 3ds max before I started my job.
3. Definitely be open to learning their software. When working with the tech guys and other artists on your team, it is WAY easier to just send your working file then deal with exporting and dealing with all of that bullshit.
4. By the time your portfolio is good enough to enter the industry, you'll have no problem switching software. If you're making good art with it, keep going.
another reason against it, which I just realized, would be asset re-use. Opening existing work would be annoying if the assets aren't available in FBX or OBJ. With more complex assets, such as levels or rigs, it won't be possible at all without the danger of loss or transformation of existing data. If there is custom info embedded (nodes, shaders, attributes), they will be lost too.
Pior is right in what he says - if you can keep Blender as a tool like ZBrush, then it is more likely to work. But it really depends where you are in the pipeline. I can only really see it work if you're modeling individual pieces or parts of a bigger piece.
However, as mentioned, the quality of the artwork gets you hired.
BUT, if you're up against an equally skilled individual, the guy who knows the studio's software gets bonus points, as it is assumed his familiarity makes him work faster and more error free than a Max/Maya newbie, and that he knows the quirks and workarounds.
Have you tried MODO yet? It's really great! Haha, sorry Dustin I couldn't resist. :P
But in all seriousness, if you're just learning to model it's probably okay to full around with Blender. I did. Mainly because it was free and at the time I wanted to be able to use it for commercial purposes.
The cost for Max and Maya is high, but really that's not a huge factor if the studio is providing it. So I learned Max and Maya via the education versions. Now I own a copy of MODO and I use that.
But I know my way around both Max and Maya now, so if a studio needs me to use one of those applications instead, I will.
If you know the general workflow it's really not that hard to learn another application. It just may take a little while becoming acquainted with where everything is and the hotkeys.
You can get Maya LT for $20 a month. For the basics It's pretty much the same thing as the full suite. But it doesn't matter where you learn the basics. It helps to already be good with the software that's used at the studio but you can easily switch afterwards.
I've used both maya and max professionally as well as multiple game engines. You're always learning something new.
Great topic. For studio gigs, make it your earnest priority to rock the nearly 20-year-old standards first - warts and all - and only then fold in Blender *if* you think it's worth the trouble. It probably won't be, to be honest - but there might be specific use cases where it is justified. Can't think of any off the top of my head, though.
Modo, for me, is a bit thornier of a package. It's an amazing modeler, great for UVs, etc. But, I don't think I would even suggest it unless a significant number (two or more) of artists were already using it for some time and the producers or TDs were cool with those artists using Modo. It's not that I hate Modo or think it's bad, it's that there is an additional financial investment (it's not exactly cheap any more and budgets matter) and there is a pipeline/wrangling/learning cost involved.
It will all come down to what producers, TDs and whatnot are willing to tolerate, but you'll never escape the standards, so might as well learn to do the best with them.
I love blender but sometimes it has issues working with other programs so I could see it not being used all the time. I've heard of tons of issues with unreal engine, and my personal experiences taking models into mudbox.
For whatever reason Mudbox HATES blender exported models. I get glitches and crashes and all kinds of issues. Seems to be related to the mirror modifier or mirrored UV's. But exporting from blender to maya had the same issues.
I'm basically working on fully switching to Maya LT just so I can stop having these problems . So far I can model well enough in it, but I'm much slower at the moment.
You should know how to use Maya or Max because there is no studio I know of that's all Blender. You'll have to export to the engine or save out a final file in the studio software. Most of your coworkers will have no idea how to use Blender at all, it's completely alien to anyone that knows Maya or Max so don't expect to get a lot of help.
ok I think i'm going to switch to maya then. Just wondering how is maya lt compared to full version? I would be only using it for games? And how does learning in maya full version switch over to using LT version? I ask because most tutorials are in full version so i would learn in the student version for full maya even though there's a student for LT maya.
ok I think i'm going to switch to maya then. Just wondering how is maya lt compared to full version? I would be only using it for games? And how does learning in maya full version switch over to using LT version? I ask because most tutorials are in full version so i would learn in the student version for full maya even though there's a student for LT maya.
This will depend on your discipline.
The good news is that the modeling and UV tools in Maya LT are the same. It also has pretty nice integration with unity and unreal. And you get updates very regularly so you'll get new features before they are live on the full version.
The biggest difference is that the scripting does not support many 3rd party scripts because of missing functionality. So if you're doing a lot of rigging or animation you might find yourself noticing the difference as these things usually rely on specialist scripts. If you want to use a script from someone who wrote it for the regular Maya it might not work.
I honestly think you are worrying too much about the wrong side of the issue. Focus on the quality of your art first and foremost. If you are great at what you do, recruiters and Art Directors are not going to care about which program you've been using.
Also keep in mind that while MayaLT is cheaper than regular Maya, it is still expensive, and the files are not cross compatible between both programs which is bound to cause issues later on. This comes from experience : I too was contemplating the move to MayaLT last year, but the artificially imposed limitations of the program were a deal breaker and definitely not worth the asking price. And on top of that MayaLT wasn't exactly stable when I gave it a try, and thus failed to meet my expectations for professional 3D software.
Aaaanwyways - at the end of the day, just focus on your art using whatever app you are confortable with. While being versed in many different programs can be a good thing, practicing every day in order to get better is what eventually gets you a job.
Replies
Starting from Rigging onwards you'll want to use whatever the studio/company is using.
Still it never hurts to know whether MAX or Maya on top of Blender.
mayhaps.
Reasons why not:
a) The TA team will likely not be able to help you with Blender problems; Any problems cause because of you using Blender (crashes, lost work) are entirely your fault for using this software. i.e. use at your own risk.
Basically if something happens the blame will be entirely on your because you had to pick a non-standard software. Some studios prohibit non approved software right from the start, because of this.
b) The company's integrated pipeline tools - modeling tools, exporters, shaders, asset management tools, quality checking tools are likely not available for blender. You will have to go back and forth between Blender and an "official" program like Maya or Max, which will of course cost you time. Producers won't like that, and for the same reason may not allow you to use Blender.
Some companies are more liberal than others.
But I would strongly suggest to at least look at either Max or Maya.
I work for a big outsourcing company, and I haven't come across studios that used Blender on a broad basis. Individual artists may or may not use it (see above reasons). I've seen big studios use XSI and even old Max 9.0 (back in 2014!) as main package but not Blender. Although the OSS fanboi in me would like to see Blender eventually succeed.
On one hand, all the remarks made by Kwarmm are perfectly valid. At the current time Blender is considered to be a non-standard tool, and it still suffers from a strong stigma related to its userbase. But on the other hand, if you present Blender as an art tool just like Zbrush and Mudbox, that is to say something completely separated from the (already established) asset authoring pipeline and export process of a studio, then I see no reason for it to be frown upon.
Now of course you will need to be familiar with Max and Maya when it comes to the later stages of a pipeline, but from a purely artistic standpoint those don't matter much. In other words : you will be hired based on the qulity of your portfolio and (to a lesser extent) on your ability to work with various engines - not according to the fact that you used X or Y software to do so.
1. Model with whatever you want, as long as it's somewhat industry standard.
2. When you get to the company, it should be pretty easy to switch to their software. Took me about 1 month to really learn 3ds max before I started my job.
3. Definitely be open to learning their software. When working with the tech guys and other artists on your team, it is WAY easier to just send your working file then deal with exporting and dealing with all of that bullshit.
4. By the time your portfolio is good enough to enter the industry, you'll have no problem switching software. If you're making good art with it, keep going.
Pior is right in what he says - if you can keep Blender as a tool like ZBrush, then it is more likely to work. But it really depends where you are in the pipeline. I can only really see it work if you're modeling individual pieces or parts of a bigger piece.
However, as mentioned, the quality of the artwork gets you hired.
BUT, if you're up against an equally skilled individual, the guy who knows the studio's software gets bonus points, as it is assumed his familiarity makes him work faster and more error free than a Max/Maya newbie, and that he knows the quirks and workarounds.
But in all seriousness, if you're just learning to model it's probably okay to full around with Blender. I did. Mainly because it was free and at the time I wanted to be able to use it for commercial purposes.
The cost for Max and Maya is high, but really that's not a huge factor if the studio is providing it. So I learned Max and Maya via the education versions. Now I own a copy of MODO and I use that.
But I know my way around both Max and Maya now, so if a studio needs me to use one of those applications instead, I will.
If you know the general workflow it's really not that hard to learn another application. It just may take a little while becoming acquainted with where everything is and the hotkeys.
I've used both maya and max professionally as well as multiple game engines. You're always learning something new.
Modo, for me, is a bit thornier of a package. It's an amazing modeler, great for UVs, etc. But, I don't think I would even suggest it unless a significant number (two or more) of artists were already using it for some time and the producers or TDs were cool with those artists using Modo. It's not that I hate Modo or think it's bad, it's that there is an additional financial investment (it's not exactly cheap any more and budgets matter) and there is a pipeline/wrangling/learning cost involved.
It will all come down to what producers, TDs and whatnot are willing to tolerate, but you'll never escape the standards, so might as well learn to do the best with them.
For whatever reason Mudbox HATES blender exported models. I get glitches and crashes and all kinds of issues. Seems to be related to the mirror modifier or mirrored UV's. But exporting from blender to maya had the same issues.
I'm basically working on fully switching to Maya LT just so I can stop having these problems
This will depend on your discipline.
The good news is that the modeling and UV tools in Maya LT are the same. It also has pretty nice integration with unity and unreal. And you get updates very regularly so you'll get new features before they are live on the full version.
The biggest difference is that the scripting does not support many 3rd party scripts because of missing functionality. So if you're doing a lot of rigging or animation you might find yourself noticing the difference as these things usually rely on specialist scripts. If you want to use a script from someone who wrote it for the regular Maya it might not work.
Also keep in mind that while MayaLT is cheaper than regular Maya, it is still expensive, and the files are not cross compatible between both programs which is bound to cause issues later on. This comes from experience : I too was contemplating the move to MayaLT last year, but the artificially imposed limitations of the program were a deal breaker and definitely not worth the asking price. And on top of that MayaLT wasn't exactly stable when I gave it a try, and thus failed to meet my expectations for professional 3D software.
Aaaanwyways - at the end of the day, just focus on your art using whatever app you are confortable with. While being versed in many different programs can be a good thing, practicing every day in order to get better is what eventually gets you a job.