Suggestions for programs?

Legion

I am new to the game of modeling and hoping to get started, I am hoping that I can get some experienced advice on this matter. I am wondering what modeling program I should get (and does that program sculpting?), also I am trying to figure out a good animation program for my friend to drown his focus into so we can make things. Any help is greatly appreciated.

HEx

you should get maya2008 it's the best i think, because it has a helpful tutorial and overall supergood help button for everything in the program, it's the best to start with in my opinion. Ofcourse there are other programs, but im not in to them so i can't really tell how they are like.

as for animating program, you can animate in most basic 3d programs aswell. But for a more specialized animation program, you should look at motionbuilder, google it.

but animation programs are rarely any use if you can't master basics in normal 3d programs.

Eric Chadwick

This might help... Free or low cost 3D and 2D apps

Legion

Thanks for the help guys. I look forward to posting my work in the forums someday.

PolyHertz

Just a quick rundown of some of the programs I've used and what I've gathered from them. Max is my primary modeling package, but I've given many others a shot over the years. Silo imo would be the best modeling app to use for a beginner because it doesn't overwhelm the user with complex interfaces, everything's very up-front. All of them have trial versions and most have educational versions as well, So you shouldn't need to use 'crappy' free ones to save yourself from breaking the bank.

Either way, here's the rundown:


Maya (2008)
Price - varies, $290+ for student version (mac/pc)
Modeling - yes
Sculpting - no
Rendering - yes
Animation - yes
Painting - yes
Advantages - An industry standard, competent scripting capabilities
Disadvantages - Requires plugins for many basic functions, less then streamlined

3D Studio Max (2008)
Price - varies, $390+ for student version (pc)
Modeling - yes
Sculpting - no
Rendering - yes
Animation - yes
painting - no
Advantages - An industry standard, complete modeling toolset
Disadvantages - scripting language incomplete, nurbs toolset incomplete, only for Windows

XSI (6.0, foundation)
Price - $495 (pc)
Modeling - yes
Sculpting - no
Rendering - yes
Animation - yes
painting - no
Advantages - Heavily optimized, all hotkeys customizable, possible future 'industry standard'
Disadvantages - pc only

Modo
Price - $895 (mac/pc)
Modeling - yes
Sculpting - yes
Rendering - yes
Animation - yes
painting - yes
Advantages - Can do everything the 'major players' can and more
Disadvantages - Non-standardized controls

Silo (2.0)
Price - $159: 1x license, for up to 3 computers (mac/pc)
Modeling - yes
Sculpting - yes: via displacement painting)
Rendering - no
Animation - no
painting - no
Advantages - Heavily streamlined interface, shortcuts for nearly everything
Disadvantages - Not as optimized as some other packages, no scripting language


Others 3D apps:
Lightwave - Has a great renderer, but essentialy a dead product
Blender - Almost no one likes this one
Wings3D - Too basic, also seems to be abandoned
Truspace - Abandoned
Cinema4D - Never tried
Houdini - Never tried


Complementary programs:
ZBrush - a tool for packages that don't have built in sculpting
Mudbox - same as zbrush, but simpler
Headus UV Layout - Makes it easier to accurately unwrap models
crazybump - makes detailes for normal/displacement maps from textures
nvidia filter - Same as crazy bump but integrated into photoshop, not considered as good
xnormal - normal/displament/ao map generator and model viewer. Very accurate but very slow.

Slum

Nice rundown there polyhertz.

I love Max.. It has it's issues, but the standard choice will be either Max or Maya.

Option

Lightwave is hardly dead, it just doesn't have much of an application in games production.

dejawolf

i know people who still use lightwave, and swears by it,
although i hate the UI myself.
truespace was fun and easy to get into, but it had a habit of crashing very often.

Nosslak

I like Blender!

East

Modo animation is hardly anything you'd want for game characters, though. It's good for quick simple animations for e.g. commercials, but you can't do character animation in it. Not yet, but maybe one day.

[EDIT] But for polygon modeling, it's an amazingly streamlined application.