Please help a newb get his feet wet

newbreed

Hello everyone,
I'm very new to game design, and taken an interest in the modeling aspect, which brings me here.

Ive been playing around with what i can get my hands including: blender, Maya, s3d. the trial versions of Maya & s3d, are just too hindering. Blender, just feels under powered and unfinished; cant blame it though, being gnu.

Basically the question I'm having are:

• What are your recommendations as far as software goes? what do you think a highly respect developer should be versed in?

• Besides illegally downloading auto desk's apps, is there a way to get their software for personal usage( w/o watermark)? 1k is a bit of money for me to drop onto software right now.

• Any other communities one should be aware of besides those affiliated with dominance war?

Thank you for your time.

RickFX

i used to have 3ds max 8 as student edition, its way cheaper (around 120 euro) and you can use it for 2 years if youre a student. just not for comercial use.

3dtotal is affiliated with DW too as far as i know.

- Rick.

renderhjs

maybe ask that same question autodesk - see what they have to say. I heard that recently autodesk dropped the price at all for students for their AutoCAD and some other products I believe.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/12/22/autodesk-gives-students-free-software/
you can register / download here (be carefull though - the website seems not to be that honest with whats in it for you)
http://students4.autodesk.com/?nd=register&und=624
Of course they want to track you as a student and charge or ask as soon as you graduated but all in all I think its a more reasonable step to go - something that better fits into reality.

maya or max is not within that agreement but chances might be that things will change there. Houdinie from sideFX software
http://www.sidefx.com/
already offers a student version which is perfect for learning the app - but other companies and packages just avoid the topic so far.

What are your recommendations as far as software goes? what do you think a highly respect developer should be versed in?

the reality is that most people getting a job in the industry already know pretty well how to use photoshop, max or maya and often even some retopo or sculpting tools like zbrush, mudbox or silo.
And just learning at school or university times is not at all enough - in order to be good at it you need access to it on a daily basis.

renderhjs

from:
http://www.edugeek.net/forums/downloads/30882-autodesk-student-community-free-software-your-students.html

A lot like Microsoft's DreamSpark program that many of you will be familiar with (but significantly easier to set up) the Autodesk Student Community allows you to set up your students with access to a lot of software for home use:
AutoCAD Architecture
AutoCAD Civil 3D
AutoCAD Electrical
AutoCAD Map 3D
AutoCAD Mechanical
AutoCAD MEP
AutoCAD Raster Design
Autodesk AliasStudio
Autodesk Ecotect
Autodesk Impression
Autodesk Inventor
Autodesk MotionBuilder
Autodesk Navisworks Manage
Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional
Autodesk Showcase Professional
Autodesk SketchBook Pro
Autodesk VIZ
Green Building Studio
Revit Architecture
Revit MEP
Revit Structure
The big-ticket omissions are Maya, 3ds Max, and MudBox, but the rest will be very useful if you're teaching any of them. The licences last for a 13 months, and the software adds a banner when you print saying they are non-commercial licences. I believe you can get another serial at the end of the 13 months but it's not made explicit on the site (they do refer to "annual licences").

so no maya, mudbox or 3dsmax

newbreed

Thank you very much for the prompt responses.
The links are appreciated. I'll look into getting a student license for the time being.