I need some buying advice concerning 3D applications and hardware
I need help deciding about some 3D aplications to get.
Here is my situation, I'm new to 3D modeling and would eventualy like to be a professional at it, and I'm wondering which programs I should buy.
I was going to spend a considerable sum on this and then I stoped and asked myself do I need this stuff and I want some advice from people here that are more experienced than myself with this kind of stuff.
this was my to buy list:
A top of the range PC
Wacom Intuos4
Z brush
3D studio max
Vray
Photoshop CS3
corel painter (concept art)
I currently use Blender 3D and have a very basic understanding of it and
anyway what sort of pc should I get as a beginner (I want it for gaming also and to be able to run games like crysis 2 when it comes out on high or near that) and which programs
can I scratch off My list for the moment ? how much do you recomend I spend on them and the pc ?
I'm not made of money and this stuff would take me about 3 or 4 years to gather in total and any tips on realible cheaper alternatives are apreciated,
I'm sorry if a thread like this was created before, I didn't want to resurrect an old thread, with old threads people tend to look at them less because they are old and I could be missing out on imput because of that so if your going to bitch me out about that leave now!
If your willing to stay and offer me advice I apreciate that and thank you.
I remember those who are kind to me.
Here is my situation, I'm new to 3D modeling and would eventualy like to be a professional at it, and I'm wondering which programs I should buy.
I was going to spend a considerable sum on this and then I stoped and asked myself do I need this stuff and I want some advice from people here that are more experienced than myself with this kind of stuff.
this was my to buy list:
A top of the range PC
Wacom Intuos4
Z brush
3D studio max
Vray
Photoshop CS3
corel painter (concept art)
I currently use Blender 3D and have a very basic understanding of it and
anyway what sort of pc should I get as a beginner (I want it for gaming also and to be able to run games like crysis 2 when it comes out on high or near that) and which programs
can I scratch off My list for the moment ? how much do you recomend I spend on them and the pc ?
I'm not made of money and this stuff would take me about 3 or 4 years to gather in total and any tips on realible cheaper alternatives are apreciated,
I'm sorry if a thread like this was created before, I didn't want to resurrect an old thread, with old threads people tend to look at them less because they are old and I could be missing out on imput because of that so if your going to bitch me out about that leave now!
If your willing to stay and offer me advice I apreciate that and thank you.
I remember those who are kind to me.
Replies
I wouldn't go with both Mud and Zbrush, see which one you like better and use that. I currently have both and really wish I would have only bought Z (i rarely use Mud anymore).
Everything else seems like good picks :P
Go for a used Intuos 2 or 3, probably much cheaper than a new 4 and just a good.
Zbrush might be a good investment as so far all their upgrades have been free.
Lamont had some good suggestions about picking up a copy of Photoshop in the photoshop: regular or extended thread.
As a user of Modo it's a fairly cheap good 3D app as well, it just can't do character animation...
I don't know about Vray, unless you plan on doing Archvis work it's not really necessary.
About PC hardware:
I wouldn't bother getting any top of the line stuff, go for value. Get 8GB or more cheapish ram and a decent CPU (maybe intel quad core or cheap i7 if such exists...), a midrange Nvidia card, and a couple of 500GB or so hard drives and your good to go.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention, go with a 64bit OS Win7, Vista64bit, or XP64bit.
I'm currently a student and I hope to mod games as I go along so thats where actualy paying for my 3D app comes into things due to licancing helping my brother with a few movie projects hopefully.
and I agree about an Nvida card and the i7, I was eyeing them up myself and there are cheaper i7s around 370ish.
Z brush is staying on my to buy list, I was very impressed by demonstrations Ive seen and it will save me time with the more detailed stuff as I'm a high poly whore lol.
$370ish isn't cheap for a CPU I bought my quad core when it was just below top of the line for ~$240.
EDIT:
You won't need a pro license to mod games unless you plan to sell the mods, which only works with UDK afaik.
Working on commercial movie projects will require pro licenses though...
i7 goodness *drools*
overclock that baby to 4.0ghz (or even 3.5) and you got a top of the line processor for cheap.
I said this in my first post in this thread "I'm not made of money and this stuff would take me about 3 or 4 years to gather in total"
Thanks for your assitance by the way and thank you everyone else also.
What website did you get that from and thanks for the advice about over clocking, I have a friend who can do that kind of stuff.
and if you know of any european websites with great deals like that id love to know as I don't know if US websites ship to Ireland. Thanks for your time.
3ds Max is nearly 1/3 more in price in the UK compared to US, so my advise would be look at the other non autodesk applications if your not getting a student license.
Vray is good for ease of use, but MR is just as capable and as Iray coming in the next version of MR which put's it above Vray in my eyes as far as workflow is concerned.
I heard a few times that Photoshop CS4 is really buggy, you may want to look further into this fully and maybe be better of with CS2/3.
With Mudbox and Zbrush, id suggest trying the trails and see which one you like the best.
I just made an enquire about 3D studio max to see if any premiums are involved and the company I enquired with who sell it will get back to me tomrrow about it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Photoshop-Cs2-Unregister-LowReserve_W0QQitemZ270514404062QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efbea3ade
I see that auction has very little time left, and I can't pay for it right now.
so if I give you a shout when I have the funds would you be able to help me search for a good deal then ?
Good idea about the used copy by the way, I did hear the latest Version is buggy.
Edit: I found a good deal in a store closer to home and will go with that one, Thanks man if you hadn't done the search and posted it, I wouldn't have found any deal.