3d-modeling software - where to start?
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Hello,
I am completely new in 3d-modeling software, could someone explain what 3d-modeling software should I start to learn?
However, I read some forums and found that:
- Maya is bad for 3d-modeling, but ideal for animation;
- many people dislike Blender for no particular reason;
- Modo is the best 3d-modeling software, but hard to start with;
- 3D-Max is old and everyone abandons it.
Should I start learning Modo or something different?
Could someone explain me which software is good for starter like me?
And I have a friend who is working as a 3d-modelier, he works in Modo and ZBrush. But I barely contact him so he could teach me nothing.
Help please.
I am completely new in 3d-modeling software, could someone explain what 3d-modeling software should I start to learn?
However, I read some forums and found that:
- Maya is bad for 3d-modeling, but ideal for animation;
- many people dislike Blender for no particular reason;
- Modo is the best 3d-modeling software, but hard to start with;
- 3D-Max is old and everyone abandons it.
Should I start learning Modo or something different?
Could someone explain me which software is good for starter like me?
And I have a friend who is working as a 3d-modelier, he works in Modo and ZBrush. But I barely contact him so he could teach me nothing.
Help please.
Replies
If you just want to do it for fun then there's no reason to spend tons of money, Blender can take care of most of the things you'd want to do in 3D, and free versions of game engines (UE4/Unity) + free or cheap Texturing/Painting tools the rest (Krita/GIMP are free, and Substance Designer+Painter are $20 a month).
If your goal is to make money from it though, you'll want to first figure out what area you'll be focusing on before choosing a (normally very expensive) program.
You can't miss with this three. A lot of information and workflows about whole aspect of this programs you can find online
Every professional work that I do and did need mainly this two packages and learning new software after them usually pass without huge problems
and one more think - the more experience you would get the more questions about what software you need to learn would disappear. Answer will be what it will need for do jobs done, that is it.
For example; I am a indie dev which has a smallest team and no real budget. I use blender for modelling, sculpting and uving , painter for texture work , Unity as the engine. They work enough for me but i wish i could have zbrush. I used max and maya for a while to try a bit. I see no reason to pay them at the moment. I only once see somebody uses modo in real time but i believe it can give you more or less same stuff. There is no real reason to use one of other software. The software you use depends other things more than which shiney tools the software has.
I wanted to learn 3d-modeling and then probably I'll try to make money out of it.
I'll start to learn Maya then, this software has 3-year long student version for free. And also I'm going to learn ZBrush, Photoshop and Substances...
But anyone here uses Modo? I heard a lot of times that it is the best 3d-modeling software, could someone explain why?
Could you please explain why? I heard that a lot, but I have no clues.
And what is the best software for 3d-modeling then?
Maya used to be pretty dire at poly modelling in all senses. Since around version 2015 and up though, there have been many improvements that make Maya one of the most fun direct modelling tools out there. Unfortunately the pre-2015 stigma is still attached so you get people saying it's bad across the board.
Unfortunately it's still way behind the curve on being a non-destructive modeller; Compared to Max, Modo and Houdini which allow you to make iterative tweaks to models like a layer system in Photoshop.
My advice would be to skip non-destructive modelling for your first few models at least as its a slower and more advanced topic. Give modelling in Maya a go, it's really quite fun! Don't get bogged down too much on choosing your tools. Choose the most tried and true apps for now such as Maya, Max etc. And then move on to others like Modo. By then you will have a good understanding of what it's all about and you'll be able to pick up most apps without much issue.
Finally, this isn't something you will learn in one night. You will feel frustrated at times. You may not know the correct terminology to search for when you hit an issue. That's all okay, most people here have been there and back and are willing to help.
3dsMax's modifier stack is good balance between direct modeling and proceturai modeling.
First of all the most important thing is to define your specialization, you said that you want to model, ok thats good, you can focus on the more organic stuff like characters or you can focus on non-organic stuff like props, weapons, environments and so on.
This are the main specializations that involves modeling:
- Character Artist ( you make characters like human, monster, animals etc. )
- Environment Artist ( you make the full game world from 0 to 100, you make buildings, props, terrain, vegetation etc. )
- Prop Artist ( you model objects and furnitures )
- Hard surface artist ( you model guns, vehicles, mecha )
With that said it's time to choose the softwares, you will need a general 3d package ( maya, modo, blender etc. ) and one or more specific software ( for ex. a software for sculpting ) based on your specialization ( characters, environment etc. ), also the choice of the softwares depends on what you want to do.
If you want to work in a game company:
You must learn the "industry standard" softwares, browse a bunch of site companies, go into the "career" section and read what the requirements are but i tell you that most companies for a modeling job want Maya or 3ds Max as a modeling and general 3d package, Zbrush for sculpting, Substance for texturing and some knowledge of Unreal, Unity or Cryengine.
If you want to work as a freelance or doing it only as a hobby:
You can learn whatever you want.
If i should start learning 3d modeling now i would probably learn the industry standard packages even if i'm doing it only as a hobby because they offers free students editions and if, one day, i change my mind and i want to pursue a career in 3d working for a company i could do it without the hassle of learning other softwares.
But if you really don't care about working for a company than Blender is a good option instead of Maya or 3ds max.
I already said before what the industry standard softwares are ( for games ) but here is a quick and general list for clarification:
- Modeling: Maya or 3ds Max
- Animation: Maya or 3ds Max
- Rigging: Maya or 3ds Max
- Sculpting: Zbrush
- Texturing: Substance Painter and Designer
- VFX ( smoke, explosion, magic and other effects ): Houdini+an engine like Unreal
- Cloth: Marvelous Designer or Zbrush
- Terrain: Houdini or World Machine ( the future is Houdini IMHO )
- Rendering: Any engine will work but the most common are Unreal or Unity, you can also use Marmoset Toolbag but it is better to showcase the work in an engine
Ah yes, i use Maya as my main software and is good for modeling.
There isn't a best software for modeling in my opinion, nowadays they are pratically all the same but the workflow and some tools changes so some people like one software more than another because they find that the workflow of that softwares suit more their tastes so they are faster and more efficient.
Or maybe they wanted a very specific tool that couldn't find in another software.
Max'd be more if you want to cry and suffer during your journey ( also more use in the game industry )
hf
The modeling felt a bit chunky, so I moved to learning Maya, which at the time I felt was too complex. I switched to Modo and Zbrush. While Zbrush stayed, Modo was replaced with Max for some amount time. Soon after I landed a job in VFX studio, I switched back to Maya for most of the modeling tasks, and I felt it improved a lot since the last time I opened it. Today I do job using Houdini and Zbrush 90% of the time, but when it comes to direct modeling it’s allways Maya for faster block-outs and it’s tablet orientired interface.
I would suggest starting with Maya - it’s a powerhouse when it comes to studio work, it’s free for students, and it contains a lot of tools that might get you interested in a more specific directions 3D is able to offer. Think of it as unversal language.
I always wanted to work as Environment artist and make my own simulations and short videos.
I'll try to learn working pipelines and then I'll offer my poor skills to some company to get more experienced.
Orly?
the best 3d modeling software is 3ds Max.
You might disagree but
you'd be wrong.
Use this information however you wish
Unfortunately, the studio you go to work at will use maya because they all do.
My advice.. learn maya for work and choose something stable and functional for home. (to be fair, maya 2018 has nearly caught up with max9 in terms of the modelling toolset so in 10 years or so it should be pretty competent)
Most of these have 30 day trials, as mentioned before try them out, find the one you like, learn to understand 3d rather than focusing on the tool itself. The fundamentals are all the same everywhere you go, vertex is a vertex normal is a normal.
I learned 3ds max 8 years ago used it for 5 and now I'm using Maya, same tool different name, looks a tad different , but ultimately it's just a tool.
Zbrush I hated always and if I don't have to I don't touch it, the UI and the controls get on my nerves, and how rigid it is in most scenarios (pre 2018 update which I have not tried yet). My go to sculpting package is 3dCoat, I also do my retopo and texture work in it, never had an issue and works flawlessly with Unreal.
Software will come down to preference in the end, unless you work for someone, then it's their call what you'll be using. The more you understand that CG/game development is about transferable skills the easier your life will be in the long run.
Again, Pick something that YOU want to try, if you're just getting into 3d then all this arguing of what software is better will look like it's all black and white, it's really not.
Hope that helps
Shift + LMB
I also use some scripts
I'm a long-term 3dsMax/Zbrush user and as I have both set up as above(and flawlessly integrated essentially as a single program through the Styx plugin) So, for me, I just have no need to look to other programs for my modeling needs. Yes, I do look on in envy from time to time at an odd bell or whistle from other programs, but always realise that for pure modeling I'm more than set up for every need.
I have experience modeling in Modo/Maya/Blender, and although I don't have enough experience in any of them to have a valid opinion I will say that I actually found Blender to be quite ingenious in some of its modeling concepts based around its unique hotkey system.
Bottom line..............just start modeling. All the basic tools/concepts are the same in every package and are 100% interchangeable. The most important thing is to just get modeling. The rest will come with experience and 1000's of hours of practice.
Depends on industry I guess. In my experience maya is mostly used for character animation in gamedev, but for environment/props it is max by default or anything you want really. If studio doesn't have exporters for other packages you can always do stuff elsewhere, then FBX it to max and export from there.
Blender is an obvious choice IMO. You can use it in any pipeline. Learn how to create and apply materials in 3d Max and Maya on an imported mesh if your pipeline requires specific package but for modeling you still could use Blender anywhere, in any company.
Geometry nodes advanced Blender way ahead of 3d max recently.
Max and Maya are still around just because they are being thaught in schools when nobody grants you an employment after while Blender soon gonna be like Photoshop , a common knowledge dominated in workforce.
In fact it already is among young folk. Others will follow Softimage XSI whatever great they may be. Zbrush is already half way in that destination.
This has not been my experience at all
(anecdotal obviously) Every studio I've worked at used Maya as their primary DCC and almost everyone I've interviewed came from a studio that used Maya as their primary DCC. Other apps have been used for specific tasks but the core tool has always been Maya
percentage wise it's probably under 5% 3dsMax and to put that number in context I've interviewed north of 100 people from all over the world in the last 5 years
No matter how sensible the idea is don't be under the illusion that the industry will mass-move to Blender any time soon. We've all been using a deprecated version of python as the backbone of our pipelines for over a decade because it's too expensive to update - moving to another DCC is a whole lot more work than that.
My experience is way more humble, just 5 studios I worked at and few more which I visited for interviews, talk about outsource, meet friends etc and was told or saw what they are using for modeling/animation.
Though all had max as default. One had in-house exporters for max, maya, XSI and lightwave with most guys using max. At current project environment team uses max, blender, houdini to make stuff and everything is exported from max. I won't insist that 3dsmax is dominant, don't have numbers to back it up, just my personal experience - everywhere I go I see max =)
That's the thing...it's going to be different depending on which studios you've been on contact with, how long you've been knocking around and on where you're located.
Maya's adoption in the UK for example is influenced by the relative strength/size of our VFX industry and some aggressive educational pricing strategies at the turn of the century. Other territories will have different histories.
In some locations you can still find Max as a main package. E.g. here in this town I believe there's only one studio (part of a US/UK-centric group) fully invested in Maya as the core software. And my further understanding is they have plenty of Max artists because they're hiring from the local pool, in particular from a very Max-centric place.
But generally in games and worldwide I would expect Maya. Personally I would not touch that heap of broken functionality to really make anything but exporting into it and setting up scenes in a pipeline friendly and team-sanctioned way seems fine enough. ;)
Btw. has anybody heard of Modo in recent years? Is it still twitching? It has not popped up in my peripheral vision in several years now. Also the Modo-evangelists seem to have all vanished somehow.
From what I see folks who are under 30 all know Blender at quite good level, better than Max or Maya they had to study in unis. 30-45 just tried it few times and hated it, over 45 never tried. So it's just matter of time. Just inevitable.
Everyone's gotta be a fanboy :P
It's rough being a max fanboy in this day and age :(
What? Thats what I call unfunded assertions... I started with Maya, moved to Softimage XSI, then switched to Modo for many years, then to Blender with 2.8, and with 46 I now use Blender almost exclusively.