3d modeling/animation?

Lightwave 8 and Maya 3D.

Used to use them a lot back in the day, however I do not work on it much as I have other priorities. I was using LW back when it was at version 4, a lot has changed in a major way. Maya 3D takes a lot of CPU power and if you cannot afford it, LW is your best bet.

There are other 3D apps, however I find LW and Maya 3D are the best.


The first image looks too 3D, the second one the sketch looks good. Guessing the sketch is a placed image.

Cinema 4D ALL THE WAY!!! Awesome 3D app for the Mac, and of course, Windows. The interface is so intuitive, well at least when compared with other 3D apps.

Relatively cheap, about 1k give or take.

A friend of mine has become a big fan of ZBrush recently, send me this link to a very functional free demo:

http://pixologic.com/order/demoselect.html

It's also seem to be a really intuitive interface (once you get to know it), that works in quite an interesting different way from other 3d apps.

The best free and still legal option might be blender that used to be a normal commercial app, but changed to opensource freeware. They make the money of selling the manuals i think...

A

I messed around doing 3D about two years ago, self-taught and using Cinema 4D here's the sort of stuff I came up with:

(Sorry for size)



CD Cover for a friend's album, real background with composited instruments.



Fictitious watch I made for no reason really.



What I envisioned a 15 inch powerbook Alum would look like before it came out, I think I should have got a copyright, spitting image of the real thing!



Experiment with planes...

I still like playing with Bryce and Poser.

I started using Lightwave 3D on our old Video Toaster many years ago (like 8 years). Now I use version 8.2 at home. I do all my work for fun, no job/schooling or anything of the sort. But I sure love it!

homerjward said:

what's a placed image? the sketch is just a 0" tall box with the sketch image applied as a texture

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Same thing, you can also take a flat picture and make it 3D, that looked realistic.

Various programs use different terminologies.

Yup, I use Blender for all my 3D stuff, and just recently I used it to make a book cover for a freelance job (so I guess you could say I'm a professional).

Blender is an excellent 3D program, and the next version to be released (2.40) will be absolutely amazing. Plus, you can't beat the price--free!

Here's some samples of my work, just so you can get an idea of what Blender can do (and my work is not nearly as good as some other blender artists):

http://www.cgartwork.com/jms/cliffwip_big6.jpg (still in WIP)
http://www.cgartwork.com/jms/images/24.jpg
http://www.cgartwork.com/jms/images/22.jpg

If anyone has any questions about Blender, feel free to ask!

blenderdude said:

Blender is an excellent 3D program, and the next version to be released (2.40) will be absolutely amazing.

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I will admit that Blender is a very powerful program. However, the tools and ease-of-use compared to commercial apps (like lightwave) just isn't up to par. But for the price, you are right. You can't do better than free!

I've just finished my universty degree in Computer Aided Product Design, with my main bit of software being Pro Engineer Wildfire.

I'm wanting to branch out a bit though into other packages, get a bit more traditional drawing etc experience through my year break (between now and Sept 06) then start a masters degree.

I've downloaded some of the trials mentioned above so i'll be giving them a go over the next few days

I just started to use Blender a few days ago and will have many questions Blender guy, hehe.

Got an AIM or anything?

anybody heard of this?

I saw it on AOTS and it looks really neat, but unfortunately its only windows i think

Phat_Pat said:

anybody heard of this?

I saw it on AOTS and it looks really neat, but unfortunately its only windows i think

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And might get ported to Mac OS X when the new MacTels are released.

I'm with the other Cinema 4D guys. I love this program! It has the best GUI hands down over other 3D packages. Its the Mac of 3D no question about it.

MacRumorSkeptic said:

I'm with the other Cinema 4D guys. I love this program! It has the best GUI hands down over other 3D packages. Its the Mac of 3D no question about it.

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Hmmm... you make your presence known.

I think Cinema 4D is good but Maya is gooder. In the early 90's I used Strata 3D and produced lovely radiosity renders that took 300 hours or so with 98 percent solved.

I do a lot of 2D / 3D work for movies/television. I started with Electric Image and still use it from time to time because it's got a very fast renderer. I worked with Lightwave for a while but ended up hating it because of the interface. Maya is the way to go if you really want to get deep into this. It is not an easy program but I can't think of anything it can't do. It's by far the most powerful 3D app for the Mac. I have been working with it for over 3 years and I feel I just started to tap into it's full power. I have a lot of examples of Maya and EI on my site if you want to check them out

http://www.atdesignla.com/

Maya has a free learning version called PLE, other than being heavily watermarked it's pretty much the full program without a time limit.

ATD said:

I do a lot of 2D / 3D work for movies/television. I started with Electric Image and still use it from time to time because it's got a very fast renderer. I worked with Lightwave for a while but ended up hating it because of the interface. Maya is the way to go if you really want to get deep into this. It is not an easy program but I can't think of anything it can't do. It's by far the most powerful 3D app for the Mac. I have been working with it for over 3 years and I feel I just started to tap into it's full power. I have a lot of examples of Maya and EI on my site if you want to check them out

http://www.atdesignla.com/

Maya has a free learning version called PLE, other than being heavily watermarked it's pretty much the full program without a time limit.

Click to expand...

ATD I really like your work, I'm only starting to get back into 3D modelling, I'm not in school right now so no Edu discount for me. Blender works for me as it's free!

ironfistphil said:

ATD I really like your work, I'm only starting to get back into 3D modelling, I'm not in school right now so no Edu discount for me. Blender works for me as it's free!

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Free is always a good option Thanks.

Here is some work I did while in high school (I was part of a Multimedia program). Its the in-between in 2D and 3D (This is a picture of my neighborhood I took, added 3D elements, for the effect of a 3D scene)

If you guys are interested enough, here are the links to the 2 second movies of this

Movie of the effect

Wireframe of the effect

Not much, but meh, still learning...

EDIT: Pardon the horrendous compression, I had to, because I was running out of space

i have used everything from poser and bryce, strata studio, and now maya. i would have a hard time going back to those. zbrush is definitely taking a certain aspect of the market by storm, though i haven't tried to use it since its first version or so, at which point it was a lot less flexible. there are definitely artists who take any software and make amazing stuff with it, so it's a matter of using the software to create a vision, and any of these can do that i'm sure. ultimately, if you become most familiar with one package, that will be most efficient for you. i have tried lightwave but was confused by all the various apps that come along with it (the renderer, etc, all separate). but i have seen amazing results from it.

a film i made in school, in 2003

clam chomp

Here is a 3D artwork I did for fun yesterday.


"Inferno - Burn Out Your Thirst"
(An Advertisement of a Fantasy Refreshment Drink - Made in Blender)


Here is the final creation / 3D Rendering:
(High Definition 1920x1080)



Some "BackStage":







Here I destroyed it, just for fun...hehe



Some Renderings (before the final):




Some Renderings with water drops.



And the final again



I hope you like it.

Ooo cool can! I'm using Blender. I have an animation class and the teacher is trying to get everyone to hand draw the stuff. I asked her if I can use some animation software to make my stuff and she said yeah. I'll put a walk cycle up, once I get it refined.

Blender is great, once you get a workflow going. It took me quite awhile to pick it up again, but now it's fairly easy. It doesn't help that I don't have a office/desk for my PC at home. I was just talking to someone yesterday about Lightwave. I definitely want to check it out, the renderings look awesome in it. Had a friend that LOVES Zbrush. He is an artist though, I don't know if that program offers anything for animating.