Best 3d software?

Sketchup & Artlantis

I personally use sketchup & artlantis they work quite well together. Sketchup is not so expensive has a shallow learning curve (not steep) is a nice lean app with a clean interface. There are also some great plugins and ruby's available too plus the the interplay with google earth is welcome. Artlantis is also quite straightforward do a google search and check out the artlantis gallery. The sketchup community is also a bonus the forums and 3D warehouse are a real bonus. For architecture and sketchup based discussion check out pushpullbar .For 2D work i have limited use for it so i rarely use highdesign. The mac community is overlooked for cad and 3d apps i believe mainly due to the evil empire of autodesk (maya being the exception).

jamays00 said:

so i've been toying around with maya ple and the demo of modo...
and I must say that modo seems to be just what i'm looking for. I can see the similarities to lightwave (former lightwave programmers did create this) as of now I plan on going with this... i'll wait for the new mbp to come out first though (so who knows I could change my mine in a week or two)

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Modo is really good software for modelling. Good Luck!! Show us some renders soon!

Quantum Hog is an editor for making 3D web applications. Using the 3DMLW (3D Markup Language for Web) language it is like making usual HTML websites or even more comfortable.

There are 3 different views for making the development of 3D web applications easy and comfortable. In the edit mode You can insert, drag & drop, delete and change elements. As a must for every markup language editor there is a code view for advanced coding and of course there is a view mode for seeing the end result.

what is 3DMLW?
3DMLW is a Open Source technology for creating and displaying 3D and 2D content on the web through common web-browsers. This technology includes four parts:

* 3DMLW markup language is a specification for creating 3DMLW-documents. 3DMLW is similar to XHTML and easy to understand.
* Scripting support for dynamic and interactive content.
* Style sheets for easy and comfortable designing.
* 3DMLW plug-in for web browsers – This is a browser based plug-in for showing 3DMLW-documents in web-browsers.

hmmm

would you happen to be involved with this project by any chance...

Another option that is pretty well regarded is Houdini.

Personally I would still recommend Blender though. In terms of features there is not much that it is lacking compared with some of the big name software out there. Plus it can be used as a compositing application for video and a video editor itself. Very powerful.

fluidedge said:

hmmm

would you happen to be involved with this project by any chance...

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not really, i have used it and i found it interesting, being an open source community product...you will not find any post on this from my side

samwich said:

you should check out cinema 4d

http://www.maxon.net

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Yeh cinema 4D is what i use and it is AMAZING!!!

Without a doubt Cinema 4D has the easiest interface/lowest learning curve to be able to produce some really nice renders.

If you're looking to make content for 3d games I would go with 3DS Max... it has the most support.

ezekielrage_99 said:

3D Studio MAX on bootcamp is horrid, your best option IMHO is a cheap Windows box with a RDP session on your Mac. It's what I do at work, cheap, fast and it works.

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This is false. 3Ds Max in Bootcamp is the exact same thing as running it on Windows since bootcamp is native windows on mac hardware. Zero difference.

To the OP: Maya is probably the closest you will get although Cinema 4D is great too. A lot of people actually prefer C4D to Maya although I haven't used enough C4D to make an honest comparison. I use Maya myself.

ezekielrage_99 said:

3D Studio MAX on bootcamp is horrid, your best option IMHO is a cheap Windows box with a RDP session on your Mac. It's what I do at work, cheap, fast and it works.

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I run 3DS Max 2010 on Bootcamp, using Windows XP 32-bit, and I have no problems whatsoever on my iMac 2.66ghz Dual Core 2, 4gb RAM. Apart from a massive file I worked on at work, and then took it home and it said "out of memory" when I hit render*, I've never had any problems with it. What kind of issues have you had?

My 256mb ATI Radeon card actually performs much better than the nVidia Quadro 9800gtx 1gb thing we have here in the office. No, I don't know why, but it's really annoying.


*edit: we use 64-bit Windows 7 at work

I fell in love with modo for modelling and rendering. Modo has one of the best renderers out and is currently the best modelling app. It has loads of learning support and training too. The current version is only 32bit but the next version is 64bit.

Cinema 4d has great animation tools and is extremely stable and 64bit on the mac.

Maya2011 is pretty ultimate but also ultimate learning. 64bit and stable

Blender is very good and free 64bit but is not the industry standard.

Lightwave seems ok (i never used it) but modo modelling tools are ahead of it

3ds max, XSI you will have to run on windows partition. can't go wrong with 3dsmax or xsi

Sketchup is great for quickie non complex stuff. I don't believe you can add more than one light source but I have never used it. A lot of concept artists love sketchup because it is very easy to learn and quick to get out some basic perspective stuff ready for a paint over.

Slippery Gimp said:

My 256mb ATI Radeon card actually performs much better than the nVidia Quadro 9800gtx 1gb thing we have here in the office. No, I don't know why, but it's really annoying.


*edit: we use 64-bit Windows 7 at work

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I had that too! I thought I was crazy. We had quaddros in our HP workstations at work and my MBP (the one in my sig) ran circles around it as far as render times. They were only year old machines too at the time I got this MBP.

jamays00 said:

Hi, I've had some experience in working with 3d design in the past but only on a pc at work. I've come to the point where i'd like to purchase software for my own use on my macbook pro. Does anyone have suggestions on which software would be the best way to go?

I was thinking either lightwave or maya.
I'm looking to get one that will be good for modeling, texture, rendering, and animations (basically everything haha)
thanks!

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Try STRATA Design 3D. I have an old version 5.1 and is is very easy to use and does it all. Or you could just go for fun and try Bryce landscape 3D.

no one mentioned form-z, no love for it here
I use a host of programs myself. Rhinoceros (mac + windows), sketchup, I am getting into 3ds, I know a little maya as we had to use it in school, it is powerful, but I *hate* the interface (and am too lazy to customize it). Played a bit with C4D, like the render engine, just need time to get into it one of these days

galstaph said:

no one mentioned form-z, no love for it here
I use a host of programs myself. Rhinoceros (mac + windows), sketchup, I am getting into 3ds, I know a little maya as we had to use it in school, it is powerful, but I *hate* the interface (and am too lazy to customize it). Played a bit with C4D, like the render engine, just need time to get into it one of these days

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Oh good old formZ I used to use that with Electric Image. Ive had the pleasure to work with a lot of different 3D apps. From Swivel 3D to Strata, Softimage (Unix) to PowerAnimator. I was using Max up to v3, but Maya (born from PowerAnimator) was the last software for me
If you want to start fresh I suggest one you can afford like Cinema 4D.
I hear its great for beginners and above.

modo +1vote

Please can I chime in?
I'm new-ish to 3D, and my boss wants me to look at software than can import files from the CAD department (I work for a manufacturing company), so that I can render it and make assorted multimedia collateral.

After reading this thread, it seems that Maya and Cinema 4D look likely - but nowhere can I find if either app will import Unigraphics/SolidWorks CAD files with no drama.

Welcome your opinions...?

PsychoTeapot said:

Please can I chime in?
I'm new-ish to 3D, and my boss wants me to look at software than can import files from the CAD department (I work for a manufacturing company), so that I can render it and make assorted multimedia collateral.

After reading this thread, it seems that Maya and Cinema 4D look likely - but nowhere can I find if either app will import Unigraphics/SolidWorks CAD files with no drama.

Welcome your opinions...?

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I'd look into 3ds Max. Maya is more entertainment/movie oriented (originally, at least) while 3ds Max used to be more arch viz/ industrial design oriented.
What file format would you export from NX?

I have Lightwave (and have been in and around it since Amiga days) and Modo. I have dabbled in a few others.

Lightwave has a solid feature set out of the box. For a start to finish product, it is tough to beat. If you want to model with this, render with that, and spend a fortune on other tools, you can do better.

Lightwave has a solid set of modeling tools, and I like that it uses words instead of icons. If I need a "bandsaw," I look for the word that says "bandsaw" and execute. No trying to figure out which icon it is.

The realtime renderer is outstanding. No guessing about your objects or scenes.

Built in hair/fur if you need it.
pretty good animation tools, and Genoma set helps for character animation.

999 free render nodes if you need them.

It is the ONLY license you can sell. Ask Autodesk about selling your 3DSMax or Maya software if you decide you don't want to use it anymore.

I tried Blender, but it was not for me. Like Gimp and Darktable, I couldn't deal with the interface. Neither GimpShop or "make Blender like Lightwave" solved those issues.

Modo is a nice modeller but it lacks in some other departments (animation, character tools, organic modeling etc). It'll slowly get there but in the meantime it's not as feature complete as you might want.

Cinema 4d might be a better option for you. It's a complete package with a lot of support from third party developers. There are tons of plugins for everything you can think of, renderers ( octane, Arnold, maxwell, vray etc), connections to vfx pipelines (turbulence fd, Houdini, etc) and of course it's famously very stable (contrary to modo) and easy to use.

On top of that the foundry which is the company owning modo is in a transitioning period at the moment. It was owned by a financial group and now they're looking for someone to buy them. I'm sure everything will be fine in the end but in general this is not such a great confidence booster for users.
If I would have to choose between the two I would go for cinema. As a matter of fact I already have.

As for 3d studio I wouldn't really consider it. Rumor has it that autodesk will kill it like it did with softimage and transition everyone to maya. Of course these are still rumors but seeing the lackluster update of 3d studio last year, it seems that the rumor is not so far from the truth. Either way since you're also a Mac user I wouldn't spend too much time on it.

In the end though you are the one who has to be happy with the decision so just use our advices as a rough guideline and nothing more.
Try a couple more programs through their demos (like you did with modo) and if modo still feels like the one then go for it!

Hope this helps somehow!

Well, no 3DStudio on Mac so there is that.

I have not had trouble with Modo's stability, but agree that it is less full featured. The modeler is quite nice though.

For my selection of Lightwave, it is solid across the board, and a lot less money than Cinema 4D. Newtek likes to sell it as 'everything you need in the box.' A lot of things you need plugins for in other software are included.

Cinema 4D is a powerful toolset, though. I don't think it is a bad choice, but I like Lightwave better.

I know you can demo Lightwave. Pretty sure you can Cinema as well. Maya has the PLE. See what appeals to you.

I switched from Maya to Modo a few years ago and couldn't be happier. Modo is a fantastic modeler, has an incredible renderer, I love its rigging system and it plays very nicely in a pipeline.

I use Modo, ZBrush and Mari for all my stuff. I'd recommend Modo in a heartbeat to anyone. It's update to it's animation tools are fantastic.

Same for me, I dropped 3ds max after 10 years for modo about a year ago...I have never been happier
Modo is not as main stream but sure it is catching up...really a great package with excellent support!

if you can, go for Max & vray combo or maya vray combo. failing that modo. There is a lot of resource for max & modo.