3D computer animation apps...

ok, i'll start if off by saying that first you really should do hand drawn animation. i've started doing a bit of that this year, and it helps you to understand the basic principles of animation, and makes it alot easier when you get on the computer.

now, onto the apps. everyone probably knows about Maya PLE... a good place to start, because it's FREE!! PLE is a good chance to have a look at Maya and have a play around with it because it's the most kick-ass animation app out there (or so i've been told numerous times).

i know that there are also some other FREE )) apps out there, but can't remember them at the moment...

and a few links:
www.3dtotal.com - regularly updated with industry news. good tutorials etc.
www.3dbuzz.com - another good site, good forums for just about every 3D app, and also known for their FREE VTM's.

I don't know if I'd say maya is the best animation program, but it's certainly one of the most popular in the past few years. It has an extensible architechture around which a whole pile of cool programs have been written.

3D, on a professional level, is largely picking your area of expertise. Modeling, animation, 2d integration: these are all areas into which a whole pile of study can be done.

Or, in other words, go download the Maya PLE and play around until you find what you enjoy. If you're wanting to break into the biz, understand that you will need to love what you are doing to handle the workload.

http://www.cgtalk.com , the best community forum I have seen so far...

more sites to check out:

http://www.flay.com for Lightwave3D stuff
http://www.insidecg.com a good 'general news' site
http://www.cgchannel.com another cool news and gallery site

clay

for a free 3d modeling program head over to http://www.rocket3d.com. Its being ported over to the mac. Its not out yet, but should be soon. Looks promising.

Originally posted by asparagui
I don't know if I'd say maya is the best animation program, but it's certainly one of the most popular in the past few years. It has an extensible architechture around which a whole pile of cool programs have been written.

Click to expand...

just curious what you think is better? i've only used strata studio pro (like 4+ years ago), zbrush, bryce, poser, and maya.... so, needless to say, it's not much competition.

maya ple is a great opportunity for people to learn. some people say that once you know 3d you can basically apply the knowhow to various apps.... i don't know if i buy that totally. i mean, it'll certainly be easier. but having seen some discussions about lightwave (and having opened lightwave and all 1534039534 apps that you need to run for it: hub, modeler, etc) i can't say that it "makes sense" to me...

i also agree that you develop a particular skill... i'm less of a character modeler and more of a rigger/td... and ideally an animator. but since you need to do all the other stuff for soooooo long before you can animate it well, my animation time is far less than i'd like it to be

anyways, ya'all should post some examples of your work too. always fun to share.