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3D on the mac

etoiles

etoiles

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 12, 2002
834
44
Where the air is crisp
Hi there !

Is anybody out here doing 3D on a mac ? Lightwave, Maya, ElectricImage etc. ?

I did some 3D work on the mac for a couple of years (pretty much every software available except Maya...), but then got a job where I had to switch over to 3DSmax which only runs on PC's :(

I have not done any 3D work on the mac for about 2years now. I know there is been quite some progress made, with maya getting more robust and new hardware coming out. I realize that the mac is still waaaaaaaaaay behind the PC market when it comes to professional 3D solutions, but I am interested to see what other people's 'real world' experience is in that field (rather than seeing another series of benchmarks: I don't care if an image takes 1minute or 1minute46 seconds to render...)

shameless self-promotion...
 
nuckinfutz

nuckinfutz

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2002
5,539
406
Middle Earth
Sorry I don't do 3D

But I know that Gap is closing.

Lightwave is solid


Cinema4D is solid

Maya has feature parity. Just need an Unlimited Version

Universe 5 has been solid for midrange use.

Carrera is also another lowend 3D app that's nice

What we're missing currently is decent Pro cards. I think we'll have FireGL and Quadro cards available by late '03 early '04.

Apple's OpenGL support has been getting better and better and soon we'll have the capable Hardware. It's all coming together.
 
K

King Cobra

macrumors 603
Mar 2, 2002
5,403
0
The only 3D app I work with frequently (if at all) is this rather confusing and frustrating freeware app, Strata 3D Base 3.5. (It's on a few MacAddict CDs.)

I did most of the work for my Chemistry notebook cover using the program. (This is just the 3D work.)
 

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D

Das

macrumors regular
Jan 28, 2003
150
0
I've mainly used Maya and Studio Max since they are the most industry accepted and I use the S3d plug in for Director 8.5. While in general, PC's still rule the roost in 3D development, unless you are willing to shell out the big bucks for a quadro and a top of the line PC (around 3,500 or so), both the mac and the PC line up about the same.

Never sat down to learn lightwave. I've heard that it's tougher to learn than maya.
 
Mr. Anderson

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
I use Lightwave on a regular basis, almost everyday. Did some Strata3D a long time ago, but Lightwave is so much better. I'll probably get Maya eventually, but I'll do that when I get a 970. :D

D
 
etoiles

etoiles

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 12, 2002
834
44
Where the air is crisp
I used Lightwave for a while, but I was not too keen on the whole modeler/layout split up. I really loved the modeling tools and renderer, though.
I am probably going to learn Maya next, just because it is an industry standard and runs on a mac...Softimage is gaining momentum out there, it is suposed to be one of the cleaner/modern programs (Maya got a bit 'heavy' over the years), but then again, it is more expensive and does not run on the mac. So how good can it be ? :D
 
FattyMembrane

FattyMembrane

macrumors 6502a
Apr 14, 2002
966
154
bat country
Re: Sorry I don't do 3D

Originally posted by nuckinfutz
I think we'll have FireGL and Quadro cards available by late '03 early '04.
Click to expand...
there was hard news of apple nearing completion of workstation-gfx-card drivers a few weeks (maybe a month or so) ago. some people were hoping for inclusion in 10.2 but it probably will not happen until 10.3. hopefully, apple's leverage of multiprocessor machines will help once the pro video cards arive and the 3d packages take better advantage of smp. if maya complete comes to the mac and the power4 (or power5) chips ship soon, we should be in good shape, since we can easily live without 3dsmax, and it looks like intel is not too interested in 64 bit desktop machines for the time being.
 
jelloshotsrule

jelloshotsrule

macrumors G3
Feb 7, 2002
9,596
4
serendipity
etoiles- sorry i missed this earlier. i assumed you'd put it in community, with the emphasis on 3D rather than the mac. makes sense now though

i'm a student in college (senior) studying film/3D animation. my senior short is in 3D. it's coming along nicely (finally)

i use maya on pcs at school. started on sgi's but they lab upgraded over last summer.

since maya 4.5, and parity on mac and pcs, i've started working a bit at home on my dual 800. it's a little slow at times, but i use it mainly for cleaning up character files and some light rigging. and some rough animation keys.

i started in 3D on strata and bryce in the mid 90s when i was in high school. my favorite experiment was making a fountain in strata which spewed objects which were also fountains... thus, an infinite fountain. needless to say my computer crashed hard...

here's a little sample of my early bryce work.. not bad at the time i'd say.. ha

mp4 here
 
etoiles

etoiles

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 12, 2002
834
44
Where the air is crisp
Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
etoiles- sorry i missed this earlier. i assumed you'd put it in community, with the emphasis on 3D rather than the mac. makes sense now though
Click to expand...

Hehe, glad you could join us...

May I ask what video card you have in your mac ? It is difficult for me to really understand what 'slow' or 'sluggish' means when people talk about using 'gaming' cards (gforce4mx etc.) for 3D.

I mean, at home I work on a pentiumIII 600mhz with a geforce2mx card...everything on my website was done on this machine or slower (for example powerbook g3 333mhz). Can't always have the latest toys...and now is probably a bad time to upgrade your mac if you are into 3D...since apple is going to make a quantum leap by end of year. Right ? Right ? Holding my breath...
 
jelloshotsrule

jelloshotsrule

macrumors G3
Feb 7, 2002
9,596
4
serendipity
Originally posted by etoiles
Hehe, glad you could join us...

May I ask what video card you have in your mac ? It is difficult for me to really understand what 'slow' or 'sluggish' means when people talk about using 'gaming' cards (gforce4mx etc.) for 3D.

I mean, at home I work on a pentiumIII 600mhz with a geforce2mx card...everything on my website was done on this machine or slower (for example powerbook g3 333mhz). Can't always have the latest toys...and now is probably a bad time to upgrade your mac if you are into 3D...since apple is going to make a quantum leap by end of year. Right ? Right ? Holding my breath...
Click to expand...

sorry for dragging this up again, but i lost track of the thread, surprise surprise... anyways, i'm using a gf4ti... what i mean by sluggish is that basically i get the spinning ball quite a bit... when saving and such as well

but i'm used to better, which is probably why... at school we have dual proc BOXX machines... not sure what speed, but new this year. and we're getting a 10 machine render farm in a few weeks. whoo!

and yeah, i hope apple makes a big leap. cause then i'll have no problem sticking with macs for everything...... we'll see!
 
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