3D rendering advice needed

Shaggy

Shaggy

Vice Admiral
To the point I'm looking for advice on a rendering program.
So far I see all these people creating 3D models for Prophecy and Freelancer, and really high detail ones, and I'd like to be able to get into that. Unfortunately the only rendering program I can currently afford is GMax, because it's free. :D
Since I'll have to learn a new program, which I have to with GMax anyway, i'd be happy to buy 3D Studio Max, but I don't have $6,000.00. Anyone know of a good rendering program that isn't too expensive but I can use to create ships for FL and SO.
 
truespace, but its not a really.....its not the best package. but its like, 5-800 bucks i believe, then theres XSI which you can get for 395 (killer package) LightWave weighs in at 15-1600, or 400 if you're a student. Max is a good package, al-beit a bit...cumbersome. Maya is rediculously expensive, not the best for any kind of tech modeling though. hmm....you're best bet for good qaulity software would be like, XSI or Lightwave to be honest, especially in the realm of lower end prices. Although, for some strange reason a lot of people can't wrap their heads around LW's interface. Doesn't make sense to me, it's all laid out pretty plain as day and then some. I'm also a bit biased, as i love Lightwave (the package i use). Each has its strengths, each has its weaknesses. All around, Lightwave combines a killer Renderer with killer Modeling Tools. Max contains, hands down, the best modeling tools of any package, however its interface sucks. It's renderer isn't to bad, plus, it's got the most industry support i know of. Probably better than Maya I would say. Maya is a pain in the ass all around. Killer tools for organics though. XSI near as i can tell has killer modeling tools, a killer renderer built in (mental ray)..although, Maya also has Mental Ray too. But Maya is a pain in the ass IMO for modeling mechanical stuff. It's tools really aren't such that they assist you in anyway unless you want to work with NURBS. Which honestly, are a pain in hte ass IMO. To damn much work to get a good product with them.

anyway, hope that helps out a bit.

Brad Mick

oh...and how do i know this all of you are probably asking. i've used them all, or read a lot, or talked to people in the 3d industry who actually use the software. so...heh heh, that's how i know.
 
You can sometimes find Maya 6.0 on ebay that where I got mine and got it for little over 300 bucks. Maya 6.0 unlimited is for windows 2k and up and is a good rendering and modeling program.
 
Anything over about $200 will probably be too expensive.
I saw package at Barnes & Noble that had game design handbook bundled with Milkshape and some other utilities for simplifying game creation. It was directed at teens but still it seemed kind of intertesting, and the price wasn't bad at 44 bucks.
I used a program called Cybermotion 3D designer. I was able to pick that up pretty quick and actually build a few untextured models. But the demo time ran out. With the full version it would have allowed me to export to a .3ds or.dxf format.
 
theblackwulf said:
You can sometimes find Maya 6.0 on ebay that where I got mine and got it for little over 300 bucks. Maya 6.0 unlimited is for windows 2k and up and is a good rendering and modeling program.
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How long ago was that, I've been looking for Maya 6 on eBay for ages but it just hasn't appeared. :(

I was going to recommend LightWave 3D, however that is about $600, so I guess thats out.
 
200 bucks really, honestly, can't buy you any decent render software. if you're serious about doing it, you'll have to up your price range considerably. the best low end, jack of all trades package, easily is Lightwave. And i'm not just saying that because i'm biased (which i am, but its been proven way to many times...so i'm backed up in my biased :))

Brad Mick
 
BradMick said:
the best low end, jack of all trades package, easily is Lightwave. And i'm not just saying that because i'm biased (which i am, but its been proven way to many times...so i'm backed up in my biased :))
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What do you mean by that?
 
meaning, its straight out of the box tools kick ass, its renderer straight out of the box kicks ass. you don't have to go out and buy another renderer. shit, you want to see its power, look at the new BSG, Firefly, anything ZOIC has done. Starship Troopers: Roughneck Chronicles.

its a great, well rounded 'jack of all trades' package.

Brad Mick
 
I was hoping thats what you meant. :) I've been using Max for a while now and I'm getting LightWave very soon (hopefully) and am switching to that. I can't wait to get started with it. :)
 
well, if you need any help. drop me a line, i've got work posted here and there on the forums if you want to check it out. yeah, LW is awesome :)

Brad Mick
 
Thx, I'll probabily take you up on that offer. ;) Have you got the links to the stuff you've done so far, I'd like to take a look.:)
 
 
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WOW! There impressive. I bet they took a while. :) I hoping that I can end up doing something like them. When I get comfortable with LightWave, I'm hoping to do something like the movies they have on Spacebattles.com. Only with Wing Commander models. Figures crossed. But it will take forever as I'll have to come up with models for a number of cap ships and fighters. I've been looking around the net and I can't find any anywhere. So I guess I'll have to make them from scratch. :/ Oh well, they end result will be cool.
 
Here are some WC models up for download, bot low res game and some hig res render models: WCMDF

As modeling proggy, I'd recommend Truespace. TS 3.2 is available for free at the internet(google it, I don't know the URL), and TS 4.0 recently appeared on some PC mag coverdisk, so it may be free available on the net, too. It's pretty easy to get into Truespace, I learnt to model with it from scratch without prior knowledge in 3d art.
 
its toolsets are awful though. i started with truespace, and quickly realized this after i moved on to an actual....professional package. in fact, 3.2 was my very first legitimate program i bought. 99 bucks...lol. its great for learning, but if you really want to do some stuff and not want to pull your hair out, go with something else. also, its interface rally doesn't prepare you for other packages either. get all dependent on that damned graphical interface. makes conversions a pain for some folks.
 
well I agree with Brad on lightwave issues. The best choice would LIGHTWAVE.

I just can't tell you how much i love it. It lacks some nice modeling tools that Max has, but hey, if you know how to model there is always a way around. Even despite its lack of some modeling tools, lightwave has the most flexible and great tools for modeling. As for me, its interface is very simple, cause i've learned how to model from scratch, starting with lightwave 5.6. As Brad i also can't understand those who is telling that lightwave's interface is complex, believe me its the most easiest interface i've even seen.

I've worked in TrueSpace and in Max, so I have some experience to compare those softwares. Lightwave is your best choice.


But if you do not have money to buy it, than find somewhere about 30$ and buy yourself Milkshape -> http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/

It's a good programme and may exporst into many game formats as well as the 3D Packages.

Also, you may try to use Blender (google for it), it's free and constantly dveloping software, many people use it (in my opinion its much better than Gmax, the way better)


here is the gallery of model i've made using lightwave -> http://www.cyberionsystems.com/data/gallery.htm
 
the only thing is though, he wants to do a movie. to my knowledge milkshape isn't exactly up to snuff on it. and just putzin around with it, its really not geared nor catered to that arena. LW is a bitch to rig in though, i'll tell you that much right now. So, expect that to take as long to get down as modeling. Maya is the best for characters, sucks for organic. Max is great for characters and mechanical, not so great standard renderer. Lightwave is okay for characters, and excellent for mechanical, with a great built in renderer. Also, Maya has mental ray inegrated into it, as does XSI. there really are a lot of choices. Rigging in Maya is a BREEZE. rigging in max i've heard is pretty easy too, not mesed with max's rigging tools.

Brad Mick
 
Man, am I ever late to this thread. Anyways, I agree with everything Brad and Cyberion have said.

Lightwave is a very very very nice package that will have just about everything you'd ever want in a 3d program. However, it is also a pretty expensive package and based on what you're saying you want to spend...quite a bit out of your price range. Examples of things done in Lightwave? The Starship Troopers TV Show and a billion other things...

3d Studio Max - (See Lightwave).

Milkshape 3d is a very cheap modelling program developed by ChumBalumsoft (sp?) for game modelling. In other words, if you want to create low poly, low detail game models this will work for you. Once you get above 15,000 polys...it will start to break down. Most important thing to note about Milkshape is that is has no rendering engine (you won't be able to make the pretty pictures :) ), very limited animation capabilities and limited texturing options. I wouldn't recommend this program over something free like Gmax. (Note: Milkshape 3d was the first program I ever started trying 3d in).

Maya - (See Lightwave and 3d Studio Max).

Bryce 3d - Okay, this is a poor man's 3d program. It has some very very awesome features (landscape and environment settings are top notch) and some very very pathetic drawbacks (rendering engine takes FOREVER! Also very very very limited 3d modelling capabilities). However Bryce is comparatively cheap and extremely easy to pick up and learn.

Blender - If I'm not mistaken, Blender is a cheap 3d program that has a very basic rendering engine...it's modelling capabilities are similar to Milkshape 3d. I have seen some impressive things done in Blender however.

Rhino - Now this is an interesting little program. It has fantastic modelling capabilities, if it can be done in Lightwave, 3d Studio Max, Maya etc...it can be done in Rhino (as far as modelling goes!). Beyond the actual modelling, Rhino falls short. Examples of things created in Rhino? The Goblins hover thingie in the Spiderman movie.

Cinema 4d - Okay, now we're to the program that I use. :) This baby is fantastic (IMHO). It has all the options of the big name titles (Lightwave, 3d Studio Max, Maya) but at half the cost. There is a free demo on www.maxon.net. Examples of things done in Cinema 4d? The Collesium from Gladiator...

So what is my recommendation? I recommend you get GMAX because it's free...play around with it until you can model absolutely anything you want and then start considering purchasing a full 3d package. The principles of modelling are universal and can be applied to almost any 3d package...all you have to do is figure out the interface.
 
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