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marc · 09-06-2003, 07:05

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I have been indeed away, not much was happening here for a while. Hopefully with the new board that'll pick up.

As for which app to pick up, that totally depends on how much time you are willing to invest into it and what kind of stuff you want to do. Maya and XSI are the top of the lot, but be prepared to pour years of your life into them to get to know them. Unless you are going use everything they offer, why bother?

Lightwave is certainly a good app, nice modeller, great renderer, but it really is it's own island. It's workflow and interface are vastly different from the other 3D apps. So if the idea is to learn an easier app first then move on you'd be better off going with something like max or cinema 4d.

Me personally I've switched to Cinema 4D, after getting fed up with Max' instability and weirdness. I will miss it for some things (that lovely yummy vray renderer) and will continue to use it where I must (vector output), but C4D is basically max with the key plug-ins built in, a much nicer interface and a lot more stable. It can output to After Effects directly and supports the RPF format fully so I can take 3d camera movies into Combustion (yayy!!).

It's growing to be the top choice for motion graphics guys (like me) who just don't need all the heavy character animation stuff. Oh, and I still use Wings3D for modelling, it's advancing so fast it's incredible to watch.

I must say that there is tons and tons and TONS of training stuff for Maya now. Between Gnomon, 3dbuzz, SimplyMaya, Digital tutors, etc, etc, ETC you can spend the rest of your life watching maya tutorial videos should you want to

If the amount of training material available ways heavily in your decision then right now Maya is king (as max was when I started out).

So what do you want to do? Make the next Toy Story? Liven up your 2D designs? Make some motion graphics madness?

09-06-2003, 07:05	#12 (permalink)
marc Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 38	back ;) Back I have been indeed away, not much was happening here for a while. Hopefully with the new board that'll pick up. As for which app to pick up, that totally depends on how much time you are willing to invest into it and what kind of stuff you want to do. Maya and XSI are the top of the lot, but be prepared to pour years of your life into them to get to know them. Unless you are going use everything they offer, why bother? Lightwave is certainly a good app, nice modeller, great renderer, but it really is it's own island. It's workflow and interface are vastly different from the other 3D apps. So if the idea is to learn an easier app first then move on you'd be better off going with something like max or cinema 4d. Me personally I've switched to Cinema 4D, after getting fed up with Max' instability and weirdness. I will miss it for some things (that lovely yummy vray renderer) and will continue to use it where I must (vector output), but C4D is basically max with the key plug-ins built in, a much nicer interface and a lot more stable. It can output to After Effects directly and supports the RPF format fully so I can take 3d camera movies into Combustion (yayy!!). It's growing to be the top choice for motion graphics guys (like me) who just don't need all the heavy character animation stuff. Oh, and I still use Wings3D for modelling, it's advancing so fast it's incredible to watch. I must say that there is tons and tons and TONS of training stuff for Maya now. Between Gnomon, 3dbuzz, SimplyMaya, Digital tutors, etc, etc, ETC you can spend the rest of your life watching maya tutorial videos should you want to If the amount of training material available ways heavily in your decision then right now Maya is king (as max was when I started out). So what do you want to do? Make the next Toy Story? Liven up your 2D designs? Make some motion graphics madness?