I'm not going to spend $3,600 on software unless I'm committed.
Being simply interested requires something in a lower price range.
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3D Modelling Software
- Thread starter Hexiii
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I'm not going to spend $3,600 on software unless I'm committed.
Being simply interested requires something in a lower price range.
Thank you, however, I already downloaded Modo and I like the nice interface and everything so far. I am on the 15 day trial and then I am maybe going to pay the 30 day trial and then we will see
Thank you, however, I already downloaded Modo and I like the nice interface and everything so far. I am on the 15 day trial and then I am maybe going to pay the 30 day trial and then we will see
I'm no sure if it applies to high school students but their student license is VERY cheap. $150 per year or you can buy a copy for $250.
Hardly.
Maya is an industry standard platform. The tools that come with it are antiquated and brutal to use, which is why most people buy third party plugins to rectify that or build their own. I have never seen a single Maya shop *ever* who wasn't relying on in-house or third party plugins to make it usable.
People don't buy Maya for the tools it comes with, they buy it for the platform it provides to implement their own stuff on.
Add another $2000 (minimum) for third party plugins. Mental Ray is borderline abandoned by Autodesk, you'll need a license for V-Ray or some other rendering engine to get anything decent out of it. The modelling toolset is impossible to use and inferior compared to Modo, so you'd need to get something usable from a third party to rectify that.
I wouldn't recommend investing in Maya period.
Learn some other app first (Modo, Cinema 4D, 3DS Max, Lightwave- anything). If you get good enough to build a nice portfolio, any company that hires you who uses Maya (if they like your stuff) should be willing to train you how to use it.
Buying Maya as a freelancer is about the stupidest thing anyone could ever do. The learning curve is too steep, you'll get frustrated and you won't be productive. Trust me, I've been there. Deciding to use something else (Modo and C4D/Vray, primarily) was the best damned decision I made for my freelance career, given that I spend most of my time *doing things* and not trying to figure out how to work the program instead.
-SC
Yeah, modo is just amazing. Easy to use with some spectacular results. The biggest downside as has been stated is the lack of free tutorials available.
Thank you, however, I already downloaded Modo and I like the nice interface and everything so far. I am on the 15 day trial and then I am maybe going to pay the 30 day trial and then we will see
I just wanted to mention this site that just started:
http://www.modopedia.com/
Its full of free Modo videos. Once I get better at Modo I plan on contributing to this site.
Also, not sure if you are still using Modo or not but something that will greatly help your learning (and will help most people from another 3D modeling package) is while in the viewport, hit the "O" button to bring up preferences, and under the "Drawing and Control" tab scroll to the bottom until you see "Trackball Rotation" and change it to "No". I bet you'll like navigating a LOT better after changing that.
I ended up buying Modo and absolutely love it. It's modeling tools are superb. It was a very good purchase in my opinion.
Yeah, I liked Modo too, but I didn't have time to learn it so far so I might be purchasing it later. Thank you very much for this.
Very Helpful Resource
Thanks for this resource, never know about it until your post. Is there also another assets sharing community similar to http://www.luxology.com/asset/
Thanks for this resource, never know about it until your post. Is there also another assets sharing community similar to http://www.luxology.com/asset/
Hmm...
I use Autodesk Maya. The student edition is free (same as regular, just it gives you a message every time you save, telling you it was made with a student edition), and you can get the new versions every year as long as you're a student. The same with just about any other Autodesk software, except the professional CAD stuff.
I don't have any problems with it, and I've only been using it since January (modeling first semester, animation this semester), it's a breeze to use. I don't see why you would go through the whole trouble of learning one piece of software, then having to go through the whole process again with another. There's a good chunk of books on it too.
I find Maya to have a more welcoming interface than Blender, which is a free alternative. Can't even figure out how to rotate a square on that!
BTW: http://www.creativecrash.com is pretty good for assets.
I use Autodesk Maya. The student edition is free (same as regular, just it gives you a message every time you save, telling you it was made with a student edition), and you can get the new versions every year as long as you're a student. The same with just about any other Autodesk software, except the professional CAD stuff.
I don't have any problems with it, and I've only been using it since January (modeling first semester, animation this semester), it's a breeze to use. I don't see why you would go through the whole trouble of learning one piece of software, then having to go through the whole process again with another. There's a good chunk of books on it too.
I find Maya to have a more welcoming interface than Blender, which is a free alternative. Can't even figure out how to rotate a square on that!
BTW: http://www.creativecrash.com is pretty good for assets.
Someone mentioned earlier that anyone with a student email can get a free educational license of maya. I love maya but it's buggy and it's not beginner software, you can learn on it but I would put it's curve well above any other software.
For people who are trying to learn the industry tools I would pick up blender, mostly because it's free. Learn the theory, how to build models with good geometry and topology. Then move on to UV and Textures and rendering, and if you're still into it have some fun with rigging and animation.
For anyone starting out all the tools will be at roughly the same level and should all provide the same functionality. Once you know how to build something properly the software is long longer the matter it just becomes learning where the new tool buttons and hotkeys are.
For people who are trying to learn the industry tools I would pick up blender, mostly because it's free. Learn the theory, how to build models with good geometry and topology. Then move on to UV and Textures and rendering, and if you're still into it have some fun with rigging and animation.
For anyone starting out all the tools will be at roughly the same level and should all provide the same functionality. Once you know how to build something properly the software is long longer the matter it just becomes learning where the new tool buttons and hotkeys are.