Want to learn 3D

[infiniti]

I havn't really touched the 3D arena in my "designing career". I wish to enter the scene, but with the abundance of 3D programs available, I am confused which one to being with. I have 3ds max and swift 3D in mind. As I see it, 3ds max is a lot more complicated but also a lot more capable (very crazy price tag too!), swift 3d is a nice vector 3D program and integrates into flash nicely. Is there any recommendations? Appreciate it!

[CyanBlue]

You might want to check out Blender (http://www.blender.org)... ;)

[Billy T]

well if you are serious about doing proper 3d then forget swift - its only use is for basic vector animations

I use Cinema 4d and like it a lot...have heard good things about Lightwave too.

3ds max probably has the biggest community and has the most people writing plugins for it...

there's no right or wrong answer...all depends on price, platform, purpose etc

cheers

[annexion]

http://www.neilblevins.com
http://www.renderosity.com

I use 3d Studio 4.2 with the Brazil renderer, and I'd have to say it's the best 3D package I've ever used. And that's after having 5 or 6 years of experience with CAD and such.

And then there is Swift 3D... I'd never be caught dead using it.

My 2 cents...

Good luck big guy.

[skee]

For whatever it is worth, I think Swift 3d is a great low cost alternative to 3d Studio 4.2, Lightwave and Cinema 4D. If you have the cash, then yes, you will be able to do much more in terms of 3D rendering and animation with the more expensive packages, but if you don't have the resources and still want to be creative in the 3D arena, Swift 3D is a great solution. Not sure why Annexion is so anti-Swift, but there are a lot of awesome things out on the web done with that software...and being a user of it, I have found the vector engines, rendering tools and overall ease of use to be outstanding. Guess it is just personal preference.
skee

[Billy T]

I have to agree with Annexion on this one - I found swift to have the most painfully clunky and unresponsive interface of any 3d program I've ever used

maybe it just takes some time to get used to it...

[skee]

I don't have experience with the other programs mentioned, but I have Swift 3D v.3 and I find it to be very simple to use. Yeah, it is a bit slow for heavy duty rendering or extremely intensive vector animation generation, but I didn't have high expectations for software under 150 bones. As mentioned, it really depends on what you want to do and what you are willing to pay for it.

[skee]

....in the spirit of finding the best bottle of wine for $10 or under, does anyone know of any 3D software under 200 american that competes or is better than Swift 3D. I must admit that I haven't really looked for others...

sb

[Billy T]

dunno...maybe povray?

http://www.povray.org/download/

can't say I've ever used it but might be worth checking out

[skee]

just downloaded it....thanks for the tip
sb

[annexion]

http://www.rhino3d.com

That's by far the best NURBS editing program out there. And the student license is $195. NURBS are non-uniform rational b-splines... Mathematical curves instead of vertices like most 3d programs use. It's kind of abstract and hard to learn at first. But, you learn that, and you'll be a force to be reckoned with in the 3D community.

Swift, in my opinion is not quite a 3d program. There's no real design aspect to it. You couldn't render the caustics in a wine glass, nor could you do machine prototyping with it. It seems a bit of a novelty that preys on users' inexperience with 3d design.

If you want good 3D go with Rhino 3D, Maya, Lightwave or 3D Studio... These are the programs that the pros use. In fact, Whoswe studios uses 3D Studio with Brazil. The green glowing trim in all of their animations are what appears to be the Glowworm shader in Brazil.

I guess I've been doing 3D for a long time, even longer than Flash, and to me, I don't find it beneficial to use a program that's "easy". I wouldn't get Flash 2 because it's easier than Flash MX. I'd just buckle down and learn the program. Now that's ignoring budget. If I'm not mistaken 3D Studio has a student license too.

I don't mean to badmouth any religious Swift 3D users, but, I'm allowed an opinion, and I would give my life to defend the right of everyone else to have theirs'.

Thank you.

[annexion]

:D And by the way, the last time I tried using POV Ray, it was what appeared to be programming based. Meaning, there was no GUI. You had to program it, then raytrace it. Man, that was a while ago. If you can "program" POV Ray, you're a badass mofo.:p

[Billy T]

Originally posted by annexion
it was what appeared to be programming based.

LOL what a nightmare...

have you ever used Cinema 4D?

I used version 7 a lot and really liked it...

[skee]

annexion,
no offense taken...I am not a religious Swift-ite. I will admit that I am new to the 3D arena so comments from more experienced 3D people are helpful. I will definitely check out your recommendation...and after dabbling, you are correct on Porvay. That is not what I am looking for.
thanks for the input

skee

[skee]

annexion
are there other inexpensive 3D packages that output to .swf? (or just vector output)

skee

[annexion]

Ummm, I don't tend to output to vector too much... I haven't used Rhino in a long time, but, if I'm not mistaken that does. If not, you can use Rhino, and ironically, export it to Swift in some file format whether it's 3DS or DWG or what have you, and export as vector from there. Don't quote me on that... Or you could use Aftereffects and output as vector from that, by importing an AVI or MPEG movie. The movie being generated from the 3D program.

Billy, I've never used it, but I had a friend, aside from you, tell me recommend. I'm kind of interested. Have you been to the Maxon site and looked at the demo reels? It's amazing. To be honest, I've never done anything as intense as a full animated short. I've focused on photo-realism over the past year or so. We should work on a joint 3D project... Who knows, we might buy Pixar or Dreamworks someday.

Later duuuuudes.

[Billy T]

yeah their demos are great and there is a plugin called "dynamics" which is amazing...

about the joint project - I worked in 3D 24 hours a day for 6 months and vowed to never touch it again (was during the last semester of my course) ;)

but I'd be happy to chip in $5 to be a part owner of Pixar :)

[annexion]

Darn...

Okay, want to do something in Flash?:cool:

[Billy T]

serious? I'm pretty flat out at the moment but if there is a specific project you want to collaborate on let me know

cheers

[annexion]

Yeah, I've been dying to do something lately. And to be honest, without attempting to sound arrogant, most of the people around here are motion tween flashers. All the websites I've done including Flash and the like, have all been done alone. I'm quite ready to collaborate on a project with someone. Even if it is not for profit.

I just installed Apache, PHP, MySQL and Perl on my computer... And I've got myself pretty excited with that. It just opened up a plethora of opportunities for me, as I didn't have access to any of that before, aside from basic hosting packages.

I don't have anything in particular... But I'm sure we could find something.

Good day.

[CyanBlue]

motion tween...

motion tween???

Um... What's that???

:D

[Shashank]

HI!!
i read all the other views....but all the way i got confused.
well if u really wanna learn 3D then there r many sites which help you out!!!
Like
www.3dcafe.com
www.3dlinks.com
www.3dtotal.com

if you see, 3D is totally a new dimention...it is what you desir, or where your creativity is, if you r more interested in graphics and animation....then 3D can be a great help for you ....for you wide imagination....
there r many roots or branches in 3D...after this you can get in to maya...or chareter studio.....its endless just like flash.....

IF YOU really wanna do it....then buy a 3D software and you get a tutorials in that .....it easy...any fast...
For your information i have done 3D..and is better than anything....

TRY iT OUT...

BYE take care

[spriggan]

If you just want to try your hand and not spend cash Discreet has a freeware version of 3D Studio Max called GMax

http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/gmax_index.html

I've used The Normal Max and this one, Gmax takes a bit to get use to but hey it's free. But I don't beleave you can use the models in Flash unless you buy the plug in that you use for 3DSM.

[Ricod]

POVRay ... lol ! Anyone who can model a realistic human in POVRay is my hero !

Nobody uses MaYa (I used MAX 3.0 till 5.0) ? Ah well, heard its poly modeling sux anyway.

Pixar ... hmm, isn't there a Ghibli / Pixar coproduction coming up ?

[subquark]

yeah, swift3D is sort of disappointing. somebody wrote above that it preys on the inexperienced. it's fairly cheap and sounds real good, but creates very basic looking stuff.

also, the last version was a freakin' nightmare: they had this validation and authentification crap, well . . . I added a joystick to my pc and it "unregistered" my swift3D and made it a trial version . . . I then had to wait a week for the fix (they got rid of that stupid scheme) and had to download 3 crappy versions (at 50K, we are talking abot a three hour download) that would not install, finally . . . they gave me the ftp info BUT, I had to go download some freeware crap to ftp it. What a pain in the @$$!

They lost this customer . . . (wow, what a vent session)

I use Cinema 4d and like it a lot

BillyT is right! What beautiful images you can create with it. Check out there site:

maxon (http://www.maxoncomputer.com/)

[CyanBlue]

Ricod... Just for your information... I have used Maya for at least 2 years extensively while I was in school... I didn't have any problem with polygon modeling with it... Thought I'd let you know... ;)

[skee]

I am in search of the finest motion tweeners AS.org has to work on a project that will seamlessly integrate Swift 3D and POVRay in a motion tweening extravaganza that will cause even the best "script-ites" to put all that actionscript garble aside for the love of that endearing "blue zone" on the timeline. With characters generated in POVRay interacting with simple rotating cubes generated in Swift, we will tween ourselves into Flash history.

sb (motion tweeker)

[subquark]

skee! you're project sounds way bad@$$!! make sure to post it on site check when done, sounds like a reall coll and original idea!!! :)

[annexion]

I didn't meant to dog any tweeners at all...

I meant people that JUST started using Flash and claim mastery of the program because they can do some simple motion tweens and shape tweens.

This thread is getting pretty popular. Maybe Jesse could put up a 3d section on the forum to address situations like this. Or stuff like importing 3D movies into Flash and such. I'm sure there are plenty of people that are adept in Swift...

[skee]

annexion,
just kiddin' with ya...I think a 3D forum is a good idea

sb

[subquark]

yes! a 3D forum would be most excellent! :D

[annexion]

I know you were kidding. But I don't want to offend any new users that might be looking at this particular thread. Got nothing but respect for all of you people.

YAY, let's rally the troops in support of a 3D forum...

[Billy T]

a "3d in flash" forum obviously... ;)

[annexion]

Yeah, I went to General and put in a request, and then had to correct myself...

>idiot<

[skee]

stumbled on this freeware for doing polygon mesh modelling in 3d. exports to .3ds and other useful file formats. worth a look for no money.
wings3d (http://www.wings3d.com/)

skee