help !

[Earl]

Hey Jens,

The last real market stats published and available to the public can be found here:
Professional 3D Market Stats

However, these are dated to 1999, so things have no doubt changed since then. How much have they changed? Impossible to even speculate. Good marketing on a company (such as Alias) can easily lead to misconceptions. Alias|Wavefront's Maya is a great application - its modeling is top notch. However, it should be noted that many studios who use Maya for their work, specifically model their objects/characters in LightWave first (then transfer them over to Maya for animation). Take that as you will.

Personally? I'd stick to what you knew! Rhino (superb modeler) and Cinema 4D for rendering. Unless the client wants the raw files in a specific format (Maya, 3DS, LW, etc)...then it shouldn't really matter.

[jens g.r. benthien]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Personally? I'd stick to what you knew! Rhino (superb modeler) and Cinema 4D for rendering. Unless the client wants the raw files in a specific format (Maya, 3DS, LW, etc)...then it shouldn't really matter.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've posted this topic in the Rhino US forum as well, and the answer was almost identical. Best of all one user confirmed that they transfered files between Alias and Rhino based on the IGES format - flawlessly. That's good news!

In addition I ran a test, installed SolidWorks (had a version laying around here), installed the Rhino plug-in filter for Rhino imports and bingo - even Solid could read the Rhino files. Second test: IGES. No problem at all. So I uninstalled SW and leaned back :-}

I'll stick my toolbox.

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://www.sacalobra.de

----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--

[s.winders]

Alias studio tools are kind of like an add on to Maya itself really,and expensive add on


A friend of mine recently was offered a job at Weta on the LOTR series as a texture artist,but she was asked if she knew Alias studio paint,and unfortunatley she didnt and they did not have anough work left on Return of the king so she was not able to get the job after all



I had a look at Studio tools recently for the above reason,and I came to conclusion it also lets you mess UVW unwrap and paint to a high degree etc.



jens a new version of C4D has been released which works seamlessly with Vectorworks



Personally I think the problem is that people dont know enough about the software {if anything} and think one is like 300% better then the rest.I also remember reading somewhere sometime ago that Hollywood would only consider work done in Maya on SGI systems ...fortunately times have changed



Stu.

[emel]

There´s no standard. Stuart Little was made with a fresh made software created for model and rendering. Lord of The Rings (2T) also.
So the important is the model and the rendering.
Most of the forums have misleading posts. In fact many things are modeled in one program or two and rendered/put together in another. Strata forum is a example. Many modells are not made in Strata at all, but rendered with it. When I post I always say how I M&R because I believe this is honest to somebody initiating and looking for an app.
Once you are proficient with Rhino (an absolute wonder software) and are happy with C4D rendering engine, just get a good 3D conversion utility (I'm also looking for some) and that's all. Animation is another talk because of IK, paths, texturing, jiggles, deformers and plug-in effects and crossing platforms/software can be program oriented.

Curently I use:

Strata 3D Pro for M&R and animation.

Rhino 3.0 (I'm learning fast) for modeling and Flamingo for rendering. But taking the model to Strata works fine. Strata is very powerful in multitexturing and render and the new version is even better.

RealSoft 3D 4.5 for SDS modeling and Rendering.
Rhino in IGES format imports fine. RealSoft rendering engine is very powerful.

Xara X for generating textures and profiles.

Photoshop 5.02 for post production.

I've tried many apps like Ligthwave, Maya, 3DMAX and Cinema 4D to mention some. I believe that in modeling with NURBS Rhino it's the best. Cinema4D
and RealSoft SDS are superb (I wonder if they share the same code).

Poser 5 and 4 for storyboards and photolike layout.

I'm looking for a good texture painter and a good converter and that's all for me.

I've seen a french guy modeling with a completely "code enter" program like Virtual Reality and he did wonderfull animations and models. I've seen another doing whatever he wanted to in 3DMAX 2 and also a brilliant animator working with ligthwave. I've even seen a genius in Ligthwave taking animation lessons from a traditional animator who could not enter a character in the keyboard.The final animation produced was much better that the original. The model was the same but the keyman input made all the difference.

Concentrate on the model. Next improve the rendering. If it's good nobody cares where you've made it. Don't spend more money or time. Modeling is about SDS, NURBS, extrusions, revolves, sweeps,
sufaces and lines...in all apps. Software can be a drug.And marketing can make you an addict.

Emanuel Brito
www.homographicus.com

[Gary David Bouton]

I was under the impression that Stuart Little, the original movie, was made using Maya.


Correct me if I'm wrong.


Gare

[emel]

Gary,

I'm not telling that they did not use Maya also, but the fact is that they also used many other apps as you can see quoted in the paragraph bellow extracted from the text in the link. In fact the SL fur lead them to develop proprietary software to acomplish the challenge.
Most of the times a single application does not
makes the magic per si. And in fact the Fur in SL makes all the diference.

Take a look here:
http://animation.about.com/library/weekly/aa011400a.htm

"Second, FUR. A texture must be applied to the wireframe to give the character a visible "skin." The smooth plastic skins of Toy Story or the scaly skins of Jurassic Godzillas are a challenge as they must twist and flex to accommodate the motion of the wireframe model underneath in a realistic manner.
But they are childsplay next to the problem of creating a half million individual hairs to cover Stuarts visible parts. These are hairs that must blow in the wind, be a mixture of colors and lengths, and look correctly organic whether wet or dry. They too, or rather their motion, have an important effect on facial gesture. Imageworks developed proprietary software to help them create the most believable furry CG creature to date. (Here's a list of some of the commercial equipment also in use at Imageworks: Kuper Systems motion control, Lynx, RP4, SoftImage, 3D Studio, Maya, Composer, Renderman, Matador, Inferno etc.)"

Emanuel Brito

[emel]

http://www.digitalpostproduction.com...aydara0421.htm

Emanuel Brito

[jens g.r. benthien]

but please don't start a war on standards, ok? ;-}

Emanuel,

if you want to know more about Rhino, you might join the Rhino News Group:

US (English): news://news.rhino3d.com/rhino

Portugal (Portugese): http://news2.mcneel.com/scripts/dnew...hino.portugues

Lots of great info (sometimes) in there, when they don't complain about the gazillion bugs in version 3 (thank God I didn't upgrade).

Have a great time.

jens

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://www.sacalobra.de

----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--

[emel]

I never start wars and Gary for sure does not. I'm only pointing that there are many "3D WEAPONS"
to be used in the "3D graphics war" so we cannot think or believe that one does it all.

Take care,

Emanuel Brito
www.homographicus.com

[jens g.r. benthien]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I never start wars and Gary for sure does not. I'm only pointing that there are many "3D WEAPONS" to be used in the "3D graphics war" so we cannot think or believe that one does it all. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was just joking my friend -> ;-} is my jokie smily!

As a friend of mine put it some years ago as follows:

if you only have a hammer in your toolbox, everything starts looking like a nail...

very true!

All the best,

jens

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://www.sacalobra.de

----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--