Multimedia and modeling (long)

[Earl]

My first guess would be Maya as well. Though, that's based entirely on 'instinct'.

Though, any one of the major 3d apps could produce such results - especially in such talented hands as his.

[Gary David Bouton]

I crawled around the site (Morel's) a little further and found his description of technique/tools. He uses no 3D scans, and he uses Maya 3.

BTW, if anyone wants to get in to a fiscal arguement with their spouse, Maya 4 is coming out next month. I'm going to go for it, because:
•In the words of Einstein, "The need for self-expression is sometimes greater than food and shelter."
•I need to shake some of the shackles off. By this, I mean I'm growing wearing of a multi-program solution to my work. Every stinking model I finish has required at least 4 to 6 programs to pull off. Below is the most ambition one I ever did. It took a week.

Life is too short, you know?

Kindest Regards,

Gary David Bouton
www.boutons.com
Gary@GaryWorld.com
Visit a really large gallery at www.GaryWorld.com!

[randyrives]

Gary,

Great image, and I feel your pain. I would be interested in hearing your feelings about MAYA if you get it. I just wonder if it is, an all-in-one all incompassing program. Of course I could never afford it myself, but maybe My wife who teaches could. (education version) and just maybe she would let me use it sometimes. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[s.winders]

I think that guy Rene Morel could come up with that result with any 3d app,and my next question is,is Maya that much better than other 3d apps? or is it just that people assume it is and flock to it,for instance surely at his {Morels} level its more about artistic skill than the app itself.And I would think that when you understand the modelling side of your soft about as well as you can then it comes down to art theory alone.

What do you guys think.

Stu.

[Earl]

On newsgroups there are always application wars going on. In short, the answer to your question is: no. Maya isn't 'that much better' than other 3d apps (though it is 'that much more expensive'). [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] Maya is another tool, fairly new in comparison to the veteren applications. Maya is generally considered one of the top character animating applications. It's render quality is considered decent, though many still opt to use an outside render engine. But again, anything done in Maya could be accomplished in Softimage, or LightWave, etc (and vise versa). It's more about personal workflow - if someone's mind thinks along the same lines as the application is built - then that application is for them.

Try the demo out for free. See for yourself. When it comes down to raw power, it's silly to say that one application has more beef than another (at least when comparing on the same level).

As an example: LightWave is the only off the shelf 3d application that has been used to create an entire movie. No other application can make this claim. Does this make LightWave better than the rest? Of course not - because had the studio decided otherwise, they could have used any one of the other major applications.

Anyhow...when it comes down to it, it's the artist behind the application that determines the power of the software.

My humble opinion. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[s.winders]

Ya I totally agree with your opinion on that Earl.


It makes me wonder though if its actually Mayas marketting department that has made them appear to be more desirable over the years.

Apart from the demo there is no way I will ever be able to afford to use Maya as it would be about 37 thousand dollars here {choke} at the moment,and I would rather put a good chunk down on a house [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] And you are right it comes down to the individual skill and talent of the user and there choice of application.

Good luck with Maya anyway Earl.


Cheers.

Stu.

[s.winders]

Damn I mean good luck Gary.


I have a Neurological condition which has a habit of regularly htrowing a spanner in the works,so if I call someone by the wrong name I apologize in advance.

Ps do Yas think grey matter can become anti matter?


Yours Neuronally challenged [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


Stu.

[Earl]

Hehe, don't worry Stu, I think that runs in my family too (the mixing up of names).

[Gary David Bouton]

Earl, Stu...

I feel as though you all are disapproving of my taking out a mortgage and getting to know a program that seems to offer a lot. The point is a moot one right now: it's $16,000 US with all the plug-ins.

My *point* is that I am frustrated because I had LightWave sent to me (authors get free software to review sometimes), I bought StrataPro, I had 3DS Max sent to me...and I'm f___king clueless.

I thought that as long as I'm clueless with $4,000 software, I might as well take the financially suicidal plunge and become clueless with an industrial program.

Ah...I think I'm going to be doing my best with trueSpace and E3D as the modeling program for quite a while...

JUst, please, don't get the idea that your humble moderator is a sucker for "name brands" in modeling. Hey, I shop at K-MKart and I'm not ashamed to say it! <g>

Yours,

Gary David Bouton
www.boutons.com
Gary@GaryWorld.com
Visit a really large gallery at www.GaryWorld.com!

[Earl]

I didn't mean to make it sound like it was a bad decision at all. I have a lot of respect for Maya. It's a powerful program - they strive to make it 'the best', and for that reason it's one of the programs that comes out with truly innovative ideas. I have seen some truly awesome images come out of Maya. The only problem I have with Maya is the price tag. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] I think it's way over-priced. Same with Softimage. Both programs, in my opinion, should be down around the price range of LightWave and 3D Studio Max (well, a bit more if you include all of Maya's plugins). It also frustrates me when others get the impression that an application that is made untouchable by its price is 'the best' simply because it holds the highest price tag (I feel the same way about PhotoShop).

But, even with it's price tag, I don't feel that people who purchase Maya are 'suckers'. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] Heck, most people who read my posts probably get an idea of how much I love LightWave - if NewTek decided to raise their price tag by 10 grand, I'd still try to squeeze out the upgrades. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Just out of curiousity, what versions of 3ds and LightWave did you try out Gary? I tried version 3.5 of 3ds (I believe). It was about a year ago...I was utterly clueless in that program (and found I didn't have the patience to learn a whole new one).