There is no answer to this, its like asking what's better, green or quasimodo. Try demos of both. This is like the holy wars between Mac and PC, everyone knows they're right and everyone else is wrong...
um no, unlimited is 7k, thats a lot but a small car is like 4-5k alone, plus 2k for lightwave, thats a low end pc lol
when I bought LW it cost me Aï¿¡500, that included vue 5, it's less than $1000 in the US I'm pretty sure, so I don't know where you got the 2K idea from
There is no answer to this, its like asking what's better, green or quasimodo. Try demos of both. This is like the holy wars between Mac and PC, everyone knows they're right and everyone else is wrong...
Aint that the truth
It all comes down to personal preference in the end, try out a few different 3D apps until you find one you like
me personaly; I don't really like the look of Maya for modelling, I learnt 3D in Lightwave and I found it really easy to learn in, but my main app that I use is Cinema 4D because I like the layout, workflow and versatility of the program, and now I've seen modo and think that that could be a really good modelling tool.
Hm... I've been thinking about major upgrading LW for some time now...
LW 9 comes at about 700 € (400 € if you upgrade). It lacks fluid dynamics, but then there's Dynamite for gaseous fluids which is currently about 190 €, and the option to use free Blender for liquids and import object sequences of that into LW. And it would be great to have a faster renderer, thats FPrime at 400 USD, about 300 €.
Makes 890 € (~1100 USD), and, it seems, you'd have everything you need to create things like you could do in Maya plus a renderer that even some Maya users at CGTalk wish to have.
I have used both Maya and LW considerably. I appreciate the power of Maya Unlimited but if I am not doing something specifically that maya excelles in (3d motion tracking for example). I will always jump back to Lightwave. As far as price, there is no comparison. IMO, Maya complete is not equal to LW and $7k for Unlimited is an wafully big price gap. My personal advice is to buy LW (prices are really great right now). Then, if you have extra money, add Modo for it's amazong modeling power as well as UV mapping, an amazing still renderer (animation coming soon) and a lot of other great features that compliment any other app. Modeling in LW (or Modo) is much more productive (and fun) than Maya and it is easier to get into the tool set without reading lines of code, it is a much more artist-centric program... Go LW, you won't be
The big question is WHAT are you gonna use the soft for?....personnal use?...learning it in hopes of working in the industry?...if so, TV or Movies?..there's a good reason why certain artist uses different softwares realy. do you wanna be a modeler?..animator?...each as it's strenghts. unfortunaly now a days, it's so specilalized, you need to know those questions first.
Hm... I've been thinking about major upgrading LW for some time now...
LW 9 comes at about 700 A⬠(400 A⬠if you upgrade). It lacks fluid dynamics, but then there's Dynamite for gaseous fluids which is currently about 190 Aâ¬, and the option to use free Blender for liquids and import object sequences of that into LW. And it would be great to have a faster renderer, thats FPrime at 400 USD, about 300 Aâ¬.
Makes 890 A⬠(~1100 USD), and, it seems, you'd have everything you need to create things like you could do in Maya plus a renderer that even some Maya users at CGTalk wish to have.
Rob,
You won't regret it once you see some of the stuff in 9.2
The big question is WHAT are you gonna use the soft for?....personnal use?...learning it in hopes of working in the industry?...if so, TV or Movies?..there's a good reason why certain artist uses different softwares realy. do you wanna be a modeler?..animator?...each as it's strenghts. unfortunaly now a days, it's so specilalized, you need to know those questions first.
mostly modeling trek ships, and other things such as transformers (how do I make something transform? and game meshes as well as animation, people too, lol
but, I've seen a lot of coll models from virtually every program, I wan't to be able to open lightwave,maya,blender cinema4d, 3Ds Max and rhino (ect.) related files, but I can't see to find compatibility info T_T
I'll lay it on the line, if you want to have full compatibility between programs when it comes to models, it doesn't exist. Some programs do pretty well, but, objects open only in their native programs with, for instance, full texturing compatibility in the program that created them. If all you want is a model to make, pretty much any program will import various formats. I think all programs import OBJ's. But, if you're looking for a program that can open any other program's model with all shaders, textures, etc in tact... you might as well give up now because it doesn't exist. If all you really want to do is make models, go with Modo, if you want to specialize in one specific aspect of 3D, go with Maya, if you want to be able to know how to do just about anything in 3D and be able to generalize in a work environment, go with LightWave or Max. It really depends on what you want to do.
lol how hard is it to read the previous post I was replying to, it was right above mine
and so what if this applies to maya anyway? I'm saying it wouldn't interest me unless it had all the great plugins LW has, I never said maya doesn't have many plugins
I'll lay it on the line, if you want to have full compatibility between programs when it comes to models, it doesn't exist. Some programs do pretty well, but, objects open only in their native programs with, for instance, full texturing compatibility in the program that created them. If all you want is a model to make, pretty much any program will import various formats. I think all programs import OBJ's. But, if you're looking for a program that can open any other program's model with all shaders, textures, etc in tact... you might as well give up now because it doesn't exist. If all you really want to do is make models, go with Modo, if you want to specialize in one specific aspect of 3D, go with Maya, if you want to be able to know how to do just about anything in 3D and be able to generalize in a work environment, go with LightWave or Max. It really depends on what you want to do.
well thats a bummer,
ok looking at the 3ds Max, Maya and Lightwave, which seems to be the big three, whats my best compatibility option,
I'm thinking about Lightwave, it's weird though, I've heard bad things about 3Ds but it seems a lot of people here, use it.
what file extension does maya use anyway? can lightwave open that?
I heard only max can open .max but what about .3ds, and looking at the 3d Modeling community, how often is .3ds used vs .max?
actually, what is studio max like?, I think I'm going to try that since it's the cheaper of the three and everybody seems to use it, so do to the user community, availability of meshes ect. I think it might be good for starters, but I'm still not sure, still concerned with compatability
Max is compatible with max. That's about the extent of it.
Sure you can import/export geometry and even some texture info to the most common formats (obj, 3ds, directx etc.), but as far as compatibility goes, there is none. Sort of applies to all major packages actually. You're not going to find a program that magically opens everything, especially, if we're talking stuff you can download online. Conversion is hard work.
I use max and I like it, but it's probably mostly due to me being the most familiar with it.
If it's modeling you're interested in why not give Silo a whirl. It's affordable and one of the most streamlined and powerful modelers around there. Of course you'll need something to render, texture and animate your stuff, but you can find affordable (or free) solutions for those problems.
Actually you might want to start with the free stuff. Wings3d, Milkshape (that's actually $25) and possibly Blender just to see if your interest goes beyond the steep learning curve 3d tends to have. I wouldn't necessarily invest in a major 3d package before I get the basics down.
As far as actual 3d goes, a polygon is a polygon, no matter which program you're using. Picking one of the major application has little to do with art and a lot to do with pipeline and what you're comfortable using.
There are conversion programs such as Deep Exploration that will convert between formats, but a wholesale conversion- rigs, textures and fine detail of meshes is a time consuming job that can only really be done to its best by hand.
If I were you, I'd pick the application that you're most comfortable using. The knowledge for converting meshes will come in time, once you are familiar with the program.
Also, if you've got no experience of these programs, why the need to read all these formats? If the answer to that question has something to do with the availability of existing meshes, I wouldn't place too high a priority on it.
actually, what is studio max like?, I think I'm going to try that since it's the cheaper of the three and everybody seems to use it, so do to the user community, availability of meshes ect. I think it might be good for starters, but I'm still not sure, still concerned with compatability
Hm... I've been thinking about major upgrading LW for some time now...
LW 9 comes at about 700 A⬠(400 A⬠if you upgrade). It lacks fluid dynamics, but then there's Dynamite for gaseous fluids which is currently about 190 Aâ¬, and the option to use free Blender for liquids and import object sequences of that into LW. And it would be great to have a faster renderer, thats FPrime at 400 USD, about 300 Aâ¬.
Makes 890 A⬠(~1100 USD), and, it seems, you'd have everything you need to create things like you could do in Maya plus a renderer that even some Maya users at CGTalk wish to have.
hmm, well I find myself making a hard decision, I'm not worried about which is harder to learn, that just means more effort on my part, but assuming I choose one, are there any books/guilds to either?
Actually, the most recent variety of Learning Maya books are wonderful. A vast vast vast improvement over the books that had been written in the past. Project oriented and clear language, including a lot of the "why" that some of us need.
I will agree that Maya is exceptionally robust, tightly packed full of different things, so that can increase the learning curve a bit. I went to school for Lughtwave back in the 5.5 days, and I had a lot of fun using it, but the company I was working for at the time was also an Alias|Wavefront reseller, and Maya 1.0 coming out at the time made LW look quite weak by comparison.
That being said, both of these packages are great, though I will note for those used to LW, making the switch to Maya does take a lot of "unlearning what you have learned", but the way I see it (attempting to learn Maya now), since both are industry standards in use in many houses, it never hurts to learn both. I'm gonna stick with Maya a bit longer as I really want to get as good at modeling in it as I had gotten in LW. Rendering, that's another story.
Posts
Luxology > What is modo?
It doesn't have animation tools, but if you just want to model and render it looks really impressive and easy to use.
It's actually made by a group of people that left the lightwave team, so it resembles lightwave in alot of ways.
EDIT - and it costs a similar amount to Lightwave
Aint that the truth
It all comes down to personal preference in the end, try out a few different 3D apps until you find one you like
me personaly; I don't really like the look of Maya for modelling, I learnt 3D in Lightwave and I found it really easy to learn in, but my main app that I use is Cinema 4D because I like the layout, workflow and versatility of the program, and now I've seen modo and think that that could be a really good modelling tool.
So yea, every ones got there own opinion
Aparently the next versions going to have animating tools
there's so much more things they need to add until you could call it a full package
LW 9 comes at about 700 € (400 € if you upgrade). It lacks fluid dynamics, but then there's Dynamite for gaseous fluids which is currently about 190 €, and the option to use free Blender for liquids and import object sequences of that into LW. And it would be great to have a faster renderer, thats FPrime at 400 USD, about 300 €.
Makes 890 € (~1100 USD), and, it seems, you'd have everything you need to create things like you could do in Maya plus a renderer that even some Maya users at CGTalk wish to have.
-MJ
Rob,
You won't regret it once you see some of the stuff in 9.2
M.
mostly modeling trek ships, and other things such as transformers (how do I make something transform? and game meshes as well as animation, people too, lol
but, I've seen a lot of coll models from virtually every program, I wan't to be able to open lightwave,maya,blender cinema4d, 3Ds Max and rhino (ect.) related files, but I can't see to find compatibility info T_T
are you saying Maya doesn't have many plug-ins?
He's talking about Modo.
I like Modo, it's nice.....however, what I think of Luxology is probably unprintable.
M.
and so what if this applies to maya anyway? I'm saying it wouldn't interest me unless it had all the great plugins LW has, I never said maya doesn't have many plugins
well thats a bummer,
ok looking at the 3ds Max, Maya and Lightwave, which seems to be the big three, whats my best compatibility option,
I'm thinking about Lightwave, it's weird though, I've heard bad things about 3Ds but it seems a lot of people here, use it.
what file extension does maya use anyway? can lightwave open that?
I heard only max can open .max but what about .3ds, and looking at the 3d Modeling community, how often is .3ds used vs .max?
NURBS especially bother me, I don't know what it is, it seems to be unsuported in most instances and I've heard the term used alot here
as far as .obj, how hard is it to fix the distortions?
Sure you can import/export geometry and even some texture info to the most common formats (obj, 3ds, directx etc.), but as far as compatibility goes, there is none. Sort of applies to all major packages actually. You're not going to find a program that magically opens everything, especially, if we're talking stuff you can download online. Conversion is hard work.
I use max and I like it, but it's probably mostly due to me being the most familiar with it.
If it's modeling you're interested in why not give Silo a whirl. It's affordable and one of the most streamlined and powerful modelers around there. Of course you'll need something to render, texture and animate your stuff, but you can find affordable (or free) solutions for those problems.
Actually you might want to start with the free stuff. Wings3d, Milkshape (that's actually $25) and possibly Blender just to see if your interest goes beyond the steep learning curve 3d tends to have. I wouldn't necessarily invest in a major 3d package before I get the basics down.
As far as actual 3d goes, a polygon is a polygon, no matter which program you're using. Picking one of the major application has little to do with art and a lot to do with pipeline and what you're comfortable using.
Join our fancy Discord Server!
how hard is it to fix the model if this happens?
also, is there any type of converter out there?
If I were you, I'd pick the application that you're most comfortable using. The knowledge for converting meshes will come in time, once you are familiar with the program.
Also, if you've got no experience of these programs, why the need to read all these formats? If the answer to that question has something to do with the availability of existing meshes, I wouldn't place too high a priority on it.
Is 3ds Max really the cheapest in the bunch?
3ds Max 9: $3,495
Maya Complete 8.5: $1,999
Maya Unlimited 8.5: $6,999
LightWave 9: $795
Taken from Autodesk.com and Newtek.com
What renderer are you referring to?
Actually, the most recent variety of Learning Maya books are wonderful. A vast vast vast improvement over the books that had been written in the past. Project oriented and clear language, including a lot of the "why" that some of us need.
I will agree that Maya is exceptionally robust, tightly packed full of different things, so that can increase the learning curve a bit. I went to school for Lughtwave back in the 5.5 days, and I had a lot of fun using it, but the company I was working for at the time was also an Alias|Wavefront reseller, and Maya 1.0 coming out at the time made LW look quite weak by comparison.
That being said, both of these packages are great, though I will note for those used to LW, making the switch to Maya does take a lot of "unlearning what you have learned", but the way I see it (attempting to learn Maya now), since both are industry standards in use in many houses, it never hurts to learn both. I'm gonna stick with Maya a bit longer as I really want to get as good at modeling in it as I had gotten in LW. Rendering, that's another story.
That's FPrime from Worley Labs: CLICK
Amazingly fast.
My other comment was referring to some thread at CGTalk, but that one quickly turned into a FPrime vs. Mental Ray war.
thanks for the link... some very interesting stuff in there, I'll be going back to read the entire post soon!
cheers!
M