[DiXter]

Witch 3D program is best for character modelling,I really want to learn about this becouse me and a couple of my friends are thinking about making a game.



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DiXter

[CaptainCool]

Do you want to go for low polygon or high polygon modeling, I think that 3d max 3.1 is the best low polygon modeling and maya is very good for high, but lightwave also rocks, if you want to go for the free programms use Milkshape for low polygon, blender is good at high polygon..

[Giant Hamster]

MAx isnt all that low poly...check out Ed Lee's work.

maya is definately good, just expensive.

i used to think lightwave was good, till i started taking this 2 1/2 year course in it...now im seeing its limits far too clear. get Max or Maya if you have the cash.

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-JameZ the Giant Hamster-

The Hamster Alliance
AIM: Gianthmstr
Multimedia Producer/designer/all of the above.,overall guru :)...and music music music! weee!!

[DiXter]

I want to go with the low polygon style. And i've herd alot of good things about Maya. But my concern is that im just a beginner on this field.. so any kind of pointers is appreciated.


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DiXter

[MikeP]

well, since you are a beginner, you shouldn't worry that much about the limitations of the program that you use. you should just get a program and use it a lot, read tutorials, get familiarized, and practice. the best program for modelling is the one you are familiar with. but, before you do spend all that money, you should be aware that polygon modelling isn't the only way to model.

NURBS is actually pretty good for the beginner and you can get used to it pretty quickly...rhino3d would be the best program for NURBS, but unfortunately it isn't very versatile like max...however, it is cheaper, especially if you are a student. also, rhino isn't that good for rendering.

anyhow, you might also want to consider using subdivision modelling...it is pretty cool. maya has some subd utilities, but the main subd modellers are mirai (high end) and nendo (low end) both by winged edge technologies.

i guess my recommendation would be to get maya if money doesn't matter, because that program is great and very versatile. anyway, check out other bbs's like www.renderosity.com and ask around. hope that helped some

[lostfilez]

Why not try Nendo? You can d/l the demo at wingededge.com Pretty good if you're just startin out. All it does is modelling, so you'll still need some other program for animation, texturing, whatever...

[chalker]

*NENDO*

it's a box modelling tool :
wanna see some spiffy modelling, go here :
http://www.spiraloid.com
check out the movies..

[DiXter]

I want more charecter tutorials..
mm... more..

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DiXter

[pixualize]

If you aren't accustomed to a particular 3D setup already you may want to try Animation:Master. You can check out all about it at www.hash.com and for a price tag of $299 it beats the competition as a start-up app and has some great highend features.

There are actually a couple of companies that are using it to produce games one of which is www.xenopi.com


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Pixualize Arts
http://www.pixualize.com/
Digital Realization � Traditional Results

[somethingwonderful]

*Plug*

Try Nendo. :) I checked out their demo almost 2 years ago and bought it immediately after I did their penguin demo. It was my first 3D model. I love it so much that I used it in most of my pictures...and they feature an article about me on the front of their site! :) I think it's still there. Yep, that's me: Traveling Uncle Nat. :)

No, I don't own stock in their company or work for them. :) Anyway, check out what I did with it...and I'm far from good. Not like the incredible artwork I see here. :)
http://www.somethingwonderful.com

Enjoy. :)

Traveling Uncle Nat. :)

[Roy Fielding]

Maya is also good for low poly work, but EXPENSIVE....even if you go for the cheaper Maya Builder package. I would also suggest Nendo. It's relatively cheap and people seem to get good results from this package.

Roy

[surferboi]

well youve got to consider price as your main resource for choosing a 3d program.
there are a few free ones you can use to make and skin characters for games, but i think they suck in comparison to the ones that are retail.

Nendo is good for low poly modeling, but a huge drawback is the fact that its hard to use conceptual images with it. What i mean is 3dsmax, lw, maya, xsi, si all allow you to have a background image which for me is essential for creating characters exactly how i want them. Ive seen many ppl manage to make good characters without image reference inside the 3d app. But i have a hard time of it. Price on nendo is 99$.

next is 3dsmax r4, not too shabby, lotta support n some nice features with the new ik ect.. might want to look into max as your all around app around 3,000$ price tag but still worth it

lightwave, max's equal, well its good for modeling although some ppl like it i think it as an animation package is lacking, theres a program called messiah made by www.projectmessiah.com that adds what lightwave lacks. still for games i think max is the better solution cost is about the same as max.

maya well thats a big dog, its a bad ass animation app, some of the modeling tools ie bevel suck but what the hell, its got enough goodies to keep me happy, price is high too. the animation tools are about the best offered right now imo, although its debatable sometimes =) the poly modeling is good with the use of a script called connect poly its a handy dandy script that can be found on www.highend3d.com in the maya mel script modeling section. price on maya is high 7900$

si and xsi, starting to rebuild a user group, i dunno much about them or their price, but i have heard its not too shabby since 1.5 came out. its also in the works of being middleware ie game thing i dunno ull have to do some reassearch up on it. price is prolly around maya's or a shade under

[surferboi]

btw about what roy said about maya builder, careful with that cuz its just an expensive level builder imo, it doesnt support skinning of characters, so ud need complete too. anyhow im sure youll do some more research before u commit that much money to anything.. good luck with ur game company

[Bradford]

maya seams to be paving the way now. i noticed a lot of gaming companies are switching from max or lightwave to maya.

the bone system in max4 is godlike though.

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