Budget programs

[phish]

I am interested in 3d art, but I am on a low budget and would like to know what programs are reasonably priced and powerful. At the moment I use Truespace 3 and Vue d'Espirit 2.

[ricktu]

You dont need to spend another cent if you don't want to. You already have truespace and that is already a more than capable program. We have several excellent truespace users at this forum who can produce work as good as and even better than images and meshes produced with Lightwave, max etc. Search for threads by KennyZ and Seanr and you will see what I mean. If you like many ask these guys what books etc would be worth while buying to help you get up to speed with your prog :)

Richard.

[Katana]

What Ricktu says is true, but you may want to look into upgrading your Truespace. Still it is a very capable program in the right hands. I personally have seen images from Truespace artists that put everyone to shame.

Look for seanr's posts, but don't look at KennyZ's for truespace ... while Kenny is a very capable artist he uses 3DS MAX :)

[alial]

What are you looing for? If your looking for a new program. That is more powerful that Truspace, your going to have to pay quite a bit. Truespace is a great program. Its right on the edge of going from in-expesive to wallet whacking.

I would suggest, that if you use Truespace. Try and find a forum, or a board of some kind that has a whole bunch of truesapce users. That way you can learn, and have your artwork critiqued by users of the same program.

My mottow - Don't spend the money if you don't have to. But if you have the money, blow it now so you don't spend it on something stoopid later!

[phish]

Thanks for the advice. I can get some pretty good results out of truespace on a good day, and I'll post one up soon.

[zyph9000]

Originally posted by alial

I would suggest, that if you use Truespace. Try and find a forum, or a board of some kind that has a whole bunch of truesapce users. That way you can learn, and have your artwork critiqued by users of the same program.


Check out Distant Realms of trueSpace (http://truespace.proboards.com/) New trueSpace users are most welcome! :tos:

[Ryoken3D]

There is also the trueSpace IRC Channel, #trueSpace on Galaxynet ..
And the Normal Caligari forums at their site..


Ryoken

[chrono]

Hmmm cheap but great programs.....

Free - $850
Merlin 3D(it's like the more expensive programs interface-wise but cheap)$550-750
Amphia(i think that's spelled right, anyways far more options then TS) the earlier versions can be found for FREE
Imagine(lightwave junior) $650-900
Rhino(excellent NURBS only modeller) $650+

Middle-level 'cheap' programs $900-3100
Lightwave(it's come along way baby!!!)
3d MAX(gack!!!) ;)

Expensive $3000-9500
Mirai(NURBS modeller
SoftImage(Post king of Animation, best interface I've ever seen)
MAYA

There are other's I just can't remember them.

Anyhow.... yes do use forums that are dedicated to TS. The Caligari offical forums are the best I've seen(though the forum program sucks donkey ballZ!!!)for TS. But if you what C&C or inspiration then post it on a regular 3D forum! That way you will get a much fairer set of C&C responses and artistic advise.

And since your still using TS3.... a little advise. Don't bother upgrading to TS5(+)! Wait until TS 6 comes out try the demo and if it isn't improved FAR beyond the current version then buy something else.

[A2597]

How about FREE?

www.blender.nl

Only 3D program I use. You can do almost everything Lightwave or Max can do (With practice). You can model, render, animate, and create games.

Modeling:
Use standard, or nurbs modeling. etc

Rendering:
Radiosity, shadows, reflections, bump maps, spec, alpha, etc.

Animation:
IKA restrictions, motionblur, etc etc

games...

basically anything you can dream up. from frogger to space sims.


and thats just scratching the surface! :) Been using it two years and I still don't knowhow to do a tenth of what it's capable of!


samples of my work:

www.b5-blender.com
www.b5-blender.com/render/

[Ryoken3D]

So much for Blender :D

NaN's gone bankrupt ... hehe



Ryoken

[phish]

I downloaded it the day before they went :D. Anyone heard of Cinema 4D? I got it today and want to know if it is any good.

[Ryoken3D]

It's susposed to be on par or slightly under trueSpace5.. Such is my understanding.. But I haven't used it myself..



Ryoken

[phish]

Good :). I'll have a play and post up some results. Not bad for something on a magazine coverdisc eh?

[Ryoken3D]

It may be a LE or SE version.. thus not up to par..

It's also a few years old if I'm not mistaken..



Ryoken

[chrono]

Well from what I've heard from other full version Cinema 4D users it's missing some basic things that make working in it alot easyer.

Like the lack of a "mirror" tool.

Still it's a nice program just the same.

[phish]

By the looks of it I'll be modelling in Truespace 3 and only using Cinema 4D to render and do radiant light sources etc.

[Ryoken3D]

I use tS4.. But most of my modeling I do in tS2 just because less options and such means I can work quicker when I am only doing basic thing..



Ryoken

[phish]

I am a decent modeller in TS3 but I SUCK on anything else. On the school computers, we have Pro Desktop, but it took me ages just to figure out how to make a cube, and even longer to texture it.

[chrono]

Well you should be able to keep your TS scenes in the TS area with the newish outside-TS renderer being developed.

[Kai]

books on TS I recommend

Truespace 2 Bible
Inside Truespace 4
Truespace FX Creations

[Ryoken3D]

*shameless plug*
One of my Pics is in trueSpace FX Creations
*/shameless plug*




Ryoken