flavor of the month?

after a large investment in Lightwave, all I heard about was Maya. However, most mesh sites seem to favor 3dmax. What is everyone's opinion on the modeller of choice and why?

[evil_genius_180]

By "modeler of choice" do you mean Max? If so, it's not necessarily a modeler of choice. A large number of people who model use Max, but a good number of people use Lightwave. And the rest of us go with slightly less expensive options, like trueSpace, Silo, Maya (actually, I'm not sure about that being less expensive), Bryce, Blender, Wings and any others that I missed.

As far as having an opinion on Max, I don't since I've never used it. It seems to be a really nice app if you have the money but I hear it can be a pain (for some) to learn. I do know that those .max files won't import into much, including a lot of the top 3D converters.

If you're wondering if you should switch, I'd say no, unless you're going pro with your 3D modeling or you've got the money to spend and nothing to spend it on. (though, judging from your "large investment" statement, I'd say probably not.) You have Lightwave, which is professional software, there are a lot of .lwo models out there and I hear it's easy to convert other files to .lwo format.

Originally Posted by evil_genius_180

If you're wondering if you should switch, I'd say no, unless you're going pro with your 3D modeling or you've got the money to spend and nothing to spend it on. (though, judging from your "large investment" statement, I'd say probably not.) You have Lightwave, which is professional software, there are a lot of .lwo models out there and I hear it's easy to convert other files to .lwo format.

I'll defiantly second that, lightwave is a professional graphics package, no question, it's used by several major studios, not to mention companies like Zoic and Eden FX that are pretty much LW only. Not only can LW do anything that max can, it can usually do it better too, for instance LW's native renderer has progressed by leaps and bounds in the last few versions, so that unlike max, you don't need plugins to produce high quality renders. If you're just starting out I definitely recommend going over The manual, followed by newtek's site , and finally go over to LWG and introduce yourself there. If you have any questions or trouble getting started feel free to ask here, as there are several LW users on this site. And if you're worried about is not being able to find meshes in LW format, then it may also be helpful for you to know that LW's very own modeler can import meshes (in most cases) from .3ds and .obj formats, though there are plenty of cases where the mesh will come out contorted or badly mis-textured, but it's easy enough to fix those kind of import errors once you're more familiar with modeler. Not to mention layout mode, there are plenty of pre-made .lws out there and playing with them should give you an idea of how to create your own scenes. A few basic scene elements are AA (anti aliasing), motion blur.

thanks for the responses, guys. My ex and I sunk well over a grand into Lightwave, even have the professional license assuming I ever made anything Id want to screen. But I have noticed most of the models i find online that Id like to download are max, probably because max is the cheaper, and therefore more widely accessible. I love LW and woulnt want to switch, even tho the learning curve is enormous. Only problem is, Id still like some of these wondrous models i see out there hehe. oh ell, here's to hoping we find more trekkies with LW. ;P

[evil_genius_180]

Or get more Max users to export to .3ds format (and do it properly so the mesh isn't all jumbled.) It would benefit users of many other programs.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Actually, ask them to export to OBJ format, not 3DS. 3DS always will import triangulated, while OBJ can be imported in quad or tri format.