Which 3D modelling package (if any) do you use

I have Poser 6, but I can't do anything but Pose

- I am a newb to the 3D world and probably will always be. There is just too much to learn, so ill leave it the pros

I have used XSI and 3DS Max but like max alot more

Each of the major 3D apps has a distinct industry sector boas with the rest filling niche or alternative groupings. 3DMax dominates gaming and game design. maya is still the beloved of the feature film effects sector. These two are of course now owned by the same company (autodesk - formerly Discreet) and whilst they have said they will continue for now to keep the two apps distinct this will not and cannot last. Ultimately 'there can be only one' (name that film...?

which adopts some of the elements of the other. This will in turn have an impact on 3D file formats as the 3DS format is very very popular and used widely to exchange mod and game files but is technically got some weaknesses by comparison to Maya native formats.

Lightwave used to be extremely popular but has really lost some ground in recent years. Still it is popular for TV production.

The other major player that must certainly be kept in the loop is Cinema4D. it doesn't carry the profile of 3DSMax but this is largely due to the fact that it is by far the best 'all rounder' 3d app on the market. So where others apps have distinct biases - C4D covers all bases and its this universal strength that has made is the weapon of choice for motion graphics artists and lead to its unparalleled integration with After Effects an Combustion. It also has very good cross format compatibility with native 3d formats of other apps. This all-rounder approach would lead me to argue that C4D is only goign to rise in popularity - inexpensive and flexible will always win the day with the young urban guerilla filmmaking set.

then there's the others - XSI has ha a resurgence of late, Poser is perfect for facial and organic modelling but is weak everywhere else. Blender is most definitely holding its own and one need only watch Elephants Dream to be amazed and the sophistication of this open-source tool. Whilst it may nt have the dense and wide user base of the other apps I would argue strongly that Moviestorm should continue to invest in and support Blender - a) because its free and accessible and b) out of sheer principle of supporting open source tools. The biggest issue with blender however is that being derived from an in-house tool it is a very difficult program to learn and in many areas a tedious one to master.

But its of course not so much a question of which 3D app as which 3D format allows for the greatest flexibility and can be created from most 3d apps.

3DS support is most because this is the weapon of choice for the modding and gaming communities and being one of the oldest 3d formats around compatible with just about every 3d app on the market.

DXF, OBJ, LWO will all give good cross-app compatibility for making models to bring to Moviestorm. None of them are great formats, all have flaws, but they are near to generic.

" Lightwave used to be extremely popular but has really lost some ground in recent years. Still it is popular for TV production."

I think that the ships, armies, weapons and the Oracle from that little indie film '300' shows that Lightwave is still getting some work in film.

so long as it is not the BeOS port of Blender .... (if my memory serves me, there was a version on BeOS demo'd at ECTS in ancient history)

Haha

sorry.. when was the last time you visited blender.org ?

The last version has brough it even closer to some of the highend commercial software out there. Blender support is a must

from my point of view, Milkshape too since its lightweight and support a heap of export options.

Personaly I love Modo, but its a modelling only tool, same for Silo. Both are realy Sub-d, but can do great simply poly as well.

XSI would also be interesting, their Foundation package is very affordable and a great character tool.

Thanks!

My suggestion is to use a modelling package that can import and export to the file format 3DS, OBJ, FBX. Also programs like Poser should get consideration since they have a huge following.

I use poser 7 and CrazyTalk.

I'm seriously into 3dmax

Newbie here, glad to hear there are plans to import meshes from other modelling programs - that was going to be my first question, and I really hope you'll be able to do it, it will make the world of difference to me...

I use Maya and my collaborator uses Max. He has connections at Discreet and he assures me that within about 3 revs from now Maya and Max will be merged (as the previous poster speculated).
I agree also that as long as you support OBJ files etc things should be fine..
Are there implications for importing large environment objects, say you want to shoot inside a ready-made cathedral for example and choose not to use the built in scene-editing walls and floors? It looks like currently you can only shoot on a single flat ground plane but maybe you're able to go upstairs and cut to the next floor?

Just a (somewhat obvious) comment about this whole aspect, and that is that if you do end up supporting imported models then that will save you a huge burden of having to create endless libraries for users. Like Second Life, hopefully your user community will start making their own items and buying/swapping from each other etc and therefore providing a base set of pre-made objects should suffice...

I have lots of other questions and this one's probably already been asked, but are there also plans to import animation files?

I personally can't user real modeling tools. i can only use Google sketch-up haven't been able to make anything in the others

I'm a Blender user. It's not an easy learn, but there isn't much that you can't do with it.

revdoug

I'm currently working my way into Blender, it's the ideal application for me as I only need it to create a occasional mod for The Movies.
Little sense in blowing money on a programm I don't really use.

I can't get how Poser works, usually I use DazStudio for all things posing, it is way easier to operate.

Your comment that you wouldn't be able to support Poser sort of rules out .obj files since that is supported in Poser for import/export... seeing as how .obj is about the widest supported 3D format and is open, I'd think that would be the primary focus for Moviestorm compatability.

What program do you use to create the content and what file format(s) does Moviestorm use natively?

Have you come to any tentative conclusions on the polygon budget for Moviestorm? Hopefully it is dependent on the computer it is running on but what would a current mid line computer be looking at? Could a 2 GHz Core 2 Duo handle a few 50K poly actors in a 500k poly set?

What is the polygon count for the characters that you are using right now?

I've been away from the Moviestorm and this forum for a while and I hope I'm not dragging up questions that have already been answered, I looked over the forum to see if this has been answered already but I didn't see it anywhere.

I don't think it's a matter of what program one uses for 3D modeling, but which export file types are more universal amongst ALL of said programs.

That way you not only get the hard core 3D modelers who can afford to get the latest programs to the other hard cores who rely on freeware types(i.e. Blender).

This increases your demographic and sales for its versitility(for those interested in the $

).

If you are creating a program for everyone it should be for everyone.

Caligari's TrueSpace 7.5 here. Also have Poser 5 and Lightwave 3D 8 whch I'm teaching myself to use, but my primary tool is TrueSpace.