in all reality, and since you found your way to this forum, i'm sure you know of others too... the majority of a lot of gallery posters seem to be using max.
i learned on max and transfered over to maya, yes there's a lot of difference between those two, but do yourself a favor, concentrate on one package only, and not several you'll hate it!
in all reality, and since you found your way to this forum, i'm sure you know of others too... the majority of a lot of gallery posters seem to be using max.
i learned on max and transfered over to maya, yes there's a lot of difference between those two, but do yourself a favor, concentrate on one package only, and not several you'll hate it!
yes thats my point becouse some ppl say 3d max is better some ppl say maya is better and some ppl say softimage xsi is same lik those but much easier to learn and all this and i dont wanna learn all three i would like to stuck on one of those becouse u are better if u focus on one thn 3 softwares :)
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hm, I can follow you both but you know it is possible to learn more than one of those programs as we all need more than only one program and we all need more than three programs. now in my eyes it is important, that you know the field in which you want to learn those programs you use. because you have a limit of let me say (to make it easy) a hundred programs you can learn good and every program that comes more just bores you to learn it... so if you start learning more programs find out where you stand and which of those programs are useful for you.
now if you learn three or four 3d creation or animation programs - there is nothing wrong 'bout that, just the same with tools like photoshop etc. you can not learn all of the fields perfect like let me say you can learn animation really good and for instance matte painting, but you are not sooo good at creating characters or buildings/worlds at all, so all you need is some knowledge about creation but many experiences in animaton which lets you focus less on other fields.
in this way I mean you have to find your way before you start.
3dsmax is the standard in 3d creation like photoshop is in 2d... before that Lightwave was the standard. I would say it is good to know the programs that are standard in the industries that you will settle in...
see, the printing media groups use complete other OS and Software as the 3D creators/animators group. (Yeah, most printing media scene uses MAC, the 3D professionals used to be exclusive on Windows...) so you have to begin early to choose your OS and Programs for explicit your use.
If you experience that the one thing can be done great in max, another thing but is better to realize in Blender or Maya and you can do your work well, bringing up good or even better results in either one of these three, that is what counts.
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Years ago I found it difficult to learn several 3D programs well, so decided to just pick one and focus on it. I always have and still do hate the 3DS Max interface, although it is a very powerful and must have program. I chose Cinema 4D as I liked the layout well and enjoyed the way it functions. Renders were very good and relatively quick in C4D, but not as sharp as Vray. But all sorts of goodies were pretty widely available. Now that C4D has Vray, it's an excellent choice and render speeds are good. You just don't find the amount of xtras with other programs like Maya, XSI, etc... like plugins, materials, examples, and so forth. Play around with a few and make a choice to focus on, but likely will still want some experience with 3DS Max.
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montezuma, if you are a hobbyist or not attached to any big organization or don't have a huge collection of handy tutorials, Max is what I would advise you to stay away from. It is true that a lot of people use Max. But if you try to question them, the people who do quality work in Max or Maya usually have a lot of experience. If you want to spend a few months and already start coming up with impressive projects, go either for XSI or Cinema4D. I have some experience in XSI as well as Maya. Maya is indispensable. If you work on projects of all sorts, you will run into Maya sooner or later since it is the only software that can do pretty much anything you can think of ( though it makes the processes head scratchingly complex from time to time ). But as beginner, you should have less tools and features to worry about while making your way to the first render. Bottom line, unless you are highly resourceful and around people who know Maya/Max really well, don't try those. Start with something simpler, like Cinema4D or XSI and later if you decide to switch, it will be much easier. Both XSI and C4D use slightly unorthodox controls and concepts. But once you get to know them, the workflow will be faster than Max any damn day :) Last but not least, if you check out the discussions at area.autodesk.com, you will realize, a lot of people who create "stunning 3D in less time" also seriously dislike Max for its complexity but cannot switch because their company/client demands it as a rule.
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For XSI, there are not too many forums and tutorials. Register to xsibase.com and ask your questions there. Search other questions too, though that hardly ever helps me, because two people usually do not face a problem exactly the same way unless it is a bug.
In this forum, under the digital tutors tutorial section, you will find a good XSI collection. I would not recommend the artist's guide because it talks about a bit of everything but not enough of anything, which is not so cool. Get Introduction to Modeling in XSI first. It is a good place to start. Once you are well acquainted with XSI modeling tools, chances are high you will fall in love with the software. The rest you will start figuring out yourself then
Tutorials are on YouTube, blogspot, and many other places. There are some in CGArena, some in Kim Aldis's website, some in Ed Harris's website, some in Helge Mathee's blog, and the list goes on... as you stick around and keep googling, you will come to know most of the places soon enough.
As for Cinema4D, things are comparatively more convenient. If you register on c4dcafe.com, this old C4D veteran 3DKiwi has made hundreds of videos, big and small, to help newbies and professionals alike. There is another website C4DPortal.com where Mike Bachelor made complete projects ranging from product rendering to softbody rigging, from EXPRESSO to MoGraph.
Also, for Cinema4D, collect the 3DAttack magazines. Almost all the issues were posted on gfxworld.org. As I have heard, n0n could recover the database, so you can find those in a few days' time.
Also, in this forum you will find 3DFluff course on Cinema4D and also Lynda.com's C4D essentials course. 3DFluff is not always a great help because the instructors sometimes assume you already have a good working knowledge of C4D. But the 3rd volume, non-organic modeling, can be particularly helpful for beginners. That Lynda.com DVD I personally found kind of boring and uninteresting. There was no project to be done, and the instructor himself sounds much too disinterested and bored. But who knows, maybe it will work out for you :)
Once you are done with the preliminaries and are into more deep topics like UV Unwrapping and sculpting, come back and we will find more stuff for you :)
In the meantime, all this should keep you busy for quite sometime!
GoodLuck!
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Last edited by shushens; August 11, 2008 at 12:28.
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