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Basic 3D Application
I’m not sure if this is the right forum to post in, but hopefully it’s close…
I’m looking to get some opinions on some (relatively) basic 3D modeling programs. I’m looking for something rather inexpensive but solid and with good reviews.
I primarily use After Effects for motion graphics, and have take Invigorator as far as I can. I’m looking to do slightly more advanced 3D modeling and animation of basic shapes, curves, paths, and pretty basic textures and lighting – but have no need for anything as expansive (or expensive) as Maya (ie, no heavy character modeling or massive environment building).
I should also say that I work mostly in broadcast design and TV promos.
I know there are levels in between Invigorator and Maya – hopefully someone can point me towards the best value without sacrificing quality too much.
Thanks!
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5 Replies
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Cinema 4D is very good and available in several flavors depending on your needs. The Mograph plugins are terrific for broadcast.
You might even look at the free Blender which is also very capable and the price can’t be beat.
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Yeah, check out blender, especially now that a fellow named Sebastian Korczak just developed a DIY 3D scanner for peanuts using blender. Check it out:
https://en.myinventions.pl/index.php?page=3DscannerAlso, Paolo Ciccone over at the blender forum here has written an exporter for blender to AE. Between Paolo’s exporter and Sebastian’s scanner, I can see someone having a lot of fun, don’t you? 🙂
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Best bang for the buck… Blender. But… it has a very steep learning curve. Blender is not easy to learn or use.
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[Brian Charles] “Cinema 4D is very good and available in several flavors depending on your needs.”
Cinema 4D has great, robust integration with After Effects, too.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
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>>But… it has a very steep learning curve. Blender is not easy to learn or use<< Compared to...? Personally I've yet to find any 3D app that's "easy to learn or use", and I've been through several. Not sure if you've ever rigged in Maya (for instance), but I'll take whatever difficulties blender may have over that any day! 3D Max can get quite "heavy" if you don't commit primitive processes and finalize shapes. Maya also gets pretty heavy fast, even if you kill it's history tracking. I think this is a stigma more than anything else, kinda like Lightwave's difficulties of have a separate modeler and animator. Somehow that's suppose to hold Lightwave users back. Not that I've use Lightwave in a while, for all I know this may no longer hold true, but it never stopped anyone from making great stuff in Lightwave! It's a personal choice, of course. It comes down to what you're comfortable in. I may suggest blender, but even so it may not "hit" with an individual. I really thought Maya was "it" when I first started working with it, I'm glad I don't deal with that anymore. For someone else it'll be C4D or Houdini, etc. The bottom, however, line is that no one app is really any easier to use than any other. 3D modeling is pretty heavy stuff, any way you cut it.
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