Companion CG tool for FCPX?

[Ian Bailey]

Hi David,

I’m personally VERY excited by Blender. This is a fully featured 3D modelling and animation app that’s completely free: https://www.blender.org/

There’s a forum for it right here on the COW. Too early to tell if there will be any integration with FCP X or Motion 5, but there are scripts for sending Blender layers to After Effects.

It has very basic video editing (no jokes please!) and a decent node-based compositor. There’s a vibrant community and a number of third party manuals.

Ian

[Simon Ubsdell]

Agree that Blender is an amazingly interestingly application and astonishing for being free.

I really like Modo for 3D. It’s a relative newcomer but its speed, modelling tools and photorealism are very hard to beat and the 64 bit version absolutely screams. Its animation hasn’t yet been fully developed so you can’t yet do character animation. But if you’re looking for value then it’s outstanding and will only keep getting better.

The other low-cost option is LightWave which is a much stronger contender these days than in the past.

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[David A fenton]

Thanks very much. Heading there now.

-david

[David A fenton]

Great very helpful info…thanks

-david

[Kevin P mcauliffe]

For me, there is no easier 3D application out there than Cinema 4D. Simple to get up and running with, and global illumination looks spectacular when rendering out.

Kevin P McAuliffe
Creative COW Trainer
kevinpmcauliffe@gmail.com
Twitter: @kpmcauliffe

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Kevin P McAuliffe] ” For me, there is no easier 3D application out there than Cinema 4D.”

Agreed, Cinema 4D is definitely the most user-friendly option out there by a long way – but it’s not exactly a cheap option (if you want a fully featured version) compared to some of the other offerings like Modo, LightWave and Blender which is the cheapest of all, seeing as it’s free,

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[Kevin P mcauliffe]

Remember, just like Ian Malcolm said “Just cause you can make dinosaurs, doesn’t mean you should”. Just cause a program is free, doesn’t mean you should use it. Sometimes you do get what you pay for.

Kevin P McAuliffe
Creative COW Trainer
kevinpmcauliffe@gmail.com
Twitter: @kpmcauliffe

[Shawn Miller]

It depends on what you want to do, how much you’re willing to spend and how much time you want to spend learning. Can you give an example of the kind of work you want to do?

Shawn

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Kevin P McAuliffe] ” Just cause a program is free, doesn’t mean you should use it.”

Just because it’s free, doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking a look at 😉

I won’t be using Blender any time soon, but last time I looked I was very impressed with where it had got to and there are some interesting design concepts in there too.

And sometimes you don’t get what you pay for …

(Though I’d definitely opt for Cinema 4D over all the rest if I wasn’t especially interested in getting too deeply into 3D and just wanted to do the basic stuff.)

Simon Ubsdell
Director/Editor/Writer
http://www.tokyo-uk.com

[David A fenton]

Moderate Sci-Fi…for example designing a realistic UFO to be keyed into some footage being edited in FCPX