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Which 3D Modeling Software is Best for Learning Use?
An anonymous reader asks: "Blender 2.26 is out and 2.27 is soon on its way. This powerful 3D modeling/animation/rendering program is released under the GPL so it (along with the source code) is free, there is only one downside: the learning curve is large due to is abnormal user interface. I am in High School (unfortunately) and I want to do something related to 3D animation (movies, games, special effects, etc.) when I get older. Which package should I choose? The free, but difficult, Blender? The amazing, but bankrupting, Maya? Or should I get another program that is cheaper than Maya but easier to learn than Blender? If we take money out of the picture which is the best program to learn about modeling/rendering/animating on?"
Download Blender, and buy the Blender Book. After a few weeks of struggling with Blender's interface, I bought the Blender Book and within a couple days I was already making some fairly decent-looking animations using IKA's and fun stuff like that.
Previous to learning Blender, I was already familiar with 3D Studio MAX and Lightwave, & I have to say that I much prefer Blender's interface now that I've gotten used to it.
That and $30 bucks for a book and a free peice of software is a hell of a lot cheaper than what they're charging for Lightwave.
(NaN also released a manual for Blender which may now be sold by the Blender community, but it's more of a reference guide. Buy it if you like pretty pictures, but it's worthless as a tutorial.)
"Just go on kazaa or IRC and warez a copy of Maya. Everyone benefits. Maya benefits because you're more likely to have a paid copy of Maya once you get a real world job, and you benefit because you get to use 3d software which is used by real world companies (I doubt blender is used by any effects studios) "
Dude, don't suggest things like that. If it's public knowledge that stuff like that is easy to acquire, then the company who makes that stuff MUST do something about it or face not being able to take action down the road. Do you really want 3D rendering developers who make >$1000 per sale to become fans of DRM?
Please, use legit channels to acquire software. with a student ID, you can get LW for $400. That may seem high, but it's much better than using it's list price of $1,600. It's really not hard to sell your parents on either, provided you want to make a living with 3D. Let me explain:
1.) College doesn't exactly train you to take a decent paying position at a company. You still have to be talented. That's the type of thing that happens by pursuing it on your own creating inspired work. I'm dead serious about this. Somebody who didn't go to college that can show they have creativity + skills will go a lot farther than somebody with a 4 year degree but cannot do more than push a few buttons on the program. Art's funny like that.
2.) $400 is not too much to spend when learning how to use that app can get you a job you can make a living on. That $400 alone (plus personal effort put into making yourself into an artist) can earn you a living. My dad realized this while I was in high school and he spent $3,000 on a high end computer and software for me to expand my skills with. Not only did I earn a $22,000 scholarship with my 3D stuff at the top of my portfolio, but also within a year of starting college I had a job doing it. (I never finish college as a result of that, wish I did though. Drawing courses in particular would improve my abilities a lot.)
3.) 3D related demand is only going to go up. All one has to do is watch the 'making of' section of a few DVDs here and there to find that 3D's a major part of any movie or TV show. Even ER had some 3D effects in it last week that most people probably didn't notice.
Hope that's helpful. Don't take parent poster's advice.
"Derp de derp."
i'm just going to have to disagree. 3DMAX's interface is dead simple. All you have to do is play with it for a while. The advanced features aren't really interface related. And Blender does have a bastardized interface. I've used 3DMAX, LW, and MAYA (my fav of the three), and all of their interfaces are far superior. It'd not that blender isn't great, it's just that the interface is a pain in the ass. So, I can't stop saying it sux, because it does. The interface is just basterdized.
Of course, once you learn it, it isn't so bad, but I'd rather just play around with the MAYA PLE, since it is also free.
Anyway, if you need a book to navigate the interface, then that sez something about the interface. Most interfaces i've used can be comforatabley learnt just playing around with it. (the only time i've ever refered to the book is to figure out how to do MAYA cloth)
YOU SUCK BALLS!
Pick Blender.
Blender is free, the other software packages are not. While it would be possible to get a pirated version of a more powerful set of software, it won't help. For one, your later employer will probably have a completely different set of tools - so all the time learning one particular interface will be wasted. For another, if you tell you employer you're fluent with Maya, they're going to wonder if you'll be pirating software from work, too. Of course, if you can afford to actually buy some software... then by all means do.
Still, even if you could buy the software, I think I'd still use Blender. You could equally well use that money to buy more computing hardware - either a good workstation, or the beginnings of a render cluster.
The real key is that you _must_ learn how to learn. That's not redundant. Learn what it is that you're doing, rather than how to press buttons. And think about it from the point of view of "what I'm doing" rather than what interface I'm using.
This will help you be ready to make the jump to all the different tools you're bound to use in the future. The ability to make that jump is critically important.
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