Cinema 4d or Maya

[flyerland]

Just wondering what everyone prefers and with what composition software.

I know Cinema 4d can save a ton rendering time since you can alter stuff in after effects.

Can Maya interact with AE at all or does it have similar editing features with Shake?

[oneinfiniteloop]

AE can import camera info from Maya. And of course the standard alpha, depth, and layers.

[Matt Grunau]

I use Lightwave and AE, and the workflow is pretty good. Each 3D app has it's own benifits. Cinema 4D's Normal Displacement and Cel shading are fantastic, and it has the easiest, really good hair plugin.

But Maya is Maya. Maya is Hollywood.

Just remember that anything you do in AE, Shake, Digital Fusion, whatever is going to be 2D. You can't manipulate objects in Compositing programs like you can in the original program's true 3D space.

What you need to do is download demos and check them out. Personally, if I was gonna start a 3D app having never used one, it would be Maya or Softimage. That's what the big dogs use, and there are tons of info out there on them.

[oneinfiniteloop]

Maybe this thread should be moved to 3D Software? Mods?

Anyhow, back on topic, I've only seen a little Cinema4D and I'm pretty impressed. It really boils down to the artist, any tool will get you to where you need to be. Maya is very versatile, has a really good interface (when you get used to it), and of course there is Mental Ray which is an awesome renderer.

Maya will probably have better flexibility, but it has a higher learning curve. Unfortunately, most programs that offer you this sort of power do (Shake anyone?)

[surf]

But Maya is Maya. Maya is Hollywood.

Just remember that anything you do in AE, Shake, Digital Fusion, whatever is going to be 2D. You can't manipulate objects in Compositing programs like you can in the original program's true 3D space.

very important!!!
I use maya. but I always render in maya with alpha channel. if I want a video in 3D I will make an image plane, which will contain it.

[BEENYWEENIES]

Just wondering what everyone prefers and with what composition software.

I know Cinema 4d can save a ton rendering time since you can alter stuff in after effects.

Can Maya interact with AE at all or does it have similar editing features with Shake?
Personally I use Maya, but Cinema 4D is an amazing program that any AE guy should check into.

You can import Maya cameras, z-depth info etc. into AE, but Cinema 4D was built to work with After Effects. When set correctly it automatically outputs all your render passes (beauty, matte, spec, shadow etc.) in one single render pass (try doing that in Maya!), puts them into an AE Comp, and makes it VERY easy to manipulate. Import this file into AE and you can change colors, shadows, specs etc without any re-rendering.
Of course you can output all these elements seperately from Maya, but it's a real pain and virtually no one has the time or patience to actually DO it.

Cinema is really easy to use as well. I had to use it on a contract gig recently, and was able to go from never even seeing the interface before to outputting a final text animation with cameras, etc. with minimal problems. I really dug it.

Oh, and it's less than 1/3 the cost of Maya, which like most people I had to sell my soul to Satan to afford.

[kai]

I second the vote for C4D. I've used Maya, Lightwave, and the rest, but of late C4D is the powerhouse tool. Maya and the other heavy hitters are still strong in their place for big 3D environments, special effects, character animation, etc... but for motion graphics and design, C4D was designed for it, and is extremely tight with AE. Not to mention it's learning curve is much easier than the big boys.

Just download demos of all and do a tut or two.

[bigredfirecracker]

I'm a long time AE user making graphics for TV. I've tried learning Lightwave, Maya and 3D max. All of these are probably great programmes but they are so full on, it would take years to get to a stage of proficiency. I’ve been learning C4d for a week now and can model, animate, texture and render. It’s fantastically logical with everything where it should be. It’s so like AE anyone involved in motion graphics will pick it up with ease, yet still feature rich enough to do what ever you need.
Go Hard

[jackal2513]

on a pro level for photoreal work, Maya + Renderman..... its the only way

As for soft/mental ray ...just come to the end of a feature film project in which we and ILM made new Mental Ray pipelines for (the only other film i know of to have an equivalent amount of effects in Mental Ray was Matrix revolutions and its well documented what a struggle they had) ... suffice to say: never again ! I know Ilm have had problems and so have we... it just doesn't work well in a real production environment despite the glamorous so-called prospects of GI, final gather etc... Like I say, last time I ever use mental ray. As for the stock maya renderer, its even worse, completely hopeless even at a broadcast level.

For simple projects and quick bits of 3d id say take a good look at Cinema 4d. I am a great believer in using simpler, downsized pieces of software with the jargon and complexity removed if the job requires it. Once upon a time I worked on a 26 part childrens TV series and we spent 6 months discovering that to do it in maya/renderman was impossible simply because of the complexity of the piplines and workflows involved. The project was saved by moving over to Lightwave shich greatly simplified throughput and process.