Cheap, Easy, yet Powerful 3D Software

A

Aroon_Narayanan

Well-known member
I'm looking to break into the VFX side of 3D animation, yet I'm not sure what directions to go in terms of software. I aspire to integrate the CG video with live action, but I'm not sure what package helps the most with camera matchmoving, etc. However, I'm also trying to save as much $$ as possible. I had heard that Lightwave might be a good choice, but I don't know how it integrates with live action footage.
 
There's really no "easy" 3d software (they wouldn't be much good if they were). But Blender is free and it's pretty powerful, so that's 2 out of 3 :)
 
Maybe first tell us what you are exactly planning to do...
Tracking, matchmoving, effects like explosions and similar stuff is better done in compositing apps like After Effects, Combustion, Shake, Motion...
Creating a complex CG model like a helicopter and integrating it in live footage is a very complex task.
I think you can do a lot of the postproduction side by yourself, editing, audio, CC, even complex compositing.
But when it comes to modeling and 3D animation, the learning curve is just to steep to "also" do it.
At least if your opting for a realistic looking final product...
 
all you really need is the ability to learn and have real artistic talent (which no amount of money will buy only time and effort), (of course using the right sets of tools is important too :D ) if you want free tools look into blender, if you want pay more then look into Maya/Max, I'm not sure but I think C4D and modo are mid price range and very good too.
 
Personally I've found C4d to be by far the easiest of these packages to learn and adapt to, and you can't beat its integration with After Effects. Of course MAX presumably has the same or better going with Combustion and the rest of their product line.

Try some demos, see what you like.
 
They all integrate well with video. As you get more and more picky and I suppose later, start looking at TV, commericals (which these days are getting film FX quality) and finally films, then you can move to that more easily having gained knowledge from the learning stages using whatever program you can get your hands on.

All of the programs have free trials. You can download one, learn on it for a couple months then try the next for a few and so on. But I recommend you try them all at some point, unless you find your liking first. That's the only way to know which one is right for you at this time.

By the time you begin to know your way around 3D, then you'll know where to move next, having aquired that knowledge along the way.

So, grab all the freebies, fire one up and start hacking away.
And yes, be prepared to pull your hair out for the first month. Better yet, join a forum specifically for that program and ask a lot of questions.

//Oh, Maya has a free non-expiring version of their software. It's the same as the pro version, except you get a watermark on the renders. They are working on making it more user friendly and are improving. You'll still need a half decent PC as I found the last version still a bit clunky on a 1.8ghz.
(Then again so is MS Word, ha.)
 
Last edited:
Wow! Thanks for all the feedback! I had been stubbornly holding out that somewhere out there, there was such a thing as easy to learn CG software, but alas, no longer. I'm going to take a look at Blender's capabilities, as well as C4D. They seem to be the most recommened.
 
Spartacus said:
Maybe first tell us what you are exactly planning to do...
Tracking, matchmoving, effects like explosions and similar stuff is better done in compositing apps like After Effects, Combustion, Shake, Motion...
Click to expand...
If you do 3D matchmoving in After Effects, is it possible to export any camera data you produce into C4D, or even Blender?
 
Aroon_Narayanan said:
If you do 3D matchmoving in After Effects, is it possible to export any camera data you produce into C4D, or even Blender?
Click to expand...

Yes, except that AE will not do 3d matchmoving. You need another application for that. Syntheyes is the most affordable, although I'm sure there must be at least one open-source app out there still. Out of the high-end apps I liked Boujou the best by far; very powerful and user friendly.

If you're really getting into this stuff, you might want to get a membership in Pixel Corps; they generally offer free versions of all the high-end software you'll be working with, thanks to special deals with the vendors.
 
If you haven't gotten completely into Blender just yet (I looked at it as well for my Live Action/CGI) when someone turned me onto DAZ and Poser. This is free and it f'ing rocks! Well, DAZ itself is free, but the add-ons you'll pay for. However, I signed up for the free account when I d/l DAZ. They require it for the reg number, but then I found some freebies. They also had two coupons (one was for 97% off, so I got a package for $3 which was normally $100) so just Google DAZ. They're a great community just like DVXuser and the forums are full of tutorials.
 
Lightwave is a VERY COMPLETE allrounder for very little money, used in countless tv shows (eg 24) and movies. C4D has a good reputation aswell.

and as mentioned blender is free

- Derrick
 
Go to DV Garage and look at DV Tool Kit

Its based on Electric Image which is a great program depending on what you need. And its $99.00

The full program has one of the best reytracers in the industry. It did the space scenes and the city scenes in Star Wars I believe. The princess's chrome ship landing on the surface of the planet is still one of my favorite scenes ever.

The 3D Toolkit offers the power of a true production 3D application, Electric Image Universe, 3D Toolkit Version, which has been used in over 50 TV and film productions including “The Fast and the Furious,” “Star Trek: Nemesis,” “Austin Powers — Goldmember,” “Stuart Little,” “xXx,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “The West Wing,” “Alias,” and “Smallville.”
In addition to the Modeling, Animation, and Rendering capabilities of Electric Image Universe, you get 28 step-by-step full-color tutorials with project files (it combines the Beginner tutorials from the first 3D Toolkit with the tutorials from dvGarage's Light and Surface Labs, with over 4 hours of QuickTime training content... all created by true production artists and designed to provide you with what you need to truely begin creating your own 3D work. Plus, you also get 20 tips and tricks for EI by dvGarage founder Alex Lindsay.

If you need a app that wont puke when handleing many millions of polygons their the best and the fastest. This is a good way to start to see exactly what you need and want in a program.

C4d is a good program as well as Lightwave. All the programs do some things better than others Maya for characters and modeling, Lightwave for tv and mock up for speed, and C4d good all around and Electric Image best renderer.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
If we're talking about NATIVE renderers, I'd have to say Lightwave is a winner. It's also much cheaper than Max or Maya and is very capable with release 9.5. I like Maya and XSI but the price is pretty far up there compared to Lightwave (especially since XSI Foundation is gone).
 
MentalRay and VRAY are pretty much production ready renders.

Of coure if you want the king of rendering then it has to be RenderMan based (mainly because they use REYES technology) IMHO.

Anhar,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top