Would C4D work for me?

T

TheMusician

Well-known member
OK guys, I need your help. I need a 3D application for relatively little money where I can purchase models online and animate them, and render them out for video purposes. I am not talking about complicated animation, just simple things like a rotating baseball, a bouncing basketball, a stationary nascar with rotating wheels, and a good particle generator. I have no need for hair, or cloth, and will not be animating people or animals, just simple animations.

I know that a good artist is the key, not the software at this point in 3D. I can't afford Maya or Max, and although I am a big fan of Star Trek and much that Lightwave has given us(and was initially my first choice), it feels to me that Lightwave is falling behind the curve a bit from the reports that I have been reading for the past few years.

I have read good things about C4D, that it is intuitive, and they have a basic Core Package that is useable for around $1000. As I learn more or need more, I could always buy additional elements to upgrade the package. But the most important thing is that I can do modelling, and that I can do simple animations.

So:

1) Can C4D do simple animations as well as modeling, and does it have a pretty solid standard rendering engine to get photorealistic results?

2) Is there another package that you think I should consider for around $1000?

Thanks for your help, I love DVXuser.
 
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Yes C4D is pretty awesome. It will do everything you want and tons more. It was the first 3d package I picked up and was amazed how easy it was to get acquainted with. If you are just need a rotating ball or simple modeling, download Blender. Its free and will do what you need.
 
TheMusician said:
2) Is there another package that you think I should consider for around $1000?
Click to expand...

Blender is an open source animation program that is free and is very capable.
There is a huge community and tons of tutorials out there for it.

www.blender.org

I strongly suggest checking this out before spending money on a 3d package.

You can find demos for lightwave and maya if you want to check out some of the other popular packages.
 
Thanks. I am aware of the big community of the open-source Blender and it is a great resource considering it is free, but I really need something that will give me more photorealistic renders and has more professional options as I expand the package. I am definitely going to use Blender, but I want to also purchase a solid base package.

Any thoughts as to Modo? Would it offer decent simple animations because it is around $1000 dollars too. Would it be as flexible for me as C4D?
 
modo would not be more flexible overall since it doesn't have the strongest animation feature set. In regards to modeling modo is awesome, but C4D will probably give you more options. I would at least pick up the XL bundle, or get the core and Advanced Render for better render options.
 
For C4D, before getting Advanced Render, have a look at VrayForC4D first.
You may want to go that route instead. I don't like it for what I like doing but virtually all of the archvis guys say it's the best thing going.
 
You might also want to consider XSI foundation http://www.softimage.com/products/foundation/

I think you can get this for $495. For me this is the best bang for the buck out there in 3D world. It's rock solid and I found it easy to get started with (the program is very deep, but you don't have to learn it all to start being productive with it). If you ever do need the added features of hair and cloth, you can upgrade to a higher level, but foundation really does a lot. You might want to download their demo and give it a try.
 
Thanks for that info Chuck. I went to the XSI website earlier and thought that the Essentials was their intro level package and it was $3295. $495 for the Foundation does open another option for me. When I go to cgtalk.com and some of the other CG sites, generally most of the activity I see is around Maya and Max, then C4d and Lightwave, and less for XSI and Modo. I know that XSI is an extremely capable application, but due to the smaller community of users:

1 - I will be purchasing pre-made models from the internet to animate initially. Would XSI have as many models available to buy as you might find available for C4D?
2 - Does XSI Foundation offer basic animation capabilities comparable to C4D?
 
You will be able to find lots of models you could use with xsi because it (and I'm sure cad 4d as well) can import various formats including .3ds and .obj which you will find tons of models in those formats.

xsi foundation has anything you might want in regards to animation. simple transformations over time (translate, rotate, scale), shape animation (morphing), bones and rigs for organic animation, attribute animations (change color over time, for example). It has a soft body dynamics and a rudimentary fluids system as well. You do have to go to the next step in xsi levels to get rigid body dynamics... but you may never need that. Some people criticize xsi's particle system(which does come with foundation) because it is not nearly so fully customizable as Max's particle flow system, but you can still do some really great effects with it.
 
I have narrowed it down to C4D and XSI Foundation and will be downloading the demos to try them out to see which works for best for me. I have been reading about the render engines, and XSI has been getting pretty good reviews with Mental Ray. I don't know if C4D's advanced renderer or Vrayforc4d is comparable to Mental Ray, so feel free to fill me in on your opinions.

Also, I may need to do occasional water scenes. Not rolling oceans but calm water with a few small ripples. Does anyone know between the base packages of XSI and C4D which handles water better? Thanks again for any advice.
 
VRay is amazing and hands down if you want to do anything with water, RealFlow is untouchable and works well with C4D.
 
Wes, thanks for the heads-up on RealFlow. I checked out their website and it looks like an awesome solution. Unfortunately, since I am just starting out, I can't invest that much quite yet. Is there another fluids solution for C4D or XSI that is a little less pricey that could be useable on smaller projects?
 
For the water effects you mentioned such as a calm surface (even pretty rough seas for that matter) you really don't need a fluid simulator, you can achieve a very good look with carefully chosen surface displacements and materials.

For an example take a look at the calm and stormy seas movies on this page from Pete Draper (http://www.xenomorphic.co.uk/gallery_dte.htm). Pete used Max, but he didn't use any feature that isn't right out of the box in XSI or C4D.
 
yeah like Chuck said, you can model water in C4D with really good results. It can get complicated though. As said in your first post, RealFlow is an option for upgrading down the road.
 
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