What 3D Package for SpecialFX?

[StudioJ]

Most of VFX artists what I know personally use Maya. I don't know why.

[greyface]

For rendering, XSI would be a good choice, as it has the best integration of one of the most powerful renderers, Mental ray. Max is very nice too, for rendering, as it has mental ray too, but you can also get vray and brazil, although those will sooner or later find their ways into maya and maybe xsi.

XSI is great for everything, except particles and fluids, and for that you *could* use something like RealFlow, which also works on max and maya.

Maya is quite good at everything, but for instance, RealFlow is still better at what it does.

I don't know much about cinema 4d. I wouldn't choose lightwave.

I'm starting to use RealFlow with XSI, and so far it's doing great, the good thing when you seperate your pipeline into multiple apps, is that it's easy to replace any single app, as long as it works with the others. For instance, if you use Maya + RealFlow, you can then switch to XSI or Max, and still use RealFlow. Of course you have to consider the cost :)

[dprgb]

Well, what type of effects are you looking to do? Character animation, environments, explosions, everything? Or do you want to focus on one in particular?

[hiphopcr]

It comes down to personal preference. I've been at two big VFX houses and I've seen all three used, depending on the artist. The big four definitely are Maya, Lightwave, 3DS Max, and XSI. C4D is used a lot in motion graphics but not for high end 3D stuff (ie feature film). You could use any of the big four and get great results.

In general, from what I understand Maya is awesome for animating, Lightwave for modeling, 3DS Max is used a lot in video games, and XSI... well, I'm not familiar, but I kow a lot of guys that do particle effects with it.

[Aurelius]

Well, what type of effects are you looking to do? Character animation, environments, explosions, everything? Or do you want to focus on one in particular?

I tried Character Animation a long time ago, that was when I get in touch with 3D the first time but it wasn't really my cup of tea. IK and Character rigging in general is something I have great respect for.

I focused on my rendering skills and I thinks thats why I like c4d that much. Arranging light and objects is as easy as drag&drop (ok, you still have to know what settings yoou'll have to apply :))

I think I could be very good in destroying things or blowing them up :)

In the past I thought 3dsmax + reaktor are perfect for this kind of job but I never tried 3dsmax ^^ Maya and XSI don't have reaktor and they are doing the job, too.

What Al-X said about seperating the workflow in different apps is right. RealFlow works togehter with c4d, too. I think I'll look for some explosion tutorials for XSI and Maya and try to rebuild the whole Thing in c4d.

I searched the web but didn't find c4d references that are showing as nice drestuction as the big 4 doing it.

I found StormTracer
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=178401
It does some amazing things.

Threre are also firms that are using c4d for animations (i.e. www.hypa.tv)

thx, for your tips and your help.
I'll also play around with Maya a bit. Hopefully I'll find a resoulution for that problem soon. Knowing a bit from every software but not beeing able to handle one really good can't be the right way I think. (correct me here if I'm wrong)

[hiphopcr]

Knowing a bit from every software but not beeing able to handle one really good can't be the right way I think. (correct me here if I'm wrong)

You're right. Jack of all trades, master of none. Especially in VFX you need a specialty. You can be a 3D "generalist" but you need to be awesome with at least one 3D package.

[SoLiTuDe]

I'd have to say 3dsmax and Maya. 3dsmax now has particle flow (pflow) and it's just excellent! Mix this with things like afterburn, and for rendering you can use vray, mental ray, brazil...etc... etc... it gets much more powerful very fast when you add plugins (but you need plugins) Glu3d is a good fluids plugin that works right in max, and for more complex stuff again, you can use realflow. Clothfx and hair are now added to max which makes it even better... and yes... reactor kicks butt (still needs work, but it's kickass)

For maya, you'll have to get maya unlimited to get any features useful for vfx. Fluids, and stuff like that are only in the unlimited version. Maya comes with hair and fluids, and volumetric plugins similar to afterburn.

A lot of people will say, don't buy max, because it's so expensive compared to maya because you have to buy plugins ... blah blah blah... it's BS because the unlimited version of maya costs 7,000, but max only costs 3500, so if you add a few plugins like say afterburn, and vray (if you don't want to use mental ray), and maybe glu3d, and catools for character animation (i forgot to mention character studio)... maybe ornatrix if you don't like the new max hair, and maybe a few more here and there (maybe thinking particles if you want a wierd interface for particles, or maybe aura for fluid-based fire), you'll probably still spend less/close to the same amount of money.

That's my 2 cents! Obviously I use max, as it's just a personal preference, but i'm learning maya on the side anyway so I can broaden my horizons, and not be limited to any ONE single thing...

[Ian Jones]

Having not used any other prog, I have to say 3dsmax with particle flow is really powerful and easy to use too if your needing event driven particles. Before version 6 when it came along max was lacking a lot in the VFX area. From what people have said so far its advantageous to have experience in all packages. A good VFX or technical director will know the strengths and weaknesses of each system and know which system to choose or at least experiment with for different jobs. Allan Mackay who visits these forums fairly regularily is a pro VFX artist who seems to specialise in particles. He uses 3dsMax and Maya predominately, however he also seems to experiment with lots of different programs and techniques which is really where his strenghts as a VFX artist lie.

[Gangstashers]

I use cinema 4D for composeting and its fairly good... But i moved to London just to learn Visual effects in Maya.. cauze the film industrie uses maya...

I'm ditching cinema 4D soon... and go to Escape studios and learn maya and visual effects with it...

I know C4D is realy good and its soooo easy and so much fun to use! But in the professional side Maya is the best too choose.. i also know that XSI is great as well.. I dont know about max but i've seen pretty nice things coming out of it...

To make a long story short.. C4D isnt much a composeting App.. for that you will have to check out maya or 3D's max..


Sheherryar

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