The choice is in your hands

#1

Hi, pretty new to this forum and i hope this is in the right section. Mods please move if needed.

Right i’ve been drawing in Solidworks for the last 6 years and luuuuuuv rendering my models once i’ve designed them. I have made the step into nurbs/poly modelling by trying out Modo as it provides Solidworks with the rendering engine.
I’m now wondering whether this is the correct path and whether i should be using 3D Studio max or Maya?
Ultimately i want to be getting into the photo realistic rendering business and providing animations, fly throughs and final renders for engineering and food factories in the UK. I have already rendered a number of stills and animations for some mutli national companies for training and marketing visuals.
I’d love your advice on which direction i should go.
Andy

#2

I have two pieces of advice for you:

  1. Moment Of Inspiration provides very fluid, artist-friendly CAD/NURBS/Solids Modeling:

http://moi3d.com/

MOI is great when you want to do serious CAD-style NURBS modeling, but with a faster, more artist-friendly UI.

MOI also has a very good polygon exporter, to get your CAD models into a 3D rendering package that uses polygons/SubDs.

  1. Cinema4D is well suited for 3D product/architectural rendering:

http://www.maxon.net/products/cinema-4d-visualize/who-should-use-it.html

Not only does it come with a special version (“C4D Visualize”) made expressly for product/architectural rendering.

Cinema4D also connects to many 3rt Party render engines, including unbiased renderers like Maxwell Render, and an excellent connection to VRay.

C4D Visualize integrates directly with VectorWorks, AllPlan, ArchiCad, if you use those.

It also reads many other 3D file formats:

[ul]
[li]3D Studio .3ds[/li][li]Alembic[/li][li]COLLADA .dae[/li][li]DEM[/li][li]DWG[/li][li]DXF[/li][li]FBX[/li][li]IGES[/li][li]LightWave 3D .lws and .lwo[/li][li]STL[/li][li]VRML2[/li][li]Wavefront OBJ[/li][/ul]

Of course you can also use 3DMax or Maya to do more or less the same thing.

MOI + C4D is a good combination if workflow speed and ease is of the essence though…

My 2 Cents.

Good luck with your work!

#3

Depaint,
Thanks ever so much.
I haven’t really looked at cinema4D yet.
I had been looking at Modo 601 as its a farely low price compared to all the others and has quite a big following too.

#4

Unfortunately your question goes against the first rule of General Discussion

"1. Absolutely no “What software should I use”, or “App versus App” threads.

This includes any thread asking for software comparisons or purchasing advice in any context."

Bottom line - there are multiple applications (and renderers) that would be perfect for what you want, so there isn’t a definitive answer. If you already have Modo I’d stick with that.

#5

Ooops.
Dammit.
Mods can delete and let me know where to post this question then?

#6

I put you in animation because there are many modelling apps but there are less apps for modelling and animation.

#7

Nice one cheers Kanga

#8

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