I used to use EIM but for the life of me I couldn’t grasp the 101 rules of rounding so I moved to FormZ and it is fantastic, I get on very well with it. I love solid body modeling and prefer it to soft body apps like Silo and Hexagon.
AzOne: I have a couple of friends who use Hexagon and they find exporting to OBJ and going into EI via Transporter works fine. I think FACT export may happen if you nag them enough given that there are some EIAS users inside the development team there…
Ian, thanks for the tip!
There are EIAS users in the Hexagon team? That’s brilliant! I’ll e-mail them my request.
I used to use FormZ when I was using EIAS 2.7.5 (FormZ v 2.7, I think) but haven’t upgraded since then. Took me awhile to get my head around it too, but I liked it eventually. The upgrade price (if even possible after all the versions I missed) would be daunting.
I actually prefer solid body modeling myself too, but most of the new modeling tools seem geared towards soft body work.
Aziz.
for me, my fav modelers are…
Polygon : Silo, Modo and some of them going to ZBrush
some kind of CAD thing… : formZ, EI Modeler
whooo… that’ more than enough for me I think…
if someone ever use Jenna plugin that make many kind of Array for Cinema 4D, could you suggest which software, plugin that can be comparable with Jenna plugin? (Thinking about everything you can imagine about Arraying objects.)
I’m surprised to see that Rhino isn’t up there. It’s one of the most versatile NURBS modelers out there. I used Rhino quite a bit before EI had a modeler. Very stable, very fast and it’ll run well on practically any machine – even my Mac under Virtual PC!
I’m using Silo now that I’m not creating high-tolerenced models for manufacture but Rhino really should be on the list. In my opinion, it’s one of the best modelers out there.
Just my $0.02
Sorry, had to make a selection, and picked the ones I heard most about on the EIAS forums.
Cool, downloading the evaluation version now.
I realize there are lots of modelers to choose from. I guess everyone’s trying to find the ideal workflow. Thanks for putting this up!
EIM had everything under on roof, pitty it had to go the way it did, i was just starting to learn how powerfull it was, i can still use it but having a few issues running on WinXP, and i suspect it will only get worse…
So it if i want to model something its usually Silo, been thinking about Concepts3D hmm.
I dabble with Zbrush 2, but i really think the whole ZB+EI thing needs looking at on both sides.
Reuben
I am not an EI user at all but I have worked as a modeler at three different studios and have to say that if you want the best Sub D modeler in the world use MODO without a doubt. I use a combination of Modo and Zbrush and all is well. I really couldn’t ask for more.
I have been asked to Model professionally in Max, Lightwave, and Maya, and without a doubt my current Modo, Zbrush combo is far far superior. Modo is the base Zbrush for Zbrush things. Adding realism and small details basically. \
If I couldn’t use Modo, I would choose Lightwave’s modeler. It’s thourough, complete, really fast, and battle tested. Plus the whole app is so cheap now that you get the animation tools and a pro renderer for free. The modeling tools pay for themselfes. Also Luxology has announced a new Modo render that looks very promising.
Just my opinion.
Thanks Paul…
Yes, Modo is a fine piece of software. Great for modeling. As for rendering, well, we’ll stick to Camera. We’re pretty happy with it. 
Well, there could be a way to use both camera and the future Modo renderer.
Modo 201 will support Color and Normal Map Render Baking. I did some tests with this in C4D, it was useful for my EIAS projects, but in C4D the render baking is just to slow to be practical for me. Maybe in Modo 201 Render Baking will be faster and useable in EIAS.
Cheers
Hans
Maybe it is to some, but i still don’t understand why it requires 2x mouse clicks to do the same job every other modeler i know does with one click.
Thats just the feeling i got from the demo, oh and it seemed over complex, guess i’m just used to Silo
Reuben
I tried the demo of Modo too and a lot of stuff seems to be borrowed from Lightwave (clicking a specific icon to select and deselect, creating layers for boolean operations, etc.) but I think Modo comes to life when you need to generate complex arrays or automate the construction of a complicated spline path for an extrusion.
I’m still hooked on the Silo work flow (it’s “like butta”) and version 2.0 looks like a giant leap forward but I can certainly understand why people appreciate Modo. Silo and Modo are very much alike.
I will always keep a Mac around that runs OS 9 and EI modeler. I find that most modeling apps do something really well and faster than others. Still love the knife tool in EI modeler for that very reason.
For now Silo is the tool of choice for me. But I’m also holdiing on to Amorphium; it can do so many little tricks that just come in handy now and then.
I think modelers are like shop tools - you need a router, then you need a table saw. When modeling, sometimes its’ EI modeler, sometimes Amorphium, sometimes Lightwave’s modeler, sometimes Silo… I wish I had them all. In the words of Tool Times Tim Taylor “MORE POWER - UUUUGHH” 
I used first formZ, then Rhino and EIM a bit. Personally I’d avoid formZ now. I’ll look at Silo and Modo, although Modo sounds a bit formZish with all those clicks… Whats the difference between Silo and Modo, apart from price? Modo seems very comprehensive, but one gets the feeling the price will be hiked up once the user base is acquired.
Martin K
I like the clear and pragmatical UI in Silo, which allows focussing on the model instead of looking for hidden functions to much.
Silo 2 seems quite promissing too.
Steffen
I just had a very quick look at Silo. My first impression is that it certainly doesn’t have all that number of functions. I assume there are meshing controls somewhere as my first test export to EI, of a beveled cube resulted in over smoothed edges, inspite of setting the angle to 5 degrees on import.
Martin K
You can do a partial subdivide on sections ofthe mesh if you want.
It took me a couple months to get “it” with silo. And then a couple projects where I forced silo into my production work and viola! I can’t say enough good things about it.
Its fast, stable and I can make stuff with it!
I can’t wait for the next version with the displacment feature a la Zbrush!
Mike Fitz
www.3dartz.com
Yes, i’m looking forward to Silo2 a lot, i think it will be a pretty big upgrade.
Reuben
2.0 looks like a real improvement. I’m really looking forward to creating workable UV maps without having to go into Wings and Transporter to be able to work with UVs in EI.
Soon (I hope)
Hmm you’ll still need transporter (i think), Nevercenter seem to have trouble with the fact format, but you never know.
Reuben