Which 3d package is right for me? (as a designer)

#1

Hey there!

Im an industrial designer (or at least I have an industrial design education), but I have been working as a conceptartist, painting preproduction concepts in photoshop. I decided to change direction in my career and try to become a concept designer for the movie industry - essentially designing sci-fi vehicles.
Ive spent about 6 months now to prepare for this, trying to find the best workflow and the right tools.

What I found works best for me is to use pen and paper for the sketching, and then I pop into ZBrush and make some rough hard surface sculpts.
Next step would obviously be retopo the sculpt and make a proper model of it. Have been trying several different 3d packages, such as Autodesk Alias, Cinema4D and Modo.
I loved the Bevel-tool in Cinema 4D, but I feel more at home in Modo. I just feel more inspired when I work in Modo, and it feels more intuitive as well.

So Im just about to purchase a license for Modo - Is this the right way to go?
Would love to have your opinion on this before I do the purchase.

/Nick

(And by the way - Im sure some of you might think that ZBrush is not necessary, but I do think it is. It replaces the important formfinding process which comes from traditional clay sculpting)

#2

Houdini is becoming more popular in the movie industry with VFX etc. On there website they have a personal version that is free, but final renders are watermarked. It’s basically a trial version without a 30day limit…Maybe check it out?

If you find yourself with Modo and become good at it, and you get a job using Maya, you could always just download the trial versions until you are familiar with the Interface etc.

#3

If your just focusing on modeling, I would learn them all.

I use different packages for different projects, depending on what program I think will work best, and whats available. I like Cinema 4D for simple product work, Maya for complex hard surface models with lots of instantiated bits, and XSI for organic models. I’ve also used 3DS Max for some freelance modeling work, Blender for the odd Unity asset, and a few Google Earth buildings in Sketchup.

I’ve also been playing around with the free student copy of Mudbox, but I think Zbrush is a little better. I haven’t done any thing in Zbrush since my last version trial expired, but I’ve read there are all kinds of new features that really put it a cut above the other sculpting programs.

I’ve also heard good things about Modo, and I’ve read the Houdini poly modeling tools have come a long way over the past few years.

Cinema 4D is big in the motion graphics/advertisement/product viz world, so your not likely to run into it in a big studio film environment (although I’ve never worked in a big film studio). All the key features you need are right there in front of you, and its a great package to quickly turn out simple projects on a tight time budget. It also rarely crashes. :stuck_out_tongue:

#4

If you are going to be working for clients in the movie industry or at a studio, I think you would make a wise decision to use Maya.

I also use Blender and Softimage as well as LightWave. And I too like to block things out in Zbrush.

No one can argue with feeling at home complacence like Modo. I can understand that for sure. But if you look at the pipeline you’ll likely be working with, it will more often than not be Maya.

Granted you can export models in various formats to and from any application, there is something to be said for setting up your model in the host application that will likely be used for rigging, animation and rendering. It also allows you more of an upward mobility. Being familiar with Maya you may find yourself setting up shading, doing some rigging and so on. Basically should you decide to move into other areas later you will already have the basics covered in Maya and I think it is an additional selling point and even requirement in most cases that you actually be using the application that is used in the entire pipeline. It just makes more sense. Especially if they ask you to take on additional portions of the pipeline such as texturing and shading.

I know this is not a hard fast rule. But it is something to consider at this stage.

Another thing I can recommend as an addition to your tools is to think about using Mudbox or even Mari for painting textures. I use Mudbox and just prefer that over Zbrush for that portion of the workflow.

#5

Honestly it matters on where you end up. As far as modeling is concerned a lot of studios use Maya as the primary package. I have used Maya and Softimage at my different jobs. Friends of mine have used 3ds max. I personally love Modo for modeling, just because it is very fast and very intuitive, especially if you are looking to couple modeling with conceptual design.

As soon as you learn the foundations, it is easy to translate that to another package. All packages have the same basic functions, with add-ons that are unique to each software.

#6

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