3d software?

[elopez2005]

Hello, could you guys help me out?
I want to begin studying 3d modeling for Flash, but I don´t know which 3d software to start with. I need some advice. I've had some decent experience working with Flash and ActionScript, but right now I want to make 3d Flash web sites, like the ones you can find at templatemonster.com, no matter that those 3d models are not vectors.

I've seen swift3d for modeling 3d vectors for Flash, but is there any favorite 3d software among the global Flash community?

I've also seen 3ds MAX in action, I've seen Rhino3d, but hey, I want to know what software do the templatemonster designers use!

Thanks for any help.

[gerbick]

It's been asked plenty of times in the past... but it all matters on a few things.

Budget, what you've learned already, and what you have access to already.

The inexpensive end, I'd say Swift3D 4.5. At it's price, and it's ability, you can't really go wrong.

I have a tendency of using 3ds max with the Erain 3ds max plugin to make my models a lot of the time. So that's the higher end. Maya comes with the Erain vector rendering engine licensed, so you can render to *.swf from within Maya... so that'll be another high end option.

Or, you can just render your animations from Blender to *.png and include them into Flash... and that's an (almost) free option.

It just matters on what you're used to and what's your budget.

Hope this helps a little

[elopez2005]

Thank you so much for your reply. Actually, budget is not a big issue, for what I need is a 3d tool that is reasonably easy to learn, especially for 3d beginners like me.

I guess I'll find out more about more 3ds max and Erain 3ds max plugin, and also see what Maya has to offer.

Thanks.

[gerbick]

That should be quite easy, actually.

Go to http://www.discreet.com and download the free gMax. It's interface is basically 3ds max's interface... with slight differences.

And go to http://www.alias.com and download the free Maya PLE. You'll get to know/learn the interface for that program as well...

And finally, go check out http://www.erain.com and download the Swift3D 4.5 demo.

Then you can pick and choose. And I'm not saying that either are the final option. But they're some of the most popular.

[elopez2005]

Thanks so much. I will download and play a little bit with all of them for some time. and then choose the one I feel most comfortable with.

It seems to me that this is the beginning of a long term 3d modeler life style.

Thanks

[TzMedia]

Any idea what are the limitation's of the free software app's (barring any un-ethical reverse-engineering)... First person that get's a chance to check them out let the rest of us know... lol
Thanks

[gerbick]

gMax has no internal renderer. Just render to screen.

Swift3D, you can not export your work.

Maya PLE, you can save, no export. Render, animate just fine, but with Alias watermark.

Blender, it's full-blown. Save, export, render. Full-app.

All of that is found easily on each site

[tayjax]

i actually found maxons Cinema 4d xl the easiest to just pick up and use its a lot more graphical and easy on the eye
my fav anyway - and it also exports straight to swf.

[elopez2005]

The Cinema 4d xl sounds interesting. Could you please post the link where I could find out more about it?

Thanks.

[tayjax]

http://www.maxon.net/index_e.html

used to be free demos on the 3d world web site - dunno if they are still there

[tayjax]

actually what am i saying - there are demo versoin available off the maxon web site

[TzMedia]

Was curious about the Cinema 4d demo here's some details I dug up [quoting]
"Thanks for taking the time to evaluate our products. The only restriction on the demo version is that it is save disabled. There are no time limitations.

As for the manuals, the Reference and Tutorial manuals are available in the download section of our website (www.maxon.net). There are a number of tutorials available in the support section of the website that'll give you a quick taste of CINEMA 4D."...

Checked out the Blender website yesterday... sweet pics in the gallery archive... I threw a bunch of 'em on my desktop like "plooperoidia"...lol check that out too!
The textures people were using w/ that covered a wide range from realistic to artsy.

[TzMedia]

Another great resource is turboSquid.com...
They've got quite a few free 3d model's in all the format's...
go to the advanced search page and enter zerO's in both the price constraint boxes and it brings up all the free 3D models!

[elopez2005]

The turboSquid resource seems to be nice. Also, the Cinema 4d seems to be nice and not so difficult to learn. I will give it a try.

[rohit]

I use 3dsmax & combustion for outputing the final png/jpg sequence which i finally import in flash for creating the final swf files.

[elopez2005]

Oh, thank you so much. This is the kind of techniques that I need to know about creating 3d animations for Flash, whether they are vectors or not.

I will find out more about combustion.

Thanks.

[Seventh_Tyger]

Iw ould second the notion for Swift3d if you are looking start to start off simple...and for the price it is well worth it. Cinema 4d is also a great program for its price. I've just started to learn it and i find it's quite easy to learn.

Here's another forum for cinema 4d 3DAttack check out their gallery and WIP for some inspiration!

good luck to ya and be sure to share your projects

[Thealiengus]

It's funny, like little kids in possesion of a bag of M&M's . . .
The Green ones are better tasting . . .
Uh, huh. The Blue ones taste better . . .

Here's the thing.
THEY ALL PRETTY MUCH DO THE SAME THING!
However, they all have their respective strong points and weaknesses.

Lightwave, Best modeling tools period. Slow but good renderer. Lacks a bit on the animation side, not that it can not do what others do, just somethings have their "quarks". Good app. Easy to learn.

Maya, high learning curve. Internal renderer pretty much sucks. But, it also comes with Mental Ray. Strong point would be animation.

XSI, very similair to Lightwave. Comes with Mental Ray. Good overall app.

C4D Another one similiar to Lightwave, very customizable. Great renderer, especially for still images.

3d studio max, Clunky GUI, powerful app though. Comes with Mental Ray.

But they all pretty much do the same things . . . they all have their strong and weak points. Try out discovery editions of all them and see what works for you. Oner side note . . . do not buy into "hype"

[3rdSpecies]

Quick questions regarding 3d softwares output for flash.

What format will be best for flash in the software output?png?jpeg?etc
>using Swift 3d 4,3dmax,cinema 4d v8.
What format will be best for video output?wmv?mov?avi?
>Using combustion 4,after effect,premier

What format is best for exporting animation to flash?
>Swift 4,3dmax,cinema 4d

[elopez2005]

I appreciate all your advice, guys. It's a nice start for me into the world of 3d modeling.

It makes sense for me when Thealiengus says that they all do pretty much the same thing. I will give Lightwave a try and see if I feel comfortable with its modeling tools. I guess I will still be trying out different 3d applications for a couple of months or more.