There are few tings in this world that I would consider myself advanced in. AutoCAD and 2D Drafting are members of that short list. I am venturing into 3D CAD and know which direction I am going there, as many as possible!! However, I am having difficulty determining where to go into visual design.
What is the difference between 3DS Max and Maya? And what about Flame, Smoke, Flint, Inferno, Combustion, and Toxik? I want to venture into visualization software but I don't know where to start.
My first applications would be to add content to websites and videos.
So, I am turning to the great readers of CAD-a-Blog.com. What do you use? for what and why? What is the difference between the programs?
Tanks for the help.
What a large question. Do you want to create 3D content/models? Create photo realistic images? Or venture into motion graphics? Or create animated characters.
ReplyDeleteSince you are using a Mac, I assume that it would have to be compatible with OSX...
If you have money to spend, you can get a long way using Cinema4D, Maya or Lightwave. For more technically adepts, Houdini is being ported to OSX. 3ds Max and XSI are also very good, but do not work on OSX.
If you need something free, you can try and see if Blender works for you. I have a love/hate relationship with it for about 10 years or so. I love some of its concepts, but still struggle getting fluid with it.
And motion graphics etc... combining video, graphics, audio etc... is yet another large domain.
You can go the pre-rendered route, using After Effects, Combustion etc... or go interactive, using Flash.
On the level of Open Source systems, combining interactivity and programming, you can look at Processing and Puredata.
Plenty to learn... you'll need time.
I agree with the previous comment. This is a big can of worms and a lot of time is required. I have been working on this very thing for the past year or so (granted I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as I would like) and have learned a lot.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I do not have the money to buy a good commercial 3D program, so I can't offer much advice in that area.
I have found success in using the Blender/AutoCAD combination. Blender does take a little getting used to, but it is pretty powerful.
Like the previous post said, "plenty to learn". Hope this helps.
Great tips, thank you very much. I haven't heard of BLENDER but will make sure to check it out too.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know what I want from this yet. I know I want to branch out beyond design drafting and add something completely creative.
I also want to do some WEB Design, so I definitely want to go that way.
i have started looking at After Effects, but need a good method of learning it, that's cheap if not free!!
As an alternative to the expensive After Effects, there are compositing features inside Blender and there is also the windows-only freeware Wax from DebugMode. It works a bit like After Effects.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.debugmode.com/wax/
I visited the WAX website and it looks promising. How does it compare to After Effects?
ReplyDeleteWax is free and limited, but it might work for what you want to do. It does not support all video formats and has only a handful of effects, but you can create keyframed compositions, such as blending two movies over time.
ReplyDeleteObviously, After Effects is a superior product, available for a long time and with many, many users, but it'll cost quite a bit.