OTOY Forums

Hi all

I am on the road soon and have a m1710 laptop to work with. (4gb dual core gtx 7900 512mb)
Render station gtx 285 2gb 12gb ram i7 quad core


If you had a choice of fast 3d modelers which would you choose?

For what purposes will you use that modeler?

Your main technical choices are:
- subdivision/polygon modeler;
- NURBS modeler;
- voxel modeler;
- combination from more than one choice of the above mentioned modelers;

I counted the choices so, because the different arts of modelers are good for different things, generally speaking (that are only rough examples, take them cautinosly).

For example:
- Google SketchUp is very good for sketchy Architecture modeling, but (almost entierly) lacks organic modeling;
- 3DCOAT is very good for organic modeling, but is worse than SketchUp for architectural work;
- MoI (Moment of Inspiration) is very good for stuff (cars, commercial goods, machine parts) than 3DCOAT and SketchUp, but can not be used so fast as 3DCOAT and MoI for organic stuff and architecture, respectivly;

Thus, the people try to use one particular modeler for particular field. If they work in different fields they try to combine the different modelers (that is tough part) for the best result.

There is another strategy, though.
The most people just use "general" modelers, like 3DS Max, Maya, Lightwave and the like, because there they can find all types of modeling approaches. Be warned, these "general" modelers are not cheap and you must live with their shortcomings or shell more money for (not cheap) plug-ins for them. Their good side is that use must learn only one program for modeling.

That is only the grainy picture, though . You need more research to find your pipeline.

blender is always good for cheap and quick purposes. as haste said, it all depends on what you need it for. blender in talented hands is still a powerful tool in most areas of work. (and it's free )

I agree on Sketchup, 3D Coat and MoI

But if you want a whole package, take Modo
Its evolving very nicely and its cheaper than 3DS Max and even better for modelling. Rendering is nice with interactive and progressive rendering.

Modo is the futur

a small and underrated polygon modeller is wings 3D also, just to put the word out.

I think Wings3D went on to inspire Silo, apparently that is a very capable modeler.

If you want to do technical type models the MoI 3D might be the best solution. NURBS modelling does away with limitations of poly modelling, but then some poly modelers out there can models into subD which is similar to NURBS, but it can be restrictive, best to keep with quads, and booleans become a bit of a nightmare (especially if you are a beginner).

Swings and roundabouts, but what type of work do you want to produce?

For me, wings3d was small and overrated. Five minutes after i tried it, it hit the recycle bin.

Blender's modeler (editmesh) was in comparison just fine.

Wings3D and Blender modelers were compared, from me, against the SketchUp modeler for some quick ArchViz work. I used SketchUp at the end.

Maybe for something different from ArchViz, Wings3D is useable. I really hope so.

MoI 3D is not good for a lot of things
Even if you master the patch nurbs
Its difficult to beat subd surfaces
For example if you need to make a quick change to the overall shape of the model and deform it you can't. Also you don't always have all the points editables.

Im a fan of MoI mysefl but id love to learn more in depth Subd modelling because I start to see the nurbs limitations...

Architecture mainly.

Will buy off the shelf objects like baths, towels and other "shiny things that look good in a house".

I think sketchup will do the job for fast designs. Modo I will look into. I've heard many good things about it

Cant wait for bump,displacement,emissive lights and mask to jazz up images more

Why are there so many speckles of white dots?... is it because octane is still beta.