[hart]

I'm trying to get up to speed with 3D software but I don't know where to start to best optimize my time. Ads for jobs seem to be all over the board. Are some of them more or less Mac-friendly and more or less industry standard?

Is the lack of previous posts about 3D a sign?

[silver]

I've been taught Maya in school primarily for film, I use Maya daily in OS X for Dynamic/Particle animations, Character animations and sometimes Modeling.

The other apps such as Bryce do have it's uses but don't care for it, as I can make environments in Maya just the same, and Lightwave's interface sucks big time.

If your not afraid of unix or XP then I suggest Houdini, really good node based workflow or there's even XSI which is an awesome package. Both are like Maya, more on the high-end of 3D apps.

Really though it depends on what you want to do, and from the list you wrote, Maya is the industry standard when it comes to Film.

A few native Mac 3D Apps:

1. Maya-industry standard.
2. Lightwave-used in broadcast and a few films.
3. Bryce-don't think it's used for anything, maybe for broadcast.
4. Modo-good modeler.
5. Cinema4D-decent software and has been used for broadcast.
6. Blender-not to sure if used for film or broadcast but it is free so might be a good start for someone new to 3D.

Also keep in mind that, 3D is not something that can be learned on a whim. But if your willing to learn then by all means go for it.

My uses are:

1. Maya or Realflow for Dynamic/particle animation.
2. Mental Ray(included in Maya) to render said animation.
3. Shake to composite and some post production effects.
4. Final Cut Pro to put my final Animations together.

Just wondering where you seen the Job postings? Was it here at MacNN?


Cheers

[anselm]

If you`re aiming for a professional career in CGI then here are my comments (subjective of course):

Maya:
I don`t like the GUI and nobody seems to like the modeler.
I chose it though since there are more job opportunities and Maya is really feature complete and has advantages over XSI.

SILO:
Excellent modeler, maybe one of the very best, for a very fair price: $ 159 US
It`s a good replacement for Maya`s modeler if you want to work with that package.
Mac & Windows.
30 day trial with unlimited functionality.
A MUST to try.
Nevercenter.com - Silo 3D Modeling

XSI:
Strong in advertising industry: New York and London.
Some Hollywood movies. More and more used in gaming industry.
Fair educational licenses (for unlimited time if you want which is not available for Maya anymore)

check the community site at XSI Base - Softimage XSI Community

I would prefer XSI over Maya if it was available for Mac.
Windows and Linux only.
Despite Maya`s position: If you`re fit with XSI then you don`t have as many competitors for any particular position like you have for a Maya project -> big fish in small pond effect

ZBrush:
A standard tool for CGI professionals.
Sooner or later you`ll have to deal with it. For a start I would recommend to learn your main package first and to look into ZBrush later.
pixologic.com

Bryce: for hobbyists

3D Studio Max: Overpriced. Strong in gaming industry.

Cinema 4D: Fast renderer but I don`t like the render results. Doesn`t play a role in movie production.

Lightwave 3D:
Good modeler and renderer. Photorealistic results are possible.
Fair pricing.
It has a standing in TV production.

Check out the guitars and Jack Daniels bottle at welcome to liquid.arts
they where modeled and rendered in Lightwave.

Modo: Ex-Newtek (Lightwave) staff. Interesting development but highly overpriced since it is not feature complete, yet.

MAXON BodyPaint 3D: You can texture your 3D models directly in 3D view. From the reviews I read it`s a great help for texturing.

There are cheaper alternatives however for other operating systems (Deep Paint for example).
I think Modo offers that functionality (or some of it) directly.

I can post a few CGI links here tomorrow. Tutorials may be important for you.

[besson3c]

I've seen some remarkably cool stuff done in Blender... It's one of the most impressive open source projects out there.

[silver]

I agree with besson3c, I got a few friends that love Blender and it help them transition from a 2-D world(photoshop users) to a 3-D world.

I disagree with anselm about Zbrush, for one you don't have to use Zbrush, if like me you do Particle or dynamic animations, or even a Character animator you won't even have to open Zbrush. I have used it many times but like I said I hardly do any modeling so absolutely don't need it. I used to think of Zbrush as working with wet clay(if you've done any type of sculpting) but again it's more of a modeling tool than anything else.

Anyway the best thing you can do is learn the interface of what ever 3D package you end up using, and one of the best ways would be to learn modeling first, get to know all the tools.

I think the reason there isn't anymore threads besides this one, is because there's better places for that kind of chat, such as highend3d.com and CGtalk just to name 2 that I frequent daily.

A few things to keep in mind when speaking of 3D, there are many different positions in CGI such as:

1. Modeler
2. Character animator
3. Texture Artist
4. Environment Artist
5. Technical Directors(TD)
6. Light and Render Artist
7. Dynamic/Particle animator
8. Matte Painters

There's many more but this is the bulk of it.


Cheers

[hart]

Of course, you guys mentioned additional apps that I haven't heard of yet.

I downloaded the "personal learning edition" of maya which seems to be unlimited for learning purposes. 3D studio max is only available for 30 days and I'm not sure I can cram in enough learning in that time. I was thinking of taking a class for that. A good number of these apps are just too expensive to even consider purchasing just to learn in anticipation of work.

I've been looking at ads on Craig's list and Monster for jobs in NYC. I think I'm going to try to transition into CGI altho I'm not sure about my focus. Actually I'm not sure how you actually PICK a specialization. Seems like you have to know stuff first to know what you'd be good at. It just looks like my skills are leaning in that direction and away from web design which seems to involve almost a lot of corporate team perkiness. I find my interest in Maximizing Brand Awareness is limited at best.

node based workflow: what's that? I'm actually trying to get a handle on the workflow in CGI/3D.

[PaperNotes]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

I've seen some remarkably cool stuff done in Blender... It's one of the most impressive open source projects out there.

You can't do anything of any high quality use with Blender. If you go to a job interview and say you know Blender then they'll laugh in your face.

Chalking this one down as yet another of Besson's overrated freeware loving comments.

[Veltliner]

So Maya is the 3D app, and part of it is a "modeler?.

Silo is just a modeler.

Can you enlarge how these applications are structured?

And what software is being used for photorealistic special effects in Science Fiction movies? (I always thought Maya was for animation films only).

[hart]

Originally Posted by Veltliner 

So Maya is the 3D app, and part of it is a "modeler?.

Silo is just a modeler.

Can you enlarge how these applications are structured?

And what software is being used for photorealistic special effects in Science Fiction movies? (I always thought Maya was for animation films only).

quoted for emphasis. what he said/asked.