hello folks

i recently aquired Lightwave 9

and for those of you who dont know, its a super powerful 3D modeling program designed for making
CGI quality 3D images... now i used to have an earlier verison of the program a while back
so im gonan have to get used to soem of the new faetures and find my way around.

but i am going to attemp to model an X-Wing fighter from star wars using a tutorial on the net.
i dont know if ill be able to finish the model, but im up for a challange

and this will be my 3D modeling diary and at the end.. i should hope to have soemthign that loosk like this



wish me luck folks.. ill keep you updated

I look forward to seeing how you get along.

I tried learning Maya last year - Bleck!

hope you get on better than I did - saying that, a mate started at the same time - he's now got a high paying job rigging and modelling 6 months stuck in his bedroom did him wonders

B

That looks well cool!

I'm currently looking for some modelling software for my mac. I need to be able to model things in the computer so i can take them to people to make for me, or so they understand an idea better. So far, i've had an array of CAD programs but nothing is really doing it to be honest.

I will try to look more for a Maya type modelling thing. I presume you have a lot of control over dimensions etc?

Keye.

you will fins lightwave is better than maya
i have tried both.

heres the instructions im trying to follow for the X-Wing
http://www.cosmic-pearl.com/LW%20tutes.htm

i made an attempt lastnight, but i was far too tyred.. so im gonna give it a better shot now

Thanks for that - I'm going to go look it up before i get hold of it. I need things like dimensions and such.

Cheers

Keye.

heres an update on the first part of the nose cone

its OK(ish) so far......

ok guys.. i have been on this all day and things are starting to pruve difficult!

i think ill have to do some other side projects to help me get back into the swing of the program

ill keep trying but ill post up some other simpler images

I like lightwave but cinema 4d is for me, been using it for a couple of years now. Been having a bash at animating but the old graphics card just aint up to rendering. Have you tried modo bloody great bit o kit best gui I've seen on a 3d prog and its very intuitive.

I can tell you now that If you are after a job/career in the CGi world, learning lightwave will do you no favours

Don't mean to piss on your chips but Maya and 3DS Max are the industry standard nowadays. You'd be better off learning those.

If you're just doing it out of curiosity, then disregard

B

cheers for that blab

i dunn owhat direction i wanna go in, but even if lightwave is not what industires us, it will deffo help impruve my allround 3d skills.

im using lightwave atm because im generaly more familliar with the program

but i will keep waht you sed in mind

yeh i remember using 3d max at uni. its supposedly the software they used in 'bugs life'. man it was so hard to make a head with that stuff. i found it real hard, but some dudes found it a doddle, so maybe im just dumb.
and them hollywood cartoons, aladdin, shrek, ice age etc are getting better and better with time, so they must be using some next level softwares and some mega crowds of brainboxes to use the software.

Pixar (Bug's life) use their own proprietary software developed in house

Max is for computer games and lower end broadcast CG

Maya is for everything shiny and expensive.

I've just downloaded a copy of Blender - it's an open source modelling software suite.

It seems to be ok for what i need, perhaps a little over the top, but i'm going to have another crack at it today.

Keye.

Pixar use a linux version of maya which they made, sony on the other hand only use cinema 4d whilst the gaming industry uses 3dsmax. The prob I've found with most 3d apps is the amount of ram that they chew up out of the biggies cinema 4d uses least.

Not toyed with lightwave since version 6.
I got a copy of v9 but I seem to have misplaced my content CD's :-(

I remember finding a super detailed autocad model of a weed plant once but my pold P133 didnt like it, far too many points.

Lightwave trivia... it was used to produce some of the cgi for Deepspace 9 and the Voyager Gas Cloud animation in the opening credits. If you are into your modeling and sci-fi there are loads of good quality models from DS9 Babylon 5 Stawars etc floating around on newsgroups.

3DS MAX may be the industry standard but in all honesty it stinks, in my opinion it's an overpriced pile of junk and it's days it the top are numbered, the interface is ugly and cluttered and it doesn't feel all that intuitive .


I much prefer XSI, it's a far more elegant and infinitely more affordable solution and it's still very widely used accross the video game industry and other areas aswell, even the entry level package has some powerful features, there's also a free version available that they released for modding halflife 2 which is great for the casual user or student.

yep

AFAIK the games industry is investing more and more in Maya. I suspect the HD 'revolution' has a lot to do with that - cos as you say, max is pants.

B

Now that autodesk have bought out both Discreet and Alias Wavefront I really can't see that Max has any kind of future left, Maya is by far the superior package it's just a shame the price is so prohibitive, if I had to use anything other than Softimage then Maya would be the one .

I've got a mate who's at the top of major games company, I'm off on hols with him in a couple of weeks - looking forward to picking his brains on the state of the industry atm. 'specially with the UK release of PS3 just round the corner.

so ..... this friend of yours, is he the kind of guy who's in a position to offer a small development team a publishing deal ?






just kidding

He's not a publishing company

If you're not EA or Sony your screwed AFAI can work out mate

Don't know how much worth this is but Xbox Live seems to attracting a lot of smaller groups producing stripped down games for DL - I don't want to patronise you or give bad info though if you're in the know - I'm not in the industry, I just have a lot of friends who are

So, these other friends of yours ..........

'allo folks,

I want to start an animation studio. I'm going to start with stop action animation but want to use cg and blend the two styles.

I've used Alias Wavefront when in school as well as AutoCAD in college. Was able to get me head around both pretty well. I'm very good working with 3D things including installation art and staged/performance art. I was also tested by a military branch as having strong native 3D skills. I think I can get some pretty cool stuff going.

Toom Boon 5 is my 1st choice (as it does stop action animation). Maya is looking to be my 2nd choice of software, but am looking for other ideas as well. I'm also looking to use software that can track tags, trace movement, of real, 3D objects. Also I'm a pure Mac based guy, but can run different OS's on my machines if need be.

Any and all ideas are appreciated! A big blind spot in my knowledge data base is output types. What do i want? what should I look for? How does this relate to rendering practices?



R

Just gotta bring this information to the topic, Ive used 3DS Max and Maya for many years and its all down to personal preference in which one you choose, both applications can achieve the same results without noticable difference although besides the crazy assed price tag 3ds Max comes with. i'd advise people to move with maya as its played a major role in the Film/Animation industry.

Sorry to shit all over whatever has been said but majority of the titles that have been released to date in the games industry was modelled in 3ds Max especially with digital Extremes GOW 1 & 2 and the unreal series.

Neither each or other application is better than the other but maya has been horrible for losing a shit load of work and scrambling files your currently working on, just remember to back up like crazy your long projects.

Both have merits but if you like character animation and fluid like animations Maya is awesome, although if you are heavily into physics, reactions and simulating realistic environments in terms of adding gravity, winds and well customised particle systems then you probs would prefer max.

With most other people ive worked with it just comes down to how well you grasped each interface to your own personal preference, ive worked in teams which have used numerous applications including blender , lightwave and cinema 4D as exchanging file types is a doddle these days anyways. Maya and 3ds is now owned by the same company "autodesk" and has been for a while so its not like they are being played of each other

Thats very helpful!