best software for 3D Virtual Animations and renderings

[yades]

Would be nice to have infos concerning best softwares nowadays available for 3D Virtual Animations and 3D Renderings ? Has someone got some examples to post? I've seen some nice results from (e.g.) Freehand (Macromedia)....any comments or suggestions....

[CGN]

Animation and rendering:

3D studio, Maya, Cinema 4D, XSI, lightwave, the usual suspects, nothing new.....As alternative i can recommend Carrara Pro, Blender3D w/Yafray,

if you own rhino, maxwell is an excellent render engine but i prefer more control on my renderings so i like XSI or carrara affordable and gives me full control of the rendering process like texturing and animation.

if you are going "high end" probably 3D studio will be my choice, and no there is no "point and shoot" a good rendering needs always some extra work.

That is for rendering, for virtual 3D, you can check Eileven from viewpoint they have an offer now for carrara + eileven i'm not sure how much, also there is a new free alternative i don't remember the name but works with blender, also swift3d and on the high end SubDuo.


cheers

[yipster]

this direct 3d is what i like but keep chrashing my HD once a year checking dozens and dozens new viewers
VRML export is still supported in many cad software packages but the viewer must be installed first on the recieving side.
java applets ran good and direct on win98 but in XP need to be activated or wont run at all
vista advertises real 3d support but they mean the tabs and the way a page opens in vista so is not a real 3d viewer
if this is what you mean more at 3d viewer and formats

[yades]

Tks you both
I hve also heard about FreeHand or Adobe Illustrator CS3. Any ideas about it?

[CGN]

For 2D rendering? yes they work, for 3D i think they are limited, if you are looking for rendering in 3D with animation then freehand and illustrator are not the best tools (if they are truly an option at all), you can do presentations and "flashy" animations that does not involve 3D, also you can paint (again not the best tools) but can be done. i know 3d presentations can be done with flash macromedia, and for that swift3D probably is the best, have a look at swift3D i think thats what you are looking for

cheers

[yades]

Swift3D vs 3DStudio Max

Is Swift3D somethink like 3DStudio ?
In other words what it wd be nice having is a 2D software for easy draft setup and a versatile 3D software reading the 2D results and rendering out of the drawing in 3D.
Is that possible with Swift3D or 3DStudio Max (or other s/w......)

tks

[ludesign]

Some movies generated directly from within the boat design porgram TouchCAD:

Windows Media Player: http://www.touchcad.se/TouchCADMovies.wmv
QuickTime: http://www.touchcad.se/TouchCADMovies.mov

[CGN]

Yades....

I model in rhino my 3D model and export for rendering on Carrara (now trying blender), you can use any like 3Dstudio, XSI, ALias, lightwave, cinema4D) to rendering and animate...(there are a lot more programs but these are in the high end side)...you don't need illustrator or freehand if you want to do 3D renderings and animations, you can even use any of the 3D programs to model, i use rhino becouse i found it easier to model there than any other of the 3D programs.

I mentioned swift3D becouse seems that thats what you were looking for in relation to flash macromedia. but seems that you are talking about 2D renderings, and yes those softwares like freehand and illustrator will work for such, but for 3D modelling and rendering you need other applications.

2D renderings (flat paintings) Freehand, illustrator, photoshop, paint form corel....and many more Xara is a good one..

3D Rendering (models with "Volume" and space) 3Dstudio, cinema4D, lightwave, XSI...and many more like rhino or swift3D

you can export your 2D from frehand or illustrator to any 3D (almost) but is not that easy it will export a "messy" 2D hard to work with....

If you want to go from concept on 2D to 3D tra to use a CAD application where you can do your basic 2D export to Freehand (or any other) play with it paint it and make look nice, then export back to your cad, clean your lines, once done, do your modeling on 3D and finally render or animate.

About your question about 2D to 3D:

1-Alias and Alias Studio, CAD, paintng/sketching/3D

2-Any CAD application (Autocad, Intellicad.), use any vector drawing application (Freehand, illustrator...) Rhino3D and (any rendering software of choice).

[yades]

Tks

will try 2D drawing with Freehand and then modelling and rendering in 3D with Rhino or Studio Max

[ezombie]

FYI, you can use the non-commercial version of Maya for free:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...112&id=7639525