The proper way to answer this question is to ask you what your needs are? Maya, Lightwave, Max, Cinema4D, they are all good, and excel in different areas. Maya has great tools, Lightwave has great output, Max has tons of plug-ins, and Cinema amazingly fast. All of them can get most jobs done fairly well, but most users have a certain area of interest or need for the package. I personally like Cinema4D it's offers the most bang for the buck, and you can't beat the speed. Also, Maxon is the fastest bunch of programmers I've ever seen. They can completely rewrite any area of the program overnight if needed, and most of their tools are top notch. They are very responsive to customers, something none of the other companies can compare to. I've been testing 3D software for over ten years, and they are the best and friendliest group of programmers I've ever met. Cinema4D is not for everyone though it still depends on YOUR needs. For example if you want to work your way into a production house, you should probably go with LW or Maya. If your interested in game development, probably Max is your best bet. You really need to decide for yourself what you really want to get out of your investment, then invest in the appropriate software that meets your needs.Originally posted by Nachohat
What is the best 3d animation program? Is it coming to OS X? Is it lightwave, Maya, Softimage, Flame, 3d studio max?
Price is not a problem![]()
That's a tough one, because the answer is really none of them. I seem to get the fastest results with Cinema4D, because it renders fast and it's work environment is almost realtime. You have to also consider the hardware you are going to run the software on, and usually you are goin to want to go as fast as possible with lots of RAM, 512MB as a minimum. If your running OSX, I think you still have to wait for Maya, and LW versions, but I have Cinema4D XL with BodyPaint running on this machine running OSX right now, it's rendering in the background as I type.Originally posted by Nachohat
Ok then I have one last question.
What is the easiest to learn complete 3d animation program? Which is the fastest one to get results when making a project?
Thanx for all the kind replies by the way! I'm psyched about this, as soon as I get the time and finish my 18credits of summer courses (coop program, working in September) , I'm gonna learn this cold!
I update my machines every three years or so, so it's been about three years since I last updated. Perosnally, I'm fine with this machine, since I'm using Cinema4D mostly. I get a little frustraighted if I use other 3D packages. C4D also has net render package, and I have three other machines that can handle that load, including a PC that is more than double the speed of this machine. I still prefer to wok on the Mac. I as going to just upgrase to dual 733, but now that the new machines have been announced, I'm not sure I'm going to upgrade. Dual 800's sounds very tempting, or even a single 867 would do nicely. C4D has a bench marking utility called CineaBench, and this machine gets a 4.3SP, while my PC gets a 8.6. Some of the programmers machine get 20+SP. Those are Dual PIII 1.2GHz machines. I'm curious what score a dual G4 800 would get. I'll have to check to see if any have been tested yet.Originally posted by Nachohat
I'll be running it on my Tibook so hopefully it will be fine. If you say you Beige 333 runs almost in real time mine should be fine. Why do you have an old computer like that if you're a 3d freak??? Nostalgia??
I know, I love my old beige too.And I will always love my Tibook even when I replace it with the newest and greatest. Unfortunatly, I can't always do that.
What are the 3d animation sites you visit the most? I need to find a good place with nice tutorial to learn this cold. I found some good stuff for Photoshop but 3d seems a bit harder to find.