Affordable alternative 3D packages

Hey guys,

I just spent 3 years of uni learning how to use Maya (not the entirety of the degree) and while I like working with it, it's also immensely expensive. While it might be possible for me to gather up enough moolah to buy one for myself, I'm thinking about starting a small team which would mean I would need multiple copies.

So right now I'm thinking about picking up a more affordable alternative 3D package, and I'm not really sure what's out there. Blender is of course a big possibility and has quite a good amount of resources out there so I'm definitely considering that, but I'd like to know what else is out there. What I need is a complete workflow solution similar to maya complete with modelling, texture mapping, animation, etc

I'm both a Windows and Mac user so platform is not a problem.

Some others that I've heard of include Silo3d, Wings3d, Cheetah3d.

I'm not really looking for "The best" 3d package, as I understand it's mostly based on preference - so I am planning to give each one a go until I find one I like the most - but I thought I'd ask for some options and opinions here. So if you are an indie game developer with a tight budget - what's your choice?

 

I've been looking around as well. My favorite is the one I learned on (3ds max), but my copy is getting old in the tooth, and I'm looking for less expensive alternatives also. Here's the ones I looked at:

Modo ($995): Kind of reminded me of Maya. I liked it, but it crashed a bit. I'm not a big maya user, so your thoughts might vary.
Cheeta ($99): Felt kind of strange, and sometimes that models that I imported were flattened.
Blender (Free): Wowzer, it's hard to use. Seems to take every convention and stand it on it's head. Lot of unlearning/relearning to do.
AC3D: No FBX support
Carrara 8 Pro ($385): Haven't used yet, but now supports FBX import/export. Interested in what others experience is, will be checking it out myself.

 

I find Modo very attractive.

 

Attractive but also expensive. For a little more bucks you can get Max already so i dont see how Modo is cheaper solution at all.

 

I would seriously look into Blender. It's free, has a new interface and is getting a lot of cool development right now. Yes, it's a little hard to adjust to coming from something else, but you'll face that with any package to some extent.

Here's some links to some decent Blender training - FREE. The Blender Cookie Low Poly Character Creation with Blender, Gimp and Unity does cost, but I would work through the other material to see if it helps your choice with Blender.

Hope it helps!

TheLorax


Blender Cookie Getting Started (free)
http://cgcookie.com/blender/get-started-with-blender/

Blender Cookie Low Poly Character Creation with Blender, Gimp and Unity – (paid)
http://cgcookie.com/training-series/low-poly-character/

Blender Fundamental 3DBuzz (free)
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?188849-Blender-Fundamentals-First-drop-of-videos-now-available-to-the-public

http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?188994-Blender-Fundamentals-Drop-2-is-now-ready-for-download

http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?190455-Blender-Fundamentals-Drop-3-is-now-ready-for-download

http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?190522-Blender-Fundamentals-Drop-4-is-now-ready-for-download!-Sept-9-2011

http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?191001-Blender-Fundamentals-Drop-5-Over-an-hour-of-new-modeling-content!

http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?191017-Blender-Fundamentals-Drop-6-Another-1-hours-of-modeling-content!

http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?191097

 

Thanks guys,

I'm definitely gonna see how I go with Blender first as it definitely has the most amount of resources and public support available.

How so? Isn't Max around the same price as Maya? Last I checked it was.

 

There is also trueSpace which is free too.
http://www.caligari.com

The down side with trueSpace is that its no longer supported - after Microsoft bought it and made it free, they shut down the company.
But it is still a very decent package. Great for low polygon modelling, and it is a complete package with texturing, UV, lighting, animation, rendering all in one package. It was one of the first 3D package to support 3D acceleration (back in 1995 !) viewport, it also pioneered the integration of physics tools (back in 1997 if I recall), but for some reason, it never make it big time, and eventually got bought by Microsoft and got shut down.

 

+1
I learned to model in trueSpace 3.2 and got the free trueSpace 7.6 when M$ released it. I was just about ready to drop the $475 to purchase it and then M$ went and killed the company and released the software for free. I hope they bring the company back to life. trueSpace is my favorite 3D modeling application.

 

hard words ... the Truespace devs killed themself over years with continously new versions that did progress less than Autodesk which are already driving it to absurdity at times. It had a lot of potential but its progress was just nowhere in the range where it would have needed to be to remain a meaningful competitor even against 'weaker options' like C4D

 

i use cheetah3d it works great with unity , i still havent had any problem with it and the exporters work better than much more expensive apps like c4d or lightwave

 

Carrara 8 Pro + Hexagon 2.5 - No finer duo for everything Modelling/Render related.

 

I love blender... but then I started with blender and other packages seemed odd to me. Coming back to 3d modeling after some time away so I'm relearning blender and they have made some excellent improvements in the interface.

I'd also recommend the 2010 Blender training to get up to speed on the basics
http://cgcookie.com/blender/2010/09/10/2010-blender-training-series-is-complete/

They even have a bundle of 3 tutorials (the above character and basics plus a vehicle one)
http://cgcookie.com/blender/2011/11/15/site-news-price-drop-and-introducing-bundles/

I'm enjoying their tutorials and it is helping me get back into the swing of blender. I'm not an employee or shill... in fact I'm trying to get some reimbursement as I bought the 3 tutorials after asking if they were going to bundle them and they said no... 10 days later the do.

Looks like they are going to have a Unity tutorial site eventually and there are a few tutorials on using blender with unity on the site already.

Update: The fine folks at blender cookie saw that I purchased right before they offered the bundle they said they wouldn't be making so they gave me a membership on their site to make up the difference. Nice when a company will do something like that (wish unity would have done that for the licenses I bought right before they offered a discount).

 

Blender.

It's free and awesome!

 

As you mentioned that you learned Maya, so if I were you I would stay away from Blender (even though it is great – and free). It will take a long time to become accustomed to the UI, which is the exact opposite of that of Maya.

 

Modo is really quite awesome, especially for game development. It's like $900 I think and you get literally the best subdiv, poly modelling and UV layout toolset in the industry. You get a very capable sculpting package, and 3D texture painting tool. You get a rendering engine that is one of the best available, Vray is still better, but using modo to render is a far more intuitive and integrated process, it has a much smoother workflow for rendering. The rendering engine is also capable of baking you lightmaps, making you normal maps and doing transfer maps functionality like mental ray does (this is something that cinema4D simply cannot do, not sure if blender can). Basically when it comes to modelling, hi-poly modelling, texture creation, lightmap creation, modo gives you one of the best toolsets you can get for cheaper than any other commercial package.

The one thing, it can't do skinned character animation.

I suspect as soon as Luxology gets on getting character animation into Modo, then Modo will become probably the single most popular tool for video game development. But for now, doesn't do it.

I've considered exploring the possibility of using Modo + Messiah Studio for character animation. I've heard to that works well. And messiahs is only $200 right now.

 

Yes, trueSpace did not progress as fast as 3DS Max, but it also cost about 1/6th the price at the time. The big thing for me is that trueSpace modeling techniques just seem to make more sense to me than Max. Last time I used Max(for a course in college) it felt like I was trying to make art with sliders, GUI buttons and checkboxes. This just didn't feel right to me. trueSpaces freedom to manipulate each vertex, polygon or groups of polygons on demand without the need for modes just makes more sense to me. I guess it's how I think. I also only need 3D software to make meshes. I don't use any of the fancy rendering tools or materials. I will make those in Unity. This is just my personal preference though. trueSpace just fits the way I think and want to model better than any other 3D package I have tried. I will continue to use trueSpace until something else can fit this bill.

 

Define "affordable".

Personally I still think Cinema 4D has the best cost-benefit ratio if you're not aiming for the Studio Bundle (in which case I'd stick to Maya if I was you - since you've already learned it and the price doesn't differ that much any more). If you're not in dire need for character animation tools - and you can live with a none-node-based material editor (Hello, Maxon! - change THAT, please and not the renderer again, dammit ) you're fine with Cinema.

I use it for years and am still very satisfied with it. I'll have to admit it took me some time, though. Time in which I though you'd need Max or Maya. It's not true
The Visualize Edition is pretty cool and probably your best bang for the buck. I can't comment on the others - for modeling only Modo apparently is pretty popular right now.

 

How are they even remotely similar in price?

EDIT: Oh! And my vote is for modo and Cheetah3D - love them both

 

Well I would say approximately $0-$200 is still in the realms of affordable. Maya/max $3000+ is clearly not.

I see that modo and c4d are around the $1k mark, This I'd still take into consideration especially if there arent any cheaper solutions offering the same level of quality.

I have heard that maya users will get confused by blender before, but Im illing to go into it open minded and hope it will make sense!

Truespace also looks promising. Will play around with it as well!