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Which 3D Package, Cinema 4D or Lightwave 3D?


SerpicoCal
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Hi, I could really do with some help.

I wish to purchase a 3D package with in mind to work on 3D modelling, animation and some composting. Mostly I will be modelling at the beginning but I will eventually move into compositing.

I'll be modelling Vehicles, Buildings, Air Craft, Space Craft etc.

I have looked online, unfortunately the most recent versions are out of my price range, however the previous I have found to be a good price.

Lightwave 9

or

Cinema 42 R13

I have used Lightwave before (some time ago) but have hard good things about C4D.

I'd be grateful for any feed back.

Thanks

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I don't know about C4D but one thing about LightWave is that you can buy that version 9 and then if you have more money later you can upgrade all the way to the latest, 11, 11.5, or whatever, with an upgrade price. Many other packages won't let you skip versions like that. I personally feel like LightWave is making huge steps in the right direction now. Including being the only 3D software company in the Hollywood area. It also works directly with 3D-Coat since 3DC imports and exports LWO objects with all of the textures applied.

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In my opinion Lightwave is going to be the best bang for your buck. C4D has some great features but there is a bit of a cost gap between it and Lightwave. You can get a more rounded out solution much more affordability with Lightwave and upgrades are more affordable as well. Have you considered Houdini? If you just need to model, animate and composite you can do all this with the cheaper basic version, there's just the learning curve to deal with.

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Hi

sorry but i think isnt a good option to buy old software.

The difference with new version are huge

And if you cant afford upgrades, the software comes obsolete very soon.

I wish to purchase a 3D package with in mind to work on 3D modelling

Why not to use free alternatives ?

Hexagon

http://www.daz3d.com/products/hexagon/hexagon-what-is-hexagon/

and Blender*

http://www.blender.org/

Are good alternatives and you can catch its for free. ;)

* Blender have a nodal compositor very powerful included

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Hi, I could really do with some help.

I wish to purchase a 3D package with in mind to work on 3D modelling, animation and some composting. Mostly I will be modelling at the beginning but I will eventually move into compositing.

I'll be modelling Vehicles, Buildings, Air Craft, Space Craft etc.

I have looked online, unfortunately the most recent versions are out of my price range, however the previous I have found to be a good price.

Lightwave 9

or

Cinema 42 R13

I have used Lightwave before (some time ago) but have hard good things about C4D.

I'd be grateful for any feed back.

Thanks

I think Blender is the best option for most individual artists, who are not necessarily concerned with finding work at a studio near term or long term (due to their larger pipelines with the expensive applications). Has some really powerful tools in all those departments.
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Will you be working by yourself or with others in a studio or collaborative work is one of the most important factors in choosing software.

Imho if you work by yourself then it doesn't matter much what software you use. Only matters is budget. Blender, lightwave, modo are all good choices and all cheap or even free.

However if you will work with many people or want to work for a pro company, you will find most are using 3dmax and maya, xsi for mostly everything and c4d for motion graphics and tv broadcast.

Personally I work for a company that only uses 3dmax. Its the most used software out there so job security is better.

At home though its lightwave all the way. Its a good extra source of income and I can work on personal projects on my own from start to finish. Believe me working alone there is only so much you can do, unless you work on a project for 2-5 years :D. You won't need all that power other software have.

Modo, lightwave, blender are good enough for solo artists. For a pipeline choose AD.

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I think Blender is the best option for most individual artists, who are not necessarily concerned with finding work at a studio near term or long term (due to their larger pipelines with the expensive applications). Has some really powerful tools in all those departments.

+1

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I don't think budget is the only thing that matters for a hobbiest. If you're their to have fun you might as well enjoy the software you use as well. Certainly some packages are harder to learn or more unpleasant to use than others.

Sure, but if an open source app far exceeds your needs, why pay hundreds or thousands for the same or better capability?
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Sure, but if an open source app far exceeds your needs, why pay hundreds or thousands for the same or better capability?

Like I said, for enjoyment. If it's a hobby why not make it as enjoyable as possible? I think lots of people are willing to spend a few bucks if they will enjoy it a little more. If you do have fun using blender that's great too, then it's free and fun.

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About modo: I own softimage and will sometime move to modo. I guess, it offers one of the most flexible upgrade politics and makes a very fast and good development.

Before you start to buy one of the mentioned software, give it a try. And don't try the demos just for some hours. Take the days you can test the software. Decide then. Everyone have different demands.

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Taros, hows the market for softimage in germany? Is the rumor hurting softimage?

Which rumor do you mean?

I move to modo because of the inflexible and expansive license politics of autodesk, that's all. I still like softimage a lot. It's a very good piece of software.

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The only rumor that seems likely to be true in 5 years is dropping softimage. The core dev team for softimage has been moved to maya. Lots of layoffs recently that included some core dev team of softimage as well. AD is downsizing.

The other rumors are just plain stupid. Max becoming only a modeller. What will they do, take out dopetrack and animation, characterstudio, particles, etc and be like silo? What's more likely is they will target 3dmax for games, archiviz and maya for film and highend visuals to compete with houdini.

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Basically, the new Program Manager for 3ds Max said the rumor is nonsense. 3ds Max is their big money-maker, and even saying that they are no longer developing the animation tools is bunk. It may not have as much "focus" as Maya's, but Max's animation tools are still the basis for most games on the market...that's not even including the arch viz segment. Trying to kill off Softimage and pigeon-hole your biggest money maker would be a PR disaster = stock dropping through the floor. Don't see either happening.

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Really their big money makers are the CAD programs like AutoCAD, their entertainment apps like max and maya are only a small percentage of their business.

That's true to an extent, but AutoCAD doesn't do jack for product renderings...hence the linkage to 3ds Max (Design). You also have to keep in mind both the Arch Viz and Game markets dwarf the film market. Sure, AD may try to position Maya as the default choice for cinematic animation, but people keep overlooking the fact that Max actually has more artists using it's CA tools, overall, than Maya does. For this reason, I doubt anything is going to change in this arena.

Nevertheless...when you are talking about hundreds of thousands of licenses at $3500 per seat, that's no small potatoes. Don't see AD arbitrarily trying to force long-time Max studios to ditch all the custom tools they've built and suddenly switch their whole animation pipeline to Maya....just because they want to turn a bigger profit.

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I´ve worked with Lightwave 3D (6.0) years ago. And i liked it a lot ! But they have had stoped regular

progress with its update politcs. Only heared big news of it, as Vers. 10 comes out. After vers. 6 i try

3Ds MAX, but never get warm with it. Later i learned Cinema 4D and since than, i saw always big

progress in that software. And it has evolutionized UI´s. What means, its user friendly, by increased

functions per release.

I would wish to see more progess in Lightwave, and also with 3DS MAX. But unfortunetly, Since

3DS MAX 1.0 to 2013 the Interface not changed (pretty outdated) but it raised with tons of functions.

What is a big contrast to functions vs. the desgined UI. Same here with LW. Its interface is the same

as in Vers. 6 (heared that it would change with the CORE release). So for me this is not up to date.

IMHO.

Cause if more functions gets implemented, also the UI should be updated. To stay user friendly.

As Taros and others mentioned : the best is, to try the software by yourself. Also its important what

you want to do with it. For 3D visualizations i would prefer a software package which has very good

plugin implementation to external renderers (biased & unibiased). For Game creation I would choose

a software which has excelent Texture, modeling & animation abilities (So far i know industry proofed

is: Maya, 3ds max, Softimage). For modeling only, you can use "Silo" or similar polygon programs.

Today, i stick with Cinema 4D. It is a allrounder, and i can manage everything with it. I am happy with

this program. My selection is a result of testing different software packages.

cheers

desmyte

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I think Blender is the best option for most individual artists, who are not necessarily concerned with finding work at a studio near term or long term (due to their larger pipelines with the expensive applications). Has some really powerful tools in all those departments.

+10 XD

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Sure, but if an open source app far exceeds your needs, why pay hundreds or thousands for the same or better capability?

Of course, I have a license Luxology Modo that I never use .. in the end it is a bad investment "for me" .....because it always just use blender

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Modo is very nice but I don't use it as it's kinda unstable.

Blender is very nice if you can pick up the ui (but with 2.5 it's not that hard and actually pretty nicely though out)

If I wasn't conditionned by years of use of Autodesk products I would certainly go with it as a personal/hobby software.

As for the rest, well I'm not fond of lightwave, I didn't try versions past 9.x maybe it's better now but when I tried it was very rigid and not intuitive to use. And you've got autodesk products which are nice but for individual the price acts as deterrent.

I can't say for C4D, lots of people are using it these days but never used more than 5 minutes so I can't say.

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Which rumor do you mean?

I move to modo because of the inflexible and expansive license politics of autodesk, that's all. I still like softimage a lot. It's a very good piece of software.

If you've been following the recent events then I would hold on to moving to modo. Lux have sold themselves to The Foundry, which have very terrible licensing schemes and high prices. After 701 the future, price and licensing scheme of modo is not clear.

I would stick with softimage and not upgrade for the rest of my life if you don't like AD policy, too. Its so advance only maya and houdini competes with it anyway. I'm sure it will take a decade before you know everything about it max out softimage capabilities. Or well consider what the OP is choosing. Lightwave for the price and generalist capabilites, C4d for broader financial opportunities and modern software capability.

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The main thing for me is, how I feel with a software. I'm with C4D since years. I was angry because they dropped their policy of modules. Then I tried Modo and Blender, made video tutorials.

And now I'm back to C4D because there I feel comfortable.

Modo and Blender are for sure great products and Blender even for free, but it's not the software for me.

So try the programs as demo. Make some tutorials and maybe a small project. Then decide.

C4D is rock solid and all major render engines are there as plugin.

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If you've been following the recent events then I would hold on to moving to modo. Lux have sold themselves to The Foundry, which have very terrible licensing schemes and high prices. After 701 the future, price and licensing scheme of modo is not clear.

I would stick with softimage and not upgrade for the rest of my life if you don't like AD policy, too. Its so advance only maya and houdini competes with it anyway. I'm sure it will take a decade before you know everything about it max out softimage capabilities. Or well consider what the OP is choosing. Lightwave for the price and generalist capabilites, C4d for broader financial opportunities and modern software capability.

While Lux was acquired, I don't think that is any reason to not purchase or use Modo. It's still a great piece of software for what it does, I only see good things coming out of Foundry/Lux. Price isn't in question, only the licensing. We always knew the price would go up, they have raised it with each build as new features were introduced. If someone didn't see that happening, then they haven't been paying attention. :)

As for licensing, that is the only place where I believe concerns should be placed. Foundry has a terrible licensing scheme, but you never know, it could change with Lux being on board. Only time will tell.

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