3d Animation Software

[pigworthy]

I have a project I'm going to have to do some 3d animation on. I've been looking at Blender (Free), Maya, and 3DS Max. Any experience out there with any of these. Which has the easist learn curve and such. Any help would be appreciated.

[juneau]

I have a project I'm going to have to do some 3d animation on. I've been looking at Blender (Free), Maya, and 3DS Max. Any experience out there with any of these. Which has the easist learn curve and such. Any help would be appreciated.

I don't have experience, but i know a lot of people use Maya.

[Trooper110]

Friend of mine in CA used Maya for projects for school, he was going for computer art/animation/modeling/etc. I know he said it's very powerful, as well as a pain at times. Not sure how easy it would be learning it on your own, his work with it was done in class. I remember looking at it for the heck of it and seem to recall that Maya was a tad on the expensive side....

Don't know about Blender or 3DS Max.

[Nomadicus]

Aside from money, the biggest factor one should consider is "who else am I going to exchange models with regularly?" I work on a game mod team and it can be a little frustrating when exchanging models between 3dsMax and Maya.

I use 3dsmax mainly because that is what most of the static meshes in Unreal Tournament are made from. After using it for a year now, I can say it is fantastic.

Maya is excellent as well. Blender is worth considering too.

Another question I would ask is what is your budget? Blender is free. 3dsmax and maya are north of $3,000.00 unless you are a student. For students, http://www.studica.com has Maya 2009 and 3dsMax 2010 are roughly $200 for 1 year each. Both come packaged with many extras so look at the details closely.

www.3dbuzz.com is an excellent site for training videos (there are others but I just stick with Buzz). I have their "Mastering 3dsMax Fundamentals" video. They have one for Maya as well. $100 and cannot be beat. Seriously excellent. If you want to animate, you have to get one or the other.

All three have a steep learning curve. Since I am basically self taught, 3dbuzz was a must for me.

I am working on designing my dream home for retirement. Here is a model I put together of the master bedroom so far. I love how how little time it took to put this together.

[pigworthy]

THANK YOU! That is very helpful. I'll check out the Buzz site, I've found Lynda.com also with tutorials.

[LadyBug]

You even helped me. My daughter is in a computer graphics class and needs something to "play" "work" with. Depends on the time of day if it's work or play. But that gives me some ideas on what to look for to help her out...