3-D Rendering Advice

This topic has 1 reply, 10 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 8 months ago by Michael Roy.

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November 13, 2009 at 9:08 am #172384

Oruchimaru
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The only firms that are moving to Maya are ones that do complete Modeling and Rendering. Also, all of the components in 3ds Max are in Maya. There is a reason AutoDesk makes both programs and the switch to Maya for more advanced firms makes sense. That is my personal opinion about Rhino. I don’t feel an any way that Rhino is at all comparable to 3ds Max in its capabilities. If you look at ANY 3d Modeling Magazine you are going to be hard pressed to find Rhino as the source for the Modeling. I am talking about any magazine you pull off the shelf today. Maya and 3ds Max are the majority with others coming in third and Rhino here and there.

Yet, Rhino is gaining some serious head way as or recent and is definitely a great modeling program. It’s main attractiveness is the T-Spline Like you mentioned. The difference is that one works with Nurbs and the other meshes. You can however create these same nurbs in 3ds max it is just more of a pain in the ass to do. For fabrication style work Rhino is by far a much more used program. For our discussion however I think both are great choices. Check out this side by side comparison for more info
http://designreform.net/2009/05/3ds-max-and-rhino-3d-side-by-side/

This is my opinion and by no means am I trying to solidify a fact.

November 14, 2009 at 1:07 am #172383

Ryland Fox
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The reason autodesk makes Max and Maya is because they bought them. The same way they bought softimage, ecotect etc…..

It doesn’t seem to me to be so much of a compatibility strategy but just becoming the largest modelling conglomerate.

Anyways, my experience is that Max is an awful modeler. But I don’t really think that the Max/Rhino comparison is a good one because they achieve different things. Max is form finding and visualisation. Rhino is for getting work done though it is fun too.

I will say that it seems like people in the rendering industry who have a basis in design tend to do do the modeling outside of max and then import it. Although right now I can only think of Peter Guthrie’s name.

November 14, 2009 at 2:53 am #172382

nca
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All that said, I think I’ve yet to meet someone that models as well as they design, or vice-versa. Pick your poison..

March 14, 2010 at 4:43 pm #172381

Ryan A. Waggoner
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I agree. I’ve found that it’s good to have a little understanding of many programs in this industry. If you want to be a designer, then it’s good to understand all of the techniques available. If you want to specialize, then by all means find the program that works best for you…obviously this is debatable which is superior in it’s own right.

I also believe, as stated by others earlier, that SketchUp is the best way to start out. It is by far the easiest to learn and begin playing around. Some then move on to more difficult to learn, but more powerful programs. Others have gone much more in-depth in SketchUp (Daniel Tal has a great book). SketchUp graphics aren’t nearly as good, unless you start playing with the different rendering engines available (we started a discussion about this a few months ago in the SketchUp forum). For modeling I began with SketchUp and moved onto 3ds Max, but now go back and forth depending on the project, timeline, graphics output, etc.

But Nick put it best in saying to make sure you focus on fundamentals. It’s easy once you start playing with any new technology to get caught up in the bells and whistles and forget about design basics. Many people make this mistake (including myself), so it’s good to constantly remind yourself of your design techniques and goals. But good luck in the search Kelli!
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