Anyone into 3D art?

[Silent_minstrel]

If so, what prog d'you use? Personally I use Bryce 5, Poser 4 (not very often), and Wings 3d...... Right now, I'm just hoping that someone out there knows what I'm talking about, otherwise I'm going to sound really stupid.

 

[pegatha]

I think I know what you're talking about. I've played around with 3D Studio Max just a little, but you're not talking about animation, are you? Are you talking about using a 3D program to create print (still/single frame) works of art? Or am I the one who's sounding stupid?

 

[Silent_minstrel]

Precisely. I mean, animation is possible, and a lot of artists (most of which are far better at it than me) do so, but I generally stick to stills. 3DS Max, huh? Great modeling program, from what I hear. I'm not sure how it works, though. Do you just use presets to do boolean operations, or do you tweak polygons like in Wings? (smack me if you don't know what I'm talking about)

 

[pegatha]

Nahhh, I only smack in self-defense . I'm not sure how presets work, so I asked my daughter about it. She has a lot more experience with Max than I do. She says that "preset" isn't a term she or her instructors use, so she's not sure if it's an option in Max. Basically in the latest version of Max, you create two objects, designate one as a Boolean, and then join the other with whatever Boolean operator you selected. I hope that's clear. Up till now I've been more of a Photoshop artist (but with drawings, not photos), though I'm hoping to do more 3D soon. I've never tried Wings or the others you mention. Which do you like best, and why?

 

[Silent_minstrel]

Booleans seem to work the same in all 3d progs...


Bryce is without question the best 3d prog I have ever used... that said, I've never used them all. But to me, Bryce is a great prog for the following reasons:

1. It's cheap. The latest version, Bryce 5, is less than $100. I think Vue is something like $600, and I can't remember what the others are.

2. Great GUI. The interface just can't be beat. I started out with Bryce 4, and I played around with it for a long time, figuring it out. Most of it was fairly easy, though of course I would have learned it all faster if I had read the manual or looked online for tutorials. Oh well. Live and learn.

3. There is always something new to learn! I mean, I can't even begin to list all the stuff that there is to learn still. High dynamic range imaging, global illumination... not to mention postwork. Actually I don't know diddly about Photoshop.. well, the basic stuff I know, but I have yet to learn how you can really improve an image with Photoshop.

Speaking of which, have you ever been to Renderosity? Wonderful place, that. I've been there for months now. It's got a Photoshop forum, free downloads, a marketplace... lots of goodies. And you can investigate more 3d stuff there if you want. Actually, I wish I'd known about it sooner. Would've saved me a lot of trouble

 

[Ants]

anyone got any work to show?

 

[pegatha]

Silent_minstrel, I checked out Renderosity. Wow, there's a lot there. I'll have to tell my daughter about it too. Bryce sounds pretty interesting, especially for the price. Max is, let's say, a major splurge, even with the student discount.

Ants, I've never done anything in 3D that's worth showing to anyone. How about you? Are you also an artist, and if so what software do you like?

 

[Multi-Elis]

My brother does 3D and programing for 3D programs (plug-ins) He uses Light-wave. I've played around with it a little, mostly playing with texturing and animation. I hope to learn to animate, I think that is what interests me most.
I have my brother's work to show:
http://mapage.noos.fr/samuelLK/
and here is a bit of abstract 3D art I tried to do... my brother did texture and lighting.

 

[Silent_minstrel]

I would post some of my images if I knew how...

 

[Multi-Elis]

When you post a post, go under the typing box, it will say "attach file" and "manage attachements" you go on that, a window should pop up it will give you the instructions to follow, and then once you've up loaded a picture, you just close that window.
Tip: Don't post pictures that are too big, some forum boards are set to certain limits of size.

 

[Androgs]

me!! I'm work with 3dsmax primarily. but still learn especially in texturing, lighting and animation.

 

[Silent_minstrel]

Here are some of my more recent images. All are done in Bryce 5, no postwork. Oh, and ignore the names of the first and last images. Few people ever look at these straight off of my comp. The names of the pics are Romance, Raging Light, Tower, and What Shall It Profit (respectively).

 

[Silent_minstrel]

Multi-Elis, your brother has, I must say, some very impressive images indeed. Ask him if he ever dabbles in Bryce.

As for your pic? Whew.... blow me down! Simple, yet complex. I can't figure out how you did that... And thanks for the forum hint. vbmenu_register("postmenu_8268041", true);

 

[Multi-Elis]

Silent_minstrel, I really like your work, especially the abstract stuff. I almost wonder where the inspiration comes from because I find that good structured abstract art on the computor is quite hard to make.


I know my brother doesn't use brice, but I'll ask him why he doesn't. He has in the past, given me his reasons for not using Maya for example.

As for my model, it was actually awork in progress. I wanted to use the computor to help me figure out how to do something complex. So I just started out with a shape, a cylinder, and cut out different shapes. Actually, that was the simpler part. Had I decided to continue with this project, I would have worked more on it. As it is, there is only one facade, the one you can see in the picture, that looks right. The other sides, don't look as good. What I needed to do is find a way, so that from each angle it looks good, looks like it was ment to see from that point of view. I was doing this project for a scenography class, and the professor didn't like my idea so I had to drop it.

 

[Multi-Elis]

I guess the reason my brother doesn't use bryce is because it doesn't suit his needs. According to him, bryce was constructed as a super easy to use 3D program that is best at creating fanatasy-feeling scenes... and he usually tries to do something different. Look on the forum CG Talk, you might find it interesting.

 

[cze_026]

When I saw 3D art in the subject, my mind just clicked on sculpture. 3D digital media didn't even enter my mind. I was all hyped to say sure, I work in 3D. I carve wood (when a good piece is available), model clay, and direct model in plaster and cement.

The digital stuff is pretty cool though. I just don't think I would enjoy working on it. I get to much of a thrill with the tactile nature of sculpting.

Cze

 

[Knights_cross]

iam into 3d art i use photoshop,and paintshop8 mostly but i have dabbled in a program called lightwave..ever heard of it..nice program expensive though

 

[Q-La]

Hi . I use max for visualization of interiors / architecture.

 

[Multi-Elis]

My brother's got a new website: http://www.Kvaalen.com
He's a Lightwave expert. Let me tell you, for the quality of the program, it is not that expensive. Compare with Maya.

 

[Word of Peace]

I do 3D modelling using 3D Canvas, and render using POV-Ray. I haven't yet mastered 3D modelling like I have with 2D vector art, but I hope I will in time. I find it to be more time-consuming and harder but in many ways more fulfilling than 2D art - especially when dealing with animation.