[Closed] 3D modellers?

Based on here (Aerospace), if you can get skilled on Unigrapics (UG/NX) then you'll be raking the money in as a contractor

My wife is an a bafta winning and oscar nominated 3d rigger, lighter and team supervisor, she uses maya as does pretty much everybody else at that level. If you can't use Maya, you'll struggle to get work at any serious level at all.

Also using NX here. Not exactly cheap, or available in torrent form as far as I know. Presumably though it depends if you want it for making pretty pictures or creating engineering parts for analysis?

But obviously, if you're not looking at working in film or tv, the answer may be completely different.

When I was at PlayStation about 8 years ago, Maya was used for the games made at our studio (F1 being the biggest)

Sorry I forgot to explain my background is furniture and I have since worked in exhibition design and architecture. I'm not a aerospace or F1 engineer and if I were to move into animation I would probably use whatever pixar use (rendeman??)

I've worked in film, tv and now games for the last ten years. I'm fluent in 3ds max, maya and zbrush. As mentioned above mayas were it's at for tv and film work (also use it currently on ps3 and xbox360 development)

I'd pick either max or maya to learn, as there are a million tutorials on the web, they produce good results, and almost all post production houses and games companys use one or the other. Also copies are readily available on torrent

Depends ENTIRELY on the industry you want to work in, and then which area.

Take engineering.

Big car companies & aerospace tend to use Pro/E, CATIA, Unigraphics.

Small and medium sized companies tend to use SolidWorks or Inventor, some use Pro/E.

But again, this isn't hard and fast by any means, as it depends if you want to concentrate on surface modelling (i.e. complex surface shapes) or solid modelling (i.e. what most machine shops might create).

Airy fairy graphics-only people will use completely different software aimed at making 3d representations rendered on a 2D screen...

Pixar use their proprietary marionette software for modelling, as renderman although superb isn't actually a modelling package, it's purely for rendering finished models.

Depends what you want to do with it. If its animation and film work then this is pretty different to 3D modelling for say architecture, which is again pretty different to detailed engineering 3D drawings.

Do you use 3D modelling as just a tool to design with (i.e. you're a 3D designer) or are you more of a 3D CAD jockey?

Maya here. Computer games development.

Cinema 4D is getting fairly common and is way cheaper to buy than 3D Max. I know a couple of 'really good' freelance Cinema designers charging daily rates in excess of £400 and they are always busy.

Strata 3D CX is a good design tool, pretty cheap to buy although not as popular, polished or as versatile in the long run as Cinema or 3D Max.

Whichever, its going to take you a while to get really good at it and you'll certainly have to put the hours in.

Do you use 3D modelling as just a tool to design with (i.e. you're a 3D designer) or are you more of a 3D CAD jockey?

Well, whilst I am a designer, my role is fast being dictated by salesmen so lets say jockey for the case of argument.

99% sure I want to work in furniture, but will happily work in interior/architecture for the right company. Don't want or have the ability to engineer anything more complicated than a chair, so no airbus suspension please.

The games studio I work at switched from Max to Maya a few years ago – the artists still grumble about it on occasion, but the animators prefer it by far.

Okay seem like maya is the one so I'll have a look, is it windows only or Macintosh compatible? Available on torrent? My friends are in thailand at the mo so could possibly get me something there as they have more fake software than pirate bay. How much is it to buy proper copy. thanks for the advice.

Do you need to create engineering drawings?

I use ironcad for engineering type drawings. One of the companies I worked for wanted to step up to from 2D autocad 3D modelling and asked me to sort the software. Did a bit of research and found that Ironcad is one of the few companies that offer a free 1 month trial. Had a play with it then threw myself in at the deep end and once through the learning curve found it really easy to use. Its also a lot cheaper than Inventor etc. Loads of online demo's on youtube to have a look at as well.

Do you need to create engineering drawings?

Not currently but I have done in the past up to a point where I hand over/discuss with a maker the finer construction details.

We use our own software to build models and translate to anything needed. For presenting these models I generally use [url= http://blender.org ]Blender[/url]. Great price!
[img] http://www.offsetservices.co.uk/images/stories/pages/projects/seria-4.jpg [/img][img] http://www.offsetservices.co.uk/images/stories/pages/projects/agarta1.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.offsetservices.co.uk/images/stories/pages/projects/seria-4.jpg [/img][img] http://www.offsetservices.co.uk/images/stories/pages/projects/agarta1.jp g"/> [/img]

SolidAir, blender looks great and great price but I have never seen it on job adverts which is really the important bit. You design tanks? 😀

I use Rhino - easy to learn and use - if you use a mac - there's a full featured free download. I use it to design jewellery and then have it cast from the 3d models.

I know a couple of 'really good' freelance Cinema designers charging daily rates in excess of £400 and they are always busy.

Jesus, just done the math that's a great deal of money. Where do I sign up? I thought cinema 4D was more of a lighting program or has it been expanded?

Are there any 3D modeling forums worth asking? Yeah I have used rhino a bit and it was nice enough to use. Great materials.

Autodesk forums can be good for...well autodesk software ! but a lot of opinions on other packages too so may be worth a shout.

Also have a looky at this Autodesk Labs site
http://labs.autodesk.com/

They are moving into a lot of 'cloud'(?) type apps where you just work in a web browser.

I still don't fully understand what you're looking for, maybe there's something there that fits the bill.

Has anyone moved into illustation from an engineering background?

I am working as an engineer at the moment using solidworks.

Is it an easy enough transition or is it more arty?

Hi,

I've been a 3d modelling/rendering specialist in the architectural industry for 6 years now.

Contrary to what you say, and it may not be obvious, there are in effect some industry standards.

Architectural Visualisation = 3ds Max.
Games + Film = Maya.
Engineering = AutoCAD 3D (although there are many very specialised 3d packages for the various engineering industries.)

You do get companies using other programs, or say, using Maya within Architecture, but as a rule stick to the above.

Traditionally 3ds Max has tended towards the more technical and maya towards the organic, and most companies still hold with that, although in reality both programs perform perfectly well.

You can download the latest versions of Max and Maya as a trial copy from the Autodesk website, if you like either enough then obviously I would have to recomend buying it properly! (ahem, if however you can't afford the 3 million pounds these packages now cost they can be downloaded from most good torrent sites!)

Try them out and get a feel for which you prefer, they are all great and it's a great job if you can find work. GO FOR IT!

Oh in Inventor now you just pick 'illustration' under 'render settings' and it does it for you 😉

Dunno though, I assume you're arty enough? Do you want to do 2D or 3D illustration?

All these games designers here ... WOW.

Get and rewrite Sensible Soccer (SWOS) with online play.

NOW... 😉

edit: and a bloody good mtb singletrack racing game, like those star wars speed bikes on endor.

p.s. if you want to get a feel for CG work in general have a look at

www.cgsociety.org

If your interested in CG for Architecture specifically then have a look at

www.cgarchitect.com

That should get you started.

I still don't fully understand what you're looking for, maybe there's something there that fits the bill.

Thats why I'm asking, if i wanted to edit photos I'd instantly head to Ps or say I wanted to layout a page then In would be the tool, but there does not appear to be an industry standard 3D modeling tool. I shall look at maya and solid works more closely.

Has anyone moved into illustation from an engineering background?

I am working as an engineer at the moment using solidworks.

Is it an easy enough transition or is it more arty?

Well with software you can be taught anything given time and repetition. Arriving at concepts can be a great deal harder in some ways, when I was studying everyone in my class ****ed at least one brief through either mental block or ill conceived concept. Saying that there is nothing to say you can't be good at it, give it a try this weekend set yourself a small brief.

For engineering I'd probably go for SolidWorks as it's a bit cheaper and more widely used than ProE. It will allow you to create drawings fairly easily and is a lot simpler to get to grips with. AutoCad Inventor looks nice, but I don't think it's as widespread as the others.

[url= http://www.productdesignforums.com/index.php?s=4a66657b53290e24d0233069ace67051&showforum=25 ]This forum[/url] has some pretty good information on product design, they mostly seem to recommend Rhino or Solidworks.

Thanks by the way, very good response I'm surprised by the amount of people doing this type of thing.

We use Inventor. Very easy to use, even for a luddite like me. You'd probably struggle to design the curves on a car with it though, (well I would anyway). I reckon I could probably design a pretty good Flinstones car. 🙂
I think its more for mechanical/electrical Engineering design as it integrates with FEA/CFD packages quite well, Catia, Solid-Works, ProE pretty much the same thing.

As said, if you want big-bucks the car mfrs packages are the ones to go for...IdeaS, etc. If your an arty type go for rendering stuff for media/tv/films etc. Got to be way more interesting than modelling bits for nuclear power stations. 🙂

Delcam Power Solution?

I see what you mean now tails but there is no standard 3D software for all industries. There are standard packages within each industry though.

Yes if you want the big cash go for car design software.
Of my 2 mates who studied Catia & Alias, one is travelling round S America after a year unemployed, and the other just jacked in contracting for a while to do a season in Morzine. Absolute * * ing ***stewards!

Got to be way more interesting than modelling bits for nuclear power stations.

saw an ad for an engineer at warrington, no good then?

So, could I pay you to 3D model my house then I could change the colours of the walls and floor coverings, and see what they look like?

I use CATIA which you could prob get as a torrent. If you get all the plug ins it is pretty powerful and can do any number of things. A lot of car companies use it but UG is also a popular choice. The difference between them isnt too huge though and if you can understand the prinicples of working in and thinking in 3D then you can prob pick them up quite quick.

Double post oooops

So, could I pay you to 3D model my house then I could change the colours of the walls and floor coverings, and see what they look like?

is this aimed at me, I certainly could do that in sketchup if you sent across the floor plans. Although have never worked freelance so am unaware of day/hour rate.

I work as a design engineer, and we use Solidworks. I've also been using it at the last 2 places of work, and at uni before that on a product design course. Basically, solidworks does a bit of everything, animation, rendering (it recently became much better at this with their addition called photoworks), engineering drawings, FEA, natural curvy shapes etc etc. And the great thing is that with every release, they usually add plenty of new feaures, constantly striving for a single peice of software that covers everything, trying to become that 'industry standard'. Admittedly at the moment it's not the best at every area of 3d work, but I'd say it's a good bet, and certainly a great one to learn (it's easy to learn too).

I used to work in furniture design, and we used Solidworks for our 3D design, which allowed us to get accurate models/drawings for injection moulding, die-casting, fabrication. We would then export the models to 3D studio for office walkthroughs, tender publications etc.

It all depends how in-depth your design is getting, or if you just want to render images of the furniture / buildings (and let an engineer sort out the details...). All of the architects we ever worked with were strictly 2D Autocad users.

In my experience, Solidworks was the easiest of the 3D packages that I've ever used, but it probably helps if you're a bit 'engineering' minded.

I work as a design engineer, and we use Solidworks. I've also been using it at the last 2 places of work, and at uni before that on a product design course. Basically, solidworks does a bit of everything, animation, rendering (it recently became much better at this with their addition called photoworks), engineering drawings, FEA, natural curvy shapes etc etc. And the great thing is that with every release, they usually add plenty of new feaures, constantly striving for a single peice of software that covers everything, trying to become that 'industry standard'. Admittedly at the moment it's not the best at every area of 3d work, but I'd say it's a good bet, and certainly a great one to learn (it's easy to learn too).

I would agree that it is more accesible than a lot of the other more heavyweight offering without taking too much away from the actual program itself. The only issue it that it is essentially a light weight version of CATIA but the cost doesn't really reflect this as you are only paying another 1-2k more for a CATIA license

That CATIA looks very powerful, but i can't say I want to design cars and I imagine that is the most competitive design field out there. I have never seen CATIA used in furniture design.

I am a Product Designer / Engineer and have been using Solidworks for the past 9 (god is it that long) years. If you don't want to do detailed engineering and are more interested in creating beatifully shaped surfaces then don't bother looking at Solidworks / Pro-E / Inventor. They are great packages but restrict your creativity a little when it comes to organic shapes.

I have been toying with the idea of buying a seat of "Autodesk Alias Design" it looks really powerful. Especially like the idea of using it with a wacom tablet to colour in my 3d models. It appears to be a bit like a cross between 3ds max and illustrator/photoshop.

I also use hypershot to render up my designs. Can make a model look sexy very quickly and really impresses my clients. Has helped me win a few jobs just because I can turn them round so quick.

The image below was modelled in Solidworks and rendered in hypershot. Modelling work 1-2hours, hypershot materials work 30mins plus 30mins to do a 3megapixel render.
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If it is just prospecting for jobs and you want to do engineering related stuff then learn solidworks.
If you want to pick up more furniture work off your own back then get skilled up in something that will help you attract new clients.
If you want to do film work then maya is a must.

chrisad3d that luxrender looks cool I'll have a look at that tomorrow at work.

So, could I pay you to 3D model my house then I could change the colours of the walls and floor coverings, and see what they look like?

This is walk in the park really,ive been a dedicated environment artist for 6 out of the 10 years ive been working professionally - i create/re-created exact 3dmodels from concept sketchs or real life everyday.
In fact a few years ago i did this exact thing for my parents as a favour, i added a proposed extension,altered the interior and even visualised a more mature garden so they could have a better idea what the house would look like when the plants grew in 🙂

Tails, i may get slated for this but I have a copy of cinema 4d r11 I can burn onto a disc for you if interested?
I'm also trying to learn for the same reason as you.

ohhhh! That'll be great chameleon, my email is Ands43 @ hotmail.com

Hey tails, I work as a character modeller in the games industry and teach modelling in Maya part-time at the local Uni. I'm going to stick my neck out and say that without the [url= http://draster.com/nex-1.5/ ]NEX plugin by digital raster[/url] (or lots of custom written scripts), maya is exceptionally weak as a modelling package. I'd really only consider Maya if you are a competent scripter or work with programmers, or like doing repetitive simple tasks over and over :P. 3DS Max is better straight out of the box for modelling and has the added strength of the modifier stack which can be useful for layering modelling operations non-destructively. It has recently just integrated the polyboost modelling tools which are fantastic. Both programs are bloated though and need some serious changes, and if you learn one of them, you will be able to pick the other one up in a matter of days if another job requires that specific package. Most of the packages share the same fundamentals.

I'd personally have a look at [url= http://www.luxology.com/modo/tour/ ]Modo[/url]. Relatively new program that benefits from not having old legacy code. Extremely nice for hard surface modelling and is cheaper than Max and Maya. Using that in combination with Zbrush for organics and you won't go far wrong. I use Maya daily at the studio I work at and do my own work on Max at home. Have done for many years. Many maya users migrate to Modo or [url= http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13571168 ]XSi[/url] in my experience. Hope this helps.

So, could I pay you to 3D model my house then I could change the colours of the walls and floor coverings, and see what they look like?

There are actually quite a few home design programs (IMSI Floorplan 3D, Punch, several others that I can't remember right now) that you can use for this, that will be cheaper and perhaps easier to use than a full CAD modeller.

I've worked in retail interiors and exhibition design for a long time and have never heard of anyone using maya. Industry programs are along the lines of 3d studio, Cinema 4d, form z, Vectorworks. No furniture design company is going to want to pay you much for renderings as there is not much money in it. Anything architectural tends to be 3d studio as it fits better with auto cad that most architects use. Lots of interior practices use vectorworks and render stuff in something like cinema 4d. Programs like solid works are for product designers and are more than is required for your area. No interior/ exhibition/ furniture consultancy is going to pay for a solid works or catia seat.

No interior/ exhibition/ furniture consultancy is going to pay for a solid works or catia seat.

well thats bull right there as I know people working in furniture using solidworks, whether the software is legal is another question, as my ex employer had fake autoCAD which I understand for single/home users but employers should be buying seats. Thanks for the info in regards to the other programs, I certainly need to do more research.

I just saw above after I posted that someone else was using solidworks in furniture design, although more for manufacture than visuals. Your not going to go far wrong learning studio max as a starting point as has been mentioned by quite a few people. If you want to freelance you are always going to need to know several packages. You really need to decide what area you want to work in and also if you want to be a jockey or just use modeling as a design tool in conjuntion with other skills. In the long term I'm sure more consultancies will be outsourcing visualising overseas and it will be designers with a wide range of skills including 3d modeling that will get work.

Lots of interior practices use vectorworks and render stuff in something like cinema 4d.

ajc - I shouldn't care, since I don't really work in this sector any more, but in your opinion why would vectorworks users not use renderworks for renders rather than exporting to a separate package like cinema4d?

Porterclough - Even the recent versions of renderworks have been horribly slow, clunky and produce poor results compared to packages like c4d or studio max. It is very common to use a different render package to modeling even when the modeler may have an integrated render engine. A product designer friend uses solidwork and then exports to c4d to render for the same reason. Often for simple images its not worth exporting but for a large retail or aircraft interior for example a dedicated render package will do a better job.

First can I say thanks for the great response. i'm going to do a few of these trials and see how i get along possibly doing a few online tutorials that I'm sure are available.

You really need to decide what area you want to work in and also if you want to be a jockey or just use modeling as a design tool in conjuntion with other skills.

It is an awkward question as I really enjoy furniture/product design and much prefer smaller scale, but if the cash is in being a jockey then I'm happy to keep designing furniture as a hobby, whilst working with whatever pays.