Modeling programs...

I guess I would try you guys about modeling programs. I wanted to know what would be the best program at a low price. I want to model guns and player models. I've read some tuts and it doesn't look to difficult. Some modelers told me that they use 3D StudioMax for there modeling. You guys have a price or a place to download the program? Thanks.

For professional modeling programs we're talking in $1000's range.

3DSMax(discreet.com) $3500 (Student Version $500)

Maya(aliaswavefont.com) $5000 (PLE free)

XSI(SoftImage) not really sure.

Lightwave, not really sure either

Those are the main modeling programs.

Now for low-to-free

GMax(discreet.com)- Free Very low-end version of 3DSMax

Milkshape3D(http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/) -$25, more for file format conversion than modeling.

The Maya PLE currently can only be used to make content for the Unreal Tech engine.

GMax has a loop-hole in conjunction with Milkshape or 3D Explore(not the updated Deep Explorer) to produce content for just about any game, especially now that the .md3 normal export bug has been fixed.

www.psionic3d.co.uk Modelling Community

I've tried milkshape. The tutorials I read were really choppy. So I decided I was not going to use it. It wasn't just the tutorials fault that I stopped using it, I just didn't like it. I read a tutorial on modeling guns in 3DStudioMax, and it wasn't as hard as Milkshapes tuts. So thats why I was asking for a price or download link. But since it cost over $150 I don't think I am going to get it any time soon. You seem to know your stuff Edge Damodred, are you getting a degree in computer graphics design or what? BTW thanks for the info.

Erm, like with Photoshop, a lot of people have not-very-legal versions of 3DSM But piracy is bad m'kay, even if you don't think that they're losing as you'd never buy the full price version, you're still supporting Bad People... and apparently, according to an advert I saw before LOTR in the cinema the other day, "piracy supports terrorism"!

No, I'm getting a degree in Game Design at Full Sail and my former roommate just got his degree in Computer Animation. Between us, we pretty much knew what tool to use for what :biggrin: .

If you like 3DSMax, you should look into GMax, more games are directly using it and then there's the loop-hole for getting content to unsupported games. Discreet doesn't really care about the loop hole, it almost seems like they put it in there intentionally...

whispers KaZaa.... Maya 5 Unlimited.... hmmmm

But never forget, Piracy is wrong! :wink:

a good program is MilkShape... (you can crack it if you don't want to pay $25 :rolleyes: )

If you want to start modelling, start with Milkshape. It's cheap, and has a high learning curve.

When you really think you're good at it, look for something more expensive like Maya or 3DSmax (maybe by trying it at school ?).

I'll look into it at my school. (I don't think they offer it in High School Forceflow).

At least get something to prove that you are a student, then ... student card/license.

Milkshape cheap?

My highschool had 3DSMAX on all the Windows computers (5). . .

Yes, piracy is wrong, but what if you just want to try it out??

In that case go here: phazedll
That site has 3DMax 6.0 amongst a billion other programs [edit] for trial purposes of course[/edit]

I don't think stealling the program is good, but my theory is if its good enough, after you try it you'll probably buy it. Like the other day, I went out and payed for Hitman . . . I've had it ripped for about three years, I went out and bought it because I like the game that much.

Just buy 3d Max or whatever program when you have enough spending money, until then rips are your friend.

*Note: I buy most programs, unless they're from Microsoft, because I don't care if they have money or not, they're not getting any from me.

I use the free (cracked) Milkshape. It's pretty good I find. Thing with modelling I've found it's very much a work it out yourself thing unlike mapping.

Crono said:
*Note: I buy most programs, unless they're from Microsoft, because I don't care if they have money or not, they're not getting any from me.

why do you say that?

Why do you admit that you pirate software on this site? Dont ask, dont tell.

Also, I agree that charging students for 3d programs is a ridiculous business practice - people get used to the 3d app they use first and are more likely to use it if/when they become professionals, and thats where the real money is.

If, for example, discreet gave away 3d studio max to people on condition that they use it non-commercially, then basically all students would use it. Then 3 or 4 years down the road when those students are in game design/animation companies, discreet would have domination over the market.

Anyways, my copy is legal, and if your copy is illegal dont go around saying so or your liable to be banned. Word gets around in the internet ya know.

yyaarr matey... paying 5 gabillion dollars or euros for a bunch of 0's and 1's is just unreasonable... they only price it so high because of the demand of that certain market. major gaming companies dont care if it costs $30, or $200... but the average person does. im an average person, and an average pirate at that. if the cost was justified by the content, then i would gladly pay it. then again, i may just be seeking out excuses for my own wicked piracy over the years... YAARR

on a side note, (or an on-topic note), 3dsmax is my preference... and g-max is really nice for the common gamer-turned-modeler.

Mazemaster, I doubt if there are a hundred people on the Earth who actually paid for their Milkshape, this is nothing new. That's why its creator spends so much time making it crack-proof, and fails against my skills every single time.

Actually, just kidding, I don't even have it anymore. If you want to make player or weapon models, 3D Studio Max is a MUST. Any experienced modeler will spot a Milkshape creation from a mile away. However, Milkshape is extremely useful when you want to make a map model, save if you have a very complex model, one that would require skinmeshing or hitboxing - then you need 3DSM.

You know even if you get your hands on a copy of 3d max or any descreet software, and most other software, you still have to activate it.

So, until you do, it's the same as downloading it from their site as a 'evaluation' version!

The activation matter is something else completley.

I say that, Vader, for many reasons, none of which I will go into here.

I think piracy is tolerated by the big software companies, because it's either this or a lot of people not using the software at all. Since some people just can't pay for it, the money wont arrive at all. So It's preferable to have more users, even for free. The program would gain in popularity, testing etc...
It's like cable television; poor countries don't pay the full prize for cable TV, coz they can't afford it. Lots of people would pay the pirate 10$ per month to watch the coded channels, but no one would pay 100$ /month for the legal thing; they'd stick to watch local TV instead. So it's smarter to make a deal with the pirates; it is more profitable for the network company to have more viewers, even for less than 1/10th of the value (we must also substract the pirate's percentage) than not to have that big watching crowd at all.

I don't think it's tolerated at all; perhaps they don't really care about the occasional end user copying their friends' CD, but it's the pirates themselves that are the problem and who scam companies out of millions/billions/year...

w0t would be sweat would be like if Hammer had the option to export maps into models. Yeah.

You can - its called export to .dxf. .dxf can be read in most 3d modeling programs.

And nobody told me this? Might have a look see myslef for a modeling program. What the entity you use in hammer to display them?

monster_furniture and monster_generic can both be set to display models.

Now for one question: whats this about a bug in GMax allowing you to create HL models? Hardly piracy I think, as HL is on a long list of games that you can vote for for support in GMax, but how does it work? I've just got GMax which is working brilliantly and has some great tuts.

Well, GMax comes with a .md3 exporter. Export the model, you may have to use NFerno to rebuild the normals correctly, then bring it into Milkshape and select all faces and export to what ever format desired.

Yeah, this is the slight problem. Every time I use MS3D on my machine it crashes. Don't know why, it just does. I've followed every tut etc. What I meant was is there a DIRECT way to go straight from GMax to .mdl? Sorry, I just assumed that thats what people meant by the loophole!

Actually I forgot about this, there's an unofficial update to the md3 plugin that correctly exports the normals.

http://mojo.gmaxsupport.com/Sections/Plugins.html

Bewbies said:
yyaarr matey... paying 5 gabillion dollars or euros for a bunch of 0's and 1's is just unreasonable... they only price it so high because of the demand of that certain market. major gaming companies dont care if it costs $30, or $200... but the average person does. im an average person, and an average pirate at that. if the cost was justified by the content, then i would gladly pay it. then again, i may just be seeking out excuses for my own wicked piracy over the years... YAARR

on a side note, (or an on-topic note), 3dsmax is my preference... and g-max is really nice for the common gamer-turned-modeler.

Bewbies-

I don't think you are taking into account the millions of dollars which are spent on devloping these programs.... programmers don't come cheap. the high cost is most likly results form a lack of demand not the reverse. there are relativly few people in the world who want to buy 3d modeling software, so not only are their devlopment costs high, but they have to charge more per copy to recupe that cost due to the limmited market.