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I know this topic has been hashed and rehashed, but, what graphics program is good for "all things?" I'm leaning more toward Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Strata 3d, and Carrara. Are any of these good for "all things?" Which would I be wise investing my money in?
Thanks! Ace
------------------ Don't make me use uppercase!
None of them - there isn't one that can do good 2d and good 3d.
------------------ (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/~castiglione/catalyst/news.html")Catalyst(/url): A single beat of a butterfly's wing...
What about just for landing picts/spobs/nebulae? I've got Terragen, which is supposed to be excellent for landing picts. I'm leaning more toward Photoshop with LunarCell and SolarCell for the spobs and nebulae. Whatcha think?
Ace
I'm not familiar with "LunarCell" and "SolarCell," but Photoshop is the standard 2D graphics program out there. As for 3D, I'd suggest POVRay. It's free, and works very well with EV.
Matrix
------------------ "Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."
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Originally posted by what_is_the_matrix: **As for 3D, I'd suggest POVRay. It's free, and works very well with EV.
**
............. especially when you have Amapi as well.
------------------ NTi Ozymandias of the Red Shadow Organization
Originally posted by what_is_the_matrix: **I'm not familiar with "LunarCell" and "SolarCell," but Photoshop is the standard 2D graphics program out there. As for 3D, I'd suggest POVRay. It's free, and works very well with EV.
LunarCell is a plugin for Photoshop that alows you to make the planet images. ATMOS used it, so it's the one anybody wants to make planets with will use. Dunno what SolarCell is.
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Solar Cell does suns and solar flares like Lunar Cell does planets. It did the background behind the Raven in EVN.
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Anyone serious about graphics will get Photoshop. It's basically the foundation of computer images.
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Originally posted by CaptAceHarddrive: **I know this topic has been hashed and rehashed, but, what graphics program is good for "all things?" I'm leaning more toward Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Strata 3d, and Carrara. Are any of these good for "all things?" Which would I be wise investing my money in?
If you're anywhere near serious, you won't get Strata3D or Carrara. Strata3D is a good program with a solid interface, but you'll never be able to use it without crashing at least once (plus, it has problems with Photoshop Ā you can't have them both open at the same time). Carrara is less buggy than Strata, but the interface majorly sucks. Cinema 4D XL is the best 3D modeler I've ever seen, with plenty of power and little to no bugs, though its interface is a bit to hierarchical for beginners. If you're a student, you can get Cinema 4D for about $300 US Ā if you aren't a student, it about $1,500. Although, Infini-D might be OK. (Especially since you're bidding for it.)
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Granted I'm not an expert at this stuff... but everywhere I look, Photoshop is pronounced as the best 2d picture program while Lightwave 3d seems to be the gold mine for 3d projects. Lightwave might be "too" program oriented though for the tast of working on EVN but it makes for stunning visual effects... just look at Babylon 5, Space: Above & Beyond, Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager... all of wich used Lightwave in it's productions, infact Lightwave was exclusively used in Space:A&B; and Maya(?) was used along side Lightwave for B5. I'm probably running on thin ice here though, like I said, I'm no expert. I have no clue how much Lightwave goes for, but it wouldn't be too hard to find a more... "questionable" copy, though don't ask me where since I don't download large files... (darned 33.6k modem!)
Personally I have used Lightwave 7.5 and liked it, easy to understand and making nebula's is as easy as 10 clicks once the program is up and running. I haven't tried Photoshop yet but I have Paint Shop Pro 7 and I have to say... PSP 5 was alot friendlier.
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I've found Cinema 4D XL ver 7.0 at Creation Engine (academic discounter) for $295. Creation Engine also had Lightwave 3D ver 7.5 for $395. I've looked at other academic discounters and Creation Engine (www.creationengine.com) seems to have the best deals!
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(This message has been edited by CaptAceHarddrive (edited 05-22-2002).)
Originally posted by Maniac Angel Raptor: **Lightwave might be "too" program oriented though for the tast of working on EVN but it makes for stunning visual effects... **
??? Lightwave was what ATMOS used when creating all the ships in EVN! How could you say that it wouldnt be good for working on EVN?
Personally given the chance, I would get Lightwave. It is an immensely powerful program. In the right hands Cinema 4D is very good but I found it an incredibly hard program to use so I promptly sold my copy. I am currently saving for Lightwave.
At the moment I use Strata 3D 3.0.2 free. It has been for me, a great program. I found it easy to use, with all the features I required at the time, and even now. It is an easy program to start with, with good ships being able to be made after just a week or two.
None of the above programs however specialise in Landscapes, Spobs or whatever... For that a good alround program is Bryce 5 which can be yours for about Å159 (or $ equivalent). The best landscape generator I have seen however has to be Mojoworlds. It was made my the guy who created Bryce but the results are far, far more realistic.
Hope that helps, ewan
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This question is just like the last one you asked!
People are talking about Lightwave. That's fine. You can't leave Maya, or 3D Studio Max, or SoftImage XSI out of that. All of the major graphics firms out there (Pixar, ILM, PDI, etc) use all of them. Of course, they're all a lot more expensive than Strata or Carrara, but the reason for this is that they're all a heck of a lot more powerful than the other programs. Does that mean that you shouldn't use the other programs? No. If you're just a weekend modeler, you probably wouldn't want the tremendous animation power of the "larger" programs. If you're serious about 3D, then Lightwave, or Maya, or 3DSMax, or Soft might be the way to go. It's all about personal preference. I have a friend that took some Maya classes, and hated Soft. I like Soft, but I also like POVRay (which is free, and constantly pushed by me), and I like POVRay more than I do Infini-D. As for the prices of those software packages, they're majorly expensive. $1000-6000. Luckily, there are places like (url="http://"http://www.journeyed.com")www.journeyed.com(/url) that give student discounts that drop the prices to usually under $700 (for Maya, which is probably the most expensive of the list).
Those all sound like good programs. But what I'm looking for is something appropriate for the beginning (ship) animator/modeler using a mac.
Originally posted by CaptAceHarddrive: **Those all sound like good programs. But what I'm looking for is something appropriate for the beginning (ship) animator/modeler using a mac.
Then I would suggest Strata3D, as long as you're careful and you don't trip one of the many land-mines in its code.
Lightwave, Strata, Infini-D/Carrara, Amapi, Animation Master, POVRay, Maya <-- Not in any particular order. There are probably lots more, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind. If you're a beginning modeller, you might not want to spend money on the "big guns," so perhaps start with POVRay, Strata, or Infini-D, or Amapi, or Animation Master. If you're really really really really serious about going into 3D, then look into Lightwave or Maya.