3D Character animation software ... any recommendations?

[indigotwilight]

I'm looking for a software package that will allow me to create people and animals, preferably in 3D. The option of being able to generate movies, similar in graphics style to 'Ice Age' and 'Madagascar', would be ideal.

Does anyone have any recommendations other than hardcoding java and C++?


Twilight
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Indigo Chronicles

[bowiegranap]

Graphics style is completely up to you, and is not affected by the software (at least, not the newer ones)

Maya and 3dsmax are among the industry standards.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7635018

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=5659302&siteID=123112

I have no experience with Maya, but I've heard several people complain on how hard it is to learn compared to 3dsmax. Then again, 3dsmax help is notoriously unhelpful.

Maya has a trial version, so you might want to try that first.

Zbrush is supposedly easy to use. And much cheaper.

http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/home/home.php

Zbrush has a trial version.

C4D has some nifty tools (bodypaint, for example, as texturing in 3dsmax can be like pulling teeth).

http://www.maxon.net/pages/dyn_files/dyn_htx/htx/welcome_e.html

Lightwave has a lot of enthusiasts and is supposedly easy to use.

http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/

[Squidman]

The studios that make movies like Ice Age and Madagascar create their own programs and jealously guard them. You can use the above mentioned programs to make 3D animation, just don't expect to get feature quality animation out of them.
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[bowiegranap]

[quote]The studios that make movies like Ice Age and Madagascar create their own programs and jealously guard them. You can use the above mentioned programs to make 3D animation, just don't expect to get feature quality animation out of them.[/quote]

Ice Age was made entirely on Maya. Pixar (Finding Nemo, Toy story, The Incredibles) and Square Enix (Spirits Within, Advent Children, the cutscenes from their games) also use Maya.

All said though, it isn't the software that makes the graphics, but the people behind them.

[Squidman]

I could see Ice Age being done in Maya because Blue Sky isn't a high-budget studio, and earlier Pixar or game cutscenes, but I'm kind of skeptical that current Pixar stuff would still be Maya. Dreamworks is all about revising and improving their software to better render difficult things like hair, and it's hard to see a Disney-related studio like Pixar letting themselves fall that far behind the competition.

I don't know this for fact, though, so you very well may be right. I would just be really surprised.
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[Kitzy]

There's a free one for beginners, but it's terribly primitive.

[url]http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html[/url]


I use it, due to the fact that free is all I can afford.
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[bowiegranap]

[quote]I could see Ice Age being done in Maya because Blue Sky isn't a high-budget studio, and earlier Pixar or game cutscenes, but I'm kind of skeptical that current Pixar stuff would still be Maya. Dreamworks is all about revising and improving their software to better render difficult things like hair, and it's hard to see a Disney-related studio like Pixar letting themselves fall that far behind the competition.

I don't know this for fact, though, so you very well may be right. I would just be really surprised.[/quote]

Dreamworks doesn't render their movies. Their modelling software is proprietary, but for rendering they hire HP, which uses Maya and SoftImage.

As for Maya and Pixar, they're in the business together. Unlike other companies which buy/hire software, Pixar and Maya develop software for each other.

http://renderman.pixar.com/products/tools/rfm_webinfopage.html


For the free stuff, there's Blender (mentioned above), anim8or (anim8or.com -- I use this), wings (wings3d.com), and metasequioa and hexagreat (no link, sorry). Aside from these, you're also going to need UVMapper (uvmapper.com -- the free version is enough).

[indigotwilight]

Thanks a lot for all this... Finally, Sadie can introduce herself to the televisual hypnotised...


[color=indigo]Twi[/color]
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I write what I deam - through my writing my dreams come true.
Indigo Chronicles