what free/cheap modeling/animation systems to use for a low-production-value film ?
by Orion Elenzil · in Artist Corner · 03/31/2009 (2:16 pm) · 7 replies
i'm interested in making a low-production-value CG film,
with crude sets and even cruder 3D characters.
what is a good cheap/free system for character modeling, rigging, animation and rendering ?
blender obviously leaps to mind, but i value not being incarcerated for flying into a murderous spasm, so i'm wondering if maybe something like sketchup/milkshape/or something else would be good.
ooh, or perhaps true space, which is now free.
suggestions ?
tia,
orion
with crude sets and even cruder 3D characters.
what is a good cheap/free system for character modeling, rigging, animation and rendering ?
blender obviously leaps to mind, but i value not being incarcerated for flying into a murderous spasm, so i'm wondering if maybe something like sketchup/milkshape/or something else would be good.
ooh, or perhaps true space, which is now free.
suggestions ?
tia,
orion
About the author
#2
Dan
03/31/2009 (6:36 pm)
Blender. Hands Down. Yes, it has a brain-warping learning curve, but once you get used to it you will find it is right up there with the $$$ packages in terms of production workflow and features. I found that it took me about 3-days full time to learn to be productive with blender. It's just my opinion, but I've used them all and blender is on top in the free realm and close to the top overall. SketchUp is for prototyping and milkshape is for game avatars. Actually, exporting your stuff to TGE and building your movie in the game engine is an interesting option. That would be cool and original to boot. Plus the real-time aspect would give the film an edgy, gritty look.Dan
#3
that's high props for Blender; it's encouraging to hear that someone else who found the UI brain-warping at first was able to become productive with it. maybe i'll give it a look. out of curiosity, have you tried truespace ?
03/31/2009 (6:48 pm)
hey Dan, thanks for the feedback.that's high props for Blender; it's encouraging to hear that someone else who found the UI brain-warping at first was able to become productive with it. maybe i'll give it a look. out of curiosity, have you tried truespace ?
#4
Check out Houdini, there's a free version with pretty much all functions, including render engines and whatnot that you can use. It does watermark the renders, but you could pay up $99 and get the Indie version which doesn't have the same constraints nor watermark (Again, you can't use it for any pro or commercial work except for yout Torque projects.)
04/01/2009 (6:46 am)
Orion, are you going to make it for fun, or for profit?Check out Houdini, there's a free version with pretty much all functions, including render engines and whatnot that you can use. It does watermark the renders, but you could pay up $99 and get the Indie version which doesn't have the same constraints nor watermark (Again, you can't use it for any pro or commercial work except for yout Torque projects.)
#5
04/01/2009 (8:04 am)
thanks for the tip. Marcus. this is definitely just for fun, so Houdini might be an option; i'll check it out.
#6
www.nevercenter.com
04/01/2009 (8:09 am)
You may like Silo too. Currently, I model and UV in Silo. Then export to Houdini and rig-animate there.www.nevercenter.com
#7
It has all the standard stuff plus cloth and dynamics(not maya level, but still does the trick).
Unlike Blender, or Maya, A:M is spline based which is kind of like vector vs. bitmap when it comes to 3D. You do designs by creating their outlines instead of dealing with the polygons.
The reason by this should be a big deal for a game designer is that having designed a model, complete with blend shapes, in both Maya and Animation Master, my Maya model was 40MB compared to my A:M model that was 541KB!
There might be some importer issues for Torque, but you said that wasn't important.
Here's the site:
www.hash.com
I kind of wish I had found out about it BEFORE I went off to Animation School with it's $16K student loan.
Best of luck!
04/01/2009 (9:41 am)
You might want to look into Animation Master(A:M). It's $80 for a year subscription ($299 outright).It has all the standard stuff plus cloth and dynamics(not maya level, but still does the trick).
Unlike Blender, or Maya, A:M is spline based which is kind of like vector vs. bitmap when it comes to 3D. You do designs by creating their outlines instead of dealing with the polygons.
The reason by this should be a big deal for a game designer is that having designed a model, complete with blend shapes, in both Maya and Animation Master, my Maya model was 40MB compared to my A:M model that was 541KB!
There might be some importer issues for Torque, but you said that wasn't important.
Here's the site:
www.hash.com
I kind of wish I had found out about it BEFORE I went off to Animation School with it's $16K student loan.
Best of luck!
Associate Orion Elenzil
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