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Maya would probably be what you want. As far as similarity, Maya is closer to 3DS MAX then Lightwave. I personally couldn't stand Maya's interface and went with Modo for modeling and LightWave for rendering/animation.

Give both the Maya PLE and Modo demo a try and see how you like them.

I'd check out blender. It doesn't quite match your criteria of "non-free", but if it meets your needs, it's always nice to not need to pay. It is very professional level, which is surprising given the fact that it is free.

Cinema 4D is quite close to 3D Studio Max, but has a much more modern and thought of interface. Maya is a dinosaur factory.. (and overkill?)

edit: all the 3D renders on my site are from Cinema 4D btw.

Last edited by pirloui (2005-12-05 1:47 am)

Mymac4ever wrote:

I like Strata3D

I second the Strata series of 3d tools - but if you can figure out Maya - theres the way to go.

Seriously, how many of you who recomend maya have actually used it for real?

Maybe Robocop could enlighten on the use of the software.. like pictoral or technical; ie...

Thanks for all the responses.

As for what I'll be using it for, it could be anything. Work, non-work, animation, still image, whatever. It won't be any kind of technical stuff like blueprints or part design, though.

Maybe even some special effects down the road.

I'll probably give all of these programs a try. At least, as many as I can. I'll deffinetly check out Maya and Cinema 4D.

I did try Blender, but I'll have to try that on a computer that isn't an iMac G3 and deffinetly isn't at home, haha. Then I'll be able to see if that's good enough.... though the interface is a bit confusing, but I guess they all are in the beginning.

I found Lightwave 3D on a G5 at work. It seems to be two seperate programs... is one for modeling and one for animation?

Last edited by RoboCop001 (2005-12-05 10:49 pm)

I tried Lightwave today. It's version 8 if that matters.

Where do I find the equivelant of 3DSM's "extended primitives"?

Also... I want to make a ring shape. I mean like a cylinder but with a hole in it.

I found "Disc", but after I make one I have no idea how to add more segments or change it in any way.

Yeah, I did look around. I'm not completely lazy, heh. But seriously, I just couldn't find this stuff.

Last edited by RoboCop001 (2005-12-06 10:38 pm)

I downloaded the Maya PLE. It's not bad, though I still haven't figured out how to customize the toolbars, if that's even possible. I need access to camera controls like rotate, truck, etc... but every time I want to change the angle, I have to go into a menu on the view port.

The only other thing is related to modifying a shape, but I don't think that's too hard to figure out.

I downloaded the Cinema 4D demo. I got around with that pretty quickly, but it's almost useless because it doesn't allow you to save anything.

I'll check out Modo next.



Does anyone know how I can create a tube in Lightwave 3D? I can't find that under primitives and I don't know where else to look. I haven't found anything.

Last edited by RoboCop001 (2005-12-07 7:44 pm)

avkills wrote:

To make a toroid (a donut).  You need to load some plug-ins. Click on the Modeler button and select plug-ins -> add plug-ins.  Find and add all the ones under Modeling.  You should have all sorts of fun new primatives. (plug-ins may not come with the demo ??? )

Just use the disk tool to create a single circle poly, then use the Lathe tool to turn it into a toroid.

But seriously try modo.

Is FormZ still around? I remember it was a bitch to learn but once you got it down it was fantastically organized.

I haven't used it in years, or had need for it. I don't even know if they're still on the Mac or still around.

For ease of use though Strata has it. You can drop into that program pretty quickly and it has a solid feature set.

I never used Maya. By the time it came to Mac I wasn't learning 3D anymore.

RoboCop001 wrote:

Using two shapes to make one shape in Lightwave is kind of tedious. Can you even modify it after? I mean if you need to make the hole bigger or smaller, do you have to make a new cylinder to cut the new hole?

No, just select the verts or polys that make up the "inward" facing portion and then use "h" to bring up the sizing tool and scale them inward or outward.

I miss Mechanisto.