Thread: Which Software Do You Use For 3D or 2D Graphics ?

Photoshop CS2 for 2D art and photo manipulation.
Blender 3D for 3D art and (in the future) animation.

Adobe CS2 and Flash 8

I use Photoshop CS3 for general 2D graphics and photo and i have just started using Maya for 3D animation/graphics, its hard to use but i'm still learning but luckily my brother is really good with it since he took a course.

Is there any good free software for 2d graphics out there?

Originally Posted by ^R^ed-$py

Im a bit new to computer graphic stuff . I wanted to know that what softwares do you guys use . As a beginer , im using FLASH and PHOTOSHOP . What about you ?

I use Adobe CS2 Illustrator and Photoshop.
Milkshape 3D is good for low polygon game modeling and its easy to use.
Softimage Xsi Mod Tool is also a great program. You can download both of on free trials at their websites.

Originally Posted by Lucid Seeker

I use Photoshop CS3 for general 2D graphics and photo and i have just started using Maya for 3D animation/graphics, its hard to use but i'm still learning but luckily my brother is really good with it since he took a course.

Ive heard that Pixar uses MAYA . And its very difficult to use . XSI is in the competition too .

Does anybody use 3D Studio MAX ?

Cinema 4D for 3D stuff. I've used 3D Studio Max, Daz & Poser, Strata, Maya

Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects...etc. etc. etc.

I mostly use CS2. Occasionally I'll use PSPX or Painter. I don't do any 3D work.

3D :

Terragen, Softimage XSI, Alias Maya, Some 3dMax, though that's for more low-res stuff and on my end of the industry it's all hi-resolution so we stick with XSI or Maya.

2.5D :

Zbrush

2D:

Apophysis ( I forget if that's how it's spelt, it's for fractals ), Adobe Photoshop CS3 ( I get all the CS' free ), Animated Gif 4.0 Producer ( for making GIF animations, usefull for forums and websites )

Then of course I have all my programs for composition such as Combustion, Flame, Inferno; my programs for video editing ( mostly Avid, Sony Vegas 7.0 ), and my audio programs for music. But you didn't ask for those, I just like to show that I'm knowledgeable and skilled in many media domains, if you need any help feel free to ask.

May I ask what is the industry you work in? I'm quite interested in this sort of stuff, so I'd like to see what options there are.
Thanks for any answers!

The industry is none other than Multi-Media Interaction, ranging from Movie Production to Video Game Developpement, it's a very big pipeline and a very friendly industry!

I'm currently working on my new demo reel for a Character Animator position at any of the local companies, such as to list a few:

Ubisoft
EA Games
Meteor Studios
BigBang Studios
Cine Groupe
Pop 6

Montreal has alot of places and this field specifically is blooming; and it's only going to get bigger. I love it.

There are many many options in this domain; it all depends where you want to start, games, movies, television, advertisement?

For games; you have multiple positions:

Concept Artist,
Environement Artist // Level Designer,
Character Modeler ( & often Texturer, though sometimes companies have their own departement for that, rarely though, usualy the modelers end up texturing as well ),
Programmer,
Lighter,
Rigger,
Animator,
Simulation department ( usualy involving physics or particles ),
Special FX,
And others.

Those positions often come back in the other areas of the multimedia industry; for example you'll find concept artists EVERYWHERE, as well as Animators and Modelers ( wich are the two most common, or rather most needed groups ).

Personally I'm just working and getting all the experience I can so that in a few years I can apply at Dreamworks or Pixar studios, wich would be truly a dream come true.

It all depends on what you prefer doing, I like it all; so I'm comfortable anywhere really.

What's your preference // what are you more familiar with ?

Well, I could say the same, that I like it all. But first I'd better get more educated, since you are dealing with a complete 16 year old "newbie" here. I'm definitely aiming in that direction though. After high school I'll continue my study in design and after that, who knows. I don't know how much choice I have here in eastern Europe, hopefully I'll be on my way somewhere else by that time. At the moment I'm slowly learning Maya as I was suggested.

how much better is CS3 photoshop then CS2? cuz i got two and blender, and i want something absolutley spectacular. I've also got blender, but its kind of screwed up.
Whats the best animation software out there?

I'd strongly suggest either Maya or XSI for animation, as they are the two most used, professionally, and for good reasons;
Animation is simple and very fun, I could elaborate but I'm quite busy right now...

I'll re-post later.

Frank

well it matter i gave u cs2 cause u wanted to do grafixs design not animation i can get u one or both of the software that he said if u want

i want them both

Can anyone in this thread direct me to some good STARTER tutorials for Blender? When I say starter I mean starter. All of the tutorials I've delved into online have gaps in them; the writers assume that the users have some basic experience with the program.

Originally Posted by goldney

Is there any good free software for 2d graphics out there?

I use The Gimp on Linux, also available for Windows and MacOSX.

And for 3D, Blender 3D.

The XSI Mod tool is also free and is fun to use! I'm still trying to learn some stuff from it...

Originally Posted by little nemo

Can anyone in this thread direct me to some good STARTER tutorials for Blender? When I say starter I mean starter. All of the tutorials I've delved into online have gaps in them; the writers assume that the users have some basic experience with the program.

This is the best one I've seen, so far.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro

At the moment i´m using Photoshop cs3 and Flash 8. In the future i want to learn using Cinema 4d or Blender 3d, what is the best?

As far as print / web / interactive goes. Adobe CS3 Premium Suite, QuarkXPress 7 (for backwards capability), VueScan, Linotype FontExplorer X and 3dxMax8. Of course I have lots of stuff I use for my music as well.

Originally Posted by goldney

Is there any good free software for 2d graphics out there?

I also recommend the gimp, it can't fill your professional needs but for digital artist it does the trick

Originally Posted by ^R^ed-$py

Does anybody use 3D Studio MAX ?

I do, but only because I do 3D as a hobby, professionals use MAYA as far as I understand. It's over my head.

Originally Posted by DeadDollKitty

how much better is CS3 photoshop then CS2? cuz i got two and blender, and i want something absolutley spectacular.

I always tell people Anything Else < Photoshop 7 < CS1 < CS2. All the steps between or not mentioned aren't worth an upgrade. If you have CS2, stick with it until they come out with CS4, you'll save yourself a lot of hassle. CS3 just didn't add enough to make it worth the upgrade. It was like the "Look we bought Macromedia! Nyah Nyah!" release.

Isnt Adobe Photoshop CS3 difficult to use than CS2 and CS ?