Building a 3D Portfolio without Spending Thousands of Dollars on Software.
Autodesk Maya is the tool you learned to use while you were in school, but at $6000 for a license plus $600 / year for the subscription it's not affordable for folks that aren't working for a company.
Some of us have used 3DS Max and love it, but unless you have $4000 for a license and $600 / yr for a subscription, you are out of luck there too.
These are the tools that many companies use who can afford them, but...
These are the tools that many companies use who can afford them, but...
But these aren't the only choices. You may end up working for a company that may use any one of the huge list of 3D modelling tools listed on this page.
So what are you going to do?
- You need to build a portfolio of work that shows that you can use 3D tools.
- You need to show prospective employers that you know what you are doing in the complex world of 3D art.
- This means showing your chops for what you learned in school, and in those several internships that you did since then.
- And you need to show several skills like:
- Modelling of complex and interesting shapes. Both for high-detail models and for low-poly models for games.
- Rigging of bones for animation.
- Animation of the resulting models to show some simple animations.
- Rendering showing knowledge of lighting, shadows and maybe procedural shaders [the newest thing in the block]. More that just those fixed bump texture and bump maps, modern shaders are more complex.
- Get it all into a few minutes of a demo reel, probably uploaded to YouTube. The days of passing around a DVD are over... Way over. With it being easy to upload HD video to YouTube, this is the modern way to show off your work.
- It's easy to build a website.. See... Just like this and embed images and videos of your work here so folks can see your portfolio anywhere at any time on any device. Weebly offers that. They automatically create mobile versions of your site that work on tablets and phones, so that's not a problem at all.
Doesn't it show more expertise on your part to use several tools to build a portfolio?
Not just the tool you used in School, but others that you learned recently.
Doesn't this show that you are really an expert? That you can learn new tools to accomplish the problem.
That you really understand 3D art and the tools to do the job?
So maybe here's a solution.
Not just the tool you used in School, but others that you learned recently.
Doesn't this show that you are really an expert? That you can learn new tools to accomplish the problem.
That you really understand 3D art and the tools to do the job?
So maybe here's a solution.
Maybe Blender? It's free. But it has a few problems. At least the last time I used it:
- Blender is not like any of the other tools. Mostly you work in an isometric window rather than in 1,2 or 4 planar windows. It takes a lot of getting used to.
- Nobody uses Blender in commercial applications. That's not as big a problem as the first one.
- Not sure that Blender understands Bones, Rigging and Animation. You need those to show off what you can do in these areas.
Vue3D is a series of products that provide landscape editing and rendering including terrain, plants and realistic sunlight / night time lighting. I don't think these tools provide generalized mesh modelling, bones, rigging or animation however.
There is a Pioneer product for free, and the first level product Esprit is $200.
My guess is that Vue3D products are not suitable for your requirements.
There is a Pioneer product for free, and the first level product Esprit is $200.
My guess is that Vue3D products are not suitable for your requirements.
There are a number of tools from Daz3D. They are affordable tools designed for artists. And some of they apparently have the features that you require for your portfolio.
There is a huge community out there of artists building 3D art.
If you follow that link you may guess immediately that the focus of the art community is erotic and monster art. And you'd be right. But that doesn't make the tools any less interesting.
There is a huge community out there of artists building 3D art.
If you follow that link you may guess immediately that the focus of the art community is erotic and monster art. And you'd be right. But that doesn't make the tools any less interesting.
Some of the tools, like Bryce, are quite dated and do not contain the features that you need. Bryce is an older Landscape art and rendering tool. It lacks complex vertex modelling, bones and other features. It's only $20, but it's not suitable for your requirements.
The Daz tools - DazStudio at least - came from Poser, which was a human figure posing and rendering tool. It was designed to create one or more static human figures in a simple scene. The figures are very detailed, can be easily costumed, posed and lit. But not easily animated.
While Daz Studio is free. It's probably not what you need.
I used Poser quite extensively to make simple animations that I sold on Second Life. But it's only designed to animate human figures not general objects. You have little control over the geometry of the models. You just purchase models that are created by others and then modify them, dress them and render them. Usually as still images.
The Daz Studio business model is to provide inexpensive tools and a marketplace to build a community so that Daz and the artists can make money from the marketplace that the tools create.
A few folks build the complex human figure models. Many others build costumes, or props, or just poses using Daz Studio and then sell those piece parts to the larger community.
While Daz Studio is an interesting tool in many ways. I don't think it's suitable for building your portfolio.
Daz Studio is not designed to allow you to create your own meshes, or rig them with bones. The bones, and animations come with the models that are provided with Daz or purchased in the marketplace.
While Daz Studio is free. It's probably not what you need.
I used Poser quite extensively to make simple animations that I sold on Second Life. But it's only designed to animate human figures not general objects. You have little control over the geometry of the models. You just purchase models that are created by others and then modify them, dress them and render them. Usually as still images.
The Daz Studio business model is to provide inexpensive tools and a marketplace to build a community so that Daz and the artists can make money from the marketplace that the tools create.
A few folks build the complex human figure models. Many others build costumes, or props, or just poses using Daz Studio and then sell those piece parts to the larger community.
While Daz Studio is an interesting tool in many ways. I don't think it's suitable for building your portfolio.
Daz Studio is not designed to allow you to create your own meshes, or rig them with bones. The bones, and animations come with the models that are provided with Daz or purchased in the marketplace.
One of the interesting tools is hexagon. Hexagon is free, or there is a Pro version for $20.
Hexagon 2.5 is a modeling application that allows artists to create their own 3D objects from scratch using a freehand brush-style set of tools. These freehand brush modeling tools let artists sculpt 3D models by pulling, pushing, pinching, inflating and smoothing the geometry. The speed at which you can create a complete model is astounding. With support for graphics tablets, users can design their own creations with precision and flexibility. Through the new 3D paint and UV-mapping tools, users can quickly apply textures using brushes, imported textures or choose from a large choice of predefined textures.
With Hexagon you can...
Hexagon 2.5 is a modeling application that allows artists to create their own 3D objects from scratch using a freehand brush-style set of tools. These freehand brush modeling tools let artists sculpt 3D models by pulling, pushing, pinching, inflating and smoothing the geometry. The speed at which you can create a complete model is astounding. With support for graphics tablets, users can design their own creations with precision and flexibility. Through the new 3D paint and UV-mapping tools, users can quickly apply textures using brushes, imported textures or choose from a large choice of predefined textures.
With Hexagon you can...
- Design architectural objects
- Build organic objects
- Build and reuse your own 3D elements
- Combine your 3D elements into new creations
- Alter existing 3D models
- Create 3D text and logos
Another tool on the Daz site is Carrara. For as little as $285,
The Carrara Trial is hard to find. Here's a link.
I installed the trial and it works very nicely on my system. There is a full bone system and the IK is very stable. When I used RayDream years ago, the IK was not stable. It jerked around and was very twitchy. All that has been fixed. I made a long chain of objects and ran an IK chain through them and they were smooth and stable as I moved the target.
One of the advantages to software that is based on an older design is that it runs much faster on newer hardware like we have. Carrara blazes along on my system and I'm sure it will on yours too.
Carrara provides many of the features that we are discussing.
The Carrara Trial is hard to find. Here's a link.
I installed the trial and it works very nicely on my system. There is a full bone system and the IK is very stable. When I used RayDream years ago, the IK was not stable. It jerked around and was very twitchy. All that has been fixed. I made a long chain of objects and ran an IK chain through them and they were smooth and stable as I moved the target.
One of the advantages to software that is based on an older design is that it runs much faster on newer hardware like we have. Carrara blazes along on my system and I'm sure it will on yours too.
Carrara provides many of the features that we are discussing.
- NEW in PRO - 64-bit support for MAC and WIN OS - Work faster and smarter as you take full advantage of your computer's 64-bit hardware.
- NEW in Pro - Bullet Physics Library - Create and edit rigid and soft-bodies for realistic and exciting animations. Enjoy a robust particle system, collision detection and a remarkably fast rigid-body physics engine.
- NEW in Pro - Network Render Optimizations - Enjoy greater control over your render farm as you easily add and remove nodes via your master machine. Render frames or buckets as you choose for greater safeguarding against lost render data. Get GRID for even more power!
- NEW in Pro - Negative Lights and Photometrics - Now you can work with negative lights and photometrics (IES) for even greater control over your lighting.
- NEW in Pro - Editing of Posed Meshes - Now you can do important clean-up and detail work on your conforming objects while the model is posed or conformed so you can see the results as you work. Morph Creation allows you to utilize Carrara's great modeling tools to make your own custom morph targets and easily save them as a parameter slider within your existing figure.
- NEW Multi-Threading for MAC and WIN OS - Spread the load on your CPU intensive calculations.
- NEW Improved FBX and COLLADA Data Exchange - Take rigged and animated models straight into your favorite game engines, like UnityTM, and see how rich your experience can be with your own, or any of DAZ 3D's existing content options. Also, import from a variety of popular formats and/or export your work to and from other packages including LightWave, Adobe After Effects, 3DS, LWO, PSD, and more.
- NEW Plant & Vegetation Improvements - Add custom models and textures for unique leaves, flowers, fruit and more. You can also use a variety of different leaf objects per plant for natural variation.
- NEW Render Time Optimizations - Get more than 200%* improvement in performance when rendering complex scenes using your high-end MAC or Windows system.
- NEW God Rays and Barn Doors - Harness the creative force of god rays and the control of barn doors as you design superior lighting for your scenes. The Light Lab also features robust control over lighting direction, intensity, and tinting from one or more sources to ensure a more accurate production of real-world environments.
- NEW Normal Maps - View normal maps both in real-time display and at rendertime.
- NEW Puppeteer for Carrara - You asked for it, and you got it. Introducing Puppeteer for Carrara. This tool contains everything as seen in DAZ Studio and has been fully integrated for use with any Carrara animation project.
- 3D Paint and UV Editing/Unfolding - 3D Paint Tool that enables textures to be selected, edited and "painted" directly onto an object. Also a new UV Editor that shows a 3D view of the polygon mesh, a 2D display of the UV values on the polygon mesh vertices, and a set of tools to manipulate them.
- Rendering Options - Achieve a new level of realism in your scenes with Soft Shadows, Blurred Reflections, Blurred Transmission, True Ambient Lighting, Caustics, Global Illumination, Ambient Occlusion, HDRI, Motion Blur, Subsurface Scattering, Shadow Catch, Transparency with Absorption, Depth of Field, and more. And, with Multi-Pass Rendering you can retouch or edit images without having to re-render.
- Vertex and Symmetrical Modeling - Streamline the modeling process in both the "Modeling" and "Assembly" rooms. Ideal for creating and editing anything from characters to vehicles and more. This feature allows users to edit both sides of a symmetrical object at the same time.
- Figure Content LOD Support - Includes support for Content Figures that have multiple Levels of Detail (LOD).
- Non-Linear Animation Track Groups - Using Carrara for creating animations? This merge track tool will provide an improved interface to create groups of tracks then collapse or expand the tracks in those groups.
- Animation and Web Capabilities - Create Web animations, generate thumbnail images, preview them in storyboard format, and create virtual tours using QuickTime.
- Dynamic-Hair - With the Dynamic-Hair and fur modeling/simulation feature, you can paint, cut, brush and shade 3d-hair to bring your images to realistic life --- and do it with the greatest of ease.
- Image-Editing Tools - Import 2D images from a variety of formats, transform them into 3D objects, then incorporate them into your scenes.
- Landscape Creation and Presets with the Landscape Wizard - Quickly and easily produce remarkably realistic landscapes, impressive fantasy worlds, and other dynamic scenes. Also included are presets for terrains, waters, skies, rocks, clouds, fog, and more.
- Intuitive User Interface - Take advantage of handy palettes to create and edit objects, design scenes and render final images quickly and easily.
- Texture Editor - Easily import, create and edit texture presets, then save them as new textures for future use.
- Displacement Modeling - You can paint detail on a model with the greatest of ease --- using free-form brush tools --- almost as if you were modeling with clay.
- Ocean Primitive - Simulating the surface of the ocean, this feature can be used to create both still and animated oceans. You will be able to control the waves, plus the speed and direction of the wind.
So. My suggestion is that you get the trial versions of Carrara and Hexagon and see what they are like.
See if for less than $300 you can have the software you need to build a portfolio that shows your skills.
You don't have to spend the money until you know that they will work. And when you do, I'll bet the funding will be no problem. If you see what I mean.
I found a lot of Carrara Tutorials on the web. Here's some of what I found.
Wait, Wait. Here's "One More Thing"!
- dad
See if for less than $300 you can have the software you need to build a portfolio that shows your skills.
You don't have to spend the money until you know that they will work. And when you do, I'll bet the funding will be no problem. If you see what I mean.
I found a lot of Carrara Tutorials on the web. Here's some of what I found.
Wait, Wait. Here's "One More Thing"!
- dad