my idea for a film......

Ok this may be off topic becxause it isn't scifi3d its general 3d. What it is is basically the back story of shrek, Shrek: Junior. it will explain where shrek came from, how fiona got her curse, how donkey became how to talk and how paws got his boots. That was why I have been asking around for old versions of poser and pixel programs (particles actually). I have started on a script but I just wanted to annonce it here, I also still need another poser program , I am saving up for particle Illusion and I need the 3d models of Donkey, Shrek, Fiona normal, Fiona Ogre, Paws and the old lady who looked after donkey. I will alter the models to be children. thanks for listening and helping me so far.

 

lol

Edit: Ok I edit my post because I think my answer is a bit rude, but it's true, I smiled when I read it.
When I began CG, I also though I could make great films with speaking characters and everything. Then I realised how wrong I was. First of all, you must forget Poser, you can't get anything good from it, without another real application like Max, lightwave...
Then this kind of project is almost impossible to make alone. Just to give you an idea, it took more than two years to Marco Spinotti to complete The Hunt (in scifi3D movie section). It's "only" five minutes long and have very few character animation (the most difficult part). And Marco is far from being a newbie. I don't say you might not become good at CG,but even the best artist couldn't do a long movie alone, even if he didn't have to model anything (that's what you hope I imagine). And you must know you'll never become very good if you plan to use bryce and poser. I'm sorry to be so direct. I know, it's the artist who make the difference, not the software, but poser and bryce are very limited applications. I would recommand Blender, which is free to begin. Then, try to get Max. I won't tell you to buy it, it would be stupid to buy such software without trying it.

So my only advice so far : save your money and don't buy poser if you want to make this kind of CG.

 

where can I get max. But poser is really easy and it looks really good. but I do have 3 others to help me.We are n00bs but we have learnt fast. we all use bryce and find it quite efficient.
Thanks for the input.

 

If you are students, I recommend each purchasing a student license of XSI4... http://www.journeyed.com/asp/search.asp

Learning a professional app, and having all the tools needed to do what you are wanting to attempt for $300 per person... you can't beat that with a stick.

As for Dr. Jones' comments, I concur. Bryce and Poser are not going to have the toolset to properly make a Shrek Fanfilm.

 

I agree with jones.. While in most of the big apps it matters more about the artist than the tool set of competing software of the same price bracket.. poser and bryce really dont offer the ability or tool set that something like max maya lightwave or xsi would.. they're basically not in the same league

Try bryce.. i've seen plenty of really good things come out of bryce, and as free apps go its very powerful.. Its also a better starting point to get into the comercial apps..

also XSI Maya and hudini all have free personal learning editions you can try.. which is a great idea.


stay away from poser and bryce.. they're evil evil programs

 

Also, the problem with bryce and poser is... Everything look so fake. Bryce: procedural skies and mirror water, very hard edge shadows. Poser: dummies, with not enough polies. Not enough detailed to look real, to detailed to look cartonny (except if you import your own model which means you already have a good app, with a good rendering engine, and already handle character modeling, so you won't waste you're time into poser, and rruine your work, with those joints problem (I've never seen a poser guy with a good looking shoulder when posed). Sorry again to be so direct and to screw all your dreams but I would feel guilty if you bought poser and I didn't try to hold you back.

And if you find a poser model you really want to use, you can still import it into other app with plugins to read obj file. And also, you'll never find the model you're looking for, sorry again.

Edit: Actually there are some good models for poser : DAZ models, but there are modeled in other software, and they are very expensive (while models at scifi3d looks good, and are free).

 

Gotta agree with the Doc on this one.. for someone just starting out in 3D, you're jumping in way over your head. I've been doing this for five years or so, and I wouldn't dream of doing anything like this on my own, or even with a few friends. I've got the tools, I just don't have the experience or skills to make it work.

 

Wow, well believe me, when I started 3D stuff I thought I was going to be able to do all kinds of cool stuff, but then I realized how hard it would be, and plus you have to battle the loss of interest you are going to experience when you get into the movie after about half a year, and the rendering times will discourage you, but throught all of that it will help you to learn everything and will help you for big projects like that.

 

Hate to burst your bubble doc but poser five looks amazing, it has real draping cloth real hair, and real good skin, but I get what ur all sayin.

EDIT: Where can I get free personel lerning edition of Maya? It looks really good and there is a tutorial in a magazine I bought on how to do hair.

 

i agree about poser, its so limited and doesnt do that much on its own...

i like the idea of a film like this, sounds really neat, but just be sure of how much work you're signing up for... actually, how long will this be? it could be the deciding factor on if you can pull it off or not. (in general, not you personally) good luck

 

Thaanks Djr33 your the first positive comment I've had so far.

 

I don't think your film idea itself is bad. Actually I love shrek and seeing a shrek fanfilm would be great... if it's well done. The bad idea is to think about it, while you don't have any software installed yet (yeah you have bryce, but it won't be enough as we said), that's all.

Yeah I must admit I haven't tryed poser 5, just used to play with poser 4, something like three years ago. I've just made a few search, and it's true, it looks better, seriously. But there is still the same problem: you can't model in poser, you have to import stuff from other application, or download stuffs on internet.

So, sorry if I say the same things twice, but my only advice if you really want to try your project: get one of those: 3ds max, lightwave, maya, softimage, cinema 4D, messiah, z-brush2 (which is great, but like poser, as an additionnal software). And try totorials, there are so many

 

Which is the cheapest out of the ones you listed? I am downloading the personel learning edition of maya but I can't use ity for my films which is annoying.

 

I think all of them are quiet chip (300 $ however) if you choose the student version. But problem of student version is limited in time or just limited in functions.
For full version I think the cheapest is Cinema 4D (doesn't mean it's bad, it's probably the more valuable), but can't tell you a price, i've no idea.

But, if I were you, I would keep using the learning version of maya, just to learn CG. Then, only when you're sure you're good at it, you could buy. Not necesarly Maya, once you can use one, you can flip to another quiet easy. I've learn with max, and still using it, and now, I'm trying to learn maya, and it's not so hard. It is just like max, but with a different interface: not hard to find something when you know what you're looking for.

And, there is still the warez way. I know, that's bad, I should tell it, but I wonder how many users are really registered, if you ask on CGTalk.
However, I don't see where is the problem to use a warez to learn. Just can't imagine someone buying such software without trying. Then of course, if you want ot become freelance professionnal, you would have to buy it...
Many guys who are pro today, working in big compagny, using, real, registered software, started this way
I'm still learning

 

Actually I reccomended XSI4 student version because for $300 you get exactly the same version as the commercial "Advanced" version with no limitations and no time limits.

XSI also has a free learning addition, it is version 3.5 and called Softimage EXP for Half-life 2. http://www.softimage.com

 

The student Learning Edition of Maya has a rendering watermark on the picture so it's not good for anything, I would download the 30 day trial of 3ds Max because it allows you to use the full program for 30 days. I would just use the Maya PLE if you want to check it out if you want to buy it.

 

I dont think anyone has said anything negative about your idea. I thin it is pretty cool myself, but it is a HUGE undertaking and given your experience you have a long road ahead. Even though I do not do any character animtaion, I would never use Poser for anything. The models dont look too bad, but are very fake looking. If you are looking to learn that kind of animation, better to go with one of the bigger boys that give you all the control you would ever want.

Maybe start with something a little smaller to get your feet wet on. The biggest obstacle is preserverance!

Good Luck!

 

thanks! I might actually do a like 2 minute clip of shrek or Monsters inc(but with a sully with no hair).

 

i hope you can do it but with bryce it will be tough if you need any help with the program i am pretty darn good at using the landscape feature.

 

I agree that if you can afford it you should go with the big guns. But if you have around $300 to spend why not go with a tool like Carrara Studio 3?

I know, I know. It's not mainstream. Many people don't know it exists. But it's capable. Check out Rustboy. Not all, but a good hunk of this is done in Carrara Studio. It has great animation capablities and you could do your modeling in Wings3D or Bryce, export to OBJ and import into Carrara. Texture and animate and you have no watermarks, time limitations, nothing. Full blown app. It's spline and vertex modelers are powerful, but hard to learn.

There is a good user group on Yahoo as well that has develpers and professionals supporting and answering questions.

I've been using Carrara for a few months now and have found it quite capable. It does have some limitations but for what you are talking about I think it would fit the bill nicely.

As an example, without knowing a single thing about IK I was able to model and animate this in about one afternoon of work : Robot Hello.

Downloadable Trial available as well...

Oh, and you can buy an old version (1 or 2) for under $30 on the web and then upgrade for only $189 I believe. That's what I did. Was only out $200 for a great app!

 

But again, if you are a student, you can get a complete version of XSI Advanced for $300ish with no feature limitations... you just can't use it to make a profit.

 

You make a strong point.

I'm not a student and really do hope to make some side cash here and there with logo designs, etc... But probably would not make enough in a year to purchase $9000 worth of XSI so that I could sell my stuff.

But it is tempting...

 

I have noticed that you can get a student version of 3DS max for £90 but it runs out in 2 years, but I can own it for 30 years before I am paying the full price.

 

Hey I just got this magazine with Carra 1.1 on the front and its quite good, I really like the particles cause bryce can't do particles.