-- Posted by OzX at 11:53 pm on Dec. 19, 2004 what kind of rendering software is out there thats popular and good to use? does it take alot of cpu power...? because i have a silly celeron that struggles just to open up firefox (Edited by OzX at 12:54 am on Dec. 20, 2004) -- Posted by PiXiE at 12:50 am on Dec. 26, 2004 3D Studio Max is what I use at school. If your PC stuggles to open up Firefox, then I'm sorry but you have no hope of using this program. I also use Illustrator to make simplistic 3D designs. But rendering those seem to crash the computers more than 3DS does. -- Posted by NEGATIVE0 at 4:57 am on Dec. 26, 2004 I had brazil renderer for 3ds max :( But, it didn't work. -- Posted by sriehl at 11:33 pm on Dec. 28, 2004 Bryce 5 Animation Master 3D Studio Max Blender (open source, for all platforms) All of which will need a faster computer to run except Blender. (Edited by sriehl at 12:38 am on Dec. 29, 2004) -- Posted by Flammenmeer at 11:06 pm on Dec. 29, 2004 I used Bryce4 and 3dsmax R3 on a P2 233mhz system with 64MB RAM, and it wasn't that bad.  Sure, rendering times are a real whore, but I don't think all you want/need is the renderer.  You also need the 3d environment to create the 3d art, and that requires a good video card.  My primary system (laptop) has a P4 2.4GHz (desktop proc) and 512MB RAM, and it makes rendering times short, but dealing with complex scenes are a real bitch as I have a shoddy Radeon IGP345M.  When working in the 3d environment, the 3d is rendered by hardware.  When rendering the final product, it is done by software. -- Posted by sakurag at 10:02 am on Dec. 30, 2004 In all cases, I believe that 3D rendering is done by the hardware if it can be.  Software rendering is very slow. The main different between manipulating and the final product is the amount of detail.  ie, wireframe(fast), shading(slower), lighting(slower), textures(slower), etc, etc, etc. -- Posted by WigAOK9 at 3:14 am on Jan. 2, 2005 3D-Studio max and Maia are the most popular, industry standard programs Edit: Let me clarify: ^For video games. (Edited by WigAOK9 at 9:35 am on Jan. 2, 2005) -- Posted by sriehl at 8:55 am on Jan. 2, 2005 Animation Master is what is used for movies such as ToyStory.  It's great for 3d video creation. -- Posted by Flammenmeer at 9:33 am on Jan. 2, 2005 sakurag> Yes, software rendering is very slow.  That's why 3dsmax and other 3d programs take forever (depending on the complexity) to render an animation.  It is not uncommon for a single frame to take many hours. As well, many advanced features in 3d animation would take high-end video cards if they were to be hardware rendered, and it would be a pain purchasing video cards for the hundreds of computers in typical renderfarms.  Most renderfarm servers only have an integrated 8MB video card. Personally, I prefer 3dsmax as that is the only program I know, however, I'd like to learn Maya as it is supported on more platforms.  I'd like to be able to hijack my friend's dual G5 for network rendering ;).  IIRC, Animation:Master is used to create the lightsabres and gunblasts in StarWars. -- Posted by StTenSk8er at 3:22 am on Jan. 12, 2005 the only one i know is bryce and i dont care for it. -- Posted by PiXiE at 2:56 pm on Jan. 14, 2005 Quote: from sriehl at 9:55 am on Jan. 2, 2005 Animation Master is what is used for movies such as ToyStory.  It's great for 3d video creation. I've never heard of Animation Master.... Renderman is what Pixar is famous for. -- Posted by kogh at 7:01 pm on Jan. 16, 2005 MAYA 6 is awesome. it runs smoothly on my dated 800 MHz, so im good to go. if you're lookin for a free 3d modeller tho, go with wings3d. -- Posted by Flammenmeer at 8:31 pm on Jan. 16, 2005 RenderMan is just a renderer.  You don't do modelling, animation, etc w/ RenderMan. -- Posted by OzX at 10:37 pm on Jan. 19, 2005 i see.. thanks for the info peeps