A list of programs conducive to the aspiring artist.

[Nekronom]

Hey all!

During my eleven years as a 3d artist, i've gone through many programs, made many mistakes, and learned quite a few different workflows for different things, from organic art, character art, environment art, and props. I've gone from using intersecting rectangles with planar uv mapping, to photo generated normals, and now i've graduated to a proper workflow, ready for the next generation, edge flow, baking maps, and understanding how light affects models using smoothing groups and spec maps.

So here I am to make an ever expanding list of tools that I have used and of course, there usage in the field.

So lets start with modeling utilities!

Modeling:

Autodesk 3ds max; one of the industry standards, used for a wide variety of things, blocking out meshes of all sorts, keyframe animation, etc. I would highly recommend this one (fanboy).

Trial link Here (download)

Autodesk Maya: Another industry standard, same uses as 3ds Max, workflows change between the programs, and its really a matter of choice between the two (ease of use vs utilities, etc).

Trial link Here (Download)

Blender: Quite the common tool for starting artists and modders, I personally, find it far too confusing, but once I set up the GUI and controls to my liking, I found it just as easy to use as 3ds Max, minus some practicality, its edge loop and retopo tools are however, phenomenal.

Download link Here (Download)

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Sculpting applications:

These are used for the generation of (very) high polygon models for baking textures, best when used on organic models, or to add a damage layer to hard surface. Far more practical than photo generated normal maps, since sculpting your model works with the original models vertex normals direction to generate new per-pixel normals, allowing to simulate a much higher polygon model (as well as surface detail. photo generated normals can be overlaid at a later time in the workflow to add to the surface detail).

Pixologic Zbrush: I've been using this app since its inception, watched, and felt it progress, it handles millions of polygons on screen at one (max 1.2mil on my old nvidia Geforce 6150 SE with no lag) It handles well, and the added usage of the Dynamesh, Zspheres, and Shadowbox tools make it my preferred sculpting app.

Download trial here (Download)

Autodesk Mudbox:

Another tool I used since its inception, I'm a big fan of its UI, the tools and customization handle phenomenally, but I always found it more difficult to get a grasp on the planes and forms of objects, and because of that, my work suffered (Mudbox handles wonderfully however).

Download trial here (Download)

Blender:

Yes, here it is once more, the quickly growing, high learning curve, high power modeling app. I personally never got a handle on the sculpting part of Blender, but thats cause I could never figure out all the hotkeys (rotate, pan, etc). I have seen some phenomenal sculpts come out of it though.

(see modeling apps for download).

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Rendering:

Yes rendering, in realtime, for brahsome portfolio pimping. If you aspire to become an industry artist, these will become mandatory, simply put, the gamebryo engine will not suffice if you want to become a next gen artist (unless you are hellbent on working at bethsoft, and even than, there is no doubt in my mind they would love to see your ever so sexy art in an ever so sexy lit environment with all the maps necessary).

First off, for ease of use.

8Monkey Labs-Marmoset Realtime Toolbag:

This here is an absolutely wonderful tool, it features model import in quite a few file types, texture support in a multitude of environments (phong, anistropic, etc), cube mapped lighting, directional lighting, post-processing effects, ambient occlusion, dynamic shadows, and full customization. No shader setup necessary, just plug in your textures and feel awesome. My only complaint, is so far, I haven't seen my models retaining smoothing groups (which are a must for proper normal map shading) on import...

Trial download here (Download)

Unreal Development Kit:

Thats right, the ENGINE used on several AAA titles, at your fingertips, for what you say? Free? Yes, its free, its powerful, and sadly, its confusing (unless you have internet, than there are thousands of tutorials to answer your every question). This engine features full shader setup, shader support for you gfx gurus, and on top of all that sexy sexy HDR, if you've got the knowledge, the UDK can be used to make your own full fledged game!

Download link here (Download)

Cry-engine 3:

Good luck running this one guys (and gals) this engine is running the same tech that powers the rig killer, and all its children. Featuring realtime shadows, ambient occlusion, sub surface scattering, and just about any other shader that will blow your head off as well as your computer. If you've got a powerful rig, It comes highly recommended, but be careful what you wish for, the hyper realistic look can be difficult to achieve (which is good, post processing effects can only get you so far).

Download link here (Download)

Blender:

Again! Holy mother of Sithis! this thing just won't go away! Blender features a fully integrated game engine, and while not as powerful as the others listed, it can definitely get the job done if your low on processing power.

(see link above)

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Texture baking:

Texture baking is the process in which we (the artists) take immensely high polygon models, and force lighting information from it, onto our uv mapped game res model, creating a game ready "imitation" if you will.

Autodesk 3ds max: Quite a powerful baking tool, with access to scan line, Mental Ray, and Vray renderers, you can bake out quite the array of texture maps in varying sizes with the help of a cage to get a clean bake.

(see modeling apps for DL link).

Autodesk Maya: Indeed one of the most powerful baking tools out there, IF you know how to use it. I don't, so I can comment, but If your already comfortable with it, give it a try!

(See modeling apps for DL link).

Xnormal-Santiago Orgaz: By the Nine.....this utility....the biggest drawback of the other listed programs, is they have to render your model onscreen to bake it, which, when your model is composed of millions of polygons, it can result in massive slowdown, even crashes. Xnormal on the other hand, you never see your model, its a simple plug and click utility with a very well organized UI. It can bake anything from vertex colors, to dx11 tessellation displacement maps. Sadly, every once in a while, I'll start it up, bake something down, and it will just be absolutely AWFUL, and I honestly have no clue as to why, smoothing groups are set up correctly, etc. In that case, I just close and retry, usually fixes the problem.

Download link here (Download)

I'm done for now since I am at a starbucks, but i'll be back to add in texturing applications and misc stuff.

If you think I missed something, feel free to PM me and I'll add it to the list.

Edited March 10, 2012 by Nekronom

[donnato]

something I can grow into...not out of...thanks Nekro...

[_echo]

Zbrush is $700.

3DS Max is $3000 minimum.

Maya is about $6000.

Needless to say, we can take an accurate guess as to how most people obtain these programs.

There's a reason why I use Blender and GIMP, and its not because of ease of use.

[Nekronom]

Hey echo, this thread is not affiliated with piracy, nor do I condone it. All the programs I've linked to come with free or reduced price student packages as well as low income packages. I would like to keep this thread clean of any banneable subjects so it remains open to edit.

[ResolveThatChord]

I agree with both of you. Completely needless to say.

Nekronom, you may have heard of Crazybump; a (relatively) inexpensive program to generate normal, ambient occlusion, specular, and all manner of maps directly from diffuse textures and photos. I think it's price puts it well into the reach of modders an indie studios. I think it's functionality is covered by the programs you've already listed, but I've heard very positive thing about it's ease and speed of use. There's a free trial edition, which I unfortunately downloaded before I knew enough to use it effectively, but I found it a lot of fun to play around with!

[Meo]

Maya is more for character animation, thats mainly why autodesk acquired it in the first place.

[Vince]

I think this is a great thread! I hope eventually we can have a searchable, catagorized list of 3D related software here at TESA with comments from users.

I'll listed a few additional programs that may be of interest to others.

There are some additional options for modeling software, including Gmax, Softimage Mod Tool, and Modo.

Gmax is a trimmed down version of 3ds Max that includes the essential components for creating game content. It's free. Although is has no useful saveable formats, it can use the Niftools 3ds Max Nif exporter. See: gmax at TurboSquid

The Softimage Mod Tool is a free version of AutoDesk's Softimage 3D software for non-commercial use to create mods for games. See: SoftImage Mod Tool

Modo is a relatively new 3D software package created by ex-LightWave employees. It has grown over the past three years or so into an extremely powerful 3D suite that now rivals 3ds Max or Maya. It's not free, but is about a third of the cost of the AutoDesk programs at $1195 with a very user friendly licensing policy. See: Modo 601

Besides the familiar PhotoShop, GIMP, and Paint.Net 2D graphics programs, I've found the free vector graphics program Inkscape every useful. It's ideal for creating background images for use with your 3D modeling software and its .svg graphics can be directly imported into Blender as Bezier curves. For normal, AO, and other textures, besides xNormal (great), you should check out Shader Map Pro, Filter Forge, and nDO2.

Inkscape is great now, continually improving, has good documentation, and an active support community. You can see a coffee cup I created in Inkscape that looks 3D: Doughnut Anyone?. You can find out about Inkscape at: Inkscape

I tried CrazyBump and didn't think it was worth the price, so tried (then bought) Shader Map Pro. It's only $20 and provides a flexible way to generate normal, AO, and specular maps with a built-in graphics previewer. It can also combine normal maps. See: Shader Map

Filter Forge is an extremely powerful procedural texture generator. It is truly amazing what you can create with it. Although it lists for $399, it's often on sale at a significantly lower price ($199 today). You can use it as a plugin for PhotoShop or standalone. You can see some textures I created with it at: Rusty Metal and Rough Wood. See: Filter Forge 3.0

There used to be a unique and powerful free normal map editor/creator called nDo. AFAIK that's no longer available. However, there is now a commercial version, nDo2, that is even more powerful. It is not a replacement for xNormal, but a companion program. The non-commercial use version is $69 and does things that no other software does. See: nDO2

That's my core dump for the day. I hope others will join in and add further to what Nekronom has started.

[_echo]

Hey echo, this thread is not affiliated with piracy, nor do I condone it. All the programs I've linked to come with free or reduced price student packages as well as low income packages. I would like to keep this thread clean of any banneable subjects so it remains open to edit.

I wasn't condoning piracy either, simply pointing out the hefty price tag.

Where can one acquire these reduced priced packages? Student versions are limited to, well, students, so that option isn't open to everyone. If we are going to talk about these programs, why not about how to get them on the cheap as well?

[Nekronom]

Thanks all for contributing to the article!

@ResolveThatChord: thanks for dropping that by, I used to be all about crazybump before I learned to bake, than my trial ran out and I replaced it with nDo2.

@Vince: thanks for bringing those up, modo and lightwave have been eluding me for years and completely slipped my mind. Also thanks for bringing up nDO2, I personally think every artist should have a copy.

@Meo: Thanks for clarifying that mate, my buddy at Mana Studios swears by Maya, when I sat down to use it I just couldn't wrap my head around the GUI and gave up after a simple hardsurface study.

@_Echo: All these programs have 30day trials, those who are in college qualify for a huge discount, and I read somewhere that Autodesk supports a stimulus package for unemployed artists.

[syscrusher]

Todd Howard commented publicly recently (and I do not remember the venue, unfortunately) that Bethesda uses ZBrush for their high-poly sculpting work. Not an editorial comment, just added data.