how good can the graphics get?

Question

i am trying to make animation movies online and make them into dvd's. one girl told me to buy good animation programs. how good would the graphics be if i do that?

on 3dtotal.com, you can make movies right?

Answer 1

the more light work, polygons and texture layers your animation has, the more life like they can be.

here's my favorite on the realism level
http://www.3dcharacters.de/bilder/projects/pictures/images/character/Holgi.jpg

made by these folks
http://www.3dcharacters.de/html/Robert%20Kuczera%20Images.htm

check out the "free stuff" gallery
http://www.3dtotal.com/

this is blender. Its FREE. I haven't used much of it, but it looks like it has mucho potential for being free
http://www.blender.org/
http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/gallery/images/
price 0$

daz offers studio for free its nice, but you need to get some upgraded models to start pushing the limit
http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/software/studio/-/?
price 0$

they also make carrera. I've played with it, but its kinda awkward
http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/software/carrara/-/?
price 600$ I think

3d max is the industry standard
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=5659302&siteID=123112
price 1500$ I think

apperantly they just bought their competitor Maya
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7635018
maya is very nice for animation, difficult and expensive though
3000$ last time I looked

also look into "rendering systems" to do some fantastic lighting work.
price varies.
brazil r/s and vue are some I've heard of.

once you get the software you like, the ULTIMATE KEY is to have a few computers in a network configuration with a host server running microsoft advanced server 2000. Then install the 3d system on all of them so that when you work on a project, all the computers help each other at once. Making the process much quicker.

the more light work and polygons your animation has, or the more realistic it looks, the more math the computers need to do which can grealty slow down the process, with out the help of the other computers.

good luck

Answer 2

Hi. Thought I could throw in my two cents. If you are in fact a student you can get 3DSmax or Maya at a greatly reduced price from Journeyed.com. If not then you can finance or use credit to buy a license for the software. As was mentioned before Autodesk acquired Alias, the makers of Maya. 3DS Max is heavily used in the gaming industry to create real time assets for usage in game engines. Maya is used mostly for film or VFX houses for more high end projects. I believe both incorporate Mental Ray renderer which you would use to produce the high res renders of your projects.

I cannot speak for Max, but I know Maya has a very well rounded toolset to accomplish everything you would need to produce CG animations. It has a decent modeling toolset...rigging (skeletal setup), texturing (UV layout) and a pretty decent animation toolset (keyframe animation). You will have to acquire another software such as Apple's Shake, Final Cut or After Effects to comp together the renders into Quicktime movies to be burned to DVD.

If you want to start learning I know Maya offers a free version of their software called Maya PLE (Personal Learning Edition)...it watermarks the renders, but has full functionality otherwise. Once you feel comfortable using it you could purchase a license...it is mainly meant to allow people to learn the software. Tutorials are a good source of information to learn something quick in any software.

Answer 3

If you had some helpers and bought the proper software and hardware, then you'd get results like Spiderman 3. Do you have any idea of your budget? Over £500,000 or less than £500,000 per movie?

Answer 4

Incredible 3D Animation Software - http://3dAnimationCartoons.com/?fPoF