3d modeling on a mac

[71DubBugBug]

I think this is the correct forum to be asking this in.
Does anyone do any 3d modeling work on a mac?

Always wanted to try it out, and have been using a mac for years.

Any suggestions on programs? Or places to get a free demo to try it out?

[mzd]

yeah, this is probably the correct forum. there are a couple folks who work with 3D in here, not sure if they use Macs though. i did a lot of 3D in college, but it never made it into my career path so my use is pretty minimal now.
but to answer your question, Autodesk Maya is a fantastic 3D app and there is a Mac version and you can get a free copy if you are a student/educator. http://students.autodesk.com

[mavric_ac]

Hey man, I do freelance 3d work and it's all done primarily on Mac. I use Cinema4d with Vray as my render engine. What kind of stuff are you looking to do?

Here's a few renders I've done this year for fun. I wish I could show some of my work for my clients but they make me sign NDAs











http://www.maxon.net/
Cinema4d is very user friendly and has an easy to navigate UI.

[gizmopop]

I personally use Newtek's Lightwave, you can download the trial version here...

http://newtek.com/lightwave-downloads.html

It runs on practically every platform out there, it is pretty easy to use, and doesn't have a very steep learning curve to it. Object modeling is very robust and capable. It can handle the simple stuff like logo animations, to the more demanding projects like Character animation, dynamics, hair...etc. It also plays nice with other 3D software out there, Cinema 4D will usually imports objects and scenes directly, and Lightwave imports/exports objects to many formats.

It does however break from the standard interface you might be used to on a Mac (don't go in expecting the typical Photoshop/Illustrator UI)

[saaboo]

@mavric- excellent renders! Is the background pre-loaded in the software or did you insert it in Photoshop?

It's very convincing.

[mavric_ac]

@mavric- excellent renders! Is the background pre-loaded in the software or did you insert it in Photoshop?

It's very convincing.

Thanks, everything is 3d except for the last image on the left you can see some blurry stuff off in the distance. That is a photo that was comped in using PS.

Then used PS for colour adjustments and all that stuff

[GTIce]

i work on mac.. i prefer it now actually.. tons more stability than pc

[mavric_ac]

kickass real man

Did you do all aspect? Animation, modeling ect..?

[gnatman]

I think this is the correct forum to be asking this in.
Does anyone do any 3d modeling work on a mac?

Always wanted to try it out, and have been using a mac for years.

Any suggestions on programs? Or places to get a free demo to try it out?

Me i use maya 3ds max and zbrush

pm me and I can help ya out with a student version of maya or max

[GTIce]

kickass real man

Did you do all aspect? Animation, modeling ect..?

thanks dude! yeah, it's mostly everything. for the movie work I did it was modeling/texturing. but all of the other stuff is generalist work... i like it but the fact that there is no union or anything equals bad conditions for the workers in the industry. now i'm a designer in advertising but still do cg and editing from time to time.. it's still the work i have the most fun doing. i like your work as well; really impressive renders you've gotten with c4d.. vray is the ish

[C1tothe4B]

I'm a architecture student and I use archicad. It's really good program and the things you can do is limitless.

[turborave]

try Blender, its free..

http://www.blender.org/

or Cinema 4d, there are free 30day demos out there. its about $3k for the full package..

http://www.maxon.net/downloads/demo-version.html

Maya is a pretty standard program in the flim/effects field, you can get the 64 bit version as a demo for mac

http://usa.autodesk.com/maya/trial/



i personally use 3dsmax on a vmware fusion windows 7 virtual machine on my mac here at work.

[gnatman]

i personally use 3dsmax on a vmware fusion windows 7 virtual machine on my mac here at work.

I wonder if winebottler would work for you so you dont have to run a virtual machine

[Skeil]

What about Google Sketchup, have any of you ever tried using that?

[gnatman]

What about Google Sketchup, have any of you ever tried using that?

nope, though I can get someone in here who has. He freaking loved it..

[savphili]

nope, though I can get someone in here who has. He freaking loved it..

To the OP, I feel the program you use really depends on the industry/projects you are trying to build.

I used to work for a general contractor, they are a Design+Build company, meaning we would do all the design's (3D modeling & rendering) in house and then build it.

Throughout school and working at that firm I always used Google Sketchup Pro. I love it simply because of the ease of use. Honestly you can pick up the program in 1 hour and the cool think about it is that it is practically limitless in it's abilities (for the architecture/home remodeling industry) just because most of the stuff we were building wasn't too complex.

Another aspect that I loved about it was that you could purchase the VRay rendering plugin and just render your project right there.

Go here and download the trial, it gets pretty addicting. If you have any questions feel free to pm me as I probably won't be in this forum too often (only when people summon me!)

Good luck!

Some of my work:

[turborave]

I wonder if winebottler would work for you so you dont have to run a virtual machine

never heard of that, def will check it out, thanks!

[gnatman]

never heard of that, def will check it out, thanks!

no problem, it kinda makes an exe readable on a mac. its pretty cool if you ask me. Though I am new to it and am learning it. I have ETKA on my mac now

[UBER-GTI]

I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but I runn Bootcamp on my Mac to run SolidWorks. It is the ONLY software I used that has no native Mac version.

[UBER-GTI]

Hey man, I do freelance 3d work and it's all done primarily on Mac. I use Cinema4d with Vray as my render engine. What kind of stuff are you looking to do?

Here's a few renders I've done this year for fun. I wish I could show some of my work for my clients but they make me sign NDAs











http://www.maxon.net/
Cinema4d is very user friendly and has an easy to navigate UI.

AMAZING work!!!

[gnatman]

I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but I runn Bootcamp on my Mac to run SolidWorks. It is the ONLY software I used that has no native Mac version.

check out whine bottler
it will allow an exe to run on a mac without bootcamp

[UBER-GTI]

check out whine bottler
it will allow an exe to run on a mac without bootcamp

I think I tried that a while back with no avail. There was no SolidWorks support at the time. Don't know if that has changed.

[Chris_V]

Hey man, I do freelance 3d work and it's all done primarily on Mac. I use Cinema4d with Vray as my render engine. What kind of stuff are you looking to do?

Here's a few renders I've done this year for fun. I wish I could show some of my work for my clients but they make me sign NDAs


.

What are you using to build teh grass/plants and keep the poly count low enough for good performance? I had been using ArchVision RPC content, but they don't support LightWave 10, so I dont' have it anymore, and still want good photoreal plants and groundcover.

[mavric_ac]

What are you using to build teh grass/plants and keep the poly count low enough for good performance? I had been using ArchVision RPC content, but they don't support LightWave 10, so I dont' have it anymore, and still want good photoreal plants and groundcover.

Vray became available for Cinema4d a few years ago so now we can use proxies which are a lot like Intances but better and use up far less physical memory. The ground cover is from a company called Mentor HQ Plants

http://www.3dmentor.ru/

So I use that and then clone the proxies randomly all over of the ground surface. I'm not sure how that would work in Lightwave though since I don't think that you guys have Vray.

[Chris_V]

No, we have a built in renderer. RPC was similar, in that you could mass populate a scene with photoreal content with little or no overhead.

[mavric_ac]

No, we have a built in renderer. RPC was similar, in that you could mass populate a scene with photoreal content with little or no overhead.

I'm surprised you're using Lightwave.You do arch-viz stuff too right?

Seems like everyones using Max but I just can't get use to that ugly UI.lol

I'm really contemplating giving Modo a try out though, the latest version looks like it kicks ass and it's built in render seems to be pretty decent.

[Chris_V]

I'm surprised you're using Lightwave.You do arch-viz stuff too right?

Seems like everyones using Max but I just can't get use to that ugly UI.lol

I started with Lightwave back in '92 and just kept with it. The rendering and surfacing is MUCH cleaner and easier to use than Max. I have Max, but hate it. Still, I should probably use it more in order to get proficient in it, too.





Most of what I have to do is quick, 3 hour turnarounds on proposals for presentations, so I dont get a lot of time to do a lot of details.

[vr6gtispeed]

If you are a student with an EDU email, most all of the Autodesk software is free to downloadl.

http://students.autodesk.com/

A list of the free software.


AutoCAD
AutoCAD Architecture
AutoCAD Civil 3D
AutoCAD Electrical
AutoCAD for Mac
AutoCAD Map 3D
AutoCAD Mechanical
AutoCAD MEP
AutoCAD P and ID
AutoCAD Raster Design
AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite
AutoCAD Structural Detailing
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Autodesk Alias Automotive
Autodesk Alias Design
Autodesk Ecotect Analysis
Autodesk Green Building Studio
Autodesk Impression
Autodesk Inventor Professional
Autodesk Inventor Publisher
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Moldflow Adviser Advanced
Autodesk MotionBuilder
Autodesk Mudbox
Autodesk Navisworks Manage
Autodesk Quantity Takeoff
Autodesk Revit Architecture
Autodesk Revit Structure
Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional
Autodesk Showcase
Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics
Autodesk SketchBook Designer
Autodesk SketchBook Pro
Autodesk Smoke for Mac OS X
Autodesk Softimage

[vr6gtispeed]

What about Google Sketchup, have any of you ever tried using that?

I also use Google SketchUp. Here's a few models I drew for Google Earth.

My Google 3D Models


Here are a few models I did with AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max. Sorry for the large images.

[warrenW]

I'm a architecture student and I use archicad. It's really good program and the things you can do is limitless.

archicad? really?
interesting.

I'm an architecture student too and its all revit/autocad/3ds/rhino/maya/sketchup. vray also makes plugins for most of them as well.
the industry is all going to revit and has been autocad based for centuries. I find it interesting that they have you using archicad...