3D modeling software/hardware?

[kajnrig]

Hi all. Seeing the incredibly awesome stuff being done here (especially those M+ drone projects by Xigfrid and JasonC) has got me really wanting to try my hand at it, too. However, the only 3D modeling software I have is an old old oooooold copy of Turbo CAD.

What 3D software do you folks use, and what PC specs are recommended? My current desktop is nowhere near top of the range, but I hope that it's beefy enough to pass muster:

CPU - AMD Athlon X4 750k quad-core

GPU - AMD R7 260X, 2GB GDDR5

Memory - 8GB 1600

1 120GB SSD (~65GB free)

2 1TB HDD (~1.1TB free total)

[Xigfrid]

Thanks for the great words. Your computer specs are killing mine by a great amount. I use sketchup only, but I would love to move to more convenient software such as blender.

I am curious to learn more on which software would be recommend to you also

[Nazareno2012]

You could use Blender, a free and open source modeling software. it is available on GNU/Linux, Windows and Mac. I have used it on my GNU/Linux laptop with lower specs than yours, so surely it will work for you.

[electric indigo]

My past experience with Blender was overshadowed by the impression that the developers aimed at an interface with maximum incomprehensiveness.

[ChaoticYeti]

Hi all. Seeing the incredibly awesome stuff being done here (especially those M+ drone projects by Xigfrid and JasonC) has got me really wanting to try my hand at it, too. However, the only 3D modeling software I have is an old old oooooold copy of Turbo CAD.

What 3D software do you folks use, and what PC specs are recommended? My current desktop is nowhere near top of the range, but I hope that it's beefy enough to pass muster:

CPU - AMD Athlon X4 750k quad-core

GPU - AMD R7 260X, 2GB GDDR5

Memory - 8GB 1600

1 120GB SSD (~65GB free)

2 1TB HDD (~1.1TB free total)

What are your aspirations? What do you want to be able to do?

I mainly do architectural animations, medical animations, product design, motion graphics, video editing, blu ray authoring, and rapid prototyping among other things. For 3d I have been using Autodesk 3ds Max w/ vRay for about 15 years. Pertinent specs on main workstation are as follows:

Cpu: 980x @ 4.2ghz

Gpu: 3x 780 gtx

48 gb ram

various ssd'd, hd'd, and disc drives.

I haven't upgraded much in a few years, but I haven't needed to. If anything, looking at your list, I would say you may want more ram. Are you on Win 10? Also, how many monitors do you have?

Aside from my main workstation I also have a closet full of rendering nodes. Before I went contract, I was running all of our renders on 30+ dells in a render farm I built at my old office. Now, I render 5 times as fast on just 5 pc's. If you are just modeling for engineering/production purposes, a render farm is most likely irrelevant to you.

It is of my opinion that it does not matter which software you use. For the most part the basics are going to be the same or similar between the most notable packages. I have used maya, sketchup, blender, and cinema 4d. The biggest hang up I run into is that the UI is different. They do the same things, but tools may be called by a different name, and in a different location. You are building the same core skill set regardless of what you decide on. All of the popular 3d software's have active communities that are typically more than willing to help new users. Tutorials are everywhere.

That being said, Blender is free, open source, and although it may be clunky in places, it more or less has the exact same capabilities as the big dogs.

Edited February 12, 2016 by ChaoticYeti

[kajnrig]

Thanks for the suggestions, all. I'll give Blender a shot and do some reading and asking around other forums.

What are your aspirations? What do you want to be able to do?

...

Are you on Win 10? Also, how many monitors do you have?

1.) Mostly just what others here are doing (or what I've seen, at any rate): 3D modeling for the sake of rapid prototyping/printing. None of the high-end animation work that you're doing.

2.) Windows 7. I'm still debating between W7/W10/Ubuntu to put on my next computer build (which will hopefully happen sometime in the next six months, if I can get to it). I've read mixed reports on W10.

- W7 is most familiar, and there's no pressing need to update yet.

- W10 likely has better long-term support.

- Ubuntu is Ubuntu, and I know enough about it to get what I want working.

3.) Just one monitor. I had an extra, but no space for it, so ended up selling it.

[ChaoticYeti]

I know there are some issues with Win 10 now and some applications, but they are by in large minor compared to the long term benefits with going onto the most current os. Also, about monitors, I don't want to come across as elitist, but for any sort of computer work that requires a workflow, the task is only going to benefit from more desktop space, and/or higher resolutions. Once I had 2, I couldn't go back to 1. Once I had 3, I couldn't go back to 2. It is something to consider.

I just grabbed a screenshot of a recent project I was working on. Storyboard on the left, and After Effects on the right 2. It may seem premium, but it is a life saver for staying focused, and having everything on hand. If you are considering spending more money on components take a look at adding a second monitor, or upgrade your current one to a larger, higher res screen.

Speaking of just modeling, consider having your second display to show reference material, or tutorials for what you are currently working on.

Edited February 12, 2016 by ChaoticYeti

[Nazareno2012]

I recommend Ubuntu because it has good long-term support with the LTS versions, and is free and open source. If you want Blender out of the box then get Ubuntu Studio.

[kajnrig]

No worries, I get the advantages of multiple monitors. Like I said, the only reason I have the single monitor is because of space constraints. When I was at university and had access to the occasional multi-monitor setup (for an introductory Java class, I think), I really did enjoy the increased desktop space. (The novelty didn't hurt, either. I must have spent a good 10% of my time just messing with mousing windows back and forth and stretching them between and across screens.)

As for W10, I'm sure I'll switch over to it in due time. From what little I've done with it on my brother's computers, it feels decent enough. Better than 8, at any rate.

EDIT:

@Nazareno2012: I used to run a dual-boot W7/Ubuntu system back when. Once I update my PC, redoing that will probably be on my to-do list. Thanks for the Studio recommendation, will definitely check that out.

Edited February 12, 2016 by kajnrig

[GU-11]

Just my 2 cents' worth here. What with most if not all 3D modeling software being designed for 64-bit, there's really no such thing as too much RAM or cores on a processor.

Certain software don't really make use of higher-end hardware, though, such as Sketchup and Wings3D. No matter how powerful your GPU is, or how much RAM you have, things start to slow down after you reach a certain amount of polygonal density due to the software's own limitations. At 5000 polys, Sketchup models start to get all "jittery" when you move them. Blender and Wings3D can handle denser models (somewhere around 10k to 15k IIRC). ZBrush, though, remains stable at over 1 million polys, as it's designed that way.

If you're planning to do rendering on your computer, I suggest you max up your RAM capacity and/or get a graphics card with as much dedicated RAM as possible.

BTW, if you're into box modeling, I totally recommend Wings3D. All it took was a 3-minute intro video, and I was already getting the hang of it within a day. I'd like to recommend Blender, but it's not exactly the most user-friendly UI (nominated for understatement of the year). I do use it occasionally for specific work (retopology, refining low-poly meshes, etc.) but I do the vast majority of my hard surface and work in Wings3D and sculpt exclusively in ZBrush. Wings3D is also good for blocking out low poly base models, though.

I've been making do with a 5-year old laptop with 4GB of RAM and a Core i5 processor, since I hardly do any rendering work. I recently bought a Dell XPS 8900 (i7 processor, GPU with 4GB dedicated RAM, 16GB DDR4 RAM and 2 TB HDD) to make use of ZBrush 4R7's 64-bit version, and planning to do some illustration rendering (as in non-animated CG artwork) on Blender Cycles or Keyshot. Definitely under-powered compared to ChaosYeti's PC, but it'll do for a ZBrush > Keyshot/Cycles workflow for CG illustrations.

Hope this helps.

Edited February 13, 2016 by GU-11

[kajnrig]

Definitely under-powered compared to ChaosYeti's PC, but it'll do for a ZBrush > Keyshot/Cycles workflow for CG illustrations.

Hope this helps.

To be fair, I think a modest server farm would be underpowered compared to ChaosYeti's PC. Also thanks, that does help quite a bit. More to look into.

[Grayson72]

Hey kajnrig, so you don't mention how much experience you have with 3D modeling but I've done quite a bit of research in this area and played with a lot of tools. Unfortunately none of the tools I have found work in a logical easy user interface manner (it's like these software developers have never used PowerPoint to draw anything).

The absolutey easiest one to use by far for starting out is Tinkercad. I would suggest starting with this if you have zero experince in 3D modeling. Then move on to 123D design, both programs are free and are created by Autodesk, the makers of AutoCAD. 123D design has a slicker interface than Blender but a lot of the more advanced functionality in 123D design is buried whereas blender provides it all upfront which can be overwhelming. In addition Blender has a lot of functionality that is way above and beyond what you need for 3D modeling (such as creating 3D animation for games and film).

Shapways has a great review of a lot of these tools here:

http://www.shapeways.com/creator/tools?li=nav

Hope this helps

[GU-11]

To be fair, I think a modest server farm would be underpowered compared to ChaosYeti's PC.

LOL, true! TBH, quality animation does require the kind of hardware he's using. I've yet to do any CG rendering of my own yet (still polishing my sculpting and box modeling skills) but the tutorials I've watched kept talking about leaving the computer on overnight to complete a 100-pass CG image render. I can only imagine the kind of hardware it takes to render/animate CG visuals.

[ChaoticYeti]

LOL, true! TBH, quality animation does require the kind of hardware he's using. I've yet to do any CG rendering of my own yet (still polishing my sculpting and box modeling skills) but the tutorials I've watched kept talking about leaving the computer on overnight to complete a 100-pass CG image render. I can only imagine the kind of hardware it takes to render/animate CG visuals.

Longest single frame I have ever rendered took over 30 hours. It can get pretty time consuming.

[MechTech]

Isn't that a photo of the new Enterprise set up top? I'm in the same boat. I've been drawing 2D for years and it's time to move from sculpting by hand to going digital. Mistakes are cheaper and scaling is easier too! It's time to get with the 90's...I mean 2000's!- MT

[Rodavan]

I like CAD tools , model to dimensions and spec - Have a look at Rhino 3d , Solid Edge , Solid Works and FreeCAD( The Blender of CAD tools, free and open source )

[GU-11]

Longest single frame I have ever rendered took over 30 hours. It can get pretty time consuming.

WOW. I guess I should stop whining about how long 2D CGI takes to render.

I like CAD tools , model to dimensions and spec - Have a look at Rhino 3d , Solid Edge , Solid Works and FreeCAD( The Blender of CAD tools, free and open source )

I thought Autodesk discontinued FreeCAD. I think they have a newer version, but if I recall correctly, the new version one doesn't allow file saves.

[Rodavan]

Not an AutoDesk product go to http://www.freecadweb.org/ to see more - I have done some 3d prints from Freecad models, not bad , I prefer Rhino3D for NURBS modeling .

[GU-11]

Not an AutoDesk product go to http://www.freecadweb.org/ to see more - I have done some 3d prints from Freecad models, not bad , I prefer Rhino3D for NURBS modeling .

Thanks for the link! I must have been remembering a totally different freeware from AutoDesk.

The screenshots of FreeCAD's UI look a lot like Sketchup's, and hopefully just as intuitive. Definitely giving this a try.

[Chas]

This is very interesting:

http://toyland.gizmodo.com/mattel-is-making-a-300-3d-printing-toy-studio-for-kids-1759078152?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Toyland_twitter

[wmkjr]

Almost like Tinkerplay. In fact, I wonder if they just renamed it Thingmaker design and gave it some different features?

Edited February 18, 2016 by wmkjr

[Chas]

Apparently the Autodesk designed app if free to download and use and is available now. And the files work on any platform.

[MechTech]

I...errr...my children so want that 3D printer for Christmas! That is a cool idea. I'm going to look at Tinkerplay too. Most 3D software has such a steep learning curve it's annoying. - MT