Hi everyone. I have used 3ds Max for years but am now looking to change modeling software. Our company has decided to switch.

Does anyone have any good advice on what I should try? Both Lightwave and Maya look good. Maya Complete lacks some of the features of the upper version like cloth and fur though, so I don't know. I am budgeted to spend less than $2500, hopefully $2000 or less. We kind of want to stay away from Autodesk.

Do both export well to Gamestudio, or other indie engines like Torque or Dark Basic? Are there other modelers that I should be looking into?

I am primarily looking for modeling software to do game assets, so exporting to a variety of formats is a plus.

Anyone with some sage advice? I’d really appreciate the help.

softimage/avid xsi -> many exporters, popular among game developers and the modding community (half-life 2 etc)
newtek lightwave -> used for many films and tv series, 9.5 comes with decent exporters, takes some time to get used to, relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts
maxon cinema4d -> features the excellent bodypaint3d that makes texturing a pleasure, great GUI, easy to use

if you are looking for an excellent modelling software only, have a closer look at zBrush, modo and silo3d.

Thanks Broozar! I'll check those out.

Anyone else have some personal experience with modeling software?

Hi

I would go with modo, it rocks.

Maya is autodesk aswell so you better stay away from that aswell, and maya 2008 doens't lack Cloth/fur/hair.. Where do you base that information from :s?

Hi Enduriel,

According to their website Maya Unlimited comes with all the things you mentioned, but it is over my budget $5000. Maya Complete does not come with those and is $2000. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not totally against Maya, but I want some good reasons to get it.

Lightwave has fur / hair, physics and cloth-simulation included. Lightwave is a complete software for modeling, animation and rendering. It is very stable (especially compared to Autodesk products).

Maya is also a good software. The animation tool is told to be better than Lightwaves animation especially in terms of character animation. Both can do the same but Maya can be a bit faster in this area. In terms of modeling it is hard to say. Lightwave is very fast if you know how to use it. And the material editor of Lightwave is the best in the entire CG world.
The price of Lightwave is only a fraction of Maya.

Exporters are available for Lightwave. There are exporters for Gamestudio (from Greenbriar Studios), for Torque (David Wyand) and two exporters for Ogre. I have no idea about Dark Basic.
It can also export to FBX, Collada, obj and 3ds. There are plugins available for many other formats (e.g. X).
I don't know about the Maya exporters.

If you want to do pure modelling then Modo is indeed a very good option, more modern than Lightwave, 3DS and Maya.

maya because is a standard and really easy to use when you switch from 3ds max

I would suggest Silo + ZBrush (or 3D-Coat, a cheaper, but very good alternative)
Modo is very good as well, but a littel more expensive than Silo... personally i would recomment using a combination of various specific software packages over a huge all-incusive package. For example:
modelling >> Silo or Modo
topology painting >> Silo, Zbrush or 3D-Coat
uv-mapping and retopo >> 3D-Coat
exporting >> i would export to OBJ then use a cheap and proven method of reexporting through Unwrap3D, MilkShape3D or Fragmotion

The complete pipeline would cost considerably less tnah 2000$... and if you choose Silo over Modo the price drops even below 1000$

Animation is NOT included in this method (ofcourse you could animate with MilkShape or Fragmotion, but they're not the most complete solutions out there)

Lightwave + ZBrush + Bodypaint