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All things considered, I bought it for $19.95, I think, several years ago and I pay my rent and feed my family with it so I can't complain one bit.
Are you concerned about the monetary investment or the time investment?
$-wise, you're looking at a $14 investment now. A fraction of the $200 I paid for mine ($100 for v1, $100 for v2). And Daz offers it for free every now and then.
Time investment is a bigger issue. While it is somewhat intuitive, it still has a steep learning curve. I still use it regularly now because (1) I own it, and (2) I know how to use it. But if I had to invest time learning a new program, I would choose one with a brighter future.
Are you concerned about the monetary investment or the time investment?
$-wise, you're looking at a $14 investment now. A fraction of the $200 I paid for mine ($100 for v1, $100 for v2). And Daz offers it for free every now and then.
Time investment is a bigger issue. While it is somewhat intuitive, it still has a steep learning curve. I still use it regularly now because (1) I own it, and (2) I know how to use it. But if I had to invest time learning a new program, I would choose one with a brighter future.
Time investment is my main issue.
If you asked that question 8 years ago, I definitely would have recommended Hexagon. Now, I would recommend Modo (if you have deep pockets) or Blender. The learning curve will be steeper with those than with Hexagon, but you're (almost) guaranteed years of feature development and support.
Now, you did not tell us what type of work you plan to do, as some programs handle some types of projects better than others. I'd also look at:
http://moi3d.com
http://www.punchcad.com/p-27-viacad-2d3d-v9.aspx
http://www.sketchup.com
I model whatever sells best on Turbosquid ;)
I really like the Pixeologic modlers ZBrush and the free Sculptris. Best subdivision modelers IMO. Must check out before pulling the purchase trigger.
Those programs are designed for sculpting very very high detail models. They are best used for modeling and texturing organic shapes. Way different from your typical 3d modeling software.
Those programs are designed for sculpting very very high detail models. They are best used for modeling and texturing organic shapes. Way different from your typical 3d modeling software.
Not sure what the subject is, however I assumed it to be a figure. For rendering in Poser or DAZ I want detail and consider subdivision modeling is essential for 3d figure design. My Forum AVATAR was made in CAD w/ No sub-d. Looks toy like and cannot be morphed or painted because polys are unevenly distributed. That's key property of DAZ/Poser figure mesh. Wikipedia describes the various 3d mesh modeling techniques well so the OP can better decide on the capabilities needed.
Extracted from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_modeling
"There are three popular ways to represent a model:
Polygonal modeling - Points in 3D space, called vertices, are connected by line segments to form a polygonal mesh. The vast majority of 3D models today are built as textured polygonal models, because they are flexible and because computers can render them so quickly. However, polygons are planar and can only approximate curved surfaces using many polygons.
Curve modeling - Surfaces are defined by curves, which are influenced by weighted control points. The curve follows (but does not necessarily interpolate) the points. Increasing the weight for a point will pull the curve closer to that point. Curve types include nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS), splines, patches and geometric primitives [poster adds: Engineers and product designers often apply NURBS surfaces to Poly Models to define surface properties and allow texturing with out affecting underlying volumetric 3d data to maintain CAD abilities.]
Digital sculpting - Still a fairly new method of modeling, 3D sculpting has become very popular in the few years it has been around.[citation needed] There are currently 3 types of digital sculpting: Displacement, which is the most widely used among applications at this moment, volumetric and dynamic tessellation. Displacement uses a dense model (often generated by Subdivision surfaces of a polygon control mesh) and stores new locations for the vertex positions through use of a 32bit image map that stores the adjusted locations. Volumetric which is based loosely on Voxels has similar capabilities as displacement but does not suffer from polygon stretching when there are not enough polygons in a region to achieve a deformation. Dynamic tesselation Is similar to Voxel but divides the surface using triangulation to maintain a smooth surface and allow finer details. These methods allow for very artistic exploration as the model will have a new topology created over it once the models form and possibly details have been sculpted. The new mesh will usually have the original high resolution mesh information transferred into displacement data or normal map data if for a game engine.
The modeling stage consists of shaping individual objects that are later used in the scene. There are a number of modeling techniques, including:
- constructive solid geometry
- implicit surfaces
- subdivision surfaces
Modeling can be performed by means of a dedicated program (e.g., Cinema 4D, form•Z, Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Lightwave, Modo, solidThinking) or an application component (Shaper, Lofter in 3DS Max) or some scene description language (as in POV-Ray). In some cases, there is no strict distinction between these phases; in such cases modeling is just part of the scene creation process (this is the case, for example, with Caligari trueSpace and Realsoft 3D).
Complex materials such as blowing sand, clouds, and liquid sprays are modeled with particle systems, and are a mass of 3D coordinates which have either points, polygons, texture splats, or sprites assigned to them."