3DATS - Input Devices

[dpinning]

Do you use or recommend using tablets (Wacom etc...) for input with 3ds Max, SketchUp , Mudbox, Photoshop etc...or do you get by fine with a three wheel mouse?

[AJLynn]

Well, okay, first you really don't need so many threads to ask several questions, so I'll just answer a few here. I don't speak for 3DATS but from my own experience.

 

Input devices: Mice are for when you need to click, Wacom tablets are for when you need accurate recording of pen-type motions, such as brush strokes and burn/dodge or what have you in Photoshop.

 

Books: You don't necessarily need to go in order, though if you're a beginner I'd recommend starting with the beginner book. But if you're already comfortable with the material if covers, go to a more advanced book.

 

Sketchup: A lot of people find it quick to model in Sketchup. It's a matter of personal preference. I've done a number of projects by starting the model in Sketchup then bringing it to Max to finish the modeling and do the renders. I also know people who use Vray for Sketchup though I've never felt as comfortable with that as with Vray for Max.

 

Vray vs. mental ray: Again, personal preference. Both are very capable. There was a time when mental ray did not have the Arch&Design and Pro Materials, the sky system, Final Gather and other things we take for granted now - it was very powerful but difficult to use, especially for one person trying to do a job quickly, and was really meant for larger animation production environments where you'd have a team with a lot of expertise and people who could do things like shader programming. If you wanted reasonable ease of use and a quick workflow with advanced lighting and materials, you'd get a 3rd party plugin like finalRender, Brazil or Vray, and Vray emerged as the favorite for a large chunk of the arch vis community. So it's well supported by web site users and a lot of people have a lot of experience and make it do great things, and it gets a lot of use. You could do the same work in mental ray but the 3DATS writers chose to use Vray in that book.

[dpinning]

Hi Andrew,

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer (all) my questions. As a first time poster, I noticed the sticky regarding puting questions in their proper category (e.g. 3ds Max related questions in 3ds Max topic area etc...) so I didn't want to be out of line. As a totally green user who has downloaded some trial versions of software, I didn't want to reinvent the wheel, but would rather learn from the vast experience of veteran users and see what the (general) consensus was on modeling programs, renderers, input devices etc.

 

To follow up.

 

So the Wacom pen doesn't have buttons on the pen, nor a scroll wheel on the pen? If it does, it would seem preferable to me, but I catch your drift. I need to find someone who has one to see what it really is all about.

 

Sketchup - If I understand you correctly, you prefer to take models made in SketchUp and import into Max and use Vray within Max rather than using Vray and staying in SketchUp. Since it appears to versions of Vray would be needed if one wanted to render with it in both programs, SU into Max and then rendering with Vray reduces the need for two expensive programs.

 

Mental Ray - are you saying that it has evolved to be competitive with Vray in terms of features and ease of use versus previous versions and that if I were to buy a recent version of 3ds Max (2011 or 2012) I would be fine learning Mental Ray and there wouldn't be much to gain from purchasing another $1k+ program?

 

Thanks for your help Andrew,

Best,

David

[AJLynn]

These are all personal preference things. I never thought a Wacom was as useful for clicking on things as a mouse. Sketchup can be used as a modeler but you don't have to - it's fast for some things, mostly for rectilinear stuff and quick mockups that you want to move into a full render later, but a lot of modeling tasks are more suited to being done in Max. Vray and mental ray - I wouldn't call either more powerful than the other, the interfaces are different, each is a bit better for different things, but just choose the one that seems to fit the way you think better.

[Justin Hunt]

Using a Wacom with max is possible, although they can be too sensitive especially when using snaps. They work great with ZBrush and Mudbox.

 

Mentalray and Vray are very similar and concepts can be easily adapted between the two. Learn both in time, it wont hurt you but may give you a competitive edge over those who only know one. If budget is an issue, then start with mentalray, and once you get some coin move onto Vray.

 

jhv

[dpinning]

Thanks for you reply Justin. As I mentioned to Andrew, I really need to see a Wacom tablet to know what it is all about. I have been drawing by hand, and one of my side projects is illustrating a children's book. I have downloaded Sketchbook Pro to play with, so I assume that would be very much suited to a tablet. I'll go through the Wacom site to try and get the gist until I can find one somewhere to play with.

 

Yes, definetly trying to be frugal with the the coin. I certainley don't want to be too redundant. I also don't want to go spending down a road to realize, I should have gone down a different one. Trying to assess all of that before opening the checkbook.

 

While my background is landscape architecture/architecture, my interest in children's books made the "One Project" very appealing in terms of subject, style etc. When I saw that Vray was being used I thought, "Oh, no. Another grand for more software." Has anyone here purchased that book and created the project? Could one figure out how to use Mental Ray in place of Vray in order to complete it? Would downloading a trial version of Vray include enough time to complete the project?

 

Also, to follow up on a reply I wrote to Andrew about SketchUp, 3ds Max and Vray. If one were going to own those three programs, would it be unnecessary to also own Vray for Sketchup as well as Max? In other words, would I find myself better off doing whatever modeling I wanted to do in Sketchup, but then always importing into Max to render with Vray rather than rendering in Sketchup with Vray?

 

Thank you again for sharing your experience.

 

Best,

David

[AJLynn]

Okay, back up a bit - what software do you currently own? What do you want to be able model and render? What sort of form and style? When I think of illustrating children's books, a lot of different possibilities come to mind...

[dpinning]

Hey Andrew,

 

Okay, I am a bit all over the place right now, but have some direction also. I don't yet own any programs (except and older version of Photoshop...like 10 years old). I am just dipping my feet into the 3d waters. I currently have trial versions of SketchUp 8, Shaderlight, 3ds Max 2011, Mudbox 2011, Sketchbook Pro 2011. I have 3 older workstations with Open GL cards.

 

Dell M4400 Laptop Workstation

Precision Mobile Workstation M4400 Laptop: IntelCore 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

160 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200RPM)

8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)

15.4 inch UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) CCFLLaptop Screen

512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 770M

Genuine Windows XP Pro 32 bit

Dell Precision WS390 Core 2 CPU 6700 @2.66GHz 2.66 GHz 2600MHz 4084MB (3.5 GB Ram showing) 150GB Hitachi7200 RPM (WIN XP Pro) DVDRW 10/100 NIC 512 MB NVIDIA QUADRO FX 4500

Dell Precision WS490 3000MHz 4084MB 150GB (WIN XPP+)DVD 10/100/1000 NIC 256 MB NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3500

22" Dell monitor, 26" Asus monitor 32 "Insignia HDTV

3 wheel mice

I am working on a screenplay so I am also curious about Storyboard Pro. I have written a children's book and storyboarded it and have started illustrating it by hand, but am curious about doing it electronically. I have 16 years of experience working with a Landscape Architectural Firm, Architectural Firm and County Government. Freelancing I could see doing down and dirty SketchUp models, Photorealistic renders and animations through my contacts. My main goal is to have programs that are the best in class for their specific area of work and trying to limit the numbers of programs used and eliminate redundancy. It would also be nice to be able to stay off of the having to upgrade every year path until the equipment starts paying for itself.

Best,

David