Visualisation/Animation advice needed

[_frankly_]

Hi all,

 

I would appreciate any advice on architectural visualisation/animation.

 

Requirements: taking architectural CAD (3DS, OBJ, etc) files and creating animated fly thru's for pitching presentations and sales material.

 

I have an intermediate understanding of Lightwave, therefore my preference is to use this software. However, I am prepared to learn another app if recommended. Any recommendations??

 

Two questions I have:

 

1) Are there easier apps to use for this purpose? The company I work for currently use Viz, which I have no knowledge about, but I'm betting Lightwave will produce better results. Am I correct??

 

2) Can I find stock models of cars, people, trees, etc, to import rather than building them by hand? I've seen some expensive packages but i'd prefere something cheaper or free. Any advice??

 

So any advice relating to this would be really appreciated. I'm currently thinking I need to refresh and advanced my LW skills quickly, but as some of you may know, it's not the easiest app to learn, but it is well worth it.

 

Thanks in advance!

[IC]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

 

First of all I'll say something thats been said hundreds of times here and elsewhere-it doesn't matter what apps you use, it only matters that you can use them well!

Also, some people pick up Lightwave really easily, others don't and prefer Max or Cinema or whatever. That's another major decision maker.

 

You can import 3ds or dxf files directly into LW and go from there.

For simple interiors, I just model in LW directly.

 

For trees, cars etc there are freebies available and there are cheap packages. Do a search on the general discussions forum as there were some recent threads on both.

 

Hope that helps.

[Hector]

I think that lightwave modeler is a fantastic tool. At first I was lost, but since I managed to understand how it works I can't think of modeling anywhere else, I don't do visualization for living but I do visualization for the projects I work in, and also use lightwave as a "design tool".

 

Rendering has been more difficult to master (I am still far from mastering it). It requires long hours of patient work but results can be amazing.

 

However' judging by the number of posts in the forums, Lightwave doesn't seem to be the most used tool for architectural visualization, but for me It works very well.

 

There are two relatively recent books I would recomend:

 

Lightwave 3d 7.5 Lighting, Nicholas Boughen

 

Lightwave 3d 8 Texturing, Leigh van der Byl

 

Those books, each focused in a very specific subject have helped me to understand many functions and options that were a mystery to me. Good lighting and texturing will improve your renderings a lot.

 

There also several good tutorials at the Newtek Website.

 

Regarding free stuff, there is good website if you need free furniture models: http://www.e-interios.net

[kris]

My friend Marko Dabrovic uses Lightwave for architectural visualization. I think he is doing all his stuff in Lightwave, from modeling to animation. Check his site at http://www.rna.hr

 

By the way you have probably heard of him.

Model Sponza atrium and Chatedral in Sibenik for testing GI is his work.

[Bugga_Guy]

http://www.3dcafe.com is a good site for some free content.

[alex3d]

if you are gonna work with architects, best option is 3dmax. it has an interface and compatibility with autocad beter than any modeling software. it is my opinion.

[KiboOst]

Like alex3d I would recommend also 3dsmax. R7 is now one of the best modeler, your company work with viz, max works nice with dwg etc from autocad, and last but not least, max has the bigger community around to find advices, free stuff etc etc. About rendering, go for vray (easy) or finalrender (complete).

 

Kib