Blender vs Google Sketchup vs CorelCAD vs DoubleCAD vs Daz Studio Hexagon vs ???

[treble01]

I just need some help choosing a good 3d modeling program to design armor and weapons. If you guys have other suggestions, I need something that is either free or under $100 (no student edition software please lol) and also accurate (like how Google Sketchup can do measurements up to something like 12 decimal places (.xxxxxxxxxxxx). I already have Google Sketchup and know how to use it very well. I feel like I can make things with it and send it to pepeakura designer with some time and effort. I was just wondering if there was some other program that can do the job a little better/easier.

Also, just a random thought, can CAD programs be used for this type of application? I asked a similar question a long long time ago and I think someone said it's for "weight bearing mechanical pieces" like machines, not a Master Chief helmet.

Thanks

 

[Croc co]

Blender and sketchup are free,don't know the others.. I use sketchup but blender is what most people use

 

[D008ie360]

I use autocad on a daily basis and am used to the accuracy of it but blender is a free and very solid platform to use

Although took a large amount of YouTube video digestion to grasp the major basics

Getting there slowly now

 

[rundown]

i'd go with blender if I were you. It can do measurements as acurate as sketchup.
Sketchup isn't as compatible with everything as it should be. Never liked the vector based way of modeling. Go polygon or the spline way!

I myself started out with blender. It has a steep learning curve but it's so worth it. I switched very easy to more professional software later on.

 

[onmi shift]

thanks to school, i use maya. ive messed around with blender and 3ds mas and i cant use them. their to primitive.

 

[rundown]

thanks to school, i use maya. ive messed around with blender and 3ds mas and i cant use them. their to primitive.

Studio max isn't primitive?? It's just a different way of modeling. I can do anything in max that can be done in maya.

And blender tends to be a bit later on the new tools thats true, but thats due to it being open source.
I also kinda like the uv unwrapping more in blender then any other 3d software, it tends to "smart" unwrap more.

 

[onmi shift]

ok, let me rephrase that. 3ds max is good but maya is way better. there are things you cant do in 3ds that you can do in maya aswell as having an easier set up that way new people can get the hang of it fast.

thats why video game and cgi companies are placing 3ds max and houdini with maya. the only other program that competes with maya is zbrush but its not easy to learn unless you already have a good understanding of similar software.

dont get me wrong, im not bashing blender or any other free/cheap modeling software. if you can make awesome things with them, thats great.

i just prefer the mayal because i can do alot more with it. well that and im aiming to work for a video game company and i rather learn the programs they use. next semester were going to get into finer details with zbrush.

 

[rundown]

ok, let me rephrase that. 3ds max is good but maya is way better. there are things you cant do in 3ds that you can do in maya aswell as having an easier set up that way new people can get the hang of it fast.

thats why video game and cgi companies are placing 3ds max and houdini with maya. the only other program that competes with maya is zbrush but its not easy to learn unless you already have a good understanding of similar software.

dont get me wrong, im not bashing blender or any other free/cheap modeling software. if you can make awesome things with them, thats great.

i just prefer the mayal because i can do alot more with it. well that and im aiming to work for a video game company and i rather learn the programs they use. next semester were going to get into finer details with zbrush.

I'm sorry to say this but you got it completely wrong, zbrush doesn't compete with maya, thats for something completely diffrent. Thats for organic modeling. Maya is for hard surface modeling.
I myself follow Digital Arts and Entertainment Gamedesign. And most of the companies where students go to actually use max...
The only company i know of that uses maya is Pixar and other animation studios, Pixar because they are coding it themselves to their own liking.
They can actually make a model with tri's in look very good in subD with their own plugins.

May I ask you where they told you maya was better then max?

 

[onmi shift]

alot still use max, but i know alot are switching or incorporating maya. my school(Digital Media Arts College) switched about 5-6 years ago. maya has been around for quit some time but its only in the last 3-4 years has it become really good and popular. most companies are switching. and you can create amazing organic shapes in maya. last semester we had to sculpt a proportionally correct human body for our final.

heres my final

its possible to make anything organic in of maya. though you are correct. we do import our projects into zbrush for the finer details to the humans/creatures we make.

Tomb Raider, EA sports games for the most part, Halo, Metroid, Sly Cooper, and Half Life are few games that i know of that use maya quite a bit.


like i said, im not here to bash other software. everything i say is based off or my own opinion, from what ive been told by the staff and graduated students from my school who have real world experience in the video game and movie industries. i forgot where but i read an article last year saying that maya had become the industry standard do to its flexibility.

But thats the base mesh for "organic modeling" I can do this in max to youknow.
And I know of modelers from rockstar(schotland)/crytek/dice who use max. Allot of them come from our school.

 

[onmi shift]

though back to the posters question. ive heard from a few people saying that K-3d is good though ive never used it. i have some Softimage in use and looks like a good free software.

 

[Croc co]

Studio max isn't primitive?? It's just a different way of modeling. I can do anything in max that can be done in maya.

And blender tends to be a bit later on the new tools thats true, but thats due to it being open source.
I also kinda like the uv unwrapping more in blender then any other 3d software, it tends to "smart" unwrap more.

Hahahahaha lol studio max is NOT primitive it clocks over 4gig so yeah..... And even I cannot get around in it so its elite proof

 

[onmi shift]

Hahahahaha lol studio max is NOT primitive it clocks over 4gig so yeah..... And even I cannot get around in it so its elite proof

please read all of it. i later went on to rephrase it as good. the primitive remark was mainly pointed to blender and the like.