Ok, I know nothing can replace Blender, but what in your opinion is the next step up?
In this i mean what is the cheapest way to get a program above blender?
BMD
(no, i am not a trader)
The next cheapest thing is Cinema 4D. Then comes Truespace, any version. It gives good results. Then Lightwave or Maya under a student liscense. Then I guess XSI. There are other smaller ones but these are the biggies. Others are Nendo (don’t know if development still exists), Wings (which doesn’t have a renderer) and I don’t know what else.
what about 3d studio max
thanks, uh i guess. All of those are way above my price range. even $600. oh well. thanks
sigh
BMD
Oh, yeah. I forgot about Max. Sorry…
wait a few years and blender will be on top 
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Yep
Ok, I know nothing can replace Blender, but what in your opinion is the next step up?
Why going up? I believe you can do almost everything that those big packages can by using a freeware combo.
You can for example model a head in wings3d, UV map in blender, and use a freeware rendere like virtualight povray or lightflow to render. It may require some more work, but if you are good enough, you can get the same results as the big boys imo.
with more money left in your pockets 8)
Martin
Houdini
viktorivar
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Yep[/quote]
Actually, Blender may be considered “one of the big boys” in a few years…but probably for programmers/animators. Look at GIMP & how it is working its way into high-end productions…just because its open source & can be modified. All it takes is for Blender to be used in one high-end production.
All it takes is for Blender to be used in one high-end production.
Agreed. Probably the best way for Blender to be noticed is for something noticable to hit the main stream. Let’s say, the next Pixar movie has one character that was designed in Blender. The DVD comes out, and the designer says, “Yeah, I designed Chipper Dipper Dan in an open-source program called blender. I use it around the house blah blah blah. You can download it free, and learn about 3d animation.”
Bam! Interest levels increase, and Blender becomes a household word.
Well, I mean, Blender 3d…because a blender actually is a household word. Well, appliance.
The point is, I think that Blender’s niche, at least for a while, is going to be “the first 3d rendering application you’ll ever own.” Which is okay, because it will be introducing a new art form to the kids coming up.
Eventually, I see Blender growing into “the first and last 3d rendering application you’ll ever own.” But I think we’ve got a way to go before that happens.
Here’s my prediction: Blender will never enter the mainstream, because it’s simply not designed for the mainstream. It’s “rebel” software, authored by a “rebel” of sorts (a compliment), and is well-received by the “rebel,” off-the-beaten-path kind of computer user.
The mainstream has some pretty lofty (and reasonable) expectations set by years of using software that works a certain way. Most of the people here use Blender because they’re passionate about being able express their creativity. I’d venture to say that a good number of people will look elsewhere once they figure out that they have to learn a completely different (and not always better) way of interacting with software.
Major studios might be different, because they’re used to jumping through hoops to get the results they need. But Joe Average User? Don’t think so. Kids, maybe, because they have little or nothing ot lose by trying it out. People who understand the value of time, however, and how disastrous it can be to have to recover from an operation that is “undoable,” or to endure certain aspects of the interface that simply aren’t efficient, will probably pay for something that allows them a greater degree of effectiveness.
This is why I hope that efforts like K3d and Wings continue to evolve, because they offer alternatives that are more in line with the way that people are accustomed to interacting with software.
There’s always the chance that I’m completely wrong about this, but then I’d wonder why Linux isn’t yet a ‘mainstream’ os. It’s free, has been around for years, is close to becoming a “desktop” OS, but still has a statistically insignificant portion of the desktop OS market. For those who disagree with my assessment, I’d ask this: “If there’s a chance that Linux will become a popular alternative, what is it that will make this happen?” The answer will be the same with respect to Blender. Like it or not, in order to become mainstream, you have to integrate with the mainstream.
> “If there’s a chance that Linux will become a popular alternative,
> what is it that will make this happen?”
More killer apps and customer support.
Red Hat 8 is getting there, we now just have to wait more releases to become stable with desktop friendly features:
ALSA 0.9 final + XFree86 4.3 + glibc 2.3 + KDE 3.1 + Xft2 & Fontconfig + better free fonts.
My prediction is sometime in 2003, these milestones will be reached as well as corporate and consumer awareness. I think we will just have to wait and see.
Nothing comes above Blender. Trust me. I tried Wings. Um… how can anyone use it?
Daedalus is a pretty cool app for making mazes, though. Not really 3D (well, you can walk through the mazes in 3D, but that’s not much), but it’s the only freeware I’ve used so far I’ve downloaded more than one version of.
One might wonder whether you put the same effort into learning Wings that you put into learning Blender.
I don’t see why wings is more difficult than blender. After 1 hour of trying I managed to model a pretty detailed face, a better one than I’ve ever made in blender.