Comparing 3D Software Applications

Comparing 3D Software Applications

There are many different 3D software applications. Good examples being Maya, 3DS Max and Google Sketchup. I am going to compare Google Sketch-up and 3DS Maz as these are the only 3D Software applications I have a significant amount of experience with. and then give my personal opinion on what I think is best.

1. Google Sketchup
Google Sketchup has its pros and cons. A big pro is that it's free, unlike Maya and 3DS Max. Other features include the sketch-up store where you can download models people have have uploaded using sketch-up and import them into your own. It's rather simple making rectangular based objects (like buildings) and you don't have to convert each object to an editable poly to change and manipulate polygons on the object. However, Making more rounded objects is more difficult in this when compared to 3DS Max and you can't extrude rounded sides of objects (like the size of a cylinder). You can't add segments on objects and options are rather limited with most of the editing options being limited to the toolbar.

2. 3DS Max.
3DS Max is the software I'm most familiar with as I used it a lot in college. There are many things you can do using the software. For example, unlike Sketch-up you have hundreds of options to choose from. Texturising objects are more convieniant and you can add segments to objects. Although to edit the polygons on the object it must be converted to an editable poly (which also disables the feature to be able to change the number of segments), but it's very simple to convert, all you have to do is right click on the object, select 'convert to' and then select 'convert to editable poly'. When you do this, you are introduced to many different ways in which you can modify the polys on your object. You can select the polys, verticies and edges and change them by moving them around, rotating or changing the size (the more polys you have on an object, the more you can do with it). Other features include extruding the object, inset and bevel. These features also add more polys to your object which is good if you need more to add more features to your object (but too many polys means longer rendering times). It also has it's own rendering tool which is as simple as click on the icon and you get a rendered image of your object, although it's better to add lighting options to it to bring out its detail. It can also handle normal/bump mapping. With the many texturing features it has, you can add normal maps to your object and alter the strenght of it. However, to view how the bump mapping on the object you have to render it. The textures always show up as flat on the editor.

For me it's a no-brainer, 3DS Max is the best. Whilst Sketch-Up is easy for beginners and is the better choice for a person in the construction industry (e.g. creating 3D objects for a house plan), 3DS max is much better in every other field. You can make all sorts of objects even up to a proffesional quality depending on how much experience you have with the software. It takes some time and learning to get used to 3DS max, but for me, it's the ideal 3D Software Application.