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  Affordable Magic
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 web2n3d Writes "3D software is now within everyone’s reach
Prices for top-of-the-line 3D software are falling like lead rain. Alias|Wavefront Maya Complete now costs $1,999. NewTek LightWave 3D 7.5 costs $1,595. Frankly, I’m excited about it, and worried at the same time. This pricing shift opens the door to legions of new users.
The reason I’m worried is that packages like Maya, LightWave, Discreet 3ds max and Side Effects Software Houdini are very expensive to maintain. It will do us no good to have a cheap Maya Complete if its creator can’t afford to keep up the lab team that continually makes it better. To be fair, Alias|Wavefront claims that the lower price won’t affect its R&D effort. The company still plans to invest heavily in future development and technical support.
As I write this, 3ds max 4 is hanging in at its old price of $3,495. Good for Discreet. I always thought max was a good value. I don’t think Discreet will lose sales by staying up there above Maya and LightWave, but it probably won’t get as many new clients. New users will gravitate to the lower price spreads. However, the soup-to-dessert Discreet pipeline is a strong draw for both corporate and entertainment users of animation, editing and effects tools. Of course, once you install the whole package, your costs skyrocket.
There has always been an anomaly at the low end of the price scale. Hash Animation:Master is an awesome cross-platform professional package, the most current version of which still costs only $299. The program has found a way to succeed at that price with lower overhead, crazy dedication and a vast and active users’ group. Caligari’s trueSpace6, due for release at the end of June for $599, is another great value for artists on a tight budget. Version 6 will include a new scene editor, improved NURBS modeling tools and radial-, grid- and spline-array tools that aid in architectural design.
And let us not forget Side Effects Software’s Houdini, a sophisticated visual-effects package with a reputation for being very difficult to learn and use. But all that’s changed. Houdini’s learning curve dropped considerably in version 5, which features a powerful direct-manipulation interface aimed at traditional artists. Houdini’s procedural approaches to animation and effects are incomparable, so I did a double take last year at SIGGRAPH when I saw that version 5 would be available in a “Select” edition for under $2,000.
Houdini Select, which shipped in March and is now available for $1,299, contains about 80 percent of the full $17,000 version. What’s missing are the high-end effects and compositing features aimed at Hollywood applications. This new version could grab throngs of non-entertainment users with its enhanced capabilities. Houdini Select works with the full Houdini to form a seamless pipeline from modeling to final composition. The best part is that Side Effects Software has a reputation for hand holding. It’s part of the corporate culture. Product managers have assured me that Houdini will continue that tradition with Select users.
Soft Sell
Which of these software packages has the softer learning curve? There’s no clear answer. Maya, max and LightWave appeal to people with slightly different styles of learning. A max person can certainly learn Maya, but might find it slightly less comfortable to work in. A Maya person might find max a bit convoluted. I use and like both.
LightWave clearly appeals to another mind style, and Houdini just got easier. Now that you can afford to choose, let diversity rule.
by Peter Plantec from AV Video Multimedia Producer, June 2002" |
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