What 3D Modeling software do you use?

Hello everyone,
Quick question: What 3D modeling software do you use to create models for your games?

 

Wow, a lot of Blender users!

 

When I compare game engines market to 3d modelling software market I think of 3d software market as a crap. Looking forward to see Unity`s 3d modelling tool or at least Unity`s custom Blender modification

 

I used 3ds Max for one project back in 2009 and I've got access to Maya, but after picking up the Blender basics from a video tutorial series in 2010, I've been using it exclusively for virtually everything

 

Don't forget Cheetah3D! It's osx only, but it's priced pretty goo. I use Houdini professionally, wish I could justify its cost to have a license for use at home. Ah well.

 

Obviously blender because free is my favourite number.

 

WOW i feel so embarrassed i am the only one who voted for Google SketchUp hahahah
Well it does work for me quite well

 

I use two - one of which wasn't included in this poll, but it really should be.

I use Blender for box modelling and hard-surface things.

I also use ZBrush for organic modelling.

 

I use Blender for modeling/animation not only because it's free but also because it's an amazing all-inclusive tool.

It's got sculpting and is great for retopology. Great UV unwrapping tools.

You can drop .blend files directly in Unity and magico-presto!(it converts it internally to fbx) It removes the hassle of having to choose which fbx export version to use shapekeys, etc
also no size issues with importing .blend files directly(.fbx always sets to 0.01 for some reason)

Blender now also opens .psd so it makes it very nice to work with PS/Quixel

you can also customize the s*** out of Blender

 

I use Max. I find it to have a good workflow. And it helps me produce quick and good results.

 

I use blender, because, having used Max and Maya for 5 years, I like it the best out of the bunch.

 

MayaLT and Modo here , well not have much time modeling though...
I used a lot softimage XSI before..

 

Blender for modeling. ZBrush for scultping. 3DS Max is now only used to convert .fbx to .3ds for Blender.

 

It feels more like what software don't I use?

 

Im a religious ZBrush fanatic and i use it for everything XD

 

EX-SI user, now using Blender.

 

ARGGGGGGHHHH!! Where's Zbrush?!!

 

Is it possible to do everything in zbrush? Even animate?

 

Noooo!

It's the best sculpting software available. So, character modeling and texturing > Yes. Anything other than that > No.

Edit : You can do pieces of environment too, if you are hell bent on it.

So, generally speaking Zbrush is not a 3D modeling software. 3D modeling usually denotes poly modeling software.

 

My pipeline consists of Modo, ZBrush, Substance Designer/Painter. I have also added Marvelous Designer to my toolset, and I use Vue for World Building such as mountains and hyper-real skies.

 

That's a lot, I can only focus on 2 programs, that's it.

 

Pretty much it can be used for any modelling job, it can't rig or animate though. It has re-topo tools / uv tools a great suite of sculpting tools and it also has a new take on texturing which I really like. Once you get used to the UI / subtool (dynamesh) workflow it's probably one of the best tools out there. For the first week or so it's horrible , it does take some getting used to.

We use Nuke / Mari / 3Dsmax / Z-brush / Quixel / Photoshop and illustrator for various things.

 

Well, my friend, my game designing is a lot like doing CG film... I put A LOT of work into my character models

 

I swear if MARI didn't cost so damn much and didn't require up to date hardware, I would so use this

 

I'm considering switching to Houdini or maybe Maya LT. Houdini seems most interesting.

 

I use Milkshape 3D but am hoping to get into Blender when I have the time.

 

Valve and Unreal donate to Blender to make game dev features better.

Somebody should lobby Unity to do the same thing. If Unity and Crytek donate too then blender for game dev could be awesome much sooner. There is still a lot to improve, I always felt blender spends too much resources on film stuff compared to gaming stuff, but thanks to donations that starts changing.
All the awesome new FBX and baking stuff that comes in the next two versions was done partly because of Unreal/Valve.

 

err... Unity already does donate to the Blender Foundation. They've been supporting for a while. This is from the lead programmer on fbx integration into Blender

http://mont29.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/fbx-7-4-updates-ii/

http://mont29.wordpress.com/

And in my opinion Unity has better Blender support/integration than either Unreal or Cryengine with being able to import .blend files directly

as far as .fbx if autodesk made it a more open format then we wouldnt be having these problems

 

Blender, Maya, Mudbox and good old Photoshop CS6.

 

Thanks, good to know.

I would never want to drop complete blend files. I have 1000 things in them that the engine should not care about. Actually, I don't even like the FBX way, I like custom specialized formats like e.g. Ogre3D does it much more. There you get exactly what you want (e.g. which vertices share index buffers and much more) and in maximally optimized fashion. But to each his own.

 

SketchUp and Blender.
SketchUp isn't owned by Google anymore though. It's "Trimble SketchUp" now.

 

I use Blender too.
Lovely 3D software.
Awwwww! No love for Hexagon users?
Lol! Only joking.
Hopefully next time.

 

Lightwave 3D 11.6.3

A fantastic 3D All in one solution. Proven and battle tested and with decades of experienced programmers behind it Lightwave was my best choice.

 

How does LW works with Unity? I remember it using 5-6 years back. Nice modeler.

 

I export to fbx and thus far it has not failed me.

 

Cool. Animated characters are mecanim friendly?

 

All in two. Considering it's two programs. I love Lightwave, great program but the thing that turned me away was the split workflow.

 

Yeah, the split interface hurts me a bit. And btw, it is my 2500th post... (yay). Also with Modo, I can work in the 3d app and the scene file will automatically update in Unity, with materials

 

Wow! I must really question this statement, as I can't share this experience in any way. LWs quirks and non existing features have been a PITA throughout our project. Also the fact that Newtek does not care to integrate decent UV unwrappers or functional MGO, IK bakers into their package is a joke. That's when you realize this program is made for movies only, but not games. Not to say how messed up their fbx plugins were at version 9.6 (yes, they changed that in 11.6 - but only because many people used LW for Unity and nothing worked, eventually realizing they would fall off the map if they didn't catch up).

 

It's kinda why I jumped to Softimage, then to Modo... Lightwave was too messy for my workflow.

 

This is the case with most programs(the importing part). I like Modo and all, but I like Lightwave more, but I'm far to broke to buy either.

 

I looked like a monkey eating a banana scratching my nether regions when I used lightwave. Me no figure out, Me go Maya, me rig banana as weapon. Uh Uh Uh!

 

I use many different tools, all around Houdini. I find Houdini Ideal for Game dev, because you are in full control over every attribute.. and it's really clearly organized, easy to built complex setups. That being said, it's not for polymodeling / uving.

So I use, Silo (modelling), UV Layout and some Fusion (for 2D maps and stuff). Mari. Zbrush.

 

D

Do you find Houdini Engine + Unity useful?

Is it true that if you make any Asset with HE, you can't distribute to any developer without HE. HE will be required to run your Asset. Although, I should be asking sidefx, but want to know if you have any info.

 

I've not used Houdini Engine in a while (way too busy) but IIRC HE supports a number of geometry ROPs (render output driver), including .obj so you can always bake your geometry natively into the project. No FBX output yet, but that would require a commercial Houdini license anyway.

Sure enough, quick search:
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/hengine1.7/_h_a_p_i__geometry_caching.html#HAPI_GeometryCaching_File

I do use Houdini FX every day however, it's pretty much the hub for all my work. I tend to use other applications for fast poly modelling, sculpting and occasional character animation, but most everything is piped back into Houdini - it's a great application for "doing stuff with stuff", and keeping organised to boot.

 

After watching videos of them, I still can't tell what Nuke and Mari actually do, what are they used for?.

 

Nuke is a compositing tool like Adobe After effects, Mari I suppose is like Substance painter it's a layering and paint tool. Pretty good too, we got it as part of a package with Modo so I thought why not?

 

I really want to try 3ds Max. But it's wayyyy too expensive for me right now.

So, like some others in this thread, I use Blender because it's free of course But Blender's workflow is about as counter-intuitive as you can get in my opinion. I really don't like Blender's way of doing things.....but it can get you from point A to point B most of the time lol.

It looks like 3ds Max and Maya would be my first choices, but I havn't actually used either of them at all.