Looking for best 3d animation software

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6 comments, last by Wolfmanyoda 17 years, 11 months ago
I am currently using milkshape 3d to do my models and animations, I spent the 33$ to buy the program, and it works fine for creating models. The one problem I have is creating animations. There are to many bugs with the program, and I am looking for a program that specializes in just 3d model animations. What is the best software to use, I am looking for anything in any range of price. From the most expensive ( 2k-10k $$) to the average priced ( 50-250 $$ ). Just start throwing names at me of suggested programs. I appreciate any feedback! Thanks. Michael Sears
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the obvious 3 are 3ds max, maya and xsi, which you will also find rather better for modelling too, but are in a totally different price range to milkshape..

Also I've not had a chance to look at it much, but project:messiah has been used for some pretty cool animations: http://www.projectmessiah.com/ . I believe its targeted more at high end animation but I'd imagine its still perfectly usable for games- I think it comes as standalone or plugin versions to the popular 3d packages. I can't think of any animation specific tools for under $100, but there must be some cheaper ones out there
A couple of the cheaper ones are:

Fragmotion - £10-15 ($20)
http://www.fragmosoft.com/

Pacemaker - £20 ($30)
http://www.goddysey.com/


As mentioned above, Messiah looks pretty good and the demo is pretty cool to play around with and follow through the tuts, XSI - foundation is another which has export to direct X allowing anims to be opened in something like Unwrap3d and exported to other games formats etc!!
if gmax supports animation(im not 100% sure- i use 3ds max) download it (google.com). its 100% free--its a free stripped out version of 3ds max
The 'best' 3d animation software is probably a combination of Autodesk Maya and Motionbuilder. As far as I know its the standard film animation pipeline for the major studios.
-------------www.robg3d.com
Someone's got to throw in blender... (www.blender.org)
Open source, but definately capable, especially since all the new features added by Project Orange
Softimage|XSI has many different levels of capability, depending on your budget. Its revered animation system is fully capable at every level. The differences pertain mostly to physics-related capabilities (fluid dynamics, hair).

Hash Animation:Master is a really great package for its price.
There is no "best 3D animation software".
There may be one that works *best* for you, but to determine which one that is you should download the trial versions of the ones you can afford, try them out, and see which you like the best.
Then buy that one.

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