There is more and more integration between the design field and design tools, and the intersection of design categories and technologies creates sufficiently novel and unique designs.
How many students who are used to PS and AI want to enter the field of 3D visual design? Many students who do visual and UI design may hear more about the name of the popular software C4D, but the world of actual 3D visual software is still very big! Moreover, because of the support of hardware, film and television, games and other industries, 3D software development and design have entered a stage of rapid growth, and it is now time to enter the pit.
But where do you start to enter the 3D pit? Today, I will introduce 9 latest 3D design-related software, on the one hand to take you to understand the current status of software functions, on the other hand to give you a glimpse of this huge field.
The highly realistic fluid effects in the first movies "Avengers" and "Ice Age 4" were borrowed from RealFlow, a fluid dynamics simulation software from Spain's NextLimit. As a stand-alone software, it focuses on simulating and creating extremely realistic and textured fluids. You can import geometry or scenes into RealFlow to set up fluid simulations. After the simulation and adjustment are complete, export the particles or meshes from RealFlow to other mainstream 3D software for lighting and rendering. Therefore, this time I have to talk about the latest RealFlow C4D v3.0. By embedding RealFlow into the hot C4D software, the integrated workflow from modeling and visual design to fluid simulation and rendering is realized. Since its release in v1.0, many C4D users have been looking forward to it, and today's v3.0 features have been improved a lot, covering many of the long-awaited features, such as the new Field particle grid cropping, Subframe sampling, etc. If you often have to do fluid and particle scenes, then RealFlow C4D v3.0 is a good choice.
3Ds Max is already an old-fashioned desktop-level 3D design software. Most people's knowledge of it may still be in the field of engineering drawing. In fact, as early as the Windows NT era, it has already entered the field of CG design, including "X-Men 2" and "The Last Samurai" and other classic movies are used to model the production.
At present, the latest 3Ds Max version is 3Ds Max 2020. The main thing in this update is its chamfer modifier. No matter what the topology is, the new chamfer generator can help you generate smooth and clean. Controllable edges. This part of the upgrade can reduce a lot of work, and designers do not need to use third-party plug-ins to make chamfers. Prior to this, 3Ds Max users mostly used plug-ins like Smooth Boolean to make chamfers.
In addition, it is mainly the performance improvement of various components, as well as some small functional improvements, such as the import of Revit and the improvement of OSL shaders.
Do you wonder how delicate character modeling is done in all kinds of games today? Zbrush's famous 3D sculpting software has played an important role.
Compared with other 3D modeling tools, Zbrush's modeling method is more direct and closer to the real sculpting method. In the software, you can use carving knives of different sizes, different strengths, and different effects to sculpt the model, which is close to the real carving logic. The latest Zbrush 2019 can bring more unique rendering effects, such as non-realistic comic rendering effects, and also includes a camera that simulates the real world, as well as better composition and rendering models. In addition, Zbrush 2019 also introduces a folder function, including a new Boolean modeling tool, to a higher level in design capabilities.
Zbrush can also be used in conjunction with mainstream software including Maya, 3Ds Max, Lightwave and others.
Have you ever played the famous game "Minecraft"? Creating your own world can always bring people a unique sense of accomplishment, even if it is a pixel wind spelled out with small squares. But World Creator is much stronger than Minecraft. It can create real terrain. Under the strong support of GPU, it can call DirectX or Apple’s Metal to generate exquisite landforms in real time. Erod or shape the ideal landscape.
This 3D software looks simple and fun. Whether you use it to render images of a program or generate high-resolution meshes for games or VFX lenses, the output scenes and effects are spectacular enough.
The realistic hull in the movie "Titanic" is modeled and rendered by LightWave 3D software, and many classic games including "Resident Evil" are also completed with this software. It can be seen that LightWave 3D is in the industry Influence and powerful ability.
LightWave 3D was developed by NewTek Corporation of the United States, and is widely used in many fields such as movies, TV, games, web pages, advertising, printing, and animation. Its operation is relatively simple and easy to use. After nearly 10 years of silence, LightWave launched the popular LightWave 3D 2018 last year, and updated the 2019 version following the trend this year.
Today's LightWave 3D updates the UV and UDIM workflow, OpenVDE content creation, and integrates the grid sculpting plugin Metamorphic, and can also connect to the Unreal Engine. The current LightWave 3D 2019 is very worth looking forward to.
Modo is a comprehensive 3D software for advanced polygon subdivision surfaces, modeling, carving, 3D painting, animation and rendering. The Modo team comes from the original Lightwave 3D core development team. The company they founded after they left NewTek is Luxology. Many top visual effects studios, including Pixar, have chosen to integrate Modo into their workflow.
Modo's workflow is very different from most 3D software. His basic design principles are concise, flexible, clear and intuitive. Unlike mainstream software such as Maya or 3d Max that needs to learn and face a large number of sidebar tools and parameters, modo artists often use stranger tools to combine strangely, such as tool commands (Tools), action centers ( Action Center), Application Range (Falloff), Snap (Snap), etc. to form a highly variable and flexible original tool (Tool Pipe). Compatible with this feature is that modo can highly customize all the interface UI, all shortcut keys, and allow highly free combinations to adapt to the user's working habits.
Modo 13 is the latest version, which upgrades many new functions, integrates a new noise reduction system, and ProRender powered by AMD GPU. With the gradual expansion of Modo Bridge, Modo can now be used with Unity and Unreal Engine, which will also improve Modo's modeling tool Mesh Fusion.
Mari can handle creative tools for highly complex texture drawing. The Mari project was originally a program developed by Weta Digital for the production of "Avatar". Later, The Foundry continued to develop into commercial software. Its advantage is that it is fast, easy to use, and can be processed. Up to 32k texture drawing. It uses GPU computing, so hardware requirements are higher, and it must be equipped with Nvidia Quadro series graphics cards. He has worked on extremely complex and delicate texture painting for the movies "DISTRICT 9", "THE LOVELY BONES", and "Avatar".
Houdini is a modeling software known as "Movie Special Effects Magician". It is the flagship modeling software of Canada's SESI Corporation. It has outstanding performance in many fields such as modeling, animation, and special effects. The latest Houdini 17.5 is based on the brand new Procedural Dependency Graph (PDG technology), which took three and a half years to create. Simply put, the core of PDG technology is to use nodes to intuitively describe complex dependencies, and then convert this dependency into an operational scheduling task, which is then distributed and completed by calculation.
In addition, Houdini 17.5 also introduces GPU-accelerated smoke shaders, supports distributed fluid simulation, and updates the Vellum multiphysics system.
Remember the Substance series software from the French company Allegorithmic? This company was acquired by Adobe at the beginning of this year and will cooperate with Adobe's team to develop professional 3D software. Now you can see Adobe's LOGO under their LOGO.
But it is worth mentioning that the Substance series of software has not stopped development and promotion.
Alchemist is a new 3D material tool in the Substance series of software. It can provide a new material production method: partly with the help of program algorithms, partly hand-made effects and texture. In Alchemist, based on a basic photo, you can eliminate lighting effects, increase aging and wear effects, increase wood textures, add rocks, vegetation, water and other effects, seamlessly tiling maps, and so on.
However, Alchemist is still in the beta stage and is provided as a Substance subscription. However, it is worth mentioning that the Substance series software mostly serves the production of marble texture effects, and can be linked with most of the current mainstream 3D software.
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