Maya vs Mudbox

# 1 20-05-2012 , 09:02 AM

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Hi

i'm a beginner in the CGI world. Let us assume that i want to make a 20 sec sci-fi adventurous battle...i know that this kind of work is weary and may take years to be accomplished , and needs a whole art department...we are just assuming user added image

Here are my questions :

1-Which software is best for modeling the creatures, Maya or Mudbox ? (animals and humans are included)

2-Which software does the animation, Maya or Motion Builder ?

3-Can i create a realistic enviroment in Maya ? or Maya is just for cartoons like 'Shrek' ? (Maya or eon-Vue?... )

4-Is there a kind of "must have Plugins" in Maya ? (e.g. rendering plug-in...)

5-I need help in building a workstation for CGI, If someone has experience in GPUs and CPUs...PM me, i'll be very appreciative for his help.

thanks in advance

Anthony

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# 2 20-05-2012 , 01:48 PM

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Welcome...

First off, good job choosing a realistic short length. 20 seconds is feasible, whereas most people begin by trying to do a 5-10 min "short".

1. Maya is good for modelling, and mudbox is good for sculpting and texturing as an auxiliary package, but it's not always necessary.

2. Maya is good for animation. From what I've heard, motionbuilder is good for mocap, but you can also do that in maya I think.

3. Yes, realistic environments are part of Maya's capabilities, it just may take extra effort.

4. Mental ray comes with Maya, other than that, there may be helpful plugins, but I don't think there are real "must-haves".

5. There are lots and lots of threads on this kind of thing already, do a search here.

Basically Maya is great because it can do it all. Other software may help out in certain areas, but that also means you have to learn them too.

-stwert

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# 3 20-05-2012 , 04:07 PM

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thanks stwert for the explenation user added image

where should i post my hardware questions ? i did a search as you said, but i didn't find what i need...

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# 4 21-04-2013 , 10:55 PM

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Maya better for Modeling for Animation

Maya better for Modeling for Animation - Mudbox files are too large to work IMHO, in Maya.
I like playing around in Mudbox - but I haven't got any real use out of it.

Learn Poly modeling and Nurbs in Maya and your set. At first you may have trouble getting used to it - but it is worth the learning curve.

SimplyMaya is a great source - I have been using Maya since it was Wavefront - around 1988 I believe....

It is just like anything keep using it as much as possible and you will get where your going.
Dan

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# 5 22-04-2013 , 10:48 AM

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Maya better for Modeling for Animation - Mudbox files are too large to work IMHO, in Maya.
I like playing around in Mudbox - but I haven't got any real use out of it.

Learn Poly modeling and Nurbs in Maya and your set. At first you may have trouble getting used to it - but it is worth the learning curve.

SimplyMaya is a great source - I have been using Maya since it was Wavefront - around 1988 I believe....

It is just like anything keep using it as much as possible and you will get where your going.
Dan

Originally Posted by danielchappelle

Thanks Daniel

I also wanted to ask, can I render mental ray projects on my GT630 2gb ddr3 vga ?

Last edited by anthony77; 22-04-2013 at 10:50 AM.

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# 6 22-04-2013 , 11:46 PM

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Mental ray uses your CPU and RAM, not so much your graphics card.

-stwert

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-->How to Effectively Ask Questions on Forums<--

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# 7 23-04-2013 , 12:54 AM

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Maya is a general 3d package, Mudbox isn't. While Mudbox is not needed to create models, you can sculpt/paint some pretty intricate details (everything from mountain ranges to scars and tattoos on some axe wielding barbarian) onto a base model and generate textures using this information for use on the same base model in another package(Maya!).

Also, "Must have plug-ins" depends on who you ask haha user added image

, I'm sure there's someone who'll just curl up and die if they no longer had Vray or Realflow.

On the issue of building a workstation. Budget aside, is it a case of configuring a machine from an online seller or buying individual pieces and assembling them yourself?

- Genny
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# 8 23-04-2013 , 12:53 PM

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Maya is a general 3d package, Mudbox isn't. While Mudbox is not needed to create models, you can sculpt/paint some pretty intricate details (everything from mountain ranges to scars and tattoos on some axe wielding barbarian) onto a base model and generate textures using this information for use on the same base model in another package(Maya!).

Also, "Must have plug-ins" depends on who you ask haha , I'm sure there's someone who'll just curl up and die if they no longer had Vray or Realflow.

On the issue of building a workstation. Budget aside, is it a case of configuring a machine from an online seller or buying individual pieces and assembling them yourself?

Originally Posted by Gen

Thanks Gen,
I need to configure a workstation online. budget is 4500$

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# 9 23-04-2013 , 04:56 PM

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Must have plug-ins

Must have plug-ins - I agree with RealFlow it is powerful and not to hard to understand.

I have not tried out Vray though - I thought MentalRay was the best - I will now look into Vray.
thanks
Dan

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# 10 23-04-2013 , 10:22 PM

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...
I have not tried out Vray though - I thought MentalRay was the best....
Dan

Originally Posted by danielchappelle

Shhhh, *looks around* those words have started many a flame war.

On a serious note, I think the main gripe people have with Mental Ray is that it's not meshed into Maya as well as it could so there are user friendliness issues like:

- Having to find work arounds (linear lighting, passes, animated proxies etc)
- clutter and cryptic descriptions (has anyone successfully used the "mib_color_spread"?)
- Lots of controls the user must carefully balance or there's a high chance you're getting an ugly image that took forever to render. (photon intensity independent of the light's intensity? Blotchy, creepy crawly Final Gathering even on high settings? What?)

Once you get the hang of it, it is indeed very powerful, even if it makes you want to punch a baby once in a while.

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@ anthony77

You can get a pretty nice machine for that kind of money user added image

. Is there any particular brand that you're looking at?

- Genny
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# 11 24-04-2013 , 11:48 AM

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@ anthony77

You can get a pretty nice machine for that kind of money . Is there any particular brand that you're looking at?

Originally Posted by Gen

I did surf the internet once , and I found out that the i7-3930k is best cpu for my needs.
concerning the gpu, i'm a bit lost on whether I get a quadro 4000 or GTX 580 3GB SLI. I heard once that a new series of quadro will be introduced, maybe I'll wait for that.
I'll be setting SSDs for faster loads.
Concerning memory, I want it to be 32GB , but I don't know which brand is best for the price/performance.
And I will get an IPS monitor, probably viewsonic brand, or dell.
MB is x79si

and that's it so far
I'd be very appreciative for any suggestions

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# 12 24-04-2013 , 10:57 PM

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SLI doesn't help with Maya's performance so you're better off with a good workstation card. Wait so, you are building it yourself. I thought you were looking at a Boxx or a Mac or something. In that case, you have a lot to absorb :3. Yeah there are more known and dependable brands but like with RAM, you really have to mind attributes like the timing, the lower the better.

- Genny
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::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

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# 13 29-04-2013 , 10:03 PM

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follow up

gen - thanks for the education - I have a BFA in animation so I am mainly self taught all the computer stuff - laughed at the baby remark - for now I will stick to Mental Ray...

anthony77 - for what it is worth if your leaning towards Boxx - I have one I bought in 2006 - it has been great - although at this point everything is going 64 bit and I am missing out on some cool stuff - but not mission critical...

if I new more about PC's I would piece on together a lot cheaper than Boxx - but that's the price you pay for not having time to learn or money to spend kicking tires on other solutions.

Good luck all and thanks
dan

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# 14 31-05-2013 , 08:33 PM

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you want to animate your stuff in maya. you dont use mudbox to animate stuff. allthough you can create a realistic animal/character in mudbox and import your file to maya. problem is though that mudbox is using way more polygons than maya would so maya would be really slow to work with in maya. user added image

your mesh would look "cleaner" when animating if you model it in maya because you get to get a proper topology if you use maya for the animation.

here's an example of what i mean:

https://phungdinhdung.com/Studies_pap...ges/face04.gif

^ if you really want a good topology-character but still high poly you could make it in maya, achieve the right topology, import that in mudbox, do some changes there, and then import it in maya again and animate.

https://phungdinhdung.com/Studies_pap...ges/open_1.gif

20 year old guy from Sweden

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Love skateboarding
Maya, Mudbox and Photoshop user

Full name: Marcus Ralman

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^ My facebook page ^

Last edited by Skalman; 31-05-2013 at 08:36 PM.

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