CG animations and pictures

[pstj]

Hi! I was just wondering about something...

What programs are used to create CG animations (like those in games) and CG pictures (like those Star Trek and Star Wars fans do )?

And, also very important, what type of computer should one have to use these programs? (I know, an expensive computer...)

thanks!

pstj

[Tiretool]

I'm no guru in this field, but I did see a show on Television about the making of an animated movie (I think it was "A Bug's Life") and the computers they were using were made by Silicon Graphics I believe. They were machines that cost in the tens of thousands of dollars apiece and were spectacular at number crunching (since that's mostly what CG work involves).

I'd love to have one of those rigs! Be the only kid on the block that can get 1000 Frames per second or more on games like UT, and Half-Life...

[DrZaius]

Hi pstj,

Most of the CG design and animation is done with programs like Lightwave and/or 3D Studio Max (even Poser or Bryce). Any fast Athlon or Pentium 4 system will work well, but a dual SMP setup is the best. Do a Google search for "3d animation" and you'll find plenty of sites with tutorials and galleries to get you started.

[shecky981]

the big three are Alias | Wavefront's Maya , NewTek's Lightwave , and Discreet's 3D Studio Max (aka 3DS Max)

The kind of computer varies quite a bit. Some run on Silicon Graphics' workstations, some run on any beefy PC, and some run on Mac OS X. There are also setups called "render farms" which is basically a large cluster of computers that run 24-7 rendering frames of animation in tandem (i remember reading an article in Wired that Pixar of "a bug's life' fame has 250 SG workstations in a render farm)

The biggest catch here is that this software is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. Maya goes for about $7500, Lightwave is i think in the $2500 range, and 3DS Max is about $3500. However, there are a number of MUCH MUCH MUCH less expensive products out there (some free) that you can get started learning 3D rendering, Strata3D Base is the 1st one to come to mind.

[pstj]

Thanks!

Shecky, as you said, they are outrageously expensige! Arghhh!

pstj