Is it me or does Hexagon 2 looks pretty impressive? Seems to combine the best features of modo+bodypaint+zbrush into one app. Now I have to evaluate it against Modo, which to buy… 
http://www.eovia.com/products/hexagon/hexagon2.asp
Cheers.
The modelling videos look pretty nice and intuitive. Is the file format/export compatible with Unity?
it can export 3ds, obj and dxf.
I’m playing around the with the demo of hexagon 1 and I must say I like the ‘feel’ of modeling in it more then I do with Modo. But of course that is a personal preference.
cheers.
Glad to hear that. While I’m not with Eovia I used to be and very involved with Amapi - Welcome to Staigerland's Amapi area - and also use Hexagon at times. In fact I will be in the ATI booth at Game Dev Conference doing Carrara demos and possibly also Hexagon (TBD), and there also Luxology doing Modo so this will be interesting. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s also… over the edge demoing Unity. Wow it’s a small world
I’ve heard from other artists who have used all tools like Modo and Silo and Hexagon etc… and liked Hexagon’s line based tools a lot. I do remember my favorite tools on Amapi were Gordon surfaces, based on curves like sections, profiles and contour curves meshed together. Carrara 5 Pro has a bunch of these advanced tools too now.
I own Hexagon and pre ordered the upgrade.
I like hexagon, very easy to use espescially for me since I’m not very good with 3D graphics/modeling.
Ray
Puhh there are so many tools (this Hexagon (cool that they provide the program for both win and osx!), zBrush, Truespace, SoftImage, Max, Cinema, …) out today. Is there anyone around here who has expirience with all those and could say: If you want this i would say this is the best tool. This one will go in this direction. Or do there exist links with a comparion and tests of those?
Regards,
taumel
What I’d like to know is if I can use quads with any hexagon-exported format in unity… I’ve tried to create a model and exported it to .3ds and all the quads were triangulated. Is this a .3ds format limitation? Is it better to use triangles or quads in unity?
Use whatever is easier for you when you model.
Unity automatically triangulates all meshes before displaying them.
This is because it is faster to render triangulated meshes.
Just also watched modo a bit and they also do it the right way: “Licensed to You, Not Your Computer”! It’s really nice to see that these firms are learning!
By the way how about tutorial videos also for unity?! Much intuitiver way of learning (if it’s backed up with pdfs). Should also be quicker to produce when you know what you’re doing.
Regards,
taumel
Like other 3D file formats, .3ds files can hold different types of primitives. There can be complex polygons but also simple triangular facets. It is common that the format used in some program’s export to .3ds requires triangulation. It is not the only way for .3ds files but it is quite possible that the 3ds exporter from Hexagon or other programs do a triangulation upon export.
I wonder if .3ds is the only way to export to Unity. Probably not. Have you tried .obj (Wavefront)? I would have tried that format first.
-Philip
So if you work with Hexagon are there any other cheap multiplatform tools (i don’t mean full blown modeller or renderer) which import models and do bones/animation which you could recommend? Is blender good in this?
Regards,
taumel
yes, Carrara 3 or 4 is cheap. Even 5 by comparison with the big guns like Maya and Cinema or MAX, but if you’re looking for affordableware and have a PC or mac that’s 1-2 years old why noty look for software that was released 1-2 years ago. Carrara resources at thebest3d.com
Blender is rich. You’ll want to try it out. But my personal experience is that I don’t get the interface.
Which is strange because I’ve learned numerous others, including TrueSpace. And AMapi, at which it totally clicked and at which I totally excell. Welcome to Staigerland's Amapi area
Still, check out the tutorials on Carrara. There’s a lot of bones and IK and advanced rendering and fabulous animated skies etc… the latest 5.1 is absolutely awesome with the ay the branches and twiggs on the trees can move in the wind, and the leaves can rustle (spelling?) - ahhhhmazing!
Anyway, there’s a few boxes left of Carrara Studio 3 and we’re selling them for just under $50 including free shipping in the US. It does include a 600-page printed manual, which is not the case with the newer versions, where the printed manual is optional.
The Carrara 4 Pro also includes the now discontinued Amapi Designer 7 and some plugins, I think it includes the Poser plugin Transposer and CAD style to import more CAD formats.
If you’re looking for an affordable 3D solution that does just about everything, Carrara should be one of those things you check out indepth. But don’t take my word for it, you be the judge, do your homework, try the demos etc… You can even find a demo version in the Carrara Studio 3 handbook.
Hi,
yes, Carrara 3 or 4 is cheap. Even 5 by comparison with the big guns like Maya and Cinema or MAX, but if you’re looking for affordableware and have a PC or mac that’s 1-2 years old why noty look for software that was released 1-2 years ago. Carrara resources at thebest3d.com<<<
Hmm but wouldn’t it be then just better to use Carrara5 (<300€) instead of Hexagon and another tools(s) for Animation/Rendering? How is the modeller in there - any experience?
Well, and with the price range of about 500$ i also could buy Softimage Foundation and with a little bit more i am with Modo or Truespace…okay the platforms differ…
Is Modo a pure modeller or can it also render?
By the way i found this a really good tool for animation… http://www.animanium.com/
Blender is rich. You’ll want to try it out. But my personal experience is that I don’t get the interface. <<<
I’ve never tried it and just looked at the screenshots yesterday for the first time. For a short view i have to agree that they looked kind of creepy.
Still, check out the tutorials on Carrara. There’s a lot of bones and IK and advanced rendering and fabulous animated skies etc… the latest 5.1 is absolutely awesome with the ay the branches and twiggs on the trees can move in the wind, and the leaves can rustle (spelling?) - ahhhhmazing!<<<
okay
If you’re looking for an affordable 3D solution that does just about everything, Carrara should be one of those things you check out indepth. But don’t take my word for it, you be the judge, do your homework, try the demos etc… You can even find a demo version in the Carrara Studio 3 handbook.<<<
okay
Greetings,
taumel
Hexagon has a different user interface than Carrara’s modelers. Note I say modelers in plural - Carrara has several ways of modeling. The vertex modeler with its sub-D smoothing/modeling and the uv mapper in it may be of most interest. It is pretty richly featured. Hexagon has more focused on modeling. The predecessor to Hexagon was Amapi, and some of its tools have gradually migrated into Carrara’s VM. So yes there’s an overlap. If you have Carrara you may not need Hex. If you have LW3D, C4D, MAX, Maya, Poser etc… then Hex may be a great addition.
yep, there are numerous choices. TrueSpace or GameSpace is used by Drew Clark who’s done numerous tutorails lately, he uses it for Sector-13 his FPS game in space, www.reactorinteractive.net I think
Incidentally he sent me a bunch of the .cob files (Caligari objects, i.e. native TS files) and Carrara Pro can either load that or in our case during the the Game Dev Expo we were demoing re-saved verions in .obj or .3ds (I forgot, whichm, oh yes .3ds it was) and that too loaded nicely into Carrara. There’s a lot of interop between several of these tools. Unlike with Animationmaster which is a bit of an island by itself as I hear.
It started as a modeler, like Silo, Amapi and Hexagon. It got more added to it, like uv mapping/unwrapping, and possibly some rendering in v2? Not sure.
I think what sets Modo apart is that they came from the LW3D dev team, didn’t it?
yes, Sega created a nice tool there indeed for game developers in particular. Is it still owned by Sega?
I wouldn’t go that far but yes it’s a bit intimidating at first. And still is to me. What’s needed is a good demonstration by an insider who understands the interface and can show why and how and then make it click. I have talked to some folks who love Blender and it happened to them. I have come to the conclusion that there’s not one single solution for all. UI is a subjective thing. That’s why it’s somewhat important to be able to customize it. Some love the Lai look, others hate it. Some like the LW3D or Amiga look, others don’t. Some like the standard Windows look, others despise it… a good application with chances of easy adoption is one that offers configuration options in the UI, and the keyboard shortcuts. Some people only use shortcuts, other’s don’t. Amapi had customizeable shortcuts in Designer 7 I think, or 6 (which is free now at eovia3d.net). Amapi Designer 7 is also included in Carrara 4 Pro.
-Philip
Okay, thanks for your infos! :O)
Regards,
taumel
Hi,
i forgot to answer your questions…
I think what sets Modo apart is that they came from the LW3D dev team, didn’t it?<<<
?
yes, Sega created a nice tool there indeed for game developers in particular. Is it still owned by Sega? <<<
Dunno exactly but it seems so…
Regards,
taumel
Hi
I have Poser 6 and I need a software to create environments and import Poser 6 files.
Would Hexagon or Carrara be the better choice?
I hope someone can tell me something about this?
By
Hi
Addition to my replay above.
Please tell me also which version of Carrara or Hexagon would be the best choice.
By[/quote]
[quote=“”]
Hi
Addition to my replay above.
Please tell me also which version of Carrara or Hexagon would be the best choice.
By
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depends on your budget. If you want to amke a lot of models Hexagon might be the thing. But if you want to to kick-ass rendrings, even of poser modesl and poser walk sequences, use Carrara. Carrara standard plus the Transposer plugin so that Poser’s cloth and hair dynamics can also render in Carrara. I Carrara 5 you can load Poser files natively. The Transposer plugin is still needed for cloth and hait dynamics though as far as I know.
If you want both, again, if your budget allows, get Carrara 5 Pro, and Hexagon 1 comes with it. Or get Carrara 4 Pro and get Amapi Designer 7 with that. I resell Carrara 3 and 4. Carrara resources at thebest3d.com at strong inventory liquidation sale pricing if you’re interested, working with Purplus.
There is a fairly good vertex modeler in Carrara wich will go a long way for your poser prop modeling needs. But the most important reason for considering Carrara IMHO Is the better rendering, beyond that of Poser. And animation choices. Still, there’s actually a variety of modelers in Carrara, such as metaballs, Splines, terrain, 3D text, plants/trees (now with animated leaves and branches), particles… it’s very rich.
See examples at Carrara resources at thebest3d.com and Poser by Smith Micro - 3D human figure posing software, recommended by TheBest3D.com - lowcost boxed versions of Poser 5, Poser 6 for MacOS or Windows as well as plugsnpixels.com, try the demos of either, decide for yourself which is the best for you. You know better what you want to do, and if you have limited budget and plenty of time it’s good to take a look at either choice.
It’s said that you can grab Hexagon2 for 32$ (2$ hexagon, 30$ membership for one month) at daz3d when you register for their platinum membership.
I haven’t tried it out personally but others did and it worked.
Regards,
taumel