Some suggested programs every graphic designer/game developer should know ?

[pllaybuoy]

My aim is to have a career in 3d game dev.
Besides the coding part can you guys suggest me some programs like blender , illustrator that you think are required in 3d game dev. for idk 3d modelling and creating sprites ?I have like an year plus of my highschool left but its never too early to walk towards your aims , so can any of you suggest me some programs that I should learn ?
Say I want to be a lone wolf(sounds stupid but not impossible) , making 3d game by yourself what programs would you suggest getting my hands on ? photoshop , illustrator for plane and vector graphics , but what for 3d modelling and sprites ?

[Phage]

I will give you one link:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=3d+modelling+software

For characters and such I would recommend ZBrush or Maya.

[pllaybuoy]

Know that , and already googled that
I was however looking for personal opinions

[Zesh]

I suggest you first learn some game development terminology. A sprite is a 2d image, usually that of the players' or NPCs. When 3d modelling you'll be creating models/textures not sprites

I suggest you download Blender and you can find some very good tutorials here:

http://cgcookie.com/blender/

Good luck on your 3d endeavours

[pllaybuoy]

lol thanks , I'll correct that

[rasenove]

3DS MAX is considered as THE best took for 3d modeling and animating by most artists . 3D modeling and animating is alot of hard work but this tool makes it much easey (still hard work tho,  i tryed it didnt do well)  and the best thing about it is its rendering options you can make your models look like anything  even realistic
You might want to check this,

www.usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=10243220

[bluechill]

3DS MAX is considered as THE best took for 3d modeling and animating by most artists . 3D modeling and animating is alot of hard work but this tool makes it much easey (still hard work tho,  i tryed it didnt do well)  and the best thing about it is its rendering options you can make your models look like anything  even realistic
You might want to check this,

www.usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=10243220

No it's not.  It's just the most used.  There is no "best," it is all up to personal preference.  I mean, some like Silo for instance, some like zbrush, some like 3DS Max.

[pllaybuoy]

What about blender ? have any of you used it ? And is it better than 3ds max ? its opensource though

[flowjob]

I've used blender and 3DS Max before, and I personally prefer blender, as

• it's freeware
• has lots of tuts
• works with (almost) all formats used by games for their models
• has a big community
• highly configurable
• it's available for linux and windows
• you can make a game by only using blender (it includes sth to create a game engine AFAIK)

But I can get quite hard learning how to use blender for more complexe things (gravity and all that stuff..), although it got easier over the last years/editions...

[Zesh]

I've used blender and 3DS Max before, and I personally prefer blender, as

• it's freeware
• has lots of tuts
• works with (almost) all formats used by games for their models
• has a big community
• highly configurable
• it's available for linux and windows
• you can make a game by only using blender (it includes sth to create a game engine AFAIK)

But I can get quite hard learning how to use blender for more complexe things (gravity and all that stuff..), although it got easier over the last years/editions...

This. As Area has mentioned that greatest benefit of Blender is that you can create games within and so it acts as a fast track into the world of 3D game development.

[Uriah]

From what I understand, the top three animation softwares are Maya, 3dsmax, and blender. I've heard that maya and 3dsmax were doing much better than blender for quite a while, but now people have actually been switching over to blender more now, since version 2.5. My personal choice is blender.
Also, correct me if im wrong on this, but, while blender alone should be great for making a large variety of good games, its not best to attempt making huge games with it. When you get into big game dev, you may want to program them with c++(because its fast), and use the models you made in blender for the graphics. However, you shouldnt worry about that until your ready to step it up to  the next level in the future.
May be good to get a head start in c++ anyway, though. I believe the industry standard ide for it is Visual studio, and ive also heard that qt is good.
Good luck!

[Zesh]

From what I understand, the top three animation softwares are Maya, 3dsmax, and blender. I've heard that maya and 3dsmax were doing much better than blender for quite a while, but now people have actually been switching over to blender more now, since version 2.5. My personal choice is blender.
Also, correct me if im wrong on this, but, while blender alone should be great for making a large variety of good games, its not best to attempt making huge games with it. When you get into big game dev, you may want to program them with c++(because its fast), and use the models you made in blender for the graphics. However, you shouldnt worry about that until your ready to step it up to  the next level in the future.
May be good to get a head start in c++ anyway, though. I believe the industry standard ide for it is Visual studio, and ive also heard that qt is good.
Good luck!

Correct! Blender shouldn't be used for any BIG games but it helps with starting off in 3D game development. Once you feel comfortable with Blender and have made some good games then you should look into an actual 3D engine. Majority of 3D engine/game software you have to pay for but there are a small number which are free like Irrlicht.

http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/

But ofcourse all this is for way later in your journey

[rasenove]

I must agree with you all. I never tryed blender , and i only used 3ds max and K-3D . But i still suggest you to try as many softwairs as you like . Becaus 3D Modeling and animating is hardwork itself no softwair can make it too easey for you . Thats why most animators, modelers, etc work as team , so they can get the job done in time.

[EmilKXZ]

I wonder why nobody has recommended Unity 3D

www.unity3d.com

It is free for Windows, check out the platforms supported. I'd pay the price for the Android allowance... if not, go and crack it.

It even has a plugin to make your game work on the browser!

[Zesh]

I wonder why nobody has recommended Unity 3DIt is free for Windows, check out the platforms supported. I'd pay the price for the Android allowance... if not, go and crack it.

It even has a plugin to make your game work on the browser!

Because he wanted to know about software for 3D modelling so I didn't mention Unity as it's a game engine/development suite