Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Maya or Renderman

This is topic Maya or Renderman in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=005229

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 09-21-2007, 12:43 PM:

I've been given a directive to order Maya and learn it so we can start doing some simple in house 3D graphic stuff. The only reason I was told to get Maya is because a video production company that we're using had Maya and used it to make us a short video. I'm wondering how Maya compares to Renderman.

Anyone here familiar with both programs? Which is easier to learn & use? Which has better features? Does either have a distinct advantage over the other? I'm not planning to create Toy Story 3 or Jurassic Park or anything, but I'm curious how the two measure up against each other. It may end up being a wash, or they may be completely different for all I know.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[ 09-21-2007, 03:37 PM: Message edited by: Mark J. Marshall ]

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-21-2007, 06:18 PM:

AFAIK, Maya is the defacto standard among effects houses, although I'm several years out of the info loop on those things. I haven't done any 3D stuff for some time, so I am not at all current.

I thought Renderman was in-house to Pixar? [Confused]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-21-2007, 07:23 PM:

Renderman is not a standalone 3D program per se. It is a rendering engine available for use with a number of different professional 3D modeling/animation work flows, and as a plug in for Maya.
Pixar's Renderman for Maya

Maya also comes with a very powerful built-in rendering engine, Mental Ray. That engine has also been used in other 3D modeling and animation applications, such as Softimage. Mental Ray is very sophisticated and has been used in the digital effects for lots of feature films.

Renderman for Maya is an add on you have to buy (for $995). It's not a free download or something built into Maya's core application. Pixar does have a free evaluation copy you can try. In professional film effects shops, Renderman is customized and scaled to work across a variety of large rendering farms.

Most effects studios have to custom engineer a lot of their own software to get a certain image or effect on screen. Sometimes a certain piece of custom software will find its way into the commercial market. Some of the code used to vaporize skyscrapers in a nuclear blast during T2 wound up being built into Electric Image 3D, a popular 3D app sold for Macs in the 1990s. The software called "Massive," used to give hoards of CGI characters motivations of their own is sold commercially and used on many films. Even the fundamental technology of Adobe Photoshop first took roots within computers at Industrial Light and Magic.

Also, you might want to try Maya's Personal Learning Edition (free) to see how you like it and also check out other applications like NewTek's Lightwave 3D, Cinema4D, SoftimageXSI and Autodesk Studio3D Max to see which professional level 3D application will work best for you. Both Lightwave3D and Cinema4D cost only half the price of Maya and only a third of Studio3D Max. Lightwave3D also has a very good rendering engine of its own.

Other more affordable 3D applications like Carrara 3D may also do an effective job. For simple 3D illustrations and graphics it may not be necessary to run out and spend $1000-$4000 on one application.

You might even want to check out Blender. It's an open source 3D application. It's not as great as Lightwave3D, but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
http://www.blender.org/

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-01-2007, 04:59 AM:

Thanks for the info, Bobby.

Looks like I'll be going for the Maya purchase. I'm not sure I can justify the "hair fur and water" version (which is about twice as expensive), although that would be pretty cool to play with.