the best 3d rendering program?

[deviant]

does anyone have any experience with 3D rendering programs?
Which program is the easiest to use and offers the best results? Those that I know of are: Bryce (friend has it, and she has made some great stuff), Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max, Maya(just got).

[TrinityOfOne]

Wow, are they giving Maya away now?

3D studio is the Photoshop of the 3D world. Lightwave is pretty good too, as is Imagine.

[Scott]

Yeah Maya has a free educational version. From what I gather Maya and Lightwave are the 2 top guns.

[deviant]

I got Maya from my work.

[MaryMac]

I LOVE Cinema 4d!! A lot of the tools are fairly intuitive after getting used to 3d Max and making the switch to Mac.

The attached file is the result of a recent effort. The theater part itself is a freebie in 3ds format and opened in Cinema 4d. Then I made a bazillion changes to textures and added my own touches. This is being used in an online community (visual chate) environment.

[Silky]

[QUOTE=MaryMac]I LOVE Cinema 4d!! A lot of the tools are fairly intuitive after getting used to 3d Max and making the switch to Mac.

The attached file is the result of a recent effort. The theater part itself is a freebie in 3ds format and opened in Cinema 4d. Then I made a bazillion changes to textures and added my own touches. This is being used in an online community (visual chate) environment.[/QUOTE]

What a cool image, MaryMac! How difficult is it to use a 3d program if you've never had any experience with them before?

[jmayo]

Silky, 3d programs arent "hard" but it does require a different way of thinking.
in 2d (photoshop, etc) you strive for depth thru color, while in 3d you HAVE depth. Once you get past that you are good to go.