Hexagon vs. Bryce vs. Blender vs. Sculptris vs... whatever?

zombiewhacker

Ideally I plan to keep as many modelling programs on my desktop as possible. The question is which software works best for each situation:

- UV mapping a simple prop (chair, TV, car).

- Texturing/painting a simple prop.

- Modding a pre-existing prop or set (example, making a door or elevator wider, sculpting a generic car into a specific model).

- Modding a pre-existing DAZ or Poser character.

- Rigging a simple prop (a swinging door, a spinning fan)

That's just a few things off the top of my head for starters.

One thing I know for certain from reading the forums is that Hexagon definitely cannot handle Boolean operations... which is okay for me anyway since I can barely spell it. :cheese:

Also can Carrara do any modelling or painting, or is it strictly an animation program?

sriesch

Although one can create things in it, Bryce is not intended as a modeling application to create objects for use in other applications, but rather would normally be used as your final rendering application, much like you would use DAZ Studio or Poser.

Chohole

Bryce is not a modelling program per se. Bryce principally is known for generating landscapes, although an expert can produce some detailed props by using the included elements and boolean tecniques. Bryce works well with DS, using the included bridge, so you can take the figures and props from DS and render them in a Bryce scene or landscape

Carrara is figure posing, modeling, landscape design, rigid and soft-body dynamics, animation and rendering all within a single application

Ron Herrmann

chohole said:

Bryce is not a modelling program per se. Bryce principally is known for generating landscapes, although an expert can produce some detailed props by using the included elements and boolean tecniques. Bryce works well with DS, using the included bridge, so you can take the figures and props from DS and render them in a Bryce scene or landscape

Carrara is figure posing, modeling, landscape design, rigid and soft-body dynamics, animation and rendering all within a single application

I would add that "Bruce works well with DS" if you're working on a PC - if you work on Macs, there are some severe caveats concerning this topic. Like, Bryce only runs on Snow Leopard and (perhaps) earlier Mac OS versions.

Chohole

Ron Herrmann said:

chohole said:

Bryce is not a modelling program per se. Bryce principally is known for generating landscapes, although an expert can produce some detailed props by using the included elements and boolean tecniques. Bryce works well with DS, using the included bridge, so you can take the figures and props from DS and render them in a Bryce scene or landscape

Carrara is figure posing, modeling, landscape design, rigid and soft-body dynamics, animation and rendering all within a single application

I would add that "Bruce works well with DS" if you're working on a PC - if you work on Macs, there are some severe caveats concerning this topic. Like, Bryce only runs on Snow Leopard and (perhaps) earlier Mac OS versions.

Yes that is true, unfortunately, but I know, from previous posts, that this member uses a PC.

The Blurst of Times

Blender can do UVs & texturing.

Sculpting... sure. Blender can do all sorts of modeling.

Modding a character? I'm not sure what you're asking for. Adding horns or things like that? You can use Blender for clothing, so you should be able to add whatever other props you want with Blender.

It's free, so it's worth trying just for that reason.

I'm still learning the thing, myself. People say that it's difficult to use, but I don't really have a frame of reference on this kind of software, so I can't say how true it is.

zombiewhacker

The Blurst of Times said:

Modding a character? I'm not sure what you're asking for. Adding horns or things like that? You can use Blender for clothing, so you should be able to add whatever other props you want with Blender.

I'll give one example. If I'm bringing a Genesis morph over from FaceGen, sometimes the FaceGen conversion utility doesn't work 100% as advertised. The eyelashes on the new morph will be too long, or the character will appear buggy-eyed, whereas the eyes and lashes on the original FaceGen character will look completely normal.

It would be nice to be able to export the morph from DAZ Studio, fix the changes, and import it back, good as new. Hexagon I'm pretty sure has this ability, but then, if you want to talk about buggy...

The Blurst of Times

zombiewhacker said:

I'll give one example. If I'm bringing a Genesis morph over from FaceGen, sometimes the FaceGen conversion utility doesn't work 100% as advertised. The eyelashes on the new morph will be too long, or the character will appear buggy-eyed, whereas the eyes and lashes on the original FaceGen character will look completely normal.

It would be nice to be able to export the morph from DAZ Studio, fix the changes, and import it back, good as new. Hexagon I'm pretty sure has this ability, but then, if you want to talk about buggy...

Okay, looking at this thread, it looks like it's theoretically possible to try to deal with the FaceGen Obj in Blender, and move it back into Daz...
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/37731/

I can't say for sure, though. I've only exported V6 to Blender as an Obj in order to try my hand at creating new clothing... see Sickleyield's tutorial for that
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-G1G2-Clothing-in-Blender-1-428585748

Of course, since Blender is free, the $$$ investment to experiment is minimal.

mjc1016

Hexagon has a bridge that eliminates a number of common import/export problems...but depending on OS/system config it can be very buggy.

Blender, while not having all the easy import/export options tends to much more stable over a wider range of configurations.

jestmart

Rigging for DAZ Studio must be done in Studio Pro, it also can do legacy Poser rigging. Weight map rigging for Poser must be done in Poser Pro.