Pros and Cons of Animating Daz Content in Blender compared to Unreal compared to...

Diomede

Greetings.  Multiple program question.  I am considering buying the recent store tutorial series for the Unreal engine, but I am not looking for a critique of the tutorial series itself. As a dabbler in animations in Carrara who is getting more serious (but still hobbyist) I am looking for a program with ongoing support capable of animating a big library of Daz cointent.  Unreal and Blender can be downloaded and tried for free (and I have), but there is no way to make enough headway to meaningful compare them before the sale status for the tutorial expires.  Grateful for any insights, positive experiences, negative experiences, etc. related to using Daz content in the Unreal engine compared to other cheap software available to a hobbyist who is getting more serious, including but not limited to free Blender.

DustRider

I can't really say anything useful,  but I would like to hear some thoughts from people who have used both as well. I really like Blender,  but for a large landscape scale project I'm working on, I'm thinking Unreal might be very beneficial. 

ArtAngel

Diomede said:

Greetings.  Multiple program question.  I am considering buying the recent store tutorial series for the Unreal engine, but I am not looking for a critique of the tutorial series itself. As a dabbler in animations in Carrara who is getting more serious (but still hobbyist) I am looking for a program with ongoing support capable of animating a big library of Daz cointent.  Unreal and Blender can be downloaded and tried for free (and I have), but there is no way to make enough headway to meaningful compare them before the sale status for the tutorial expires.  Grateful for any insights, positive experiences, negative experiences, etc. related to using Daz content in the Unreal engine compared to other cheap software available to a hobbyist who is getting more serious, including but not limited to free Blender.

It is a comaprison comparison of apples and oranges. Disregarding Maya, C4D and #DS 3D MAX, the two choices you present are very different (with a few similarities). I would pick Blender, hands down, and not because it is free. Blender is like a fine wine. With age it simply gets better and better. I recently found myself confronted with the same question. My resolve was to invest in some courses and it is probably the best investment I have made toward animation. Rigging and animation is not new to Blender. It's Blender's niche. UE is great for creating environments. Look at some award shorts and decide for yourself.  It's like comparing Photoshop to Substance painter. I have been using PS since the 2003 version, and have yet to master Substance Painter, but for 3D painting & texturing Substance owns that niche. I personally think Blender offers more animation tools than UE does but in the end this is simply an opinion and you have to decide what tools would be best for your workflow. Maybe you would benefit by exploring the tools,and comparing a list of such for the two . . . just a thought.

Edit: If you buy tutorials check out the reviews on Blender and also check out the version used for the course. There is nothing worse than trying to follow an outdated tutorial for Blender.

nonesuch00

The biggest pro would be that the big game engines have pipelines to - from Blender that the big game engine companies maintain already.

The biggest con is incompatable standards and mistakes in converting between formats and configuring for the SW at hand.

wolf359

No unreal knowledge

But I have several Daz to Blender tutorials ,on my channel ,using FREE addons

 

 

csaa

Diomede said:

... Grateful for any insights, positive experiences, negative experiences, etc. related to using Daz content in the Unreal engine compared to other cheap software available to a hobbyist who is getting more serious, including but not limited to free Blender.

Diomede,

I thought you might pick up useful insights from this article about a Japanese anime company that, back in 2019, started to transition from 3ds Max to Blender - https://www.blender.org/user-stories/japanese-anime-studio-khara-moving-to-blender/

Several interviewees highlight particular features in Blender 2.8 they found useful. But what I found interesting was the collaborative-studio system behind anime production, and the costs for software licenses that comes into play. To quote ... 

'Khara [the Japanese studio] has been using Autodesk “3ds Max” as their primary tool so far. “EVANGELION:3.0+1.0” production is mainly done with 3ds Max. They are now starting to switch from 3ds Max to Blender. Usually the reason being “due to differences such as quality and functionalities”, but Khara’s reason is different.

'“We need more production resources from outside, not only from Studio Q. We need cooperative work with friend companies for our production. However, many of those companies are small or middle-sized, so if we stick to 3ds Max it will cause higher management costs [for those parter companies].” – Daisuke Onitsuka [CGI Director of Digital Dpt. of Khara and General Manager of Production Dpt. of Studio Q]'

For me the takeaway here is that it's not just the technical merits of these software tools that we have to consider, it's also important to keep in mind the ecosystem of collaborators involved in animation production. And for smalls studios -- particularly independents and hobbyist -- cost is one aspect worth considering. Depending on our goals, it may be worth paying attention to the shape and direction this ecosystem is evolving to, and how such a factor as software cost influences them.

Cheers!

 

Diomede

Thank you to everyone who replied.  Lots of great information.  I am looking forward to diving in.