Best 3d package to start using

Hey Guys, this is my first time to this site...anyway, I have always wanted to start getting into 3d animation/art and this site just kicked me into full gear to start. I'm already a full time designer but I know my talents are going towards this direction. Every picture in that gallery on here is amazing and everyone should be applauded for their work.

If anyone would be so kind as to recommend a package, really the best package to run on a Top end Windows ME/2000/NT machine, I would really appreciate it. Also, what type of Video cards you use.

I've heard a lot of good things about Lightwave 6.5 and Maya, but yet a lot of amazing photos I saw were done in 3DMax, and SoftImage.

Any filling in would be greatly appreciated.

Vryce

1.)how much money u got to spend?.
2.)what exactly do you plan to do in 3d animation ( fx, characters, architectual, etc..)

a great video card that i would strongly reccomend is the geforce2 series...

as far as modelling goes..i find lightwave to be more complete in that area.

animation goes to mirai, softimage, maya, max

lightwave is great but its character tools arent all that..

to start id say get animation master though....itll cost you a hell of a lot less than any of the above..
also..for modellling alone you could get nendo which costs $99 and is just amazing for what it costs...

Well my work owns 3dmax, Lightwave and Maya (new versions) so I guess which one do you recommend and what runs on a Windows platform.

The stuff I want to do is modeling and game animation type stuff.

Thanks

For Gmaes I would deffinetly recommend Max, Lightwave is used in some games but rarely compared to max. If you are concidering other fields as well For movies broadcast and what not I would concider Maya3. now, I can't stress this enough, Learn more than one highend 3dapp Your career maydepend on it. I recommend The geforce2 chipset as well for a gpu.

for games....mirai
i say this because its the best polygon modeller out there...even lightwave...( and we all know that lightwave has an amazing poly modeller)
its character animation tools are ahead of maya
and its got direct connectivity to game exchange...so exporting to games is as easy as clicking a button..:)

plus..it has no gimble lock...
and u can use fk and ik together..:)no turning on and off bs..its something that max4 will have..but mirai has had for a while...and mirai2.0 will be out soon...so its extensive features will go up once again:)

but do like zombie said..learn as much as u can...
and for film i would recommend maya, mirai, and softimagexsi 1.5..

I would be careful with Mirai.  They could be gone in the near future.  Although I do agree with you guys saying how awesome it is.  I'm pro lightwave but I would suggest Maya if you can get your hands on it.  Max is starting to loose the gaming market and Maya is starting to take over.  I also want to get into gaming and I'm going to start to learn Maya because everyone is wanting that right now.  Although Lightwave in my opinion is a lot easier to learn then Maya.  Good luck

maya will never have the whole market because not everyone likes the way it works...( especially people from sculpting backgrounds)
mirai wont be out of the game anytime soon..
why?...
well...it has a long history in the video game market...( n-geometry, n-world, etc...)
squaresoft uses it for a lot of the modelling for their games..viewpoint uses it a LOT..
and its used in other places as well such as AT&T research...
it was used in vertical limit for the snow particles...
its being used in lord of the rings movies...it was used a little in x-men( model of mystiques torso replacement for flying scenes )

the reason why i said that it wont be out of the picture is because a company named "winged edge technologies" just bought out nichimen this april?..
and they intend to expand mirai beyond the video game market and into film as well...
it wont be easy for them though because their competition is the already comfortable queen maya.
mirai is still in version 1.1.( which means that its about 1 year old..)so id say that you wont be hearing much about mirai until it reaches version 2 or 3..( btw...version 2.0 is being released in january)

i do agree with the rest of your msg..

btw..if you learn maya then getting a job will be easier than if you learned to uve mirai..the demand for mirai isnt as large as maya or even softimage artists.

I agree as everbody else a Geforce cards is really recommended
there are how ever better ones like the Elsa Quadra2 card but it's at the moment to expensive and if we really want spoil ourselfs there is Intense3D Wildcat series but only a real freak with an xtreamly phat income  would get one of those, but if performence is what you are looking for
check out http:://www.intense3d.com

you cannot buy the wildcat alone..
you can only get it if you buy a whole system at companies like dell, compaq, hp, etc..

GeForce cards rock and use as many progs as you can get your hands on - the more the better...

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