Whats the best 3D software for VFX? You know for shit like explosions,dust,liquid

>>576088
>best 3D software for VFX?
blender because free = better.
end of story.
/thread

>>576089
Anon every Software is free if you want it to be free

3ds have lots of vfx plugins

>>576092

Word to this.

Maya is the industry standard and you can get a student version...recent versions are kinda BS b/c you need Arnold too...

Modelling wise, I hear good things Cinema 4D. Blew my mind when they did that auto-melding meshes. As for rendering...no idea.

I was working with Cinema 4D since R10. Works quite good, but almost every extension is not free. Also program is "fully featured" with studio versions, which is darn expensive. Recently switched to Blender, best decision ever. Everything takt cost a lot of money I C4D is already built in, I can only say blender I better in any way.

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>>576088
I've been using houdini for two weeks now. At this rate I will be an expert in roughly 15 years

>>576122
Houdini+Nuke is the ultimate professional workflow that you have to learn for a century to be decent at

>>576088
If the prospect of learning Houdini makes you consider suicide, there are various suitable alternatives, although when I say "suitable", just know that you're never really going to have the level of control you otherwise would. IMO Cebas' Thinking Particles is pretty much Houdini-lite right in the Max viewport, there's no reason to really consider anything else.

>>576129

>there's no reason to really consider anything else

There is one little program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NroCnPy1gpo

>>576130
I can't say I know Maya all that well, but I don't believe it has a procedural node/rule-based particle system like TP or Houdini.
The difference is that you don't have to manually go in and set up things like timing or positioning for emitters or dynamics, you have them all behave organically based on rules you define through a node graph or expressions, all as part of a single cohesive system. In other words, you load in your geometry, which turns into a particle, that produces other particles, all of which produce dust and smoke, all of which have physics, all of which interact with the other dynamics in your scene, produce valid results with those dynamics, and do it all automatically based on rules rather than predefined parameters (unless you tell it otherwise).
Houdini is of course peerless in this regard because *everything* in the entire program in a node that can be routed into your simulation, while TP is somewhat abstracted from Max, but it's still better than doing particles the old way, where every dynamics system kind of lives on it's own and requires you to explicitly tell it what and when to do something.

>>576131
Doesn't maya have something called Bifrost? Or you can just use RealFlow with it

In the industry it's almost entirely Houdini for FX work now, though some productions will have a bunch of Maya stuff if their artists are good with it, because they have Maya licenses anyway. But Houdini is the one to learn if you want to get into film FX, and Nuke for compositing.

>>576136
Maya is more often used in VFX that people think, shit is fucking powerful

>>576136
Maya and Houdini go usually together, People say Houdini is all around great but animating something that isn't particles or modelling in that thing is fucking hell on earth.

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>>576089
>VFX
>blender
>because free
>free = better
>/threading yourself

......fucking hell anon

>>576088
If you're serious about it: Houdini + Maya

>>576125
this
not even a two-junior-artists studio in an indian basement will hire you if you work with fucking blender

>>576089
Just because it's free doesn't make it good, anon.

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>>576088
Explosions, dust, and liquid sims are primarily done with Houdini at industry standard, with quick compositions (AKA slap comps) being done in Nuke.

Mesh deformations may also be done in Houdini, but a lot of studios still use Maya for them).

There are heaps of great tutorials for Houdini out there, especially on Vimeo (Peter Quint, GoProcedural), the tokeru wiki source, Entagma, and just on SideFX's actual website. It's tough, but the hardest part is getting used to the procedural node-based workflow (and trust me, once you do using Maya is the most annoying thing on the planet).

Good luck!

Source: I actually work in VFX. Don't use Blender if you legitimately want a job in the field.

>>576913
Are you at a big studio? I'm doing a 1 year Houdini intensive course and working on putting a reel together, any tips?

What is the best program for making shit like fire, storms, tornadoes etc., but for games (don't care about VFX in movies)? Would Maya be a better option in that case, instead of learning Houdini? Where can I start learning that? Keep in mind that's more just for a personal use, I don't aspire to be a VFX artist.

>>576917
There are a few ways to do it. You can use Houdini and Houdini engine to bake out a high res simulation, this is a very high detail method. But if you just want to make something simpler, stuff like making a base tornado mesh in a 3D program and then using the game engine's particle system and panning textures is fine too. Houdini knowledge is a great thing to have for game vfx but is not necessary unless you want the procedural/baking your own sims aspects. Also depends on the realism level you want, higher realism will be easier to achieve with Houdini.

>>576092
>Anon every Software is free if you want it to be free
He meant free as in freedom.