Is Cheetah for me?

N

northcanvas

0
Is Cheetah for me?

Hey there,

I'm a graphic designer and digital artist that's just starting to use 3D in my work. I have used Google SketchUp a bit, but have found that it may not be enough for me. I'm not just trying to "sketch" things, but I want to create designs and objects where the final output is clean and professional looking. I'm a Mac user and ideally do not want to have to run Boot Camp or use any additional applications for rendering.

From a "work" stand point, I'm not interested in motion or animation at all - just static images. I want the ability to create images as nice as this:

cheetah3d.com/img/gallery/WoodClock2.jpg

They need to be printable at large format, so I'd like to be able to export them at pretty hi resolution or in vector format.

I've considered making the investment in Maya or Max 3ds, but judging by the Gallery here, Cheetah3d may be sufficient for me.

Any thoughts or insight from Cheetah users?

Thanks so much for reading.
 
I too am a graphic designer and digital artist/illustrator. I find Cheetah absolutely indispensable. I use it for static and motion graphics. Download the demo - I think it's fully functioning, you just can't save the Cheetah file. I find this forum an essential part of creating in Cheetah. You get out of Cheetah what you put into it. Good luck.
 
Just do it. It's already a bargain, and you'll get version 6 for free. Even if you move on to more expensive solutions later, the stability and simplicity of cheetah will bring you back to it every now and again. Plus, it's a real mac app, top-to-bottom... not a QT monstrosity like maya 2011... not a sloppy port.

And I've got a feeling... that Martin is on it, man... he's not letting his labor of love collect any dust... this app is just going to keep getting better. This one man pulls off what usually takes entire teams of coders... I think he puts unicorn tears in his breakfast cereal.

Buy it right now, and never look back.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. I think that the fact that C3D is Mac-only, and built for Mac from the ground up is probably its best asset. However, the features don't end there. This program is continually being updated, and there are many improvement on the way, and for the price it is really a steal. It is already a very serious modeling and animation tool, plus its rendering engine is pretty fast and solid, capable of producing clean, photorealistic renders. It is essentially user-friendly.

What I'd do is give a try to the demo version (you can't save files) and see how you like it. Don't expect to learn everything instantly. 3D is hard to get at first, there are many aspects that don't correlate to the 2D-art creation world.

Last but not least, this is a very friendly forum, which makes up for the fact that C3D's documentation is a bit underdeveloped. However, I'd take software development over creation of documentation any time of the day.

Looking forward to see what you produce.
 
Cheetah is a great way to get to grips with 3D, it's a very good modeler and it renders very well (and quickly) too. I've tried a bunch of different 3d apps and Cheetah is the one that came most naturally to me - I actually think its really well suited to designers (I'm a web designer myself) as it's very capable, simple to understand and produces some great results.

But as the others have said, the only way you'll find out is by downloading the trial and having a play.

Finally, you've done the right thing by joining the forum - there is a huge amount of resources and help available here that you don't necessarily see at first.
 
short answer: YES!

the only thing that comes to mind reading what you want to do is the render size, currently limited at 5000x5000 pixel. if you plan to do studio renders like Francois' wood watches then you'll find Cheetah extremely easy to set up and very fast too!

...and welcome to the forum, btw :smile:

cheers,
Alessandro
 
C3D is one of the more designer-friendly 3D packages out there. (The other program I used to recommend was Strata 3D, but after trying to go back to it a year or two ago -- I started in 3D back in 1990 with Strata -- I found it horribly clunky.)

It comes down to time vs. money. If you have lots of time and not much money, Blender will get you there. If time is precious or even moderately valuable, get Cheetah 3D. Even if you move on to a more advanced program, you'll learn the ropes faster with Cheetah 3D.
 
'nough said.
You don't getting any better reco's than these.

Cheetah is more than worth the small investment!:icon_thumbup: :icon_thumbup:

Erin
Download the demo and I'll bet you'll be hooked in no time.;)
 
Hi
in Germany we told that Äpfel mit Birnen vergleichen that means that Cheetah3d was a Apple and Maya a Pear .
Maya and also 3d Max and a little Bit Cinema and Lightwave are High end 3d Apps , C3d have a long long way to go if it com near on of these .

if you don't use Features like Hair Fur Skin and many many others in these Programs C3d is a very good Program to start but it has Limits.
I used 3d Max and Cinema years ago and if i can pay for that programs for my Hobby (at Moment it is my Hobby not my Work) i will do that but those programs are to expensive for my hobby ;-)

I make many things with Video and used 3d Max to render 3d Scenes and Objects to real world Video scenes and if you com from a program like Max or Cinema than C3d is nice but have much limits and if you really used maya
in Projects others than Still Image you never ever will told us that an Apple is same than a Pear ;-)

C3d is for that Money it cots a very very cool Program and Martin do many Time working for new Features but one Programer will never finish a program that coms near Max Maya or Cinema, those programs have more code that one Man can read in 1 Month :)

C3d Rocks very well but it isn't same Class like these Programs thats normal an ok mostly things in C3d working very easy and it is stable and under development ;-)


anothervenue said:
I can do more in Cheetah than I can in Maya, and I took a semester long class in Maya.
Click to expand...
 
xeen3d said:
Hi
in Germany we told that Äpfel mit Birnen vergleichen that means that Cheetah3d was a Apple and Maya a Pear .
Maya and also 3d Max and a little Bit Cinema and Lightwave are High end 3d Apps , C3d have a long long way to go if it com near on of these .

if you don't use Features like Hair Fur Skin and many many others in these Programs C3d is a very good Program to start but it has Limits.
I used 3d Max and Cinema years ago and if i can pay for that programs for my Hobby (at Moment it is my Hobby not my Work) i will do that but those programs are to expensive for my hobby ;-)

I make many things with Video and used 3d Max to render 3d Scenes and Objects to real world Video scenes and if you com from a program like Max or Cinema than C3d is nice but have much limits and if you really used maya
in Projects others than Still Image you never ever will told us that an Apple is same than a Pear ;-)

C3d is for that Money it cots a very very cool Program and Martin do many Time working for new Features but one Programer will never finish a program that coms near Max Maya or Cinema, those programs have more code that one Man can read in 1 Month :)

C3d Rocks very well but it isn't same Class like these Programs thats normal an ok mostly things in C3d working very easy and it is stable and under development ;-)
Click to expand...

I don't care what a tool can potentially do, I care how much sense the tool makes to me and what it enables me to do.

Sure, Maya can do more, but its going to take much much longer.
 
Thanks!

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to thank you all for the amazing responses. I'm so overwhelmed with such a friendly community. I actually missed all of these responses until now, so I apologize for my late reply. Maybe there's a way for me to set up email alerts next time so I know when someone replies.

Thanks again. I will in fact be downloading the demo this week and I'm close to convinced that I will be buying it already based off of these recommendations.

More soon..

: )
 
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