Render Programs for big movies...

I'm sure it is something better than Maya.

the big players (Pixar, Dreamworks, Blue Sky) use their own proprietary software. Learning Maya wouldn't hurt, though.

[url=http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ilm_computers_and_that_pirate_movie/]http://www.fxguide.com/featured/ilm_computers_and_that_pirate_movie/[/url] It appears to a "render farm" of servers that does the "back-work". I scanned the article quickly so quite possibly it might talk about the actual software used. I have a feeling, though, that it is proprietary and not something anyone can go an buy off the shelf. CGI is ILM's bread-n-butter (and baby) for sure.

Actually, Maya is used in film. Other programs include RenderMan, SoftImage 3D, Wavefront, Lightwave, Photoshop, ZBrush. And yes, propietary/custom software

safe to say AutoDesk Maya was used, 3DStudio Max / Photoshop / Lightwave / etc... i taught myself how to use Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop / InDesign i purchased Maya8 a while back, thinking i could teach myself THAT program the way i did the Adobe ones, but sadly, i wasn't able to teach myself anything such a shame too, i see so many cool renders, and i wish i could do that to my own concept art instructional schools that teach 3D renders are way to pricey for me to attend, and online instruction in regards to 3D render apps aren't very helpful damn...

Yeah, my old boss wanted my team to learn maya but not willing to have us trained. Even thought it is now a autodesk product, it is not user friendly. Needless to say we never grasped it either.

Hey Macs, check out DAVE School in Orlando, FL. You can email them with ?s too. I played around with Maya and Softimage a bit (a very little bit) with my students a while back. Good stuff.

I believe those programs can be self taught, as I've seen people I would otherwise consider artistically untalented come up with some decent renders. But I think it takes a certain kind of mindset that can stand drudgery and tedium. Unlike learning to draw - which can be a pleasant process and you see your results relatively quickly, and only requires hand eye coordination and simple tools -, getting a handle on all the programs can do is a task in itself, and that's before you can even think about getting some kind of finished imagery done. It's like, not everyone who can draw well has the patience for animation, redrawing the same character with its arm in a slightly different position. But I would go with ZBrush if I were you guys. Simpler and more intuitive for draftsmen and painters.

Try ZBrush. It's simpler and more intuitive for people who work in traditional visual arts. If you don't care about animation, that program will serve all your digital 3D render needs. I think teaching yourself something like Maya requires a certain kind of mindset or personality. You need Asperger's or OCD to go through that. It's different than learning how to draw or paint or sculpt, which are pleasurable processes on their own, that require little more than some simple instruments and hand eye coordination. No menus full of tools to learn and memorize. I've rented a couple of cutting edge manuals when I was interested in learning 3D Studio Max, and it was more like academic work than creative work. Yeah, fuck that, I already did assloads of real academic work when I studied painting and illustration. And I hear the VFX industry isn't all that pleasant to work in.

NIce. Thanks for the info.

Hey Macs. I'm a CGI artist/visualiser myself and I can confirm that the best, most common and popular software is still Maya, although 3DsMax and Lightwave keep gaining popularity since they're way cheaper per license and far less complex or complicated than Maya. Maya is actually quite user friendly as soon as you got used to the interface. The problem is, that when you come to work with different studio, it's quite likely you'll have to work with a Maya version you'd hardly recognise, as Maya has it's own built-in script language (MEL) which allows you to completely change the appearance and functionality, which can be pretty confusing and time-consuming. Having said that, all those packages are mostly used for modeling, texturing and in some cases animating, including complex mo-cap (motion capturing) procedures. For the actual rendering most big studios use external stand-alone or even custom made (studio-internally written) render engines. One of the best ones which works pretty well with Maya is called RenderMan, another one would be MentalRay. I personally prefer working with Maxwell Render, but it's still too slow for high-resolution rendering of huge chunks of footage including multiple layers/channels, unless you have an incredibly powerful renderfarm at your hands. It's great for stills, no doubt. Hope that gives you an even better insight.