[Corso Automotive]

I have not seen a good post on rendering software yet so I thought I would make one for those who want to learn.

There are basically 2 types of renders. 2D and 3D. 2D would be like the old school hand drawn or those painted in some sort of program which I will discuss later. 3D are renders done using a 3D model done in some sort of CAD program.

2D renders are much faster to create than 3D. They also do not require a expensive computer. there are a lot of options when it comes to software for completeing 2D renders. The most popular is photoshop which is widely used and a very versatile program. If you are doing renders for tshirts then illustrator is the way to go. illustrator creates whats called vector art, which creates very distinct edges. Illustrator does not use pixels the way that photoshop does.

Here is a list of other software used for 2D renders:
Corel painter- Very cool program if you want to create images done with a painted look. It immatates mediums very well.
Photoshop- very good and very powerfull program that can be used for just about anything.
Illustrator- widely used to create vector art.
Autodesk Alias automotive- Cool program that is very good at immatating sketch quality renders.
Autodesk sketchbook- Another good program very similar to alias automotive without the features geared towards automotive style renderings.
Art rage studio- Not so much used for rendering but a cool program for painted styleing.
corel draw- this is another program that is very good at doing vector images.

There are a ton of others I cant list them all. These are just a few of a very long list.

here are a few 3D modeling applications-
Autodesk 3DS max- widely used program for modeling all types of 3D models. Very powerfull application.
Autodesk maya- this is more widely used for animating cartoon style and gameing stuff but can be used to model anything. It is also very powerfull.
Autodesk softimage- Another powerfull modeling application. Not as widely used but a very good application. This app. was formaly known as Softimage XSI
Luxology Modo-Cool modeling program. not as widely used but a very good program.
Maxon Cinema 4D- this program has become very popular. It is a good application and can model very well.
NewTek Lightwave- This program is more difficult to use than most. But it is very popular with professional modelers. It is also one of the first 3D modeling applications.
Pixologic Zbrush-very popular modeling application among game modelers. It uses a clay style modeling system. You can model anything with it.
Autodesk Mudbox- Very similar to Zbrush. not as popular as zbrush but just as good of a application.
SideFX houdini-Another powerfull modeling app. This one is harder to use than the others as well.

Again there are other programs. Most of these programs are for mac or PC. there are a few linux based programs out there and some of these can be purchased for linux. Blender is a 3D modeling app. for linux but it is not very user friendly. As most things linux arent.

Another thing to keep in mind if you want to get into modeling is the computer system. 3D animation and modeling software are very ram intensive as well as very Vram intensive. If you have a small or old video card your onscreen renders will suffer dramatically. And you need to have plenty of RAM while you are modeling.

There are a lot of good tutorials out there on modeling and painting and what have you. gnomonology is a CG school that does very good tutorials. They also have classes you can take. Lynda.com is a good place to find basic tutorials on specific programs and will teach you all the features and how to use the program.
Digital tutors has a lot of good tutorials as well.

I would also recommend anyone that wants to render get a good graphics tablet. I prefer intuos wacom tablets. But do your research before you buy waccom tablets are a little more expensive.

Hope this helps someone out there.