I’ve familiarized myself with a lot of the concepts of UE4 (as far as blueprints are concerned). I’d like to learn other aspects of game making and would like a list of software that the community uses.
For example, 3d modeling software, which is best? Possibly a description of Quixel and their beta suite as well would be great.
Thanks everyone.
It depends, there’s nothing really the best, you can definitely do what you need to with paid software like 3ds or Maya, but if you want you can get by on Blender, though there are areas where it isn’t as good but things are always improving. For many people it’s not worth the $3,000+ cost to get Maya or 3ds .
Photoshop for 2D editing, you may get by on Gimp though.
I personally use:
-blender
-3ds
-photoshop
-gimp
-terresculptor
-world machine
You need either the paid road or the Free road.
PAID- Maya LT 2015…Photoshop…Quixel OR substance Designer/Painter and Zbrush.
Free- Blender…Gimp 2…Sculptris…and I dont think theres any free =s to Quixel OR substance Designer/Painter… so painting will have to go thru Sculptris OR UE4
Anything that supports FBX
Thanks guys! Lots of software to check out.
As far as paid software goes, which is generally the easiest to learn? 3ds vs maya, quixel vs zbrush etc?
I found my self faced with that question about 1.5 years ago. I got good at Blender after first trying out versions of 3Ds and Maya. I could never justify the cost of 3ds and Maya. Blender being hard is a myth. Later I did buy Modo 801 and I am happy with it. Today I use Blender and Modo for modelling, texturing, and animation related things. I bought Zbrush for sculpting.
Just use what you can afford and what you are comfortable with.
If you need free stuff : blender and gimp are the best in my humble opinion which are both really great and some more free like :
https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?23446-Helpful-tools-programs-list
listed by Archibold , Jcoder and and others you’ll can find by check the forum ^^
I use a similar set of tools that is using
Blender 2.71
Paint shop pro 7.0 - I know it’s old but it’s what I have and I know how to use it!
Terrescultor Pro - Awesome program for building landscape! I can’t recommend program enough!
Zbrush - Just learning bad boy but man is it powerful!
Wish I had tools
Photoshop
Maya and or 3DMax
Motionbuilder
Get the student version
Quixel and Zbrush are completely different things, Zbrush is for sculpting, Quixel is for doing texture detail
Demo man, as says, you can get a 3 year sub of 3dsMax/Maya/Mudbox/Motionbuilder, and more, just tell them what school you are/have been in and then start downloading… 
See Here:
://www.autodesk/education/free-software/all
It is for non- commercial production, however the things you create aren’t bound by if you purchase the full program before going to sell your game for profit…
your know PhotoShop is easier to own now, with Photoshop CC I think it’s only about $10 a month and well worth it
Or just use Photoshop CS2 which you can get for free
Well, that’s not entirely true.
They turned off their old licensing server which means you CAN download CS2 without paying, but you are not allowed to use it unless you have a license. So using it is the same as using a pirated copy.
Regarding the topic:
I’d say go with 3ds/Maya or Blender depending on what you can afford, they will cover your 3D modeling needs.
Go with Photoshop or if you prefer to not pay you get Gimp.
Get nDO or possibly Crazybump for easy creation of various maps you’ll need and that’s it.
Don’t bother getting Zbrush/mudbox/3dcoat in the beginning, you’re better off learning basic 3d modeling before you take on sculpting.
The same goes for Substance painter/designer and DDO, they can be very powerful but you’re better off learning how to use Photoshop and that workflow before getting to complicated with other softwares.
Really? Good to know Thx for the info
Hi ,
is taken from Adobe’s site when getting to the download once signed in.
is the disclaimer:
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As for the software I use at home (just to throw my own in there):
3Ds
Mudbox
Photoshop CS5 (Pixlr is a good online solution with a lot of features if you don’t have access to the software)
XNormal
Nvidia PhysX 1.3 for destructibles (stand alone app)
Nvdia PhysX plugin for for cloth and destructibles
Other software I’d recommend but do no have a license for:
DDO & NDO (great software plugins for Photoshop when you get proficient with them)
ZBrush
Headus UV Layout (a lot of industry people use it for UV layouts)
World Machine (terrain creator)
Substance Designer (shader/material creation)
SpeedTree
Some great information here. Thanks everyone! I’m going to check into 3ds / maya (not sure which I’ll go with yet) as well as PS
Thanks Guys,
I’ve known about for a long time but my problem is that I don’t qualify for the deal since I’m not in college or school any longer. The only school I belong to these days is “The school of hard knocks” and it’s hard!
What might make more sense for me is that I believe Autodesk might have started a subscription like program for their software titles like they have for Photoshop. So if I ever get my hospital bills paid off, I might look into these deals a bit further.
throw in my alternative software set, the programs I use:
123d design
zbrush
photoshop
shadermap 2(insanely valuable)
here soon uv layout and 3d coat
First of all zbrush has a lot of tools to create a mesh from the start, I think the old way of doing a beginning mesh in something like 3ds is sort of pointless and way too time consuming. Also 123d design lets me whip out basic shapes especially for hard surface far quicker than any other software package, exports as stl but zbrush has an stl importer, combine that with zbrushs deformation pallet and you have a very quick and powerful setup.
Photoshop for textures then shadermap 2 for quick normal maps, it’s a lot like crazy bump which is also awesome but more expensive, lets you edit your maps on the fly, far prefer over the Quixel package (ndo,ddo, etc). Going to be using uvlayout for uvs and then 3d coat for retopo, might throw in xnormal instead of zbrush for normal maps on the models(shadermap just for walls/floors). From there fbx exporter for the right file format.
is an alternative set I would like to see used more due to being far quicker and cheaper than the normal route most people take. But we all have our cup of tea. Just letting people know there’s other ways.