Although I have been making games for over 2 years now, I always depend on purchasing my 3D assets from marketplaces such as the Unity Asset Store and Turbo Squid. For custom work I contract 3d artists to create high quality modes for me.
However there are times when I wished I could either design a simple model for a scene or modify the existing model that was created incorrectly. For example what if I wanted to open the train doors but they were not seperate from the main train body? Should I waste my graphic artists time for such a simple job?
So I finally broke down, and focused on learning some 3D Modelling. First I spent a day researching my options for 3D Modelling Software. I had 3 main criteria:
- Run on my Mac
- Powerful enough (texturing, rigging, fbx, low poly)
- Easy to learn
I knew that the best free option was Blender. However from my previous tries I knew that Blender was so very hard to learn. After trying some alternatives I decided on Maya LT, a version of May that is designed for Indie Developers, which means it has less features and is cheaper then full Maya.
Maya LT is retails for $795 which is not very accessible for a beginning Indie Developer. However someone like myself who is way more interested in a tool that is powerful yet easy to learn it was a good choice. Alternatively you can “rent” the software for as cheap as $20 per month on a 3 year term. (There is also a free 3 year education version you can get as well as a free trial version if you just want to learn).
Many tutorial videos later I was able to complete my first model, which was a textured Grain Silo. I now feel competent enough to make simple models and modify existing ones. For example the next version of Train Sim will feature a model of Metrovagonmash 81-760 which was modified by me to allow the doors to open on a single side. Not a big deal for a professional 3D Modeller but saves me from hiring someone externaly for such a simple job.
Although Maya LT often gets slack for not being full featured, I really enjoyed that it only has the features I need. This makes the user interface much easier to learn, and does not overwhelm you. Another good feature is that being an Autodesk product it natively handles the fbx file format with no external plugins needed. So far I found the Maya LT to be powerful enough for my needs and very easy to learn. I am looking forward to making many cool 3D models for my games.