I've been using Strata 3D CX for nearly twenty years now, and I'm very familiar with it's strengths and foibles. And for what I have been doing (creating renderings of tradeshow display ideas to get clients interested) it is a marvelous tool. The interface is designed so someone coming from an Adobe background can start working relatively quickly, like holding down the spacebar to pan around the view, or option-spacebar to zoom. But as I got deeper into modeling, specifically modeling organic shapes with textures, I noticed there were things it didn't do. And some of those things are pretty crucial, like UV mapping of textures. Also the animation controls were unreliable for things like skeleton based mesh deformations. They just added a UV mapping feature, but it is lacking. Previously their advice had been to use Wings, another free program. But that's how I started using Blender.
Strata added Lua scripting, but there hasn't been a monumental surge of scripts being written for it, and little by way of documentation.
Blender, on the other hand, has very little documentation beyond things put out by third parties. The sheer number of tutorials is gratifying, though it does make want to speak in an Australian accent when I work in Blender.
There is no real polish in Blender. It's like getting a car that doesn't have body panels, and the stereo has to be installed by the owner. Setting up materials can be a challenge, and I still have no idea how some things work.
Strata rendering is both more accurate and faster than in Blender, but there's limited ways to share 3D data with a general audience. Their one tool in that regard is poorly documented and in my experience it is buggy.
I will continue using both, but I'm leaning more and more towards Blender.
2 comments:
I just got turned on to Blender recently while inquirying about 3D applications. I use to use Strata Studio Pro years ago and started to get the hang of it. I create some basic displays and logos. SS learning curve was great but I'm sure it even better with the Photoshop integration, which was right before I stopped using it. Many people spoke highly about Cinema 4D and have been lookng into that as well but I'm really not sure which way to go. Especially, when I'll be using the application as compliment to design oppose to full on animation. Blender seems pretty cool but as I started playing around with it, I find somewhat confusing. Very odd set of controls. Would you recommend picking up Strata again or would it be best to invest in learning Cinema 4D? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
I really don't know anything about Cinema 4D at all.
There are cheap versions of Strata Design 3D SE on the Mac App Store if you want to do simple things or try it out. Frankly I rarely use the Photoshop integration, though the ability to render different passes out as Photoshop layers is cool for some effects.
The main reason I went to Blender was that Strata didn't (at the time) have any UV mapping tools. It has some now, but they are still pretty primitive.
PS - Sorry I didn't respond sooner, but I've been incredibly busy with a display project.
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