i was wondering what is the best 3D graphic & animation software out there?? I was thinking of buying a book to learn but i need to decide if it will be Bryce or 3D Studio Max or if there's something else...

Adobe has a good one, its called Light Wave (sp??) but I think it is extremely expensive if you obtain it legally, but there is always the other way.
Nick

First off Newtek makes LightWave now in ver.7.
LightWave, Maya, and 3DS max are all top of the line 3d packages put you also pay for them. Maya has a personal learning edition that is free but everything is water marked. Bryce is not widly used in the professional 3d world. Its not quite as powerful as the others.
LightWave, Maya, and 3DS max are the best that i know of.

hey thanks for the info...

LIGHTWAVE... hmm, first time that i am hearing of it.

looks like i'll go with 3d Max?

As far as I know LightWave is supposed to be hands down the best, I have seen it used before and it is completely amazing.
Nick

Lightwave just dropped there prices. I think they are now lower than 3ds max.
http://www.lightwave3d.com/news/press/LWPriceDrop.3-21-02.html

LightWave also has a learning edition that is free but watermarked, and they have a student version for like $400 US.
http://www.lightwave3d.com

yeah, i went thru the site and their logo already looks awesome (and i doubt very much that they created it using 3d S Max)

but prices for these software are not cheap - so i'll wait a bit

hey pyro, do u work already on some 3d stuff? can I see some of ur work?

Dont underestimate the power of 3dsmax. It was used to make the special effects for Hollywood StarTrek movies, Blizzard use it to make their games etc. etc.

As far as i know, most people start with bryce and move upwards. Maya is supposed to be more of a professional package... But then again Maya costs 3 arms and 4 legs so beware
I tried using Lightwave, its very user unfriendly... so i gave up pretty soon. Im trying to learn 3dsmax now.
BTW, i would recommend you get an older copy of 3dsmax, its much cheaper and v3 isnt too different from v4. I use version 3 at uni, and i have v4 at home... i cant see any differences, but then I havent used it too much yet.

it's always better to have an opinion from a user who has tried both software.

so looks like i'll stick with what i planned to go with in the first place - 3DSMax!

btw vdigit, why doesn't ur site have any links?

I've tried a variety of different products, but i have decided to stick with Maya.

Here is a list of good products out there, they probably can all do whatever task you are after, although you may end up with different results in each.
Maya: Excellent program. Hard to Learn. Costs a lot. IMO the best of the pack.
SoftImage: I think this is a microsoft partnered software. They sell for about 500. Their product is pretty good.
Lightwave: Not sure of the price. Little hard to learn. Impressive works such as :
www03.u-page.so-net.ne.jp
Cinema 4D: Pretty cheap, about a thousand dollars or more.
Strata 3D: Cheap. Sample of results is here:
homepage1.nifty.com
There are also others such as Gimp, Shade, Poser, Inferno and Metasequia that will give you results with whatever you are trying to achieve. It all depends on your techniquies and how well you know the program though. SO i suggest you get one and just stick with it for a while.