Professional Software Programs for Animation Graphic Artists

Software programs for today's graphic artists have evolved well beyond what was once considered the best graphic programs. Programs such as Photoshop and Corel Draw pale in comparison to the sophistication of graphic arts programs used for animation and scene creation in the movie, TV, and game industry. Here is a list of 6 of the best graphics programs used by graphic artists to create the great movies and TV shows we all love to watch.

3ds Max

Autodesk makes some of the best software programs for graphic artists. 3ds Max, originally called 3D Studio Max, is a Windows 3D program used for animation and scene production. It uses SDK and scripting through what is called a Maxscript to produce content. It's functionality can be extended by use of third party rendering solutions.

Softimage

Softimage, another Autodesk product, is similar to 3ds and Maya except it integrates the Mental Ray rendering package. This graphic arts program is used in all types of video production.

Maya

Maya, by Autodesk, has been used in the film industry for many years. Maya has evolved into a standalone platform by the use of the MEL programming language. It can run on Linux, Windows or Mac platforms.

MASSIVE

MASSIVE is the acronym for Multiple Agent Simulation System in Virtual Environment. MASSIVE is a 3d animation graphics program used by graphic artists to produce large scale video content. This powerful program was used to produce the battle scene in The Lord of the Rings and other large budget productions. It can run on UNIX and Linux platforms and is now available for MS Windows.

LightWave 3D

LightWave 3D is definitely worthy of mention. It evolved from its humble beginnings as Amiga's graphic program to being used in the production of several well known TV series, one being Babylon 5.

Electric Image Animation System

Electric Image Animation System developed by the EI Technology Group is a powerful software program for graphic artists used to help created Pirates of the Caribbean and the TV series Lost. It is a 3D animation and rendering program package that can produce high quality graphics very quickly on Windows and Mac platforms.

It becomes apparent that no one program stands above the pack. Movie and TV producers have a broad choice of what graphics program they decide to obtain for their graphic artists. The choice of program has to do with what is being produced, size of the budget and skill of the graphic artists. The trend has been moving away from large computer platforms. The proliferation of more powerful PCs and availability of Linux, Windows and Mac based programs have created this revolution.

Sources: Professional experience helping film producers setup production platforms.