I need help deciding about some 3D aplications to get.
Here is my situation, I'm new to 3D modeling and would eventualy like to be a professional at it, and I'm wondering which programs I should buy.
I was going to spend a considerable sum on this and then I stoped and asked myself do I need this stuff and I want some advice from people here that are more experienced than myself with this kind of stuff.

this was my to buy list:

A top of the range PC
Wacom Intuos4
Z brush
3D studio max
Vray
Photoshop CS3
corel painter (concept art)

I currently use Blender 3D and have a very basic understanding of it and
anyway what sort of pc should I get as a beginner (I want it for gaming also and to be able to run games like crysis 2 when it comes out on high or near that) and which programs
can I scratch off My list for the moment ? how much do you recomend I spend on them and the pc ?
I'm not made of money and this stuff would take me about 3 or 4 years to gather in total and any tips on realible cheaper alternatives are apreciated,
I'm sorry if a thread like this was created before, I didn't want to resurrect an old thread, with old threads people tend to look at them less because they are old and I could be missing out on imput because of that so if your going to bitch me out about that leave now!
If your willing to stay and offer me advice I apreciate that and thank you.
I remember those who are kind to me.

Well, if you're doing game art only, Vray would be pointless to buy. Even still, if you know how to use Mental Ray (hell even scanline renderer) correctly, you won't need it.

I wouldn't go with both Mud and Zbrush, see which one you like better and use that. I currently have both and really wish I would have only bought Z (i rarely use Mud anymore).

Everything else seems like good picks :P

Are you currently a student or will you be one in the future? If so you can get a crazy student deal on a bunch of Autodesk apps, Autodesk Education Suite I think it's called $350 US, not sure what it'll cost you in Ireland. You get Maya, Max, Mudbox, XSI and Motion Builder 2010 with a perpetual license.

Go for a used Intuos 2 or 3, probably much cheaper than a new 4 and just a good.

Zbrush might be a good investment as so far all their upgrades have been free.

Lamont had some good suggestions about picking up a copy of Photoshop in the photoshop: regular or extended thread.

As a user of Modo it's a fairly cheap good 3D app as well, it just can't do character animation...

I don't know about Vray, unless you plan on doing Archvis work it's not really necessary.

About PC hardware:

I wouldn't bother getting any top of the line stuff, go for value. Get 8GB or more cheapish ram and a decent CPU (maybe intel quad core or cheap i7 if such exists...), a midrange Nvidia card, and a couple of 500GB or so hard drives and your good to go.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention, go with a 64bit OS Win7, Vista64bit, or XP64bit.

Originally Posted by Ben Apuna

Are you currently a student or will you be one in the future? If so you can get a crazy student deal on a bunch of Autodesk apps, Autodesk Education Suite I think it's called $350 US, not sure what it'll cost you in Ireland. You get Maya, Max, Mudbox, XSI and Motion Builder 2010 with a perpetual license.

Go for a used Intuos 2 or 3, probably much cheaper than a new 4 and just a good.

Zbrush might be a good investment as so far all their upgrades have been free.

Lamont had some good suggestions about picking up a copy of Photoshop in the photoshop: regular or extended thread.

As a user of Modo it's a fairly cheap good 3D app as well, it just can't do character animation...

I don't know about Vray, unless you plan on doing Archvis work it's not really necessary.

About PC hardware:

I wouldn't bother getting any top of the line stuff, go for value. Get 8GB or more cheapish ram and a decent CPU (maybe intel quad core or cheap i7 if such exists...), a midrange Nvidia card, and a couple of 500GB or so hard drives and your good to go.

I'm currently a student and I hope to mod games as I go along so thats where actualy paying for my 3D app comes into things due to licancing helping my brother with a few movie projects hopefully.
and I agree about an Nvida card and the i7, I was eyeing them up myself and there are cheaper i7s around 370ish.

If ur a beginer, get a student license for 3ds max. once you know it, get photoshop. no need in getting zbrush AND mudbox.

Originally Posted by roosterMAP

If ur a beginer, get a student license for 3ds max. once you know it, get photoshop. no need in getting zbrush AND mudbox.

Z brush is staying on my to buy list, I was very impressed by demonstrations Ive seen and it will save me time with the more detailed stuff as I'm a high poly whore lol.

There used to be ways to convert educational Autodesk licenses into professional licenses for quite a discount. You should look into that.

$370ish isn't cheap for a CPU I bought my quad core when it was just below top of the line for ~$240.

EDIT:

You won't need a pro license to mod games unless you plan to sell the mods, which only works with UDK afaik.

Working on commercial movie projects will require pro licenses though...

also, are you sure that you even have enough money to buy all this within the next year? i dont think u realize how expensive this software is.

Originally Posted by Ben Apuna

$370ish isn't cheap for a CPU I bought my quad core when it was just below top of the line for ~$240.

i7 goodness *drools*
overclock that baby to 4.0ghz (or even 3.5) and you got a top of the line processor for cheap.

Originally Posted by roosterMAP

also, are you sure that you even have enough money to buy all this within the next year? i dont think u realize how expensive this software is.

I do, that is why I said I need to aquire it all over 3 years based on my income which is low.

I said this in my first post in this thread "I'm not made of money and this stuff would take me about 3 or 4 years to gather in total"

Thanks for your assitance by the way and thank you everyone else also.

in 3 years a new computer now would be mediocre, so you might want to just spend around $1200 on a computer

Originally Posted by ZacD

i7 goodness *drools*
overclock that baby to 4.0ghz (or even 3.5) and you got a top of the line processor for cheap.

What website did you get that from and thanks for the advice about over clocking, I have a friend who can do that kind of stuff.
and if you know of any european websites with great deals like that id love to know as I don't know if US websites ship to Ireland. Thanks for your time.

yeah its a US store, Microcenter. Sorry

If your worried about price, Autodesk and Adobe both charge 'premiums' for commercial license's if your outside the US.
3ds Max is nearly 1/3 more in price in the UK compared to US, so my advise would be look at the other non autodesk applications if your not getting a student license.

Vray is good for ease of use, but MR is just as capable and as Iray coming in the next version of MR which put's it above Vray in my eyes as far as workflow is concerned.

I heard a few times that Photoshop CS4 is really buggy, you may want to look further into this fully and maybe be better of with CS2/3.

With Mudbox and Zbrush, id suggest trying the trails and see which one you like the best.

Originally Posted by Ark

If your worried about price, Autodesk and Adobe both charge 'premiums' for commercial license's if your outside the US.
3ds Max is nearly 1/3 more in price in the UK compared to US, so my advise would be look at the other non autodesk applications if your not getting a student license.

Vray is good for ease of use, but MR is just as capable and as Iray coming in the next version of MR which put's it above Vray in my eyes as far as workflow is concerned.

I heard a few times that Photoshop CS4 is really buggy, you may want to look further into this fully and maybe be better of with CS2/3.

With Mudbox and Zbrush, id suggest trying the trails and see which one you like the best.

I just made an enquire about 3D studio max to see if any premiums are involved and the company I enquired with who sell it will get back to me tomrrow about it.

buy a used copy of photoshop
http://cgi.ebay.com/Photoshop-Cs2-Unregister-LowReserve_W0QQitemZ270514404062QQcmdZViewItemQQpt ZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efbea3ade

Originally Posted by ZacD

buy a used copy of photoshop
http://cgi.ebay.com/Photoshop-Cs2-Unregister-LowReserve_W0QQitemZ270514404062QQcmdZViewItemQQpt ZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efbea3ade

I see that auction has very little time left, and I can't pay for it right now.
so if I give you a shout when I have the funds would you be able to help me search for a good deal then ?
Good idea about the used copy by the way, I did hear the latest Version is buggy.

Edit: I found a good deal in a store closer to home and will go with that one, Thanks man if you hadn't done the search and posted it, I wouldn't have found any deal.