3dsMax and Photoshop or 3dsMax only? Do you use both or just one?

[Movieangel]

My company (IT, Head of Architecture, and Corporate) are tying to determine if we need 3dsMax and Photoshop or if 3dsMax does everything that Photoshop can do and therefore we do not need Photoshop. I wanted to see what other firms were utilizing and what their recommendations are. We use Revit frequently and are staring to really ramp up with the presentation renderings. We already own 3dsMax and Photoshop Elements, but we are trying to decide whether we should continue and buy a full version of Photoshop or work exclusively in 3dsMax. I am leaning towards we need both as one is a 2D program and the other a 3D but again wanted some advice from others that have been doing this a bit longer. Thanks so much.

[Cad64]

we are trying to decide whether we should continue and buy a full version of Photoshop or work exclusively in 3dsMax. I am leaning towards we need both as one is a 2D program and the other a 3D

 

Yes, you need both. They are two very different programs used for very different purposes.

 

I have been doing visualization work for 8 years and I've found that it is very difficult, time consuming and costly to try and get your renders looking exactly the way you want straight out of Max. You are always going to need an image editing program for performing color correction, layer overlays, compositing, editing, effects, etc. And many times it's just easier, and faster, to add plants in Photoshop rather than dealing with 3D plant material. And of course, you will always need Photoshop for creating textures.

 

Ask any CG professional, regardless of which 3D program they use, and they will all tell you that Photoshop is a "must have" program.

[Cad64]

I almost forgot to mention. If you don't want to spend the money for Photoshop, you can download and use GIMP. It's similar to Photoshop and it's completely free.

 

You can download Gimp here: http://www.gimp.org/

[Movieangel]

Thanks so much CAD64. Almost all of us in the office have Gimp because it is free but only one person has Photoshop Elements, and she was hoping to get a Photoshop CS5 (or the most current version). Textures and color correction was what I was most concerned about, but you brought up other good uses too. I am going to forward your response and hopefully they will agree that a full version of Photoshop would be helpful, especially for a company of 90+ employees (architectural department of around 15). Thanks so much.