Good 3d image/animation program

[Rick]

For any who enjoy or would like to try 3d, here is a terrific free program.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Obviously, the program is called 'Blender'. To see it's capabilities, go to the website and look at the gallery. There are also a couple of movies there which were made using Blender. It is a powerful program and beats spending a few thousand dollars for professional programs like 3d Max or Maya.

[Hypomanic]

I have 3D Max.. it didn't cost me a thousand dollars. ;)

[Rick]

I downloaded and tried out the 30 day free trial of 3D Max. That was just enough time to begin learning it. Wish I had it. I'm not eligible for the student discounts and couldn't see shelling out $3650 for it.

[HackerX]

Last time I used Blender was in it's infancy. Back then it certainly didn't come close to 3DS max or Maya.

I don't know what it's like these days.

I know that Maya comes with a free for personal use edition these days too. Don't know what it's like though.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. hmm, owned by Autodesk these days, seems I've been out of the loop a long time.

[dayguard]

Heard about blender... but haven't got to have a try of it myself. I'm an animator in training.... and we mainly use Maya in school for our 3D works. Touched a bit of 3D Max in the foundation year.

Okay... i'm downloading it.

[justintj]

Here are some more:

- Anim8or (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)
- Terragen (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)
- Wings3D (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)
- OpenFX (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)
- Art of Illusion (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)

Enjoy them. :)

[BadMojo]

Blender is a very good program now. It can do fur and hair and so much more.
And Blender is free.

[xhaan]

Rhino is decent too, but it's NURBs, (you can do poly's too, or convert to poly's)

Costs money though.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[BadMojo]

Rhino is basicly just a modeller that mainly uses nurbs. But it's not very good at visualizing. You'll need a decent renderer for that.

[xhaan]

Rhino is basicly just a modeller that mainly uses nurbs. But it's not very good at visualizing. You'll need a decent renderer for that.

Ah, I guess you're right there, I hadn't thought of the difference between 'image' and 'model'. I think Rhino definitely is a good 'modeller', though I haven't tried Blender yet.

[BadMojo]

Blender is brilliant if you combine it with the YafRay (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.) render engine.

[xhaan]

Blender is brilliant if you combine it with the YafRay (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.) render engine.

I got Blender from repos the other day... it's confusing as hell. I'll have to read the manual. :laugh: :laugh:

[epoclaen]

I got Blender from repos the other day... it's confusing as hell. I'll have to read the manual. :laugh: :laugh:

Is it confusing because you're new to 3D or because the interface is just atypical or confusing? I'm tempted to try it even though I already have 3DS Max just to see if it might be any better.

Anim8tor was actually the first 3D application I ever used. It was free and ran on my piddly AMD K6/233 system.
Terragen has a bit of a learning curve and although it creates nice landscapes it needs more usefulness in typical 3D packages. Terragen2 looks promising but its been in development for like 3 years now.
Wings3D is extremely popular but I never got into that particular application.
Gmax is like a 1998 version of 3DS Max. It's free and might be good for new 3D artists as a stepping stone to more advanced applications. Autodesk no longer supports it but it's used for 3D game modders nowadays and Autodesk directs people to the Gmax user forums.

[xhaan]

Is it confusing because you're new to 3D or because the interface is just atypical or confusing? I'm tempted to try it even though I already have 3DS Max just to see if it might be any better.

Anim8tor was actually the first 3D application I ever used. It was free and ran on my piddly AMD K6/233 system.
Terragen has a bit of a learning curve and although it creates nice landscapes it needs more usefulness in typical 3D packages. Terragen2 looks promising but its been in development for like 3 years now.
Wings3D is extremely popular but I never got into that particular application.
Gmax is like a 1998 version of 3DS Max. It's free and might be good for new 3D artists as a stepping stone to more advanced applications. Autodesk no longer supports it but it's used for 3D game modders nowadays and Autodesk directs people to the Gmax user forums.

The interface is very atypical, and confusing, it looks like it's powerful but it's like learning all over again, to me. It took me a while just to figure out how to change or make new 'view ports', as its sub windowing system is... weird. Though it could be just the version I have, I got the linux version from Ubuntu repo.

Also, there doesn't seem to be an 'undo' thing in it.

[HackerX]

I used to use Milkshape3D for all the low poly models I did. Good for creating 3d game models and skeletal animation etc.

[DeadSpace]

I make eye candy for myself mainly(renders), and game mods. 3ds max for the mods, and to import/export from my main app Cinema 4D.
Cinema 4D just rocks, BodyPaint (realtime model painting), hair, fur, feathers, rigging, classic bones or newer joints, and tons of shaders. Powerful particle engine, full dynamics/physics for hair, cloth, particles etc.
Every now and again i try blender...but from C4D work flow...or even 3ds max work flow, blender is very different, end up getting bogged down looking for things that aren't where i expect them to be <.<

[BadMojo]

Here is another cool program... Haven't tried it for years. But I remember it well:
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[BadMojo]

Just found a new 3D paint program. Haven't tried it, but it looks interesting.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.