Trav3D - Newtek offering free 30 day trial

[saundby]

What Advice Now?

I'm wondering what folks who do 3d work would presently recommend for someone on a scratch budget.

I used to do a lot of 3D--I got started with Sculpt-Animate 3D on the Amiga a long time ago, went on to 3Demon, Silver, Turbo Silver, Imagine, a little Caligari and Lightwave. Transitioned to PC with Imagine and Lightwave, but haven't done anything significant in 3D aside from CAD since the mid-90s.

My preference would be something that runs on Mac OS or Unix/Linux, because my only current Win system is a laptop not really suited for rendering work alongside its other uses.

I downloaded Blender a couple of years ago, but didn't really have time to check it out then. Meanwhile I've gotten adept enough with present basic 2D tools (GIMP, Photoshop, Painter--though I still miss Deluxe Paint and Photon Paint in some ways) that I think I'm ready to try picking up some 3D stuff again.

Suggestions?

 

[aramis]

Several free ones... but the only one I've been able to make anything at all with is Sketchup (Google's no-charge commercial product...)

 

[Andrew Boulton]

I think the main freebies are:

- SketchUp (PC/Mac) http://sketchup.google.com/
- Blender (PC/Mac) http://www.blender.org/
- trueSpace (PC) http://www.caligari.com/

 

[Beech]

I would not personally bother with the free 30 day trial unless you do have the cash to spend eventually on the full package, You would spend at least that long getting to grip the program and then get frustrated when it stops working.

I would recommend Sketchup too, it's amazingly versatile and you can export out of it into more costly programs for better rendering, etc. if you ever decide to (or can afford to) upgrade.

If you did have the cash I would recommend Cinema rather than Lightwave, it's a personal choice but I feel it is easier to use, it also does a free trial as Andrew mentioned.

If you want to do scenery modelling Vue Pioneer is doing a deal at the moment where you download the basic program for free and buy and add modules later as needed.

http://www.cornucopia3d.com/products/vue/vue_7_pioneer/

 

[Madarin Dude]

Everyone will have different opinions but I find Wings3D one of the easiest modelers around and it is free. http://wings3d.com/ I tend towards organic shapes and some character stuff. Bryce is relatively easy and has a large community for it to help and is is cheap. I currently use PMG Messiah because it is one of the easiest for rigging and animating out there and relatively inexpensive. I think 399 it rigs renders and animates but does not have a modeler. Silo is an excellent modeler too.