Replying to There Is A Free, Full, 3-d Application.

Well... I gave this the old college try. Honest... I did! My analysis is ummm... wow. Is this proggie EVER HARD!!! Now, I've been around since Hector was a pup and I have never seen an interface so confusing. Perhaps it's just me, it would appear as if Blender certainly has a die-hard user base, but frankly I had a LOT of trouble running scripts (yes, I installed the newest build of Python and configured my paths)

There seemed to be script error after error and I found the learning curve to be almost impossibly steep for somebody who wants to dive in and start building.

Before every Blender fan on the planet jumps all over me though, let me say that I am very much used to an Adobe type workflow and for my 3D work I use 3D Studio Max 3. It's easy enough for me and invariably does what I need. I'm sure that given the care and attention this package requires I could become proficient at it, but that's really my point... this package seems to require a LOT of care and attention.

Either that or I just need more coffee...

Cheers,
Phoenix

I can't imagine doing something like that without a GUI. How is that even possible?

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Its possible. People have done some impressive stuff with it. On the other hand, its 100 times harder and 100 time more time consuming and 1000 times as aggravating as any other way of doing it. Stick with blender.


http://en.wikibooks....indowing_System

There is even a free textbook for blender. Hope that helps.

U can also try POV-Ray. I've never used it but the things u can do with it is AMAZING!!. It doesnt have GUI. It's text based. check out www.pov-ray.org for download as well as tutorilas

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I can't imagine doing something like that without a GUI. How is that even possible?

Wow! I just found this thread... I'm a 3D Max v3 kinda guy from way back but I will definitely give this a try!

One question... does it do ray-tracing? I'm not much of an animator but I love to model stuff!

Cheers,
Phoenix

Wow nice program...I was wondering how 3D images can be exported into other programs like Macromedia Flash. So far, Flash is really giving me a hard time, I couldn't get the layers right all the time. I use 3D studio max for 3D imaging but after awhile, i realise it is kinda old school. Anybody got any ideas how i can actually have a good newbie-based 3D imaging software for me to start off with?  :blink:

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lol, how is 3D Studio Max old school? It's one of the stronger 3D applications...at least that's what I thought when I first used it. Problem was, it's a bit large and slow for my old little laptop so I had to switch over to Cinema 4D which is another dandy 3D rendering application ^_^

U can also try POV-Ray. I've never used it but the things u can do with it is AMAZING!!. It doesnt have GUI. It's text based. check out www.pov-ray.org for download as well as tutorilas

I just recently tried swish3d max as suggested by Avalon and it seems pretty cool. I thought it was supposed to be easier than flash but so far I am still having a problem doing basic stuff. Perhaps I need more than a couple minutes here and there to learn to use it but I thought at least the simple stuff would be easy. Is this program better than swish 3d? I haven't used much 3d rendering software but I could probably integrate some cool stuff into my designs at work with a good 3d program. I also am not sure if you can model other objects in swish either - I am highly interested in making models of objects that don't come with the software. Is there software capable of this?? Swish 3d? something else??

Wow. Thanks for the tip. I've been using Anim8or for a few years, but now that I've mastered that program, this looks like another great stepping stone.
BTW all my mmcmlxii.astahost.com graphics and shorts were done w/Anim8or.
If I had more of my shorts up you could see what that free program offers.

Dear Herbert,

Read the manual.