3D Software

[Michael Clease]

http://www.ppmodeler.com/index.php
http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/
http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html
http://www.openfx.org/
http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/Index.htm
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/downloads/3d__and__animation/truespace_1.0

Anyone used any of the above, if so what are your experiences?

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Abraxas,

I have used anim8tor for a while, but just of modeling not animation.
Its interface is looking little bit odd, but there is nice power to create some symetrical shapes.

But to be fair, for this I liked a little bit more Wings3D (http://www.wings3d.com/), but just a little :)
Wings3D is very good for things like animals, characters ... generally live beings. Or symetric stuff like crockery, UFOs ...

Fact is that last time I used Anim8tor was about 2-3 years ago, so it can be even better now.

Terragen is not exactly a modeling program - it produces high quality images, and also nice heightmaps ( should be usable with TBGL BMP2M15 convertor, but did not have time to test it right ).

The others I do not at all.


Bye,
Petr

[kryton9]

My experience is pretty much in line with what Petr wrote. For quick modeling Wings3D is very intuitive and you can make very nice low poly models.

Anim8or has very nice tutorials and you can also do some cool animations in a short amount of time. Just to be able to do a quick full little animation, Anim8or is nice because you have a very good chance of getting through a tutorial and doing something cool.

Terragen is a terrain generator and I use the older version and that is how I make the skybox textures you see in some of our demos here.

Truespace is a very fun and powerful program. If you can ever find the one book written in how to use Truespace I highly recommend it. Written by an enthusiast with many industry contacts, one of the books I always think about when thinking about fun learning experiences. Truespace 3 is now free.

Of all the 3 mentioned above, Truespace is the one to use for all purpose.
Here are wonderful video tutorials on using Truespace. Very Very well done and I still watch them to get inspired.
http://www.kidzonline.org/TechTraining/video.asp?UnitQry=3D%20Animation

Another very powerful and free application I highly recommend is Blender. It is difficult to learn but there are wonderful video tutorials for it too.
And if you watch this course you will have a good enough idea of how to go about doing very cool things. There are numerous tutorials all over the web for Blender.
http://ocw.tufts.edu/Course/28/Supplementarymaterial

A new application I have yet to really learn is Houdini. It is being used by more and more studios and highly recommended by Buzz at 3DBuzz.com.
They have a free version for learning and personal non commercial use that has a small watermark. They also have a $99 version for hobbyists that gets rid of the watermark. They have very nice video tutorials for it and a free Houdini classroom is starting at 3dBuzz.
Houdini is very powerful from the videos I have watched so far, but also immensely complicated. It is a lot less complicated compared to previous versions because of the standard type interface they have created. Right now without knowing too much, I really don't see it being used for making game content other than maybe the videos. I hope that is covered sometime in the future. It is really geared towards state of the art visual effects.
classroom info: http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_houdini.php
Houdini videos: http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=14&Itemid=305
The above are not ordered from beginning level to experienced, so keep that in mind. You sort of need to figure out the order to watch them in.


If you want to make game content to use with thinBasic programs, I highly recommend Blender or Blender with Wings3D.
The reason is Mike wrote a very nice plugin to export from Blender to m15 format that tbgl uses.
This means you can export in any other modeling program to a format you can load or add on to in Blender and export it out to use in your apps.

Truespace would be another good choice and then just do the conversion in Blender.

[Michael Hartlef]

Dont forget Petr's OBJ converter, this way you can directly convert OBJ files without the need of BLENDER.

[Petr Schreiber]

Yes,

any modeler supporting OBJ export should be usable in thinBASIC. The converter is here (http://community.thinbasic.com/index.php?topic=1418.msg10052#msg10052) and should be stable now.

I have tested it with Wings3D, ZBrush, MoI, Blender ( although here is preferred to use Mikes direct exporter ) OBJ exports and it worked ok.

In anim8tor you have to click Object/Export and then you can write OBJ out too. I tried basic shape and conversion to M15 went smooth now.

Blender is very powerful, used for majority of TopDown graphics. I never mastered Blender well, but Mike and Kent are living proofs that it is possible to learn it on top level.

Another interesting tool is MoI (http://moi3d.com/) - you model using NURBS surfaces, but OBJ export can be polygonized quite easily.

There is also thinEdge, modeler I did as primary M15 generator in the past. Unfortunately I cannot recommend it as #1 now, better to go the Blender->M15 or OBJ->M15 way.
I am working on new thinEdge, easier to use, with more precision. Once finished, I will release it along with flood of tutorials. But it will take time.


Bye,
Petr

[Michael Clease]

Ive been trying 3d canvas V7 (dec 2007) but it seems to crash every couple of minutes but good interface.

[Michael Hartlef]

Blender is very powerful, used for majority of TopDown graphics. I never mastered Blender well, but Mike and Kent are living proofs that it is possible to learn it on top level.


Kent is for sure. My models come 99% from Hexagon -> Blender -> M15 .

[Petr Schreiber]

My head is full of holes :-\

You are right, I completely forgot it.
And the mighty "stinky bug" ship as well?


Thanks,
Petr

[kryton9]

First Moi and now Hexagon, you guys found different tools for sure.

I totally forgot about the universal obj converter as not modeling right now...

I got an email from Caligari, Gamespace with some video tutorials for possible $99, they got some strange deal
where you order and if enough people order it will be at a lower price... I don't like open things like that or it would have been a good deal
at just $99 for making game content with the tutorials to learn. Something to look out for though in the future I guess.

[Michael Hartlef]

Gamespace is for sure a good package. I used TrueSpace 6.6 for a long time and because of its visual UI,
I got along well. Gamespace is based on TS 6.6, so for 99$ you get a very good modeling package.

I personally like these (the more the cheaper) deals. I did it a few times with FlStudio and only had advantages from it.

[ISAWHIM]

TrueSapce 7.6 is being given away for free.
http://www.caligari.com/

I am sure there is a strict license use along with it, for commercial related use...
However, for personal development and learning, I believe this is worthy of a post.

They seem to have created a "World" similar to "IMVU" and "SecondLife", for sharing creations. They also seem to have employed a "Live" collaboration setup. Having the ability to join into another persons model/scene, and make mutual edits. Oh, that has sooo many possibilities!

I do believe it is some of these unique features that may take TrueSpace above and beyond the 3DS-Max level, on a wide-use level. Not that it is better than 3DS-Max, but it is simply more user friendly. And users are what determines software life, unfortunately. (Some of the best software I have ever used, has died because it was too specific to one individuals needs or required 5 years of study, only to find out that it was not what you needed. Usually due to unspoken or hidden limitations that don't present themselves until you wasted thousands of dollars and years of learning.)

Getting ready to install my copy now.

[Lionheart008]

my 5 cents :)

dear all, hi abraxas, don't know if you would like to work with a stand-alone-modeller or a 3d software full package as truespace... (I know it, but don't like it cause of the little icons)

my advices:

a) "silo 3d" (modeller), the prize is hot now until 31.12.2008: 129 Dollar/Euro...
www.nevercenter.com

b) "blender" , ok... :), www.blender3d.org, for free...

c) "modo3d", 3d full package, modeling, rendering, animation, 695 dollar/Euro
www.luxology.com

d) "cinema4d", 3d full package, I know it very well, easy to handle, powerful 3d software, 700 Euro..., www.maxon.net (you can choose the language for you)

e) "lightwave", 3d full package... see cinema 4d :), but more modules, more powerful ;) and without separate prices... all inclusive for nearly 895 dollar/euro
http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/benefits.php,
http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/lwtrial.php

f) "vue 7", landscape builder, very good one... for 895 dollar/euro...
http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_7_infinite/index.php

g) insider tipp:) www.realsoft.fi, realsoft 3d, 3d full package for ca. 700 Euro, very good! but not easy to learn..., very interesting package, I know it well :)

good luck for finding your right 3d software :)

best wishes, lionheart

ps: "openfx" (formerly known as softfx) has no more support I am thinking...
- "albatross" 3d I don't know yet ;)

photos: silo, vue, cinema, lightwave, modo