Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

3 Dimensional Chat / List of well known modelers

Author
Message
CPU
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Jul 2003
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posted: 7th Feb 2004 05:18 Edited at: 7th Feb 2004 05:21
Link
Ok I’ve been seeing a lot of posts here recently concerning 3d modelers; a good portion of the requests are simply for a list of modelers and their attributes. This thread is to help people who are newer to dark basic (classic or pro) and are considering buying or downloading a 3d modeler for their game creating needs. I myself do not know all the modelers personally and ask people to post only about modelers that they use, as well as giving helpful information about it such as its strong points, what it is capable of, its weak points, how easy it is to use, how much it costs, etc... Things like tutorials and resources would always be welcomed as this also plays into how easy or hard a particular modeler is to use or learn. If a modeler has already been discussed feel free to post comments or add additional insight into that modeler. Hopefully this thread will a good asset to those seeking a modeler right for there programming needs.

Cheers, CPU

[edit] These programs can also include animators, skinners, modelers or programs related directly to 3d modeling.

Sparring - Loved by many, Pefected by few.

I'm going to live forever, or DIE IN THE ATTEMPT!!!"
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
james1980
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Sep 2002
Location:
Posted: 7th Feb 2004 07:04
Link
maya 5 price: not for the beginner

good stuff: very good at poly modeling ,rendering,textureing
very fast workflow every thing is right there when you need it, can have super big sceans without a crash


bad stuff: but import/exporters all are for alias programs, is a VERY deep program and if you never used it it will be awhile before you make anything, you need alot of ram to get the most out of it(1GB or more)

9/10



lightwave 7.5 price $1500 for the most complete out of box modeler

good stuff: like maya's good stuff but renderer is the best i've ever seen and it's opengl so you dont need a super computer and ati video cards are the best for it due to the opengl

bad stuff: when you first use it the thing that comes to mind is WTF!!! how do i use this damn thing. after you figure out how to make things appear on screen it is a very quick UI and most of the ui has hotkeys

9/10

deep exploration price $300

good stuff: almost every file you need to convert to is in it not counting game file types or gmax, just something to make life eaiser

bad stuff: kinda buggy

7/10

just telling you about the good & bad about my favorite programs

other stuff not to over look

milkshape 3d
wings 3d
animation master (spline only can convert to .3ds best for making fmv movies )
photoshop
paint shop pro
cartography shop
gamespace 1.5
Back to top
Profile PM
zircher
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Dec 2002
Location: Oklahoma
Posted: 7th Feb 2004 08:10 Edited at: 10th Nov 2005 07:07
Link
DoGA CGA L1 (free)/ L2 (shareware, $20) / L3 (shareware, $40 or $20 upgrade from L2)

DoGA CGA is a modelling and animation studio intended for beginners and advances as a series of lessons. L2 builds on L1 and L3 builds on L2.

Pros: DoGA CGA is dirt simple to use but is capable of some very nice models, especially those involving mechanical details such as ships, fighters, tanks, and mecha. Each version of DoGA CGA is a free download. You only have to register L2 or L3 if you want to make AVI movies or render sequential bitmaps. The DoGA series uses a parts bin metaphor, so it is not a true modeller. Hundreds of additional parts can be downloaded to expand the library. Each lesson comes with several programs, a parts assembler, a motion editor, L2 adds a multi-jointed model builder, and L3 adds an action/pose editor. All versions of DoGA CGA can export VRML, DXF, DirectX X format. The DoGA series is great for people that can design, but are weak at low level polygon editors.

Cons: DoGA uses an external key frame animation system. So, it does not export animation to X. Its animation format is plain text, but I don't know of any conversion tool (yet.) The early version of DoGA CGA have very limited colors, textures, and UV texture support. L3 breaks that barrier and allows you to import custom models, textures, and backgrounds. It also has a stand alone program to re-map texture coordinates. One big 'gotcha' with L3 is that the help files are not translated to English. So, you really need to try L2 before hand.

Being the DoGA Guru that I am, I have made a nice (if home grown) translation of the DoGA L3 Part Assembler help file.

Samples:
http://www.geocities.com/tzircher/ac_gallery.htm

Home page:
http://www.doga.co.jp/english

Metasequoia LE (free)

At some point, you'll want to create your own parts for DoGA L2 or L3. When you become that DoGA power user, the best modeller to learn is Metasequoia. It knows about the SUF files that DoGA uses and I happen to think that it is easier to use than Milkshape 3D.

Pros: A wide variety of tools in an easy to understand layout. Has support for a good number of formats including DirectX X files. Metasequoia LE is a fully functional polygon editor.

Cons: Metasequoia has no animation capabilities. Due to cultural/financial differences, you can not register the more advanced versions of Metasequoia.

Download:
http://www21.ocn.ne.jp/~mizno/main_e.html

Like Metasequoia? Game Spacer pointed out this cool animation tool for Metasequoia.

http://www.cyberdelia.net/english/tools/cyberdelia.html
--
TAZ (your neighborhood unofficial English speaking DoGA guru)


Don't read Japanese? Neither do I, but here is a helpful tip for you Metasequoia LE users:

Go to here: http://babelfish.altavista.com/

In the 'Translate a Web page' section select Japanese to English and plug in this URL: http://www.fire-on-the-suns.com/meta/help

Gotta love the web.

[updated links]

"Do you think it is wise to provoke him?" "It's what I do." -- Stargate SG-1
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
dark coder
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Oct 2002
Location: Japan
Posted: 7th Feb 2004 11:36 Edited at: 7th Feb 2004 11:38
Link
milksape 3d

price: $20

info: milkshape 3d is mainly a lowpoly modeler as you cant load models over 36,000 polys, it contains all the basic gemetery tools, eg: sphere,box,geosphere,extruding vertex placing and connecting them to make faces. it has loads of import/export tools export includes direct x (.x) and 3dsmax (.3ds) files, it has a uv mapper built into it if you dont want to use a 3rd party program, and has a usefull animator, to make your models do various maneuvers.

pros: easy to use, well layed out gui, lots of tutorials, good community support, and lots of updates, loads of plugins reagularly updated everytime theres a new update, including terrain tools, polygon reducers and many other usefull tools

cons: lack of carve & holllow tool, no built in renderer,uv mapper could be better

get it from http://www.milkshape3d.com

Back to top
Profile PM Email
sybixsus
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Jul 2003
Location:
Posted: 7th Feb 2004 15:03
Link
Quote: " and it's opengl so you dont need a super computer and ati video cards are the best for it due to the opengl
"


Far from it. Nvidia's DirectX drivers may stink, but their OpenGL drivers crucify ATI. To the point where - if you have a choice - I wouldn pick Direct3d if you have an ATI card. ATI cards are not going to get close to the performance of ATI in OpenGL any time soon.
Back to top
Profile PM
sybixsus
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Jul 2003
Location:
Posted: 7th Feb 2004 15:16
Link
Having found fault with other people's comments ( and apologies for doing so, but it wouldn't be fair to let people make serious errors due to information which I could correct ) it's really only fair I add something of my own.

3dsMax 5.0 price $3,500

Pros : By far the easiest interface of the "big boys". Excellent poly modelling tools. An array of gaming-specific tools such Lightmapping ( render to texture ) Vertex Lighting, UV Unwrapping tools and polygon reduction tools. Amazing character animation through Character Studio.

Cons : The price ( obviously. ) None of the game-specific tools are as powerful as a standalone option. ( Ultimate Unwrap's unwrapping tools are better, Vizup's polygon reduction tools are better. ) Character Studio costs more ( big ) money.

Overall : 10/10

I wouldn't use anything else. But that's because I already have it. A license for 3dsMax 4 was purchased for me by a company I used to do some work for, along with Character Studio. I paid for the upgrade to 5.0 because 5.0 introduced many new features which are essential for game devs. I wouldn't have bought 3dsMax all on my own, simply because the price is too high. If you can afford it, I recommend it.

If you can't afford it, Milkshape is a perfect replacement. It offers a very similar interface and pretty much anything which can be achieved in 3dsMax can be achieved in Milkshape. It will just take longer. For the price, I don't believe Milkshape can be beaten.
Back to top
Profile PM
CPU
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Jul 2003
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posted: 15th Feb 2004 01:27 Edited at: 15th Feb 2004 01:33
Link
Thanks for all the resoponses guys!!

I have one to add here...

Name: Rhinoceros 3D
Price: About $575
Website: [href] http://www.rhino3d.com [/href]

Pros:
Extremly easy to work with, full NURBS modeling system so it's great for organic looking surfaces, i'ts got a huge range of tools for working with NURBS surfaces as well as polygon meshes themselves, also featured in here is the ability to have unlimited amount of layers so that if you are working on a particular resource demanding project you can hide certen sections of a model to make it run faster, click drag along with an easy to configure snap tools make editing and creating models quick and easy. As far as i know i havn't yet seen a modeler that incorporates the ease of building models. Lastly if you buy rhino it comes with a several hundred page manual decribing in depth what each command does as well as several step-by-step tutorials teaching you how to use a veriaty of the commands, there are also several high quality example models of things made in rhino.(as well as a gallary on there website)


A few cons:
There are only a few cons that i have found frustrating, the bigest three are that although you can texture an object you don't have the ability to uv map the texture the objects, a real bummer for those trying to make realy good looking models, the second is that it does not have the ability to make, load, or modefy joints or limbs, another frustrating aspect for someone trying to make an animated character, Lastly and most suprising, rhino won't import or export .x models, it will export or inport almost any other format including .3ds which so far hasn't been a real problem but might for some people.

Summary:
Overall a very good modeler, i havn't yet seen a modeler that has the ease and power for creating raw models, it only lacks in texturing and animation which can be done in a varity of other aplications. I highly recomend it if you are serching for a good modeler.

Sparring - Loved by many, Pefected by few.

I'm going to live forever, or DIE IN THE ATTEMPT!!!"
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Douglass
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Aug 2003
Location:
Posted: 15th Feb 2004 01:40
Link
3d canvas anyone?


http://www.dougsworld.tk
Back to top
Profile PM Email
CPU
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Jul 2003
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posted: 25th Feb 2004 04:13
Link
no one's posted on wings 3d yet, i'm supprized but i guess the mod's havn't made this a sticky

Sparring - Loved by many, Pefected by few.

I'm going to live forever, or DIE IN THE ATTEMPT!!!"
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
JAT
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 7th Nov 2002
Location:
Posted: 26th Feb 2004 04:51 Edited at: 26th Feb 2004 05:08
Link
Allow me to plug my own: http://www.jtgame.com/jtedit

I'm currently rewriting it for scalability and stability, but it's still available for free download.

Note: For successful DB and DBPro usage, when creating animations, always create both rotation and translation channels, instead of just rotation channels as the tutorials indicate. (A single key frame will do to set the position.) The current DirectX needs both, otherwise all the nodes collapse to the origin.

-John

John Thompson
http://www.jtgame.com/jtedit
Back to top
Profile PM
Preston C
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 26th Feb 2004 17:47
Link
@CPU: James mentioned it, but he didnt go into detail. Maybe I should, but I think I'll do it a bit later.

Cheers,
Preston


Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz 512MB Ram NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 128MB
Back to top
Profile PM Email
CPU
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Jul 2003
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posted: 27th Feb 2004 04:45
Link
Thanks Preston i'm beging to lose hope the mods'll make this a sticky but oh well, maby they'll add us to the posts worth reading at least.

CPU

Sparring - Loved by many, Pefected by few.

I'm going to live forever, or DIE IN THE ATTEMPT!!!"
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
APEXnow
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Apr 2003
Location: On a park bench
Posted: 28th Feb 2004 01:26
Link
I personally use AC3D, v4.0.7, infact, been using it for most applications for the last two-three years. I will state that it doesn't support animation of models but it does support a wide range of importing/exporting functions, and probably has some of the most advanced modelling functions for it's price.

I would suggest checking it out at http://www.inivis.com for more details, but, I like it anyway.

Paul.


Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Preston C
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 28th Feb 2004 06:45
Link
Ok then, my review of Wings3D:

Wings3D is a free, open source 3D modeller meant mainly for subdivision modelling like its "parents" Mirai and Nendo. It can craft meshes using a "molding" technique (which means you can create a simple person starting with a basic cube), and can also set materials and UV Map models. Its is very good, and is being updated often. Not to mention the planned features are amazing, go ahead and check them out. Its only problem is it has no support for bones or animation, but lets pray they add it

You can find Wings3D here:
http://www.wings3d.com

Cheers,
Preston


Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz 512MB Ram NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 128MB
Back to top
Profile PM Email
indi
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 28th Feb 2004 08:30
Link
/me slaps some glue around the place ,steps back and wipes hands then walks off.


Back to top
Profile PM Email
CPU
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Jul 2003
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posted: 28th Feb 2004 22:00
Link
Thanks indi! <--- gazillion smily faces

Sparring - Loved by many, Pefected by few.

I'm going to live forever, or DIE IN THE ATTEMPT!!!"
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Arkheii
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Jun 2003
Location: QC, Philippines
Posted: 29th Feb 2004 02:15
Link
ZModeller is nice. Of course you can make more than just cars with this one. And it's free. It can't animate, but it can export .x meshes (no import though). Just look for a good converter then animate in another program.

http://zmodeler.nfscheats.com/

Back to top
Profile PM
Bitty Rabbit
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 17th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 19th Mar 2004 16:24 Edited at: 2nd Aug 2006 19:15
Link
wow.. no ones mentioned 3D studio Max 6 yet well geuss its my turn

Program: 3D Studio Max 6

Price:$3,495.00 (yeah patooty load)

Website: http://www.discreet.com/3dsmax/

Description: 3D studio Max 6 is a really awesome 3D modeling program. It was used to make the famous game called "Everquest"( http://everquest2.station.sony.com/media.jsp ) I'm not sure if its everquest or Morrowind ( http://www.elderscrolls.com/index.php )so dont nag at me if it's wrong. If you dont read the manual then you will be lost and i mean it... the most you'll find out is the extrude if you right click and choose it operation if you don't read the manual. 3D Studio Max 6 has already made templates of trees and other stuff... mostly trees cuase if you are a 3D modeler you know trees suck to make exspecialy if you want it to look real and professional which 3D studio max 6 gives you. You need about 512 MB of RAM or else it will take long time to load and I mean it, it takes me about 1 minute becuase I have 128 MB RAM. I know it doesnt take long with 512 MB RAM becuase my friend who is also a game maker has the same program, me and him are team. If you are very detailed in your 3D models you should either use Maya, Lightwave 7.5 (WHICH ROCKS!), or 3D Studio Max 6. This program was made for game making, and Movies that are 3D. Well im not sure where im going in this part of the post so i'll end it here.

Games made by 3D Studio Max 6: Never Winter Nights, Prince of Persia- The sands of time, The lord of the rings- The fellowship of the ring, Deux EX 2: Invisble War.

As you can see it is a very reliable program and is used for many things. Hope this post helped for atleast some 3D modelers .

Chicken
Back to top
Profile PM
Cheese eater
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Mar 2004
Location: Somewhere in time
Posted: 19th Mar 2004 17:23
Link
There's also Anim8or ([href]http://www.anim8or.com) . I think it's the best totally free modeler! Why? Because he is precise, mapping very intuitive (object, faces alone...) and export to .3DS (easily convertible to .X). The only trouble is that it doesn't export animations. That's why after modelling on it ,I use milkshape 3D for animate my object and export it in x format.

So, I have just a trouble: the object disapears when the camera is near to it (not too much!) if I use SCALE OBJECT. I know that I can modify the scale in Milkshape,but I need to scale the object in my program (for ex: a bouncing ball deforms on Y axis). Someone who use Milkshape can help me?

Snail, frogs and Cheese eater

Don't matter if my english is poor I'am just a french...
Back to top
Profile PM
BearCDPOLD
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Oct 2003
Location: AZ,USA
Posted: 20th Mar 2004 22:32
Link
Got another one, and will probably add a second one to ths because we just got gameSpace and are about to install it.

trueSpace3.2
In my opinion, the best free 3d modeller for beginners. It has basic object manipulation, some neat little things like smooth quad divide and various other things. It supports lights and cameras for rendering. Since it's old it runs fast on any machine. The animation is easy to use, and has no problems exorting to .X. It allows for different perspective views naturally, in fact as many as you want within the limits of your processor. You can use this in conjunction with Total Terrain to produce smooth .x terrains with the free tsXtrude plugin.

Naturally it's going to have some bad points, especially because it's old. That's probably the first bad point, it's old, so you can't expect to produce Maya 5 quality material. The view controls are a little gawky, requiring you to push a button, then click in the viewport to do various things like rotating, moving, and zooming the view. This was fortunately fixed in later versions of trueSpace. The object manipulation controls (move, scale, rotate) are the same way, but were also fixed in later versions. And yes, there is no bones support. You can create object heirarchies and simulate bones, but there is no actual bones support.

Probably the best thing for trueSpace3.2 is its direction toward beginners. There is a nice introductory video series at http://www.kidzonline.org/teachit/3D_DV.html# that was quite helpful, even if it was corny.

Overall, it's for beginners, or for people who aren't concerned about high-quality graphics because they're programmers, not artists anyway. My recommendation is to use this at first, get pretty good at it, then move on to gameSpace, or JTEdit, or Lightwave, or something.

Crazy Donut Productions
Current Project: KillZone
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Arkheii
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Jun 2003
Location: QC, Philippines
Posted: 23rd Mar 2004 03:12 Edited at: 23rd Mar 2004 03:16
Link
I tried anim8or. For one thing the interface and button layout sucks. You need to click on a button to pan/zoom the camera, then disable the button to go back to editing mode, else end up screwing one of your ortho views. The vertices are _huge_ and really get in the way when viewing the ortho views in wireframe. The interface is so frustrating that it becomes totally unusable (for me). Yeah, I'm one of the peeps who are used to having some mouse buttons directly bound to camera functions. On the other hand, the box modelling functions are better than ac3d's, particularly because ac3d doesn't have an inset function. But I'd still stick with ac3d.

edit: note to all programmers making modellers: Bind the middle mouse button to pan, and the mouse wheel to zoom. And for the perspective viewport only, bind the left mouse button to rotate the camera.


"Story in a game is like story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." - John Carmack
Back to top
Profile PM
Andy Igoe
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Oct 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 25th Mar 2004 18:01
Link
Upgraded from 3ds Max 4 to 3ds Max 6
From a modelling perspective far better than earlier versions but there can be numerous problems exporting models in to DBP. The .3ds exports are unreliable and the only .x exporter I have found is Panda which is not 100%. Exporting an animated model is terribly difficult.

Texturing is still a nightmare and some of the fancy new texturing features just simply dont do anything. UVW Unwrap is still the mode of choice for DBP models for that single texture file finish, and that feature is not much enhanced over version 4.

Conclusion: Not worth the expense whilst exporters and other plugins are still predominantly all for version 4. Additionally the requirement for Windows XP and the loss of Alt-Tab is a development nightmare.


God created the world in 7 days, but we're still waiting for the patch.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
TheAbomb12
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Aug 2003
Location: Amist the blue skies...
Posted: 26th Mar 2004 18:17
Link
3dCanvas anyone?

Amist the Blue Skies...
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
NeOgRa
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Mar 2004
Location:
Posted: 30th Mar 2004 23:24 Edited at: 7th Mar 2005 12:16
Link
Just waned to say im a newbie, at Programming. Ive been Modeling for the past seven years, So i read this thread and thought that id help if any body needs any help.If anyone needs anything modeled out for them would love to do so, like to see what people have going on in there brains.
apps that im skilled in:ic:file
3Ds Max
Maya Unlimited
LightWave
Unreal Ed
Combustion
Plasma
ect...
so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask, i know i will

*^_^NeOgRa=
Machanical Engineer
Advanced 3D Modeler
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Grismald
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Mar 2003
Location: France
Posted: 31st Mar 2004 01:10
Link
Neogra, i have a request for you; i'd like to send you some details but your e-mail address doesn't seem to work
Anyway it's great to offer your help to this community.


Team EOD: Programmer :: 3D artist
Back to top
Profile PM Email
canadian beaver
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Mar 2004
Location: windsor, ontario, canada
Posted: 2nd Apr 2004 03:16
Link
I see that no one has mentioned 3d gamestudio. The 3d gamestudio is its own games creation program that includes its own model,level and script editor. I don't think you can use the level edit for darkbasic purposes but the model editor has animation and can export to 3ds, asc ,and mdl files. It also can export mdl, and md2 mapping for texturing purposes. Milkshape is also good for working with files imported from gamestudio. the standard version comes with the three editors for about $50 US. the standard version however does not support Bones, or Terrain you would need the commercial or pro versions which can be pick up for $200./$895.
Back to top
Profile PM
NeOgRa
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Mar 2004
Location:
Posted: 2nd Apr 2004 17:20
Link
Hey Grismald, Sorry About that. Im Not sure on how to configure my E-mail maybe you can help, But let me know what your request is, i would love to help, and also to get my name out there, do heres my e-mail address.

neo_gra2002@yahoo.com or
jgrant@aei-wv.com
Back to top
Profile PM Email
NeOgRa
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Mar 2004
Location:
Posted: 2nd Apr 2004 17:25
Link
I figured out how to configure my profile, sorry for the repost.
Back to top
Profile PM Email
2kilo
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Jul 2003
Location: London
Posted: 4th Apr 2004 16:10
Link
Lightwave

Not mentioned that much, but here are the reasons why I purchased it. When looking for a modeler I wanted an "all rounder" to do levels, models, animations and high quality cut scenes but not over £1000 [sterling]. I found that none of the software available really covered every aspect [especially export file formats]. But lightwave comes close and is amazing value for money [£800] when you look at the features. I'm using .x files as I find BSP too limiting [by the time I have something to show computers will be at least double the speed anyway]. Another major point is I'm very careful about how I invest my time, Lightwave is hard but worth learning not just for games.

I'm just starting to learn the package [so this may not be totally correct]. Lightwave is split into two, modeler and layout:

FEATURES - Modeler
Quality Poly modeler [a little different for me, but a lot of detailed pro features]
Quality UV texture mapping tools [not explored fully yet]
3ds object export [fine, so far]
Loads of deform tools
DirectX export [fine, so far]
Amazing, vast amount of surface options.

CONS's
Primative shapes are turned into poly's [cannot re-enter details like in Cinema and Max]
Spline, Belzier tools could be stronger [Cinema and Max seem better]

FEATURES - Layout
Animation tools [bones IK, etc]
Loads of effects [particles, clouds, waves, etc]
Texture Baker [bake 3d objects to an image, apply image to a low poly model]
Light Baker [create lightmaps, not tried this yet]
Radiosity [quality lightmaps]
DirectX export [d-storm plug-in, bone problems, but what exporter doesn't have them?]
One of the best render engines eg StarTrek NG [for high quality animation scenes]
Soft and hard body dynamics [objects deform on impact]
HDR image options and lighting [real world lighting]

CON's
Export can be tricky, especially for displacement animation [need to try "displacement baker" plug-in]


THE OTHERS

3DMAX - I can see why it is so popular, for me the basic construction tools [primatives] are very quick and powerful, also the modify tools and stack arrangment makes changes easy and quick. But the price is [IMHO] too much.
CINEMA 4D - The core package [£400?] is amazing value, the basic tools are almost as powerful as Max, in fact it is a clone of Max in a lot of ways. But it lacks the features of Lightwave [Cinema is more expensive when you have purchased the add-ons]. The bones animation used to be a nightmare aswell.
GAMESPACE
Don't know enough about the software but I never liked the interface and way of working. It does appear to be dedicated [like GMax] to the game world.
MAYA - The cheap version does not have liquid, fur and volumetrics..?[I think]

It does seem that whatever you use, it is likely that you will need Milkshape or Deep Exploration to convert files. It does annoy me that Microsoft have not made a stand alone .x file converter..?


Searching for the right software to use is a nightmare, the above is just my opinion, but it has taken almost a year to find what is right for me. I feel confident that the time spent learning Lightwave will not be a waste [fingers crossed].
Back to top
Profile PM
Tomy
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 25th Dec 2003
Location:
Posted: 4th Apr 2004 23:13
Link
i have to disagree with you:
1. Cinema 4D is $699 and $2999 with all the plugins..
2. Cinema 4D isn't a clone of anything!! Really a lot of things were invented by C4D (like the 3d painting in bodypaint 3d or the soft IK in Mocca)
And in functionality it can easiley compete with Max and Maya!
The only bad thing is Texturing! Without BodyPaint 3d texturing is impossible!!! You simply can't do anything

But the best thing about C4D is that it's extremely structured! At the beginning all those Manager are a bit confusing but after a while you see what they're good for! For example I can't imagine to model anything without an attribute manager!

Anyway i think the best modelers are:
-Maya
-3ds Max
-Lightwave
-Cinema 4D
It a personal matter which of those programs fits best to you, but they're certainely the best!
Back to top
Profile PM
MiR
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Jul 2003
Location: Spain
Posted: 6th Apr 2004 21:23
Link
My favourite has got to be Maya. I found it easier to use than 3ds Max, but it´s not particulary good at exporting models.
Whenever I export modeles they have problems like transparent limbs, thousands of animation frames and jerky animations.
M.I.R

Libera tu mente y te liberaras a ti.
Back to top
Profile PM Email
MasterChief
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 1st Jan 2004
Location: Washington, USA
Posted: 8th Apr 2004 00:27
Link
No real mention of Caligari's TrueSpace 6.0 or GameSpace 1.5.

I tried GameSpace1.5 demo and found it very easy to use and exceptionally intuitive, once you figure out the icons. I've built very high-end objects and layouts (levels) and saved them as .x to DBPRO.
I liked it so much that I purchased TrueSpace 6 AND GameSpace AND Level Exporter. Big savings if you buy all as a package deal (Valentine special).

Check out the Demo of GameSpace!
Doyle
Back to top
Profile PM
Pal
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Apr 2003
Location:
Posted: 15th Apr 2004 19:41
Link
Name - Zbrush
Price - 486(Approximate)
Site - zbrush.com or pixologic.com

PROS - Zbrush actually truely is a very good modeller in which u sculpt the model. You can even use box modelling and add edge tools. The best thing in it is Zspheres. Create nice monsters etc. Not limited to organic models, practically anything can be created in it. it is also a paint program offering high quality features.You can directly paint on ur 3d objects which is a great way of texturing! Comes with cool zscripts for learning!!! has a 22mb guide known as practical guide which explains everything!

CONS - animation not supported(can be done in other proggies like anim8or). Can only export to .obj. I have never seen nething else

I am da man! Beware of my LAZER EYES!
Back to top
Profile PM
Matic
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 22nd Apr 2004
Location:
Posted: 22nd Apr 2004 22:31
Link
Blender.

Blender is a free 3d program that is really good for box modeling and it is moving fast now you can get it on http://www.blender3d.org and there is a great support forum and place you can get a huge amount of plugins called http://www.elysiun.com i normally work in 3d studio max 5.1 but this program did really get my interest.

sorry for my bad spelling i dont speak English where i live.
Back to top
Profile PM
JeroenNL
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Sep 2003
Location:
Posted: 23rd Apr 2004 09:55
Link
DeleD

The free lowpolygon 3D modeller I'm developing at the moment. It's very suitable for creating levels and reasonably complex models. Create your objects using primitives like grids, cubes, cylinders, spheres etc and a wide range of lowpolygon functions like Inset, Hollow, Extract, Weld etc. Save your objects as prefabs and use those prefabs to build an entire scene. DeleD is under constant development and will be upgraded with lighting, plugins and CSG.

Use the free 3D modeller DeleD to get skilled in 3d editing! Visit http://www.delgine.com for more info.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Falelorn
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Jun 2003
Location: Canada
Posted: 24th Apr 2004 05:20
Link
Im a collector of tools

Here is a rating system of what I have and what I think.

DeleD - 4/5 - Great for low poly models, easy to use, very forgiving

Blender - 3/5 - Great program, but crap interface, but get past that and it can become a 4.5/5

Anim8or - 4/5 - Nice program, free, easy to use

True Space - 5/5 - not bad price (free to several hundred depending on version), powerful, interface is a bit weird at first, but over all fantastic for all forms of game development

Game Space - 5/5 - See True Space, worth every penny, this is IMO the best game modeling software out there, I use it to make models for DBPRO, BB3D, Torque, and A6

Wings 3D - 3/5 - Free, and very very easy to use to make models.

Milkshape 3D - 2/5 - Im not a fan of this, I know alot of others are, but the program is powerful if you can use it. I find it to be hard to use, and never got a hang of it, $25.00

DOGA - 3/5 - Free - $30.00, Good program, but not for organics, but is really easy to use.

Cartography Shop - 3/5 - Cheap ($50.00?), good program to quickly build buildings, You can build levels with it, and for dungeons and other indoor levels, I find it really easy to build. But lacking in some areas, but for hte price its great.

Light Ray 3D - 4/5 Cheap (cant remember price), great program, fairly easy to use, and you can do some great things with it, but lacking in small areas

Quill 3D - 3/5 - $60 or so, but what a horrible interface, but can do some great models once you get past it.

Map Builder - 1/5 - Stay Away, its lacking.

3D Canvas - 3/5 Free to $60.00 - powerful, lacking in decent docs, and UI, but if you get hte hang of it, WOW, it can do some amazing things.

Maya - 5/5 - Expensive - Powerful, easy to use, and you can do some amazing things in it, professional game dev tool

3DSMAX - 5/5 - Expensive - Powerful, easy to use, and powerful enough to produce some of the most beautiful models, and scenes in gaming.

Cinema 4D - 5/5 - Not to bad in Price ($1000.00) powerful, SUPER easy to use, and can do models that are on par to Maya/3DSMAX and is so easy to use you can quickly pick it up. I compare it to Wings for how easy it is to use

Rhino 3D - 4/5 - $500? nice program, but lacking in certain areas, but great for modeling, only used it some, but found it easy to use, and powerful enough to do some impressive things.

GMAX - Great for doing mods, free, and easy to use, comparable to 3dsmax for power but limited in what you can use it for. Nothing commercial, and only mods, but I do know of modelers who use it for their portfolio.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Final word,

If your a indi game developer, get gamespace, dont mess around with other programs, you can do everything quickly and easy in it. If you do have some extra cash, you can go with 3DSMAX/Maya, but GameSpace is great and a very viable alternative.

Great thing about GameSpace is it works with Torque, A5/A6, DBPRO, and BB3D very easily. There are video tutorials on how to use it, and a very good community.

If I was starting out as a modeler or learning how, I would use gameSpace, or with the extra $$, Max or Maya.


Level 10 Games http://www.level10games.com
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
The Rev
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Apr 2004
Location: Mississippi USA
Posted: 28th Apr 2004 10:26
Link
Here is another free one it not bad
http://openfx.org/news/index.php
Back to top
Profile PM
Phoenix Games
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Feb 2004
Location:
Posted: 1st May 2004 01:27
Link
I'm looking around at 3d and i have 3d canvas but i find that i prefer TS3.2 rendering, and many modelling features. I'm wondering whether it would be worth buying TS4.3, just keeping with 3DCpro or saving up for a later version of truespace (maybe even lightwave?) any help on my problem would be great
thanks

p.s. please dont recomend milkshape because i've tried it and i don't really like it
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Phoenix Games
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Feb 2004
Location:
Posted: 7th May 2004 00:36
Link
Has anyone mentioned amapi or carrara yet? Those are quite good and not as pricy as something like max, maya or even lightwave. However, amapi is only for modelling and carrara is only for animation and rendering and together they cost $669 or somewhere around there, worth checking out!
Also trueSpace with anipak, depak, raypak, fxpak, gamepak, ipak etc. makes for a very good program. Choose a pack if you like, they're really good
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Peter H
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 20th Feb 2004
Location: Witness Protection Program
Posted: 12th May 2004 19:38 Edited at: 3rd Jul 2004 22:57
Link
i think that with version 1.2 it IS legal to sell games...


Formerly known as "DarkWing Duck"
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Scraggle
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Jul 2003
Location: Yorkshire
Posted: 18th May 2004 11:38
Link
Caligari have just released GameSpace Light - a cut down version of it's $299 big brother but it's free!

Get it here

S.O.S. Site Of Scraggle
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Peter H
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 20th Feb 2004
Location: Witness Protection Program
Posted: 18th May 2004 18:31 Edited at: 19th May 2004 21:11
Link
sweet!!!

[edit] and it looks like it can bake textures too!!!!!( "lightmaps")


Formerly known as "DarkWing Duck"
Back to top
Profile PM Email
French gui
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th May 2004
Location: France
Posted: 30th May 2004 23:14
Link
Yeah but GS light is not able to export models to DBPro (and the patch isn't working I'm sooooooo sad! )

My English is not so good I'm just French
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Oneka
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th Apr 2004
Location: Hampton,VA
Posted: 31st May 2004 00:07
Link
actaully it does work now becuase I have exported varuios models now make sure that you put the patch thing in the folder of GS and then run it

A 1 man team
EVIL SIG!
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Mentor
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 27th Aug 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 5th Jun 2004 21:51
Link
ummm 33mb, no way with my connection (one day BT will move into the 18th century or better )

Mentor.

PC1: P4 hyperthreading 3ghz, 1gig mem, 2x160gig hd`s, Nvidia FX5900 gfx, 6 way surround sound, PC2: AMD 1.2ghz, 512mb ram, FX5200 ultra gfx, stereo 16 bit soundblaster, ups.
Back to top
Profile PM
M00NSHiNE
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Aug 2003
Location: England, UK
Posted: 7th Jun 2004 17:40
Link
ppModeler - http://www.ppmodeler.com/

A free modelling package that has tons of useful features. Although I havent actually tried it yet, I have downloaded it.

Heres the feature list:

Modeling

* SDS modeling, with sharp edges
* Symmetrical meshes
* Blob modeleing, with ellipse, 3D splines, 3D meshes.
* 2D/3D curves: mixe of straight lines and splines, Read TTF font, Boolean operations.
* Toolboxes on meshes, faces, edges and vertices, texture projection.
* Use the mouse and/or the keyboard (numerical values)

Texturing

* 4 Texture projectors: plane, cylinder, sphere and uv.
* Procedural texture generated by scripts

Animation

* Morphing
* Skining

Export/Import

* Export to: 3DS, OBJ, Direct X, DXF, VRML, Virtual Light, SunFlow, Virtual Light Possibility to add new exporter with scripts.
* Import from: 3DS, LWO, OBJ, VRML, DXF
* Export to POV, RENDERMAN.

File

* All scene data (meshes, animation, texture...) save in one '.3de' file
* A screenshot can be associated with a scene, so a scene preview is accecible
* Image File: Read from GIF, Read/Write from JPG, BMP, TGA, PCX.

Supported Platforms

* Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
* Linux
* BeOS

Give it a try and see what you think

Back to top
Profile PM
Mr Underhill
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Apr 2003
Location: The Forgotten Worlds...
Posted: 11th Jun 2004 22:22
Link
@M00NSHiNE:

I tried ppModeler, and I like it! Very good program, especially for freeware.

PROS:
-Full polygon modelling
-Super-easy to model symetrical objects
-Supports not one, but two DBPro formats, and a handful of others.
-Powerful texturing system
(I haven't even delved into this too much)
-Small download (4MB for Windows)
-Here's the big one -it's FREE!

Cons:
-No polygon reduction
-A bit buggy, but still useable

Not sure:
-has an Anim8or-style interface, which could be good or bad, depending on who's using it.

Untested:
-DBPro exporting
-The remainder of the texture system
-Importing from other programs

All and all, ppModeler is a good program to try out. While this won't be the only 3d program I use, I still reccomend it highly.
-Underhill

"War will make corpses of us all."-Faramir
Back to top
Profile PM
Glog
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 1st Jun 2004
Location: between compiling and debugging process
Posted: 13th Jun 2004 19:30
Link
got a problem to export my animated models from 3d studio max to darbasic !! 3dsmax 5 seems not to import animations on the models! how can i do to get my anims on db with 3dsmax 5 3ds files ??

A program is sensed to be a conventional mean to give orders to a computer and not being obscure,weird,and full of traps ,that is closer to magic stuff (Dave Small).
Back to top
Profile PM
3d gamemaker qustions
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Jan 2004
Location:
Posted: 18th Jun 2004 07:16
Link
this will probubly sound stupid.

I my self was trained in raydream studio 5.5 &3d.

forgot most of what I lerned though.

tryed 3ds max 4.0

have trouble starting , cant seem to create an object.

now I cant even reinstall , something about wrong user code or key.


tryed gmax ,milkshape , & a few others.

cant make heads or tails of them.

downloaded gamespace 3d but havent tryed yet.

I just want to make models for the 3d gamemaker , or if possable
convert sims skins to be compadable,
anime & games are my passion .
Id like to combine the 2.
Back to top
Profile PM
They Killed Kenny
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Jul 2004
Location: FL, USA
Posted: 20th Jul 2004 08:39
Link
Quote: " this will probubly sound stupid.

I my self was trained in raydream studio 5.5 &3d.

forgot most of what I lerned though.

tryed 3ds max 4.0

have trouble starting , cant seem to create an object.

now I cant even reinstall , something about wrong user code or key.


tryed gmax ,milkshape , & a few others.

cant make heads or tails of them.

downloaded gamespace 3d but havent tryed yet.

I just want to make s for the 3d gamemaker , or if possable
convert sims skins to be compadable,
anime & games are my passion .
Id like to combine the 2."


Have you tried Blender? I know this may sound wierd, but i tried all of those and they confused me too.
Then I downloaded blender used the tutorials at http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=documentation&file=index
and i actually understand it now. Just remember that although the tools are cluttered, you will eventually learn where they are.

Im psycho. Isnt that cool?
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-04-25 08:29:44
Your offset time is: 2024-04-25 08:29:44