In the older days of DBC you would have been directed to doga which is a series of 3 3d programs in version build of 1 - 3
It was simple object placement with odd primitives that were nasty in poly control and texturing.
haha ugg!
luckily today we have brilliant minds like IpakAgun but more so Simple and Psionic because of there demystifying approach to tutorials plus all the other gurus in 3d creation world who support the blindfolded like ourselves in both forums
hehe now to answer your question.
The process is called skinning or making a UV wrap image.
The best way to describe this in a laymans term is to think back when u used to flatten a cardboard box into one flat peice of card or perhaps u explored this in artclass..
The program favoured by all for the budget is lithium unwrapper.
It allows u to not only flatten any shape similar to that cube but gives you a good choice of options for particular problems.
imagine a cylinder and sphere, Also imagine the way chocolate is made or some plastic wrappers where two halfs are joined together.
The models polygonss(those triangluar shapes) are sorted in a way on a flat image so they dont overlap yet define each facet or visible poly side with the corresponding image.
flatten your box on the screen but imagine being able to pull apart the sides of the box to anywhere within that image space.
later on you choose a 2d bitmap editing program like paintshop pro photplus5 thegimp or something high end like photoshop aura or maybe something from the painter series.
Once you have chosen your 2d package its a process of colouring in that unwrapped image and this also will take some practise.
Milkshape is not easy to get to grips with at first because a little knowledge of vertices and polygon understanding would help greatly as well as a mindset to visualise the xyz dimensions required.
A little drawing skill can always help but some modellers work from a blob or poly by poly until they have it perfected.
It really helps to visulaise them before hand and with a scanner most packages allow u to place in the background of your package.
You to will develop your own methods to build either low poly or high poly constructs with bones or joints or perhaps segmented meshes or polygon groups to reprisent your models.
anyway the best thing to do is to try some tutes that go with the programs above.
psionics tutorials
http://www.psionic3d.co.uk/
milkshape 3d low poly modeller and very good for price.
http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/
3d canvas 6
this is only $50 and will work better on faster machines
it has a plethora of hidden features as well as UVwrapping.
www.amabilis.com
amapi
this is one of my favorite modelling packages
415 and 515 were free on some magaiznes a while ago.
this can be a stand alone product or a plugin to 3dstudio max.
lithium unwrapper is an older freeware version of
http://www.unwrap3d.com/
simple might still have an older freeware copy on his website.
yeah um that will do for now i guess a heap of other people will help you decide with there favorite packages, remember the most expensive isnt always the best for the sake of a hack.
just have fun exploring the 3d design facets, each area will take some practise but its rewarding once you get the hang of methods that will work better for your game engine per say.
