3d dealies

[ndchristie]

does anyone know a 3d program that........

- is free to download
- is simple
- is easy to use (unlike gm which can be tedious as hell)
- can disable perspective
- can import textures
- can render precisely

if you dont, i suppose well have to use gm, but id prefer to find something that i can use myself

note; this is for a pending adventure game project, and we want prerendered backgrounds

[Helm]

A very simple suggestion since I come from the amateur adventure game scene: don't use prerendered backgrounds. I know it's kind of a meta-solution to your trouble, but please, please consider handrawn/handpixelled or some happy medium in between.

[ndchristie]

were going handdrawn if we can get this to work, but id prefer to avoid it since i wouldnt be able to make the other people on the team help

[vedsten]

gotta admit that i havn't actually tried it my self, but one of my friends studiyng architecture uses "sketchup" and and has nothin' but praise. It's suppousedly (how dew you spell that?) very intuitive, and it cant be all that bad since google just brought the company making it.

Check it out: http://sketchup.google.com/

i know you can disable perspective

[robalan]

Blender is arguably one of the best open source 3D modeling programs available.  I've used it a very little bit, and can see how much it can do.  Also, it has an orthogonal (non-perspective) mode.

Here is the manual/wiki, and here is the gallery of some stuff people have done with the program.

Good luck with the project!

Oh, and vedsten: Sketchup is very far from free; there's an 8 hour free trial, but the full version is almost $500 o_O

[vedsten]

yea, for the pro vers. dunno if Adarias project is freeware or what, but there's a free edition available, dunno what features are included tho

[robalan]

Oh hey, I missed that.  Well, considering how the "favorites" look, I think Blender is probably more powerful.  It appears that Sketchup is mostly useful in drawing buildings, or at least, that's what it's used for in most of the sample pictures.  I dunno; I might give it a try if I have some free time.

[Radioactivity]

i was going to suggest blender, but robalan was too quick of the mark.
anyways, it is a good program, strike that great program considering it's an open source 3d modelling program.

[Dhaos]

Yeah, blender is great, I use it myself alot. Takes while to get used to, but it can do pretty much anything (in some shape or form) that the overpriced programs can do XD. I actually found it a bit easier to use than 3dsmax and maya...those programs were so overly complicated lol.

[Mr.Modem]

Blender is g (and still use somreat and is the obvious choice for a free 3d program with advanced functions. I used to useetimes) Wings3d for 3d modeling. It's really lightweight, but once you know all the shortcuts and menues you can model at a very high speed. The render engine isn't good at all but the program can export to many formats.